''Weren´t you?''
When i am attempting a recollection of what i remember from the other person in the form of : Weren´t you studying to be a nurse? , Weren´t you better before? etc. how would i convey this in spanish?
No estabas mejor antes?·
No estudiabas a hacerte enfermera?
-I´d like to apologize for not putting enough time into this question and causing so much debate. However, i did enjoy reading everything that was written. Thanks everyone.
14 Answers
Tag questions.
"You like me, don't you?" - the speaker is expecting a positive answer. "Yes I do"
"You don't like me, do you?" - the speaker is expecting the other person to confirm that they do not. "No I don't"
Negative question
"Don't you like me?" - the speaker is not sure.
Some languages have 2 forms of yes to reply positively to negative questions but English and Spanish do not - this can cause confusion.
Golden Rule of Spanishdict: Be nice and repectful of others!
QFour, this is NOT a contest to see who's right and who's wrong. Rather, it's an exchange of ideas and information amongst mature adults.
Comments like: "Let's finish this off now" are not positive or helpful.
Comments like: "Is English not your native language Ian?" are just looking for trouble.
Please read your PM mail.
--Mariana
Buena pregunta Carson.
Ian Hill said:
Tag questions."You like me, don't you?" - the speaker is expecting a positive answer. "Yes, I do"
"You don't like me, do you?" - the speaker is expecting the other person to confirm that they do not. "No, I don't"
Francobollo said:
I totally agree. French uses si to answer positively to a negative question. I wish Spanish had something similar...
I agree with both gentlemen. I, as the speaker, am certainly expecting a positive or confirming answer when I ask, Don't you have a brother? / Weren't you on the football team? This is because I'm relying on my recollection to be correct. The person can, of course, say, "No, that was my friend Tommy that you're thinking about" but it doesn't change my expectation of a positive answer.
@ Franco: en Sueco podemos decir: Ja. Sí.
Javisst.= Sí, seguramente.
Visst är det så = Eso es. ( significa solo que estamos de acuerdo)
Ten cuidado con los vikingos.
QFour said:
.....also someone should explain the difference using Spanish, because for all I know, it's different in Spanish than in English, which would be the only explanation.
Good point. The poster's original question was about Spanish.
¿No estabas mejor antes? / ¿No eras? requires to be followed by something more definitive like a noun. ¿No eras profesora de inglés antes?
¿No estabas estudiando para enfermera? or ¿No estabas estudiando enfermería? or ¿No estudiabas enfermería?
Pues, a mi parecer al terminar una oración con "¿no?" puede ser lo mismo como decir "weren't you."
(con una entonación interrogativa) Estabas estudiando para ser enfermera ¿no?
When i am attempting a recollection of what i remember from the other person in the form of : Weren´t you studying to be a nurse? , Weren´t you better before? etc. how would i convey this in spanish?
No estabas mejor antes?·
No estudiabas para ser enfermera?
Your answers are adequate enough, but to project the same nuance you have with these answers in English, in Spanish we say ¿No que estabas mejor antes? ¿No que estudiabas para ser enfermera?
This would be the same, but in a much more wordy fashion, as asking "(yo) Tenia entendido que ................. ¿No es así?"
For those who might be interested here's a little more insight into the sayings - a poco, a poco sí and a poco no.
By the way has any one come across these sayings anywhere else other than Mexico. This thread was the first time that I've ever heard of them.
Let's finish this off now.
Ian-hill
""You like me, don't you?" - the speaker is expecting a positive answer. "Yes I do"" - You
Vs.
"When i am attempting a recollection of what i remember from the other person in the form of : Weren´t you studying to be a nurse?" - The Poster
In MY English, if you're trying to recall what you remember of another person by asking them, you could say
You were studying to be a nurse, weren't you?
You were studying to be a nurse, right?
It has not much at all to do with you "expecting" a positive answer. Obviously if you thought it, you are expecting that there is a POSSIBILITY. Hence, the user writing that he's "attempting to recall something from the other person"
Ian, your use of ""You like me, don't you?"" is completely different from "You were studying to be a nurse, no?" - It's just flatly a contextual difference.
(intonation is also key) - You like me don't you! Vs. You like me (pause) DON'T you?
So I don't see your point. As an English speaker, trying to understand the English you're speaking of.
Moving on, I think the confusion sits in the users question.
