Am I using the form of llamar correctly?

Question

I am trying to tell someone what something (plural) is called in Spanish and want to say,

Éstas son llamadas flores.

and for a male noun:

Éstas son llamados papeles.

I just want to be sure llamados/llamadas is correct way to use this.

And then if I want to say :

They are colorful aren't they? I could say:

Ellas son coloridas, ¿no? (edited)

Is this all correct?

Thank you!

Answer 1

Honestly, I would say,

• "...estos son papeles..., estas son flores. Son coloridas, ¿cierto?
• You can say, Estas flores son dalias, o estas flores se llaman dalias, son coloridas, ¿verdad?

Thank you. So I don't need to say *Ellas* son coloridas? - RachelC, Jun 19, 2012

No you don't, you are already referring to them. That would be redundant! - farallon7, Jun 19, 2012

Thanks farallon7. I asked my question before I saw your post. Now I'm really confused. :-( - 0095ca4c, Jun 19, 2012

Ha ha ha! Why are you confused? - farallon7, Jun 19, 2012

@Margherite : Join the club ! lol - RachelC, Jun 19, 2012

Which is the correct way to say it, or are they both correct? Se llaman flores o Estas son flores? - 0095ca4c, Jun 19, 2012

The main point here is to step outside your thinking, and accepting the way people think in a different culture. The same word translated does not necesarily mean the same in another language. Weird eh? - farallon7, Jun 19, 2012

Estas son flores. If you want to use the verb "llamar" then, you can say, "Esta clase de dalia se llama, Butterball, Kenora Sunset, Elma Elizabeth, etc. Think about this, telling someone this are called flowers is kind of insulting someone, - farallon7, Jun 19, 2012

...But telling them the specific name of that particular flower is different. - farallon7, Jun 19, 2012

You mean insulting their intelligence! I got it! Thank you so much! - 0095ca4c, Jun 19, 2012

Exactly! - farallon7, Jun 19, 2012

Ahh, gotcha. That makes a lot more sense. We use it the same way in English as well. Something you might say to a child or a really oblivious person :-) - BradyLabuda, Jun 20, 2012

Answer 2

I would say:

Se llaman flores.

Se llaman papeles.

I also would say:

Son de colores vivos, ¿no?

-or-

Son llenos de color, ¿no?

Thank you but I need to know if what I have said is correct. - RachelC, Jun 19, 2012

Son coloridos/das is also correct. Just like in Florido(a) floridos(as) = Full of flowers. - El_Mexicalense, Jun 19, 2012

Answer 3

Thank you so much for these examples Brady and rogspax. So, if there was a literal translation for 'Se llaman flores', would it be in English 'They call themselves flowers?' If that is correct, then it makes it a bit easier to know that inanimate objects can talk about themselves in Spanish; is that correct or am I way off base? Thanks so much for your input. Cheers!

That is exactly correct Margherite. I just got done going over this with an even newer speaker of Spanish 2 days ago. I realized he already, like me, knew German. - rogspax, Jun 19, 2012

... which made it easier to explain se llama (a bit like in German) and me gusta (a LOT like in German). I think that exercize you´re talking about -- looking at things from the other language´s perspective, is very helpful. Good call. - rogspax, Jun 19, 2012

Thanks rogspax. - 0095ca4c, Jun 19, 2012

Answer 4

What you have said is a direct-literal translation, which at best, tends to sound funny. Other languages just do things differently. Plus, even literally, you´re using the wrong endings, somehow putting a regular adjective ending on the part particlple of llamar.

Brady´s input of the below is very good, and really what one would say.

Se llaman flores.

Se llaman papeles.

Answer 5

Many have given you better ways to say what you attempted here, but I saw you were looking for something more direct on whether or not you're correct. The answer is no, llamar doesn't make sense like that. But keep practicing, you're atleast understanding and that's a plus! Everyone above has done a nice job of helping you with corrections. Hope mine helps as well.

That is why I don't rely on these computer translations. That is where I got this. Thanks. - RachelC, Jun 19, 2012

So (being in 1st semester Sp. 101), which hasn't used Se yet, I should say, Estas son flores. Son coloridas, ¿cierto? - RachelC, Jun 19, 2012

I want the professor to know I know when to use ser vs estar which is why I added this description. - RachelC, Jun 19, 2012

A straight-forward way would probably be, "Las flores son muy coloridas". - DJ_Huero, Jun 19, 2012

And btw, you´re correctly using Ser to show a characteristic (colorful) so your prof should be happy.. - rogspax, Jun 19, 2012

Answer 6

It sounds a bit awkward the way you put it. Remember that when traslating from one language to the other the syntaxis could be different. You tried to say: These are called flowers. These are called papers. (passive voice) We´d say: Estas se llaman flores. Estos se llaman papeles. We in Spanish use the reflexive but the meaning is the same passive.

Another example: Estos/esos periódicos se venden en la tienda.=These/those newspapers are sold at the store.

When we say -se- we mean -they are- Se vende(n) singular/plural= It´s sold/They´re sold.(passive voice meaning).

They are colorful arent´t they?= ¿Son coloridas,verdad? (femenine) coloridos(masculine). In Spanish we don´t use the subject,It would sound awkward unless the person you´re talking to doesn´t know about the subject then you´d say: Estas flores son coloridas¿verdad?/¿no?

Be careful with the use of -se- it´s not always reflexive. -Sé- with accent mark= I Know (Yo)sé from the verb -Saber-.

http://www.wordreference.com/definicion/se

if you still have doubts go ahead and ask.

Answer 7

Ellas son coloridas, ¿no?

That sounds OK (but mind you, I¨m a beginner, barely ahead of you in probably most aspects, and haven´t formally had the passive voice se construction yet either) so hopefully a native speaker will chime in here (or more advanced student)

The first two still sound like literal, and at best, not-quite-right translations of the English passive voice (e.g. they are called) I will let a better speaker give you a final appraisal, as to whether wrong or not, but it sure looks odd, and not at all like I´ve ever seen (otoh, again, there is much that I have not yet seen).

Also, I just noticed you used Éstas, when you probably meant Estas. The former means ´You (formal) are´, the latter ´these (feminine)´

Estas as in "these" - not a form of estar. My dictionary said to use accent Éstas only if there might be confusion of which you mean to use. - RachelC, Jun 19, 2012

Thanks rogs! - RachelC, Jun 19, 2012

There have been some relaxations in those rules lately, but I don´t know them yet. What you definitley can´t do, is to use Éstas for These. - rogspax, Jun 19, 2012

Estas= These as a demonstrative adjective. Estás= Are you....? Example: Estas son mis credenciales.= These are my credentials. ¿Estás cansado/a?=Are you tired. Estás from the verb -estar-. - El_Mexicalense, Jun 19, 2012

@rigsoax: From my dictionary: "Éstas(f) pron dem (pl) these (ones);Note that éste and its various forms can be written without an accent when there is no risk of convusion with the adjective." - RachelC, Jun 20, 2012

typo: "convusion" s/b "confusion" - RachelC, Jun 20, 2012

Answer 8

The thing is that this is for class and we have not used Se yet.

We have only used present tense of ser and estar. With that in mind, which is best way to say this?

Answer 9

Okay, so I used:

Éstas son "carpetas" en español. Las carpetas son coloridas, ¿cierto?

in part of my presentation and teacher marked it correct, as did farollan7 & DJ_Huero. I didn't want to move beyond what we had already covered.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

Muchas gracias!!