Mi pobrecito perro sabe que va a llover pronto

Question

Mi pobrecito perra sabe que va a llover pronto

Me mira con los ojos tristes, y parece que me preguntaba porque estoy por causarle sufrir a través de una tormenta.

Is that right? Gracias.

My poor dog knows its gonna rain soon.

She looks at me with sad eyes and seems like she was asking me why I'm in the mood to make her suffer through a storm.

She's a good little doggie.

Answer 1

My version:

Mi pobre perrita sabe que va a llover pronto. Me mira con ojos tristes, y parece que me preguntara por qué estoy en ánimo de hacerla sufrir con una tormenta.

Es una buena perrita.

(the bit about in the mood to make her suffer sounds weird to me in either language).

Maybe "why I want" or "why I feel like" would sound more natural in English. - arh1, Apr 19, 2011

Yeah... - Gekkosan, Apr 19, 2011

I just wasn't comfortable with my original version, so I changed "de ánimo" to "en ánimo". Looks better to me. - Gekkosan, Apr 19, 2011

Answer 2

Yes, the only thing you could change is the gender of the dog at the beginning of the English version or in the Spanish "Mi pobrecita perra" (We are decent people right?).

causarle sufrimiento - Dakie, Apr 19, 2011

or hacerla sufrir - Dakie, Apr 19, 2011

Answer 3

I suppose it shows that even native speakers express themselves differently.

Gonna isn't correct in written English, even though it may be used in speech. It would be all right if it was reported speech.

Sorry I know you asked for the Spanish to be corrected but my Spanish isn't good enough yet.

Answer 4

I won't say anything about the Spanish part but the second English sentence is a little off.

I think it would be closer to:

"She looks at me with sad eyes, and it seems like she was asking me why I'm in the mood to make her suffer through a storm."

I don't know why you switch to past tense (imperfect) in the middle of the sentence, though.

Ah, glad to see it's not just me. - Gekkosan, Apr 19, 2011

sure! - Dakie, Apr 19, 2011

Im majored in English so Im pretty sure I know how to speak it rather well, and it's also my mother tongue but that is how we speak in Texas. - jeezzle, Apr 19, 2011

viva texas!! - Dakie, Apr 19, 2011

I didn't mean to offend you, I just thought it sounded a little strange. - arh1, Apr 19, 2011

Im not offended, its just that we speak a bit idiomatically (due to our region) and it's somewhat colloquial but I wouldn't necessarilly call it outright "wrong". Thanks for your reply. - jeezzle, Apr 19, 2011

Answer 5

Mi pobre perrita sabe que va a llover pronto. Me mira con ojos tristes, y parece que me preguntara por qué estoy de ánimo de hacerla sufrir con una tormenta.

Well being in the mood to make someone suffer sounds fine to me in English, but you think "de ánimo de hacerla sufrir" is a lot better than "estoy por causarle sufrimiento" or "hacerla sufrir".

con/sin á. de -> with/without the intention of

con ánimo de - with the intention of

sin ánimo de - without the intention of

So you can say "estar de ánimo de" and it's somewhat like "estoy por" but means with the intention of same way as con ánimo de / sin ánimo de?

Gracias.

I don't like it, just because it sounds really strange to me. Not that it's incorrect, but it's a construction that does not come naturally to me. If I had such a mental image in my mind, and wanted to express it out loud, I would say: - Gekkosan, Apr 19, 2011

"me mira con ojos triste y parece que me preguntara por qué quiero hacerla sufrir". It is also possible to say "por qué estoy en humor de hacerla sufrir", but that also sounds peculiar to me. - Gekkosan, Apr 19, 2011

It's just the use of "mood to make suffer" that strikes me as unusual. - Gekkosan, Apr 19, 2011