¿Usted dónde corre? - Sentence Grammar

Question

It's probably correct as it is, but a verbatim English translation sounds wrong.

"¿Usted dónde ________ (verb)?"

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Examples:

¿Usted dónde duerme? - You when sleep? ¿Usted dónde camina? - You when walk? ¿Usted dónde trabaja? - You when work?

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Is it suppose to be said like that in Spanish, as counterintuitive as it may seem in light of English grammar?

Answer 1

HI sensu, nice post, welcome to the forum

yes, i am a teacher, and the other way round, trust me, the students have a very hard time learning the use of to do in questions, not logical at all to us

I mean...really, it should read:

¿Dónde trabaja usted?

However, like in English, the sentence can be changed to:

Usted, ¿Dónde trabaja?

In English it is common to say:

You live in England? You actually speak Spanish?

In very colloquial sentences the to do is often not used, in Spanish the counterpart would be placing the subject before the verb.

so 'donde' means 'to do'? ( I thought it could be used to mean 'where' or 'when') - sensu123, Jul 27, 2010

Answer 2

¿Usted dónde duerme? - You where sleep? ¿Usted dónde camina? - You where walk? ¿Usted dónde trabaja? - You where work?

Ohhhh, I have just seen the light!! Yesero, thanks for pointing this out to me, sensu, I did not even SEE that you translated this as when!!!

Dónde is where, not when, so look at the corrections.

When? cuándo

Thanks for the clarification. How do you copy my post so that it appears in a yellow box? - sensu123, Jul 28, 2010

Answer 3

so 'donde' means 'to do'? ( I thought it could be used to mean 'where' or 'when') - sensu123 9

HI, sensu, I know it is confusing.

To do, as an auxiliary verb like in English is not used in Spanish. (actually does not exist)

So this:

Do you speak English?

Changes to :

You speak English?

Spanish: ¿Hablas inglés?

Remember we do not use the subject pronouns.

Dónde means where, not when-

Answer 4

Sensu - if you double click the words you are enquiring about you will get a quick and easy translation.

Answer 5

From what I have seen, the usted is usaully at the end of the sentence as in the most common "Como esta Usted." I don't remember seeing the usted at the beginning of a sentence. But I think that in Spanish they have more freedom with that sort of thing and seem to insert the subject almost anywhere.