No tienes que VS No tienes de que

Question

No tienes que preocuparte. No tienes de que preocuparte. Don't worry about it. You don't have anything to worry about. I believe the de is a substitute for "any" in the second sentence. What do you think? Gracias.

Answer 1

Think of it this way:

No tienes que preocuparte. "tener que" means "to have to", thus "You don't have to worry"/"Don't worry"

No tienes de que ocuparte "You don't have anything of which to worry about." Or, "You have nothing of which to worry about."

Your belief about "de" becoming "any" seems to be on the right track

Yeah I think DE is like any here. Add another use for De then. - jeezzle, Jun 1, 2010

See my explanation below. - jeezzle, Jun 1, 2010

Answer 2

One one level, the final comment horrifies me. Were I to see a dictionary entry that suggested "any" as a translation for "de", I would be shocked.

No tienes de que ocuparte. A painfully "close" translation (trying to match the syntax and vocabulary of the English) would be "You have not that of which to concern yourself."

In and of itself, "de" does not mean "any". In something like "No tienes/hay de que ocuparte.", you have a (somewhat) idiomatic construction. It could also be translated as "You have nothing to worry about." / "You have no cause for concern." / etc. This does not mean that "de" means "any" / "nothing" / "no".

You cannot simply pick apart a translation from one language into another and expect to find some sort of "equivalence " for each word.

The "any" rule is for me not for general use. I know what it really means but I can translate it into "any" without interruption because I know immediately that any is a stopgap for the true meaning, but flows better to me. It's not for everyone. - jeezzle, Jun 1, 2010

I would hardly call it idiomatic though. No tienes DE que. The de is a reference point. It is referencing something. No tienes (nada) de que. Nada in the contruction would be anything in English. - jeezzle, Jun 1, 2010

So you can see why any is the word I choose. No tienes nada de que = You don't have ANY thing to worry about. Yes direct translations are bad etc... but I know what it really means, it's like pneumonics. These little rules help you learn, not hurt. For me - jeezzle, Jun 1, 2010