special uses of "que"

Question

I often see que pop up in situations where I don't know what the rule is. eg. "de hecho, que íbamos a llamar a este lugar "nuestro lugar". translated to in "fact, we were going to call this place "our place." (machine trans.) I would've used "nos ibamos..." or just "ibamos...", but then it doesn't come out the same. Thanx for any help!

Answer 1

Livingtool translated: "It's a fact that we were going to call this place our place"

I agree -- that is my translation also: the use of "que" here is simply translated as "that".

I would translate "De hecho" in this case as "In fact".

Answer 2

Hi.

I'd translate it as: "It's a fact that we were going to call this place our place"

That "que" is conditional, and in the case of that sentence, makes reference to an obvious action they were going to take regarding that matter.

Hope it helps.

Answer 3

Actually, "que" it's a tricky word... in this case, it is ok to say : "de hecho, ibamos a llamar a este lugar, nuestro lugar" ..is the same meaning, although, with "que" your are emphasizing the place that is going to be "our place".

It's wrong to use "nos ibamos..." because, "nos" means "us" ..in english you can say "we are going to call this place, our place"...and it means, that you and other people are going to call the place, our place.. but if you use "nos ibamos " means we were going...(like move to other place) and in this example the word "ibamos" doesn't mean "move" or "go", it means like somebody was thinking of doing something in the future...like "call this place, our place"