Forming questions in Spanish.
I am a little confused. I used the translator for this question: ¿Qué bebes? and the translation was What do you drink? which is fine but when I added more words to the question like: ¿Qué bebes tú para el amuerzo? I received this translation: What you drink for lunch? which is grammatically incorrect. The same problem I had with this question: ¿Qué bebe usted para el amuerzo? I need to know if there are any mistakes in the way I am forming my questions. I hope you can help, thank you
4 Answers
Hi Athenaura. You’re not doing anything wrong. Languages—like English sometimes needs do, does, or did to negate a sentence or to form a question and Spanish does not have this feature; like Spanish usually does not require subject pronouns because they’re implied in the verbal inflections and English does not have this feature—are much more complex than any computer programming can fully, adequately handle. In short, they’re only good up to a point.
Therefore, one needs to “play” with the translators, working back and forth, and working with one’s own knowledge of what makes sense and what does not. It’s the only way to arrive at the “correct” answer.
The questions in Spanish look pefectly fine to me. (me=native Spanish, English 2nd) Maybe a glitch in the translator.
When I tried it, two of the responses were "what babies for lunch?", and the third was "What do you drink for lunch?" (Prompt).
As Katy said, the translators are not meant for a definitive translation, just as a tool.
The translators are only for general help and often make grammar mistakes. Of the 3 versions it gives you, some are more accurate than others, but are often not translated perfectly.
