Todavía and pronouns

Question

In English, you can't split infinitives. In Spanish, you can't put adverbs like todavía imbetween a pronoun and a verb, even though that's what the English phrase sounds like. This seems to happen a lot, probably because it is the most natural word for word transation. As far as I know this is true of adverbs in general, but I'm just a beginner at Spanish, so I am probably wrong. . .again :(

Answer 1

To say that "you can't split infinitives" is one of those sayings that is more wishful thinking than something that reflects the reality of the English language.

A split infinitive refers to the placement of an adverb or adverbial phrase between "to" and a verb, for example:

This setbackis expected to more than hurt his career.

Or,

To boldly go where no man has gone before (from Star Wars).

It's use began to appear and grow more common almost 200 years ago, and English grammarians didn't like it. So they proscribed a rule that said it was improper grammar. In this regard, it's a bit like saying you can't end a sentence with a preposition. You can, people do all the time, and it's arbitrary to say you can't.

Language is a living organism which changes all the time.

So, that's a long winded way of explaining Lorenzo's riddle. As to the original question regarding Spanish, Heidita, that is for you to explain.

Very true, but there all kinds of grammar rules that you can violate with abandon in English, but not in Spanish. - lorenzo9, Oct 30, 2011

Star Trek....:) - SusanaEspana, Oct 31, 2011

Answer 2

Really, lorenzo , if you think about it...it is the same in English

¿Tú todavía te acuerdas te mí?

¿El todavía conduce un coche grande?

(Do) you still remember me?

I mean,

(Do) still you remember me?

this would be incorrect in English too.

I am putting the do in brackets to make things clearer, I know it is not optional, just saying, jeje

for once that we have the same structure...I think we should go with it

Answer 3

Can you give an example? And what is the question?

There have been a number of posts lately like this one link where native English speakers are putting adverbs imbetween pronouns before the verb and the verb to which they are associated. My question is whether or not this is always incorrect.

Answer 4

Lorenzo, you are good at riddles , I mean tell me about it, you are the master mind on my mystery thread...but this is something similar

Can you give an example? And what is the question?