Entonces, ¿en qué quedamos?

Question

So where does that leave us = So where do we stand?

So where do I stand, is that ¿en qué quedo?

I have heard, donde quedo yo for where do I stand.

So what about Donde quedamos nosotros?

I assume any part of quedarSE is right out, (donde nos quedamos for instance, would be where are we staying, and not "where do you stand" I think)

So it looks like "En qué....... (quedar)" is the same as "Donde (quedar) pronoun)

Right on, everybody agree? Gracias

Answer 1

Hi Jeezz!

This sentence is the typical one that you'd say when someone seems to be contradictory, or he/she is not clear enough, or the issue is not totally transparent, for instance: politicians.

---

Primero dicen que van a subirnos el sueldo, y después no solo no lo hacen, sino que nos lo recortan y nos suben los impuestos. ¿En qué quedamos?

---

¿Te vienes con nosotros?

-Me apetece, pero tengo mucho que hacer.

-Vente, anda, ya lo harás mañana.

-No, no me apetece.

-¿En qué quedamos? = ¿Te apetece o no te apetece?

Wow that does seem a lot more like "so what's the deal" than "so where do we stand". Are they totally different then? Donde quedamos nosotros y ¿En qué quedamos? - jeezzle, May 24, 2011

Actually, I like this explanation a great deal. Cogumela is right in that it works well for settling contradictory statements. - Gekkosan, May 24, 2011

Answer 2

¿En qué quedamos?

Stress is very important here, or the meaning changes and the sentence sounds stupid.

quedar

1. intr. Ponerse de acuerdo, convenir en algo. Quedamos EN comprar la finca.

Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados

It means "What are we going to agree on?"

So what's the deal, then? - Gekkosan, May 24, 2011

I was just trying to translate it literally. - lazarus1907, May 24, 2011

I know it. But I know that Jeezle then wants to know how it works idomatically too. :) - Gekkosan, May 24, 2011

Sure. - lazarus1907, May 24, 2011

Answer 3

So how does that differ from "Donde quedamos nosotros" which I think of "so where do we stand"?

They're indeed similar.

"¿En qué quedamos?" to me means: so what are we going to agree to in the end?

Something that you'll say if you're negotiating something.

"¿Dónde quedamos?" means "what's the status between us? Where does this take us? Something that you'll say if you just had a big spat with someone, or are unsure about the status of a relationship.

In both cases the implied question is: what's the next step? Now what? There's definitely room for overlap there.

A lot of overlapping, indeed, which is why translating only makes things more complicated. - lazarus1907, May 24, 2011

Ahora veo que aunque son similares no son lo mismo, en absoluto. ;) - jeezzle, May 24, 2011

Trasnlating always makes things more complicated. To me, that's what makes a speaker "fluent": when he or she stops translating, and simply thinks in one language or the other. The only way to get there is practice. - Gekkosan, May 24, 2011

I find it really hard to translate sentences in both Spanish and English, even though I understand them perfectly in one language. This happens when I learnt the meaning without translation, of course. - lazarus1907, May 24, 2011

That happens to me occasionally, particularly, as you say, when I have lerned to meaning without translation, as in the case of idioms, for example. - Gekkosan, May 24, 2011

Answer 4

Or are they different ideas? Gracias.

You need to get used to learn Spanish in Spanish. Forget about English. "Quedar" means "ponerse de acuerdo", so just use it like that. But if you insists, "Where do we stand?" is not exactly what it means, even though it is close and it could be a match in some contexts.

Pues doy por supuesto que ponerse de acuerdo signfica que "llegar a un acuerdo" eso es? Gracias. - jeezzle, May 24, 2011

Answer 5

I can think in Spanish, and I do, often. But some things have certain meanings set, concrete, behind them. Even if it doesn't "translate" in English there still exists that meaning behind it, just as the two similar yet disparate meanings have shown themselves here. This is a big part of all my questions, they aren't so much, how do I say this, but more like how do I see this, how do I BE this. You know? The picture, the idea, behind the words. The words are only the ship through which the ideas travel.

¿en qué quedamos? seems like "so where do we end up, with our agreement" (financial agreement, whatever)

and

¿donde quedamos nosotros? is more like "so where do we stand" and that has little do to with agreements, (although it could include agreements) example, it could be used in a relationship where someone might be breaking up

I am uncertain of whether or not the other one could mean that, or if they both could.

I see not how this has to do with English translations, but more the very meanings behind the sentences. Certainly, I could learn the meanings in Spanish ONLY but it seems to make little difference whether Spanish or English gives one the gist, for I speak not of the translation, but the implied meaning behind the set of words, the inherent, specific meaning and I don't see what that has to do with translations at all.

You say azul you see the color not the word blue. Just as when I say "¿en qué quedamos?" or ¿donde quedamos nosotros? I see the situation happening in my mind, not the words.... that has little to do with translations. it's just that my world happens around me in English, while I tend to participate in that world, through Spanish.

Yeah - it's just... different levels of translation. You're getting there, doubtlessly. It goes from the literal, word by word to, precisely as you say, meaning to meaning. Eventually it stops being about words, and becomes concepts. - Gekkosan, May 24, 2011

Answer 6

In a business meeting, "What have we agreed on?" and "What do we agree on?" mean very different things, but the rest of the time the difference is negligible.

Answer 7

So how does that differ from "Donde quedamos nosotros" which I think of "so where do we stand"? Because, "what's the deal" and "what's the agreement" seem really similar to my idea of "where do we stand" to me, are they just the same? Or are they different ideas? Gracias.