Not living up to [something]?

Question

I'm sure this is easy, but...how would you phrase: are they not living up to [something]?

Could it be: ¿no están viviendo arriba de [alguno]?

I assume you mean "not meeting a certain standard or expectation? (just to help qualify Julian's response below) - rogspax, Jan 5, 2013

Answer 1

Hello,Saige.

Something to remember, never ever ever use "ser" + "gerund," ..it's either by itself as an adverb (meaning "by etc") or with estar.

cumplir - to fulfill

Dicen que el presidente no está cumpliendo sus promesas. - They say the President isn't fulfilling his promises

El presidente de España no está igualando los logros del presidente de Japón. - The President of Spain isn't living up to the the achievements of the President of Japan.

El viaje a Hawaii no cubrió mis expectativas - The trip to Hawaii didn't cover/live up to my expectations.

All of those are equal to our "live up to"

An additional set of possibilties - avispao, Jan 5, 2013

Spain doesn't have President! ( it has a prime minister, and still has a king) - annierats, Jan 5, 2013

Semantics, his title is "El Presidente" regardless of his actual role. Oh, and the gerund can also follow certain verbs of continuation, like... seguir and continuar or ir - avispao, Jan 19, 2013

Answer 2

If you mean being responsible, then I wouyld say "¿No cumplen con sus deberes?"

You could also say "¿No satisfacen sus obligaciones?"

sí, cumplir con. - annierats, Jan 5, 2013

I'm sorry to make you guess. I'm dealing with religious material and therefore am being rather careful on how I present it on the forum. I do purpose to attempt to be more clear in my questions in the future. - SaigeSmith, Jan 6, 2013

No apology necessary. I firmly believe that religious material is intentionally written to confuse the masses so that he who leads can use it for his own purposes - 005faa61, Jan 6, 2013