What difference does 'sí' make here?

Question

"Pero ella sí fue al día siguiente"

How different is it from this: Pero ella fue al día siguiente

What does 'sí' mean there?

Really - did. - ian-hill, Mar 19, 2013

In the first sentence it means(But if she went............)and in the second(But she went...........)hoped that helped:) - Vitorine, Mar 19, 2013

Sorry, but careful on this one, Vitorine. Si with no accent means “if”; sí with an accent means “yes.” Here, it’s the “emphatic yes,” like the “emphatic do” in English. - brian5764, Mar 19, 2013

Answer 1

"Pero ella sí fue al día siguiente"

"But she DID go the next day"

It's stressing.

Answer 2

I agree with the others.

I also wanted to share that it may be helpful for you to read it as 'indeed' in situations like these. It helps me, and if it helps you that's great, but if it doesn't then that's fine, too. Whatever works for you! :p

Pero ella sí fue al día siguiente.

But she indeed went the following day!

Well I don’t know about Turoko or Rodrigo, but it works for me. Good point. Isn’t it interesting how it’s “indeed went” but not “did went”? - brian5764, Mar 19, 2013

Answer 3

Hi Turoko.

The word sí is sometimes used to mean what we call the emphatic do in English. (As opposed to an occurrence of a main verb do or the bizarre feature that English has of using do/does/did to ask questions or negate statements.)

Examples of the emphatic do:

I do understand this now.

I did remember to turn off the light.

So, then:

Pero ella sí fue al día siguiente = But she did go the following day.

It’s emphatic in the past tense, as opposed to merely saying, “But she went the following day.”

Answer 4

Sí entiendo.. I do understand