A tientas = a ciegas?

Question

Tienta = trial. A tientas = blindly like a ciegas? why?

Great question. - --Mariana--, Dec 9, 2010

Answer 1

Una persona en la oscuridad no ve nada: va a ciegas(=como un ciego).

Los ciegos generalmente para no tropezar y caerse, caminan tentando(=tocando=examinando=reconociendo). El verbo tentar es de la familia de la palabra tacto.

Ej:"La luz se apagó,y como Laura no podía ver, avanzaba a tientas"(=tocando la pared,tocando los muebles,...)buscando la salida".

No, I've seen a ciegas used in the same way as you are using a tientas there, in a Clive Cussler novel. - jeezzle, Dec 8, 2010

Answer 2

Every language has those weird random idiom-ish things. English especially, and Spanish has a lot!

Answer 3

My understanding is this.

• Él va a ciegas, sin ver, con los ojos cerrados.
• Él va a tientas, sin ver, con los ojos cerrados.

In the first example, he goes 'blindly', as a blind person would, as in 'not having the ability to see'..

In the second example, he goes 'as a blind person, probing and testing to recognize where he is'.

But then, I could be wrong....