You will go to understand/know

Question

Just noticed that whereas English speakers might say 'you will come to know/understand' it seems that the Spanish expression would be 'you will go to know/understand".

Irá entendiendo ...

Is that right?

Good question! - --Mariana--, Dec 1, 2010

Yes cery good and interesting:) - FELIZ77, Dec 1, 2010

Answer 1

Maybe someone whose English is better or can translate better than me will correct me, but I'd say that:

You will come to understand... = Terminarás/acabarás entendiendo...

You will come to understand... = Llegaras a entender...

You''ll be gradually understanding... = Irás entendiendo...

"To come to + [verb]" is more like "Llegar a + [verb]". Both exploit the metaphor of physical destination, but with different verbs.

nice Lazarus, that's a great explanation, gracias and I think you'll be hard pressed to find someone with better English who'd be brave enough to correct you lol :) - Kiwi-Girl, Dec 1, 2010

Corrections.....we don't need no stinkin' corrections.... Lazarus, as always, love the insight and the learning!! :) - Jason7R, Dec 1, 2010

Answer 2

"To come to + [verb]" is more like "Llegar a + [verb]". Both exploit the metaphor of physical destination, but with different verbs.

I'd like to offer one that actually used "to go" but I can't think of any. Other (less colloquial) possibilities "You'll arrive at an understanding." / "You'll achieve/reach an understanding." / "You'll get to the point of understanding." These still exploit the physical destination metaphor (the first, more obviously than the latter two).

Because all three of these use "understanding" which an also mean "an agreement", they could be made clearer/more explicit by adding "of the question/problem/etc."