"Espero que llegaste bien a casa"

Question

Hola, Una pregunta por favor:

I hope you arrived home alright

Espero que llegaste bien a casa??

Gracias

Subjunctive? - lorenzo9, Nov 1, 2010

huberias llegado?? no estoy del todo seguro - Aodhan, Nov 1, 2010

Just a quick correction: "All right" is two words. - --Mariana--, Nov 1, 2010

If you say "llegaste" bien a casa, you are informing the other person that he or she arrived home well, which doesn't make sense, since you are saying that you hoped it happened. - lazarus1907, Nov 1, 2010

Answer 1

Marianne and Lorenzo, you are right! Subjuntive is required here.

Espero que llegaras bien a casa

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Espero que llegases bien a casa

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Espero que hayas llegado bien a casa

Thanks, Laura! - --Mariana--, Nov 1, 2010

Thanks Coqumela, I see from the dictionnary that "llegaras" is far more common than "llegases", except in Spain. I never knew there were two forms. - Aodhan, Nov 1, 2010

Answer 2

alright see all right
Usage: The single-word form alright is still considered by many people to be wrong or less acceptable than all right. This is borne out by the data in the Bank of English, which suggests that the two-word form is about twenty times commoner than the alternative spelling.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Perhaps they should conduct a similar survey on "commoner" vs. "more common", unless they really meant to refer to people not belonging to nobility.

I think that Aodhan is asking about the tense, but that's interesting! Thanks, Lorenzo! - cogumela, Nov 1, 2010

I just find it amusing when grammar experts castigating nonstandard usage make such a huge error themslves. - lorenzo9, Nov 1, 2010

Answer 3

I'm not sure if you can say that "you arrived okay" in Spanish by using "bien."

The "espero que" requires the imperfect subjunctive of "llegaras."

Let's wait for more answers on this question.

requires the imperfect subjunctive of "llegar" ("llegaras"). The basis for referring to "the X tense of ..." would be the infinitive. - samdie, Nov 1, 2010

Answer 4

which suggests that the two-word form is about twenty times commoner than the alternative spelling.

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Perhaps they should conduct a similar survey on "commoner" vs. "more common", unless they really meant to refer to people not belonging to nobility.

The context makes it completely clear that "commoner" is the comparative of an adjective, rather than a noun.

The usual rule-of-thumb for comparatives is: for one (and most two-syllable) adjectives, simply add 'er' and for (some two-syllable and) anything more that two syllables precede the adjective by "more".

Personally, if I'd been writing (or editing) the Collins Thesaurus entry, I'd have said "more common".

Answer 5

What's your question? "Do I hope that you arrived home alright?"

Or... are you asking if alright can translate to bien? If so, you are correct.

Just a quick correction: "All right" is two words. - --Mariana--, Nov 1, 2010

Yes, my questions was if "bien" is the right way of translating "alright". - Aodhan, Nov 1, 2010

Also, if llegar or volver is the best verb to use - Aodhan, Nov 1, 2010

Alright is acceptable and is shown in the Oxford English Dictionary with the comment that it is non-standard and considered by some people to be incorrect. It is widely spelt as one word. - aeroplod, Nov 1, 2010