Ending a sentence with fue

Question

Many people here seem to stick "fue" onto the end of sentences for reasons that I don't understand. One example is:

A las cuatro fue.

referring to a sporting event happening later that afternoon. Another is

Una cola fue.

for hand me a cola.

This in coastal Ecuador. The above are just two examples, it seems to happen a lot in spoken Spanish. It's probably just a regional colloquialism.

Is that first example just an unusual word order? We might do that in English to add emphasis? - At 4 it was! instead of It was at 4. - galsally, Aug 17, 2011

Answer 1

Dame un coca = hand me a coke

una coca fue! = a coke it is.!

Answer 2

I had that question last Sunday, which I brought up in this thread. The "fue"seemed a bit redundant and unnecessary. However, in your case, the word fue seems to be more of a mystery.

I am interested to hear what others have to say.

Answer 3

Both are weird to me, the first one would be normal like this:

A las cuatro fue ________.

or

Fue a las cuatro.

The second one is even rarer that the first one and I would need more context to fix it.

Answer 4

A coke it was/is!

I think I can imagine an unspoken complete sentence that could be going on here:

It was a coke you ordered, and here it is.

Maybe the 'was' from the order is the 'fue'?

Maybe nobody else will understand what I'm thinking!

Another try:

Is it just an abbreviated version of

"A coke it was you ordered!" (Implicit - Here it is!)

Answer 5

Another thought - as we know, in spoken language people don't always stick to the rules or even make sense.

My 'ex' never asks:

"Do you want a drink?"

rather

"Did you want a drink?"

or

"What did you want to drink?"

I believe this is quite a common construction in certain regions. I associate it more with Ireland normally, however my 'ex' is from Norfolk, England.

This example is to illustrate another use of a verb which seems to be in the incorrect tense. - galsally, Aug 17, 2011

Answer 6

Good question!

Where, or what accent, idiom, type, country, region of Spanish speakers did this question come from?

It's not too far out of the realm of my understanding of Colombian (Medellin, Antioquia, Paisa) Spanish. I could just be a local saying.

Roy

Answer 7

Weird, I don't get it. I would say "dame una cola" for hand me a coke, although I guess that means something else entirely doesn't it!!!!

Answer 8

With "una coca fue" -

Would it not translate more directly as "a coke it was?"

Is there a bit of explanation that might help it make more sense? I like the saying and would like to be sure I'd be using it right.

-Mateo

See if my answer helps you Mateo? Of course, it may be wrong but to me it seems feasible. - galsally, Aug 17, 2011

Nice. Your two posts below make sense to me. You're right. Those expressions are common in English. Thanks, galsally. - _Mateo_, Aug 17, 2011

Answer 9

Una cola fue.

for hand me a cola.

I've never seen this before, how would it make sense?