No me da la gana VS no me dan ganas
So "No me da la gana" is rude, but "no me dan ganas" is not rude? Is that right? Why is "No me da la gana" considered rude, or am I wrong about that? Gracias.
3 Answers
"No me da la gana" sounds rude because it suggests that you are going to impose your whimsical will with or without reason. You don't want to give any answer, you're not going to aport any impart information about you, rather, you are quite fed up, you want somebody to leave you alone, and as far as you are concerned, the conversation is over. Why "no me da la gana" sounds in this way is something I can't answer, I guess it is idiomatic.
"No me dan ganas" is an unusual expression for me, that could mean "No tengo ganas", "it doesn't seem very appealing to me", which is not rude. Here, you're just informing the others about your desire.
¿Por qué no ordenas tu habitación?
-Ahora no. Not now
Pero si no estás haciendo nada, ¡venga, anímate!
-No me apetece. I don't want to do it now
¿Por qué no te apetece?
-Porque no. Because I don't want to
'Porque no' no es una respuesta, ¿por qué no lo haces?
-(In increasing order of irritation: ¡Porque no me la gana! / ¡Porque no me da la (real/santísima/other colourful adjectives) gana! / ¡Porque no me sale de las ...!) I'll do it when I feel like it!
I think everything is pretty well explained by Cogumela and Lorenzo. For better or worse, the links indicated by Lorenzo may still leave some room for confusion, because there are several opinions discussed. I just want to add my understanding of the terms, to support Cogumela's answer:
"No me da la gana": definitely a rude way to say: "I can't be bothered"; "Coz I don't wanna"; "Just because (I don't want to)", and "Bugger off!"
I agree with Cogumela that "No me dan ganas" sounds a bit strange. I would also prefer "no tengo ganas", meaning: "I am not up to for that", "I don't feel like it", "I'm not in the mood for that".