Weren´t you studying to be a nurse? = You were studying to be a nurse, right? (because I'm trying to recall)
Vs.
Weren´t you better before? = I thought you were better before (what happened?)
Two totally different context in English. Now would you care to continue explaining your theories? It's interesting,
Hey Ian, Ian, it's not nitpicking, the fact is, you wrote about "tag questions" and "negative questions" but you A. Did not leave any example in Spanish, which means it probably didn't help the English native who posted this thread and B. It was a bit off base contextually. I think This post does help because I think certain post were misleading for learners of English. We are discussing grammar on a learning site. We should throw around "nit-picking," goodness forbid we didn't "nit-pick" when learning!
Un amigo de Skype colombiano me dijo esto:
..que él te esté hablando sobre la carrera de arquitectura que hizo y entonces tú sorprendido "¿no que estudiabas para ser doctor?" y él seguramente te respondería que no o que hizo las dos
Pero también dice que es la misma cosa como lo que escribió Franco. (Así que ustedes necesitan prestar atención a lo que les sugiere Franco)
"¿No eras mejor antes?" "¿No estabas estudiando medicina?"
Además,
Un contacto de España dice que no se diría "¿No que estabas estudiando medicina?" (en Españá) sino ¿pero tú no estabas estudiando etc.
Me explicó que la diferencia entre
"¿No estabas estudiando medicina?" y "Estabas estudiando medicina ¿no?"
es que la primera (puede) denotar incredulidad, pero la segunda, inseguridad. (supondré que la entonación es la clave con independencia de tu elección)
Lo dicho me lleva a afirmar que en el sentido de ""When i am attempting a recollection of what i remember from the other person in the form of : Weren´t you studying to be a nurse?"" se puede traducir de las dos maneras que yo sepa.
Otra opción (es una conjetura) pero, supongo que en México, puedes decir ¿a poco no estabas estudiando medicina? Es una expresión que aprendí hace unas semanas pero nunca la utilicé
- a poco. Se emplea en México para expresar sorpresa o incredulidad, normalmente en oraciones interrogativas o exclamativas: «¿A poco crees que los celadores te lo van a decir?» (Campos Carne [Méx. 1982]).
delete
Y la pregunta fue respondida. Cárson quería saber cómo se construyen oraciones negativas en español.
A decir verdad, lo borraste, pero la confución surgió cuando escribiste que lo que había escrito fue algo completamente diferente.
Eras enfermera, ¿no? It's not the same.
Creo que tienes razón Franco. La cosa sobre "tag questions" ayudó a confundirme (pero, a decir verdad, esa respuesta fue escrita para afirmar lo que habías escrito). Soy estudiante del español también (como la mayoria de los usuarios de SD), y no entiendo la diferencia contextual entre lo que contestaste, y lo que yo escribí. Es decir, sólo quiero usar lo que un nativo usaría, pero voy a tener que entender las diferencias.
Mira, en inglés hay una diferencia contextual entre "Weren't you studying to be a nurse?" y "Weren't you better before?" ...la seguna denota un sentido más de incredulidad. La primera puede ser preguntado como "You were studying to be a nure, weren't you?/no?" ...Así que no entiendo la razón por la que no se puede decir en español (en lo que se refiere a la primera pregunta) "Estabas estudiando para ser enfermero ¿no?"
Escribiste, Franco "¿No eras profesora de inglés antes?" "¿No estabas estudiando para enfermera?"
¿Me estás diciendo que hay una diferencia, contextualmente, entre lo que escribiste y "Eras profesor de inglés ¿no?" -o- "estabas estudiando para ser enfermera ¿no?"? (las cuales serían traducidos al inglés (que yo sepa) como "You were an English teacher, weren't you/right?" - "You were studying to be a nurse, weren't you/right?" en vez de "Weren't you studying to be a nurse" etc). Yo, personalmente, no veo gran diferencia.
Esta es la razón por la que Ian y yo estaban discutiendo "tag questions" contra "negative questions." Ian lo escrbió basado en lo que tú me escribiste a mi.
Una vez más, la entonación es la clave
Vale pues, no es necesario que trates de aclarar esta duda para mi. Le pregunto a uno de mi mil contactos hispanohablantes. No hubo ninguna razón cuestionarlo aquí, sólo quería participar en el foro. Eso es todo.
