La Palabra del Día : pretender

Question

**pretender - to pretend; to try, to aspire; to claim, to apply for, to court **

Post your sentences in Spanish and English, then vote for the ones you like. The best answer will be chosen tomorrow on the basis of the greatest number of votes and language correctness.

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And don't forget to correct your posts as suggested. Do N O T ever use subject pronouns!

Pretende ser medico en el futuro

She aspires to be a doctor in the future.

vaanz, seperate the words, good sentence - 00494d19, Jul 10, 2010

we could be politically correct and say doctorA....but this is ok - 00494d19, Jul 10, 2010

in Spain, medico - 00494d19, Jul 10, 2010

Looks like she will have the requisite bed side manner. - 0074b507, Jul 10, 2010

Answer 1

¿Qué pretendes decir? - What do you mean?

Estupendo. - ray76, Jul 10, 2010

great - 00494d19, Jul 10, 2010

Gracias :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 10, 2010

Answer 2

In the divorce, the wife claims the vacation house and car. The husband can keep his dog.

En el divorcio, la esposa pretende la casa de vacaciones y el auto. El esposo puede quedarse con su perro.

Was that a good swap do you think ? At least this dog is cheaper to keep and has lovely eyes. - ray76, Jul 10, 2010

Who could resist that cute dog? - Brynleigh, Jul 10, 2010

Good example Marianne! Ella quiere conseguir o pretende... realmente lo merece? :) - Benz, Jul 10, 2010

Answer 3

Odd. No one seems to be reading the numerous comments saying that pretender does not have the context of pretend in English when it means faking or falsely representing something. I thought that the purpose of these exercises was to present example sentences of the contexts in which the words are used. This thread seems to be failing miserably at that. I can not say that it is the fault of the author of the thread for not moderating the topic, since the explanation is being offered over and over again.

Could I suggest using the flag for inaccuracy as this is exactly the situation that it is intended for. So that one person doesn't teach 100 others an incorrect usage.

Ver conjugación pretender.

(Del lat. praetend?re).

1. tr. Querer ser o conseguir algo.

2. tr. Hacer diligencias para conseguir algo.

3. tr. Dicho de una persona: Cortejar a otra.

Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados

There is no context of fingir or simular mentioned here.

What is more disturbing is that these incorrect replies are getting voted up. It points out a complete failure of that system for preventing incorrect answers.

Good point. I just trusted that the definition supplied on the "Word of the Day" question was accurate. I didn't know that the definition wasn't correct and I didn't check the definition of "pretender" in my dictionary. - Pajaro44, Jul 11, 2010

The word of the day in not incorrect. It does mean pretend. In English pretend has several different meanings. The one that means fake does not apply to pretender, (or so I thought). sanlee found a dictionary that says it does. I think that it is - 0074b507, Jul 11, 2010

wrong, but I'd bow to the knowledge of the natives that use the word. - 0074b507, Jul 11, 2010

read this article: http://spanish.about.com/od/wordsweshare/p/pretend.htm - 0074b507, Jul 11, 2010

Answer 4

¿Pretendes volverme loca?

Do you mean to drive me crazy?/Are you trying to drive me crazy?

I like this one :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 11, 2010

Answer 5

Alexandro pretendió a la hija de mi tio.

Alexander courted my uncle's daughter.

Excellent example! - Benz, Jul 10, 2010

Thanx Benz :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 10, 2010

Wouldn't that be his prima. That's incest in some places. - 0074b507, Jul 11, 2010

It says "my" uncle, not his. - fontanero, Jul 12, 2010

Answer 6

Por un momento, vamos a pretender que no hay guerra.

For a moment, let us pretend there is no war.

Beautiful :) - Brynleigh, Jul 10, 2010

Can you use 'pretender in this way? I thought it was a bit of a false friend in that regard. It might be better to use fingir or simular. - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 10, 2010

or imaginar :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 10, 2010

No Maria-Claire. It's anice example but a native would say.... vamos a hacer de cuenta que no existen... :) - Benz, Jul 12, 2010

Answer 7

Be very careful with this verb. Sometimes it means "finjir" or "disimular" and in Spanish these verbs work better than "pretender". I guess it's a question of collocations

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pretender verbo transitivo: ¿qué pretendes con esa actitud? what do you hope to gain with that attitude?;

pretendía entrar sin pagar he was trying to get in without paying;

no pretendo saberlo todo I don't claim to know everything;

lo único que pretendía era ayudar I was only trying to help;

¿pretendes que te crea? do you expect me to believe you?

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Diccionario Espasa concise inglés-español © 2000 Espasa Calpe:

pretender verbo transitivo

1 (aspirar, intentar) to expect, try to: pretendía que le diera la razón, he was trying to make me agree with him pretende ser actriz, she hopes to become an actress

2 (simular) to try: pretendió no habernos visto, he pretended he hadn't seen us

3 frml (cortejar) to woo, court

Answer 8

¿Que pretende usted de mi? What do you want of me?

jajajaja I like this one!! - Benz, Jul 10, 2010

Answer 9

No puedo creer que pretendiera enamorarse de mi simplemente por mi dinero.

I can't believe she pretended to fall in love with me simply for my money.

Answer 10

No pretiendo saber todas las respuestas. ( saber / sé ? )

I don't pretend to know all the answers.

I need some help with this, particularly conjugations.

Also, if I remove the word no, does it become " I aspire to know all the answers" ?

Todas - 192flat, Jul 10, 2010

No pretendo saber todas las respuestas... good example! :) - Benz, Jul 10, 2010

Don't I need es or esta? - fontanero, Jul 10, 2010

No, otherwise it would say, I don't pretend 'is' to know all the answers :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 11, 2010

Thank you Benz and Maria. - fontanero, Jul 11, 2010

Answer 11

¡Cómo se puede pretender que mi comida sepa horrible!

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How can you claim that my food taste horrible!

It is best to stay out of the way of the tempermental cook! LOL - Brynleigh, Jul 10, 2010

Change my mind, really, is delicious;) - Silvia, Jul 11, 2010

Answer 12

Todos nosotros pretendemos ser estrellas.

All of us aspire to be stars.

So true! - Silvia, Jul 11, 2010

Answer 13

Cuando estoy en la oficina, pretendo (finjo) que estoy trabajando, pero, en realidad, estoy aprendiendo español en SpanishDict.com.

When I am in the office, I pretend that I am working, but I am really learning Spanish on SpanishDict.com.

I think "finjo" works better than "pretendo" here :) - Benz, Jul 10, 2010

Benz, gracias...you just taught me a new verb! - Lucrecia, Jul 11, 2010

Answer 14

Ayer, mi hija pasó sus exámenes de enfermería y ahora pretende ser una enfermera practicante en el futuro.

Yesterday my daughter passed her nursing exams and now she aspires to be a nurse practicioner in the future.

Answer 15

¡No pretendas ser otra, sólo permanece fiel a tu identidad!.

Don't pretend to be other, just stay true to your identity!.

Perfect!!! - Benz, Jul 10, 2010

Gracias Benz. - Krama, Jul 10, 2010

...be another........ - 005faa61, Jul 10, 2010