"She haunted his dreams"

Question

How do you say, "to haunt one's dreams" as in "she haunted his dreams"? (I mean it in a rather negative sense, but if there are different ways of saying it with different connotations, I'd be happy to hear those too.)

Thanks!

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I found this other question about the phrase "my ghosts haunt me", which was "mis fantasmas me acosan", though I'm not sure if that can be applied in this case.

Answer 1

Perseguido sus sueños.

Answer 2

What an interesting question. That's a tough one, I think only a native speaker could give a really useful answer. I'm toying with words like "merodear por sus sueños", atormentando sus sueños,embrujando... etc.

Nothing seems just right though, I look forward to the answer. Thanks.

I did google searches for each of those terms to see if they're used, and didn't see anything right away for merodear or embrujar, but atormentar got a few hits. - Soninmyeyes, Oct 17, 2010

That is to say, "atormentar" was in one document that came up a lot of times. - Soninmyeyes, Oct 17, 2010

Answer 3

Ella se acosaba sus sueños I still like that. Ella perseguido sus sueños" That's pretty good because it has the "persecute" vibe.

I decided to use the main pane to write as the messages were growing. I think we're on to something here but I would like a native speaker to comment. It seems you want the "haunt" to have a gothic quality, somewhat sinister?

There's probably a perfect, "gothicky" solution that neither of us have seen yet.

Hmm, I must try to get an hour or two of sleep. I have an appointment at 11 am and it's 7:15. I'll grab two hours. Goodnight, all the best .

Goodness, 7:15! Well, I do hope those two hours were fruitful for you. - Soninmyeyes, Oct 18, 2010

I agree about "se acosaba sus sueños", though I'm not sure about "perseguir"--I thought it would work too until I checked to see how it's used, and it mostly just seems to be in the positive light, like "follow your dreams"--inspirational stuff. - Soninmyeyes, Oct 18, 2010

Answer 4

I found this other question about the phrase "my ghosts haunt me", which was "mis fantasmas me acosan", though I'm not sure if that can be applied in this case.

I like that a lot. By the way, you do use the Translation option up there at the top of the screen, right? It's pretty handy for testing out ideas.

You can cut and paste stuff in to see what it suggests. It's machine translation but it can put you on the right track.

Yeah, I tested your suggestions with the translator--nothing came out literally, though I liked atormentar and merodear best--and for "she haunted his dreams" it said "ella perseguido sus sueños", which online was just used as "pursue dreams". - Soninmyeyes, Oct 18, 2010

If I were to use that in this sentences, then, would that be "ella se acosaba sus sueños"? - Soninmyeyes, Oct 18, 2010

"ella perseguido sus sueños" That's pretty good because it has the "persecute" vibe. - lagartijaverde, Oct 18, 2010

Answer 5

You're right--ideally what I'd like would be a bit more "gothicky", because I'm writing a review of Carlos Fuentes's novel Aura, and in this situation it's not necessarily a literal haunting, but might be. I guess I could go with the dictionary, which gives "aparecerse en/a" for "to haunt", and say "ella se aparecía en sus sueños" (would it be "sus" or "los"), though that sounds a bit too neutral.

Yes, I'd say it's about time for a native speaker to weigh in. Help!

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Edit: I just did another google check for "perseguido sus sueños", and either I missed something or I was reading wrong, because, although the use of it as "followed one's dreams" seems to be more common, as "haunted one's dreams" it is indeed correct. On search page one, here's the example I saw: "Entonces fijo su mirada en ese rostro que había perseguido sus sueños por dios sabe cuánto."