Word of the day-pisar?

Question

The sentence below was given as an example but I really do not get it. How do you know if he did it or she did it and how do you know it was a foot? He may have been lying on the floor and she stepped on his head. Could someone clarify this for me, por favor?

La pisó sin querer. - He accidentally stepped on her foot.

Gracias

Good catch. - Echoline, Feb 17, 2011

Answer 1

Con la frase"La pisó sin querer" no podemos saber si fue pisada en el pie , en la cabeza o en otra parte del cuerpo,pero como generalmente la gente no está tirada en el suelo,solemos imaginar que la piso en el pie.

Pero si alguien entra en una habitación en la que la gente esté durmiendo en el suelo( o muerta en el suelo),si que podrias pisarla en cualquier parte del cuerpo.

Ej :"Luis estaba durmiendo en el suelo y le pisé sin querer en la cabeza"

very well put! - Silvia, Feb 16, 2011

Answer 2

I am a little disappointed that spanishdictionary.com gave such a bad example

Well, as I said before, I couldn't have thought of any better example

Therefore I am going to make an attempt to rewrite the sentence using the English and translating to Spanish:

Wow, now that is really overdoing it foxluv, do you think your Spanish is better than Paralee's?

Él pisó a ella en el pie sin querer.

This sentence would not be understood.

I never said in my original question that the sentence was incorrect but I needed to understand how the sentence was constructed to mean what it was translated to which you already explained. - foxluv, Feb 17, 2011

Answer 3

He may have been lying on the floor and she stepped on his head. Could someone clarify this for me, por favor?

No, not possible, the subject might have been a she, she stepped on her foot (some woman's foot) ..

Pisar implies automatically on the foot, otherwise you would mention where.

Le pisó la cabez, le pisó la mano...

La pisó sin querer. - He accidentally stepped on her foot.

This sentence is perfectly clear and a very good example for this verb.

Good catch. - Echoline

Weird thing to say, the sentence couldn't be clearer.

Gracias Heidita! I kept reading implied but was not understanding what was implied, so thanks for clearing this up. - foxluv, Feb 17, 2011

Answer 4

¿Qué sucedío con la torta?

La pisó sin querer.

Answer 5

I am a little disappointed that spanishdictionary.com gave such a bad example when I am using example sentences to totally delve into learning the language. Therefore I am going to make an attempt to rewrite the sentence using the English and translating to Spanish:

He accidentally stepped on her foot.

Él pisó a ella en el pie sin querer.

Following what was explained earlier, saying pisar a alguien en el pie will be redundant, since it is already implied that it was the foot that was stepped on.

You only state a part of the body if it is other than the foot, again since stepping on someone's foot is already implied in pisar a alguien.

So what you are saying is that the only missing part in the original sentence is "a alguien" which I am assuming follows "La pisó"? - foxluv, Feb 17, 2011

You don't need to put "a alguien." The "la" refers already to "ella." "La pisó" is already a complete sentence. "He/She stepped on her (foot)." - Deanski, Feb 17, 2011

Alguien is a general term, just like "someone" or "somebody" in English. It could either be él or ella. - Deanski, Feb 17, 2011

Answer 6

I am a little disappointed that spanishdictionary.com gave such a bad example when I am using example sentences to totally delve into learning the language. Therefore I am going to make an attempt to rewrite the sentence using the English and translating to Spanish:

He accidentally stepped on her foot.

Él pisó a ella en el pie sin querer.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Gracias

Answer 7

How do you know if he did it or she did it

The "la" in "La pisó sin querer." is an object pronoun and not a subject pronoun and since "la" is feminine we know that "she" was the one being stepped on. Of course without any context we can't tell from that sentence alone who was doing the stepping or what part of the body was stepped on.

Answer 8

You´re right. Without any context, you don´t know.