Difference in translations

Question

If one of the new words is "alegrar"/to be/to make happy, then why is this verb not used in the sentence "You make me happy"? You responded to me that "You make me happy" is translated as "Me haces muy feliz". Thank you! Great website. Judy Buczek

Helllo Judith, welcome to the forum! - rac1, Aug 26, 2012

Answer 1

You can also say "Me alegras", but hacerme feliz is more commonly used.

Answer 2

Depende del contexto se usa una u otra . Por ejemplo , puedes usar "alegras" si dices "Me alegras la vida" (You make my life happy") .Esto es debido a que , "Me alegras" hace referencia a la segunda persona del singular (tú me...) y por eso se usa ese tiempo verbal y no otro.

Además cabe destacar que "You make me happy" no se traduce como comentas sino como "Me haces feliz" ya que el "muy" es un adverbio intensificativo que se traduce como "very" de modo que sería "You make me very happy"

Answer 3

I think, alegría is very close to the oldfashioned meaning of gayness in English, ie. me alegras, you make me feel jolly, cheerful , in a good mood, wheras felicidad is more your standard English happiness. Please note that the word gay has become almost unusable in it's original meaning, which is a great shame.

This is my favorite answer. Thank you! Some of the other answers might have been great, but I don't speak enough Spanish to read them. :) - JudithCB, Aug 27, 2012

Answer 4

There isn't a perfect synonymy between two foreign language.In my opinion, when you speak english, you have to act as an english and when you speak spanish, you have to act as a spanish.I think that the best translation of ''You make me very happy'' is ''Me haces muy feliz''.Although I said there isn't a perfect synonymy,in your example, the verbs hacer and make are the perfect synonyms:

Make = Hacer = Cause to be

No hay una sinonimia perfecta entre dos lenguaje extranjeras En mi opinión, cuando hablas ingles, tienes que actuar como un ingles y cuando hablas castellano, tienes que actuar como un español.Creo que la mejor traduccion de ''You make me very happy'' es ''Me haces muy feliz''Aunque dije que no hay una sinonimia perfecta, en tu ejemplo, los verbos hacer y make son sinónimos perfectos:

Make = Hacer = Cause to be