A tricky translation, can someone help please?

Question

Hi All,

I received the following in an SMS (from a Mexican girl), and I am having a very difficult time understanding it fully: "Pues no se que tengo que pensar, claro que quiero estar contigo y no hay mas que pensar" If I translate it, I get: "As I don't know that I have to think, of course I want to be with you and there is no more than to think."

Needless to say, I get the basic I idea (I think), but on the overall my translation is not exactly clear. The first and last parts of the message are very unclear to me.

I'm hoping someone here can put me out of my confusion!

Answer 1

The problem here is with the word-for-word translation. Apparently she has been asked what she thinks about the idea of being with you and she says "I don't know what I am supposed to think." "Of course I want to be with you." "And there is nothing left to say." In this last phrase, she is using "Pensar" as a way of saying "To say."

And yes, "sé" uses an accent mark. Lazarus is just testing you.

Thanks so much for your help! - NickDan, Jan 9, 2011

Answer 2

A significant percentage of posts in this forum are due to misunderstandings because texts contain misspellings, but a lot of people people still don't believe that writing correctly is important. See if you can understand that text better now:

Pues no sé qué tengo que pensar. ¡Claro que quiero estar contigo! Y no hay más que pensar.

At the risk of appearing to be a total idiot, I have to admit that the first and last sentences have me stumped. The usage of "que" has lost me. Also, shouldn`t "se" have an accent mark on the "e"? Thanks very much for your help! - NickDan, Jan 9, 2011

You are 100% right: "sé" has an accent because it means "I know" - lazarus1907, Jan 9, 2011