¡No faltes! - grammatically correct ?

Question

Everyone

I just heard this on the radio today. They were talking about some Mothers day celebration and then the guy said

Este domingo - ¡No faltes!

I immediately thought it must mean "Don't miss it !" but at the same time a red flag went off. I had a discussion with someone and we started guessing away. My problem is that I thought of faltar as the same kind of verb as gustar. So faltar means "To be missing something, to be lacking something".

Me falta un boli, - I need a pen (A pen is missing to me)

So we must conjugate faltar after the thing missing. The phrase above is conjugated after "tu" therefore "you" are missing to something/somebody.

I can only translate it as - Don't be missing to it (the mothers day party) !

Is this another "Me dueles" discussion ?

It gets worse ! My friend has a Websters New World Verbs book and when we looked it up there. Well, that opened a huge can of worms :

Quote:

"faltar has a special conjugation construction. It is used in the 3rd. person sing./plur. with the indirect object pronoun. In this construction, the personal pronouns are not used"

Now here is the can of worms. They go on to conjugate this verb as follows:

me falta(s) te falta(s) le falta(s)

and so on. I kid you not ! You guys don't do that on spanishdict.com. Neither does anyone else but this book. I had never seen such a conjugation table before. The only thing close to that are reflexive verb's conjugation tables but they make sense. This is what I could only describe as an "intransitive conj. table" but I didn't think such a thing existed. I've been told many times that verbs like gustar are completely regular verbs. Nothing special about them except that they work reversed to their English counterparts and therefore often cause confusion. According to this table though there is a whole "species" of verbs that must only be used in 3rd person sing. or plural.

I'm not sure how to interpret the book's remark. Does it have to be used this way or is it mostly commonly used that way ? We immediately looked up gustar, encantar and doler and bingo - they are all conjugated that same way in this book with the same remark.

Q1. What kind of conjugation table is this ? Q2. I keep hearing those verbs being referred to as "verbs like gustar". It appears to me now that there oughta be a proper grammatical term for them. What is it ? It clearly is not the same as other intransitive verbs. Q3. Could it be that this is a group of verbs that can only be intransitive whereas very many other verbs can be transitive and intransitive ? Q4. If so then wouldn't the above phrase be grammatically impossible ?

Other sites also treat is as a completely regular verb as far as conjugation goes

http://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb_conjugation/faltar

They have a little note saying how it is mostly being used but nobody says it can only be used this way. Websters table, however, makes me think it cannot be used any other way.

Possible example :

I need you. - Me faltas. You need us - Te faltamos.

Something doesn't click with me - help !

stucky

Answer 1

Faltar and gustar are similar in that they have "to be" built into them. I see no reason why either of them should be used only in the third person...but they frequently are used in they third person when English would use a verb in second or first person, but that is just because since they have "to be" built into them, the verbs are making the subject what English would prefer to have as the object and vice-versa.

"No gustes" is technically possible, but it probably isn't too common a thing to say, just because of the meaning. (I just can't imagine going around ordering people to not be pleasing to others...but, who knows, maybe it IS a common thing to say)

It sounds like the webster conjugation tables are either confusing or just wrong and should probably be ignored. The verbs conjugate normally but just have the "to be" built into the meaning.

Although, it appears faltar -- just looking at the various meanings -- can actually work like a normal verb (as well as like gustar)...but I could be wrong. (ex. to be absent vs. to fail)

Answer 2

Also here is another problem I have. If gustar and faltar and the same types of verbs then why couldn't I say :

¡No gustes! - Don't be pleasing !

Or can I ?

I answered that somewhere else, I think, have a look at the flashcard set I created for the site on gustar, Gustar can be used with any person. I am giving lots of examples there.

Yo gusto

tu gustas.....

¿No te gusto? No me gustas. Nos gustamos.

Faltar has nothing to do with gustar, it is a normal verb, conjugated as such.

Yo falto a clase. Faltas mucho?

I mean, the book you are using is not recommendable.

Answer 3

Hi stucky, well no.

Elena is the subject of this sentence:

ElenA falta, falta Elena.

Makes no difference in Spanish, structure is not as strict as in English.

Faltar: to fail to come, to miss

¡No faltes! You must come! (Don't miss it, don't fail to come, literally)

Answer 4

I can't answer all of your questions, but as far as ¡no faltes! it's a correct way to say "Don't miss it!" It the negative command of "faltar," which is not always conjugated with an indirect object. e.g., "Falta una chica." (One girl is missing).

