Which is more grammatically correct?

Question

Which is more grammatically correct?

1.) ?Entiende usted mi opinión?

2.) ?Usted entiende mi opinión?

Does option 1.) sound slightly more aggressive?

I can't write "Entiende mi opinion?" because the piece I'm translating needs "usted" here for clarification.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Gracias

opinión - 0074b507, Sep 26, 2010

Answer 1

Number 1. Usually in Spanish you reverse the word order and put the subject after the noun in questions.

Answer 2

Thanks for taking the time to answer. This was for an introduction piece to use as an interpreter which I'll use on my course.

In the end I went with "¿Me explico?" as my classmate and I felt "¿Entiende usted?" almost implied that the client would not understand. "¿Me explico?" puts the onus on to me as an interpreter to explain myself well rather than the client being able to understand me.

I really appreciate your comments - they helped me arrive at that conclusion. Mil gracias

My parents always told me that it is not polite to say "¿Entiende(s)?", and that I should ask "¿Me explico?" - lazarus1907, Sep 30, 2010

I agree. It does feel far more polite asking "¿Me explico?" rather than "¿Entiende(s)?" or even "¿Me sntiende(s)?". - amy_moreno, Sep 30, 2010

Answer 3

Thanks for taking the time out to answer - I really appreciate it

Answer 4

Thanks for answering. Does it seem less formal to reverse the word order? Could I do it for a formal document?

In a formal document you better use No. 1. - lazarus1907, Sep 26, 2010

Number 2 sounds awkward and would be unusual. Number 1 is how it's almost always said in any situation. - KevinB, Sep 26, 2010

I'd always use the first word order in your example, but I can see me using the 2nd one in other cases, with slight different meaning than the 1st word order, eg: "¿Tú entiendes algo?" - bill1111, Sep 26, 2010