translation of "estés"

Question

Listening to "recuerdos de amor" on Lomastv, there is a line, as follows: "Las noches que no estés sufriré aún más" which is translated as: the nights when you are no here I will suffer more. My question comes from thinking that it should be: "las noches que no estés aquí..." since "las noches que no estés" (which are the actual words of the song) seems to translate as "the nights when you are not" What am I missing? (a good knowledge of spanish, of course, but don't say it; it will hurt my feelings)

Gracias por ayudarme,

jim

Jim...una buena pregunta :) You are right with the translation: The nights that you are not here I will suffer even more. To address your question, the "aqui" is implied. I know it is kind of confusing and it is not a social norm to say that in English - Nicos31, Apr 8, 2012

Another example would be asking the question: Esta aqui Juan (OR Esta Juan)? The response (if he is not here) would be: "No esta" [Sorry about absence of accent marks. :( ] - Nicos31, Apr 8, 2012

I hope this helps. :) (There are a good number of things implied when you are speaking in Spanish if the context of what you are speaking of is known.) - Nicos31, Apr 8, 2012

Answer 1

Jim...una buena pregunta You are right with the translation: The nights that you are not here I will suffer even more. To address your question, the "aquí" is implied. I know it is kind of confusing and it is not a social norm to say that in English. Another example would be asking the question: ¿Está aquí Juan (OR Está Juan)? The response (if he is not here) would be: "No está" I hope this helps. (There are a good number of things implied when you are speaking in Spanish if the context of what you are speaking of is known.)

Answer 2

As Nicos correctly stated above the 'here' is implied and it works in the present tense too with here and there - if you ring someone you can just say ¿Está Pablo? to mean Is Paul there? etc Or in answer to who's here (¿quién está?) you can say Paul's here (Pablo está)

ups didn't notice the comments, Nicos covered that too, oh well twice for emphasis je je ;) - - Kiwi-Girl, Apr 9, 2012