I'm fine thanks

Question

When offered something that I don't want I often reply 'I'm fine thanks', 'I'm OK thanks'. Kinda the same as 'I'm good' in American English.

According to a friend, this does not work in Spanish.

When awandering through Bogotá's Zona Rosa, one is occasionally offered to be taken to a strip club, on answering 'estoy bien gracias' my friend commented that I was telling that guy that I had already had my fill of prostitutes that evening.

Is there no other way of indicating your lack or interest than saying 'no'?

Lol...I find this funny Alex. Hopefully next time it's works out fine for you :) - HotChickCD, Feb 10, 2011

Oh, it's working out fine, the pimps probably think I'm really cool :-) - afowen, Feb 10, 2011

Answer 1

According to a friend, this does not work in Spanish.

No it does not work, I find the "I'm good" really weird and so grammatically wrong...well never mind

In Spanish you have to say:

Gracias , no tengo hambre, tengo suficiente, tengo bastante...no tengo sed..depending on context.

In this particular case: No gracias, no me interesa.

Answer 2

Man I said that just the other day, estoy bien Gracias. I had no idea I was talking about prostitutes.

Tricky this Spanish malarkey... - afowen, Feb 9, 2011

;) - jeezzle, Feb 9, 2011

Answer 3

Thanks Heidita, this is going to be a tough one to change.

'I'm good', sounds really wrong to me too, meaning something like 'by nature I am a decent person'. Still, 'I'm OK' and 'I'm fine' might sound odd to non-natives from the point of view of declining an offer.

A few times I've come back with 'No gracias, ya tengo demasiadas chicas'. I guess I'll just stick with that.