"He aquí" How is this translated

Question

How is the above translated?

Answer 1

Welcome to the forum!

This is an expression that can be translated as "here we have [an example of...]" or "I have here [an example of...]", or in some games that involve a winning number, the winner calls out "Helo aquí", meaning "I have it!".

I hope one of these suggestions fits in your context. Without context it is hit and miss regarding giving a specific answer.

Thank you very much. The context is from Dt 11:26, "He aquí que yo pongo hoy delante de ustedes la bendición y la maldición - frjohnbraun, Mar 5, 2011

Helo aquí = Here it is. It is impersonal, as is discussed below. It does not correspond to any person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd) and can be singular or plural, in this respect similar to "hay," but "he" is an imperative sense, calling one's attention. - hhmdirocco, Mar 5, 2011

Answer 2

In the Bible, it translates as "Behold..." or a more modern translation might be "See...", but "he aquí" has nothing to do with seeing...it's just what Spanish uses for the same thing that we use "behold / see" for in these types of cases. It's more like, as mountaingirl said, "Here you have..."

For Bible verses, you can usually just look at the same verse in an English translation to get a good idea of how something like that is being used.

Buena respuesta! - mountaingirl123, Mar 5, 2011

Thanks, mountaingirl. - webdunce, Mar 5, 2011

Good answer. - Dakie, Mar 5, 2011

And there's always "Lo!". Hard to beat that for brevity. - samdie, Mar 5, 2011

Answer 3

• he aquí — here is, here are. — He aquí una lista de nombres. Here is a list of names.
  • Heme aquí. — Here I am.
  • He lo aquí. He lo allí. He los aquí. He los allí. — Here it is. There it is. Here they are. There they are.
  • ¡He dicho! — And that's that

He in these phrases is an impersonal form of haber similar to hay, había, hubo, habrá, etc. (not being used as an auxiliary verb). These verbs are all 3rd person forms, so translating He aquí as "I" have here seems incorrect. Notice that the only form above involving "I" employs the pronoun me to convey 1st person.

La forma he, en expresiones como he aquí, he allí, es un verbo defectivo impersonal que manifiesta la mera existencia de "algo en algún lugar" y no, como sostienen algunos especialistas y otros tantos diccionarios, que es imperativo de haber o adverbio demostrativo. Su función es igual a la de hay, pero, en el caso de he, presenta la existencia ante los ojos, por eso se lo complementa siempre con las palabras aquí o allí, o bien, con un complemento directo: he aquí a tu madre; he allí a tu hijo.

"en el caso de he, presenta la existencia ante los ojos" ... so, in a way, it does have something to do with seeing, which is how it is frequently used (behold). - webdunce, Mar 5, 2011

I agree - 0074b507, Mar 5, 2011

Excellent info, Q. The key here is "verbo defectivo." It does not conform to "rules" of conjugation & usage. - hhmdirocco, Mar 5, 2011

I don't know where the "he aquí A tu madre" and "he alli A tu hijo" come from. My Spanish Bible has (and it sounds better to me) "... he ahí tu madre" and "He ahí tu hijo" (Juan 19:26,27). - hhmdirocco, Mar 5, 2011

Answer 4

He in these phrases is an impersonal form of haber...

Impersonal? Funny, it matches 3rd person (2nd person formal) and 2nd person informal imperative, not that that means anything. I've always found that confusing because frequently it does not match the context because it's always he regardless of how the person is being addressed (tú, usted, vosotros, or ustedes).

But impersonal definitely makes some sense.

The fact that it is always the same and does not vary with person is why it is impersonal. Similar to non-finite forms of verbs, the participle, infinitive. They do not change with person. - 0074b507, Mar 5, 2011

I anddition to what Quentin said, it does don refer to any particular person. Given the Spanish verb system, it has to be some grammatical person. - samdie, Mar 5, 2011