Answer 5

Guys

I'm at a loss as far as trusting any source goes these days. It appears any book (and I believe Webster's is supposed to be a good source) or online source can be totally wrong in what they teach.

It's frustrating that I can never believe anything I read anywhere even proper grammar books.

Does anyone else have this book ?

I found the online version here:

faltar

Please go to page 343 just so you can see that I'm not loco. I'm getting somewhat annoyed with so many proper books that, apparently, I cannot trust.

This book seem highly recommended but I don't know why. i can't be the only one here who has used this book.

Has nobody else stumbled onto this before ?

It is a limitied preview of the book and you can't go to page 343. - 0074b507, MAY 9, 2010

How did it work for me then ? You can also search for "faltar" - stucky101, MAY 9, 2010

Answer 6

D'hou !

I just saw something. I had not noticed that they actually define this word twice in a row.

Once as "To lack, to miss" and then again on the next page as "To be lacking to be missing" which is the version I always looked at.

Well that explains it all. Not so bad a book after all right Heidita ? Of course, one has to read all pages.

Let me summarize :

Me falta un boli - "To be lacking, be missing" No faltes - "To lack/miss"

Correct ?

Answer 7

Is the author of your text the same person as the author of this article which states the same things: faltar is only conjugated in 1st and 3rd person and always requires an indirect object pronoun?

faltar-Spanish

Moral of the story: don't believe everything that you read online.

From an article on gustar:

Since the subject of the sentence must be either singular (book) or plural (books), the only forms of gustar you will use are "gusta" and "gustan." This is true regardless of what IO pronoun appears in the sentence.

This "rule" only applies in this specific context where the subject was an inanimate noun.

Answer 8

Heidita's example makes faltar's meaning of "to be absent o missing (estar ausente)" really clear:

Falto a clase. Faltas mucho?

This, then, it what "No faltes" is meaning. Gracias, Heidita.

Answer 9

Look at my first post again. This book conjugates faltar in a way I've never seen before :

Stucky, the book does not conjugate the verb correctly, so neither you nor I should be interested.

Answer 10

One other thing, I believe there is a slight preference to putting the subject, if stated, after the verb in these gustar-like verbs (where "to be" is built into the meaning).

Answer 11

Heidita

That's exactly it. Your conjugation table doesn't match the one in Websters New World Word book.

Look at my first post again. This book conjugates faltar in a way I've never seen before :

• me falta(n)
• te falta(n)
• le falta(n)
• nos falta(n)
• os falta(n)
• les falta(n)

This is how they conjugate all such verbs in this book. Wouldn't this make you think they can only be used in the 3rd person sing/plural ?

Also here is another problem I have. If gustar and faltar and the same types of verbs then why couldn't I say :

¡No gustes! - Don't be pleasing !

Or can I ?

Answer 12

It pleases/disgusts/pains/enchants/troubles/surprises/puzzles/shocks/stuns/gratifies/amuses/appalls/disturbs/astounds/terrifies/tickles/offends me that ... (just a few "gustar-like" verbs in English that occur to me offhand).

The only thing "special" about 'gustar' is that a very common word and that English speakers who encounter it when learning Spanish all seem to forget about the existence in English of the numerous "backward" words (that are used in the same sorts of constructions as 'gustar') and act as though 'gustar' were, somehow, weird.

The fact that the most common English equivalents to Spanish expressions involving 'gustar' use 'like' (which follows a different syntactic pattern), is irrelevant. The convenience and ease-of-learning for English speakers studying Spanish has not been (nor is it likely to be) a major force in the development/evolution of the Spanish language.

Answer 13

I don't understand stucky, this is the conjugation of faltar.

Answer 14

Heidita

Thank you. However, what do you make of this weird conjugation table then ?

me falta(n) te falta(n) le falta(n) nos falta(n) os falta(n) les falta(n)

This doesn't look like what I'd expect for a regular verb.

Answer 15

Ok so "Falta Elena" means "Is missing Elena" right ?

It's so tempting to think of Elena as a DO in this contruction and therefore of faltar as transitive. Then again if that were true it'd have to be "Falta a Elena".

However, aren't we missing the IO to whom she is missing ? Is this short for "Me/Te/Le/Nos/Os/Les falta Elena" or are we really not saying who she is missing to ?

I guess what confuses me is that this is clearly an intransitive verb but I don't see an IO. "Me falta un IO" haha..