"dejar imposible oír" ... gramaticalmente está correcta?

Question

Hola a todos,

I'm writing a short horror story for my Spanish class and am not sure if my wording makes sense.

In context: During a fire alarm, the protagonist is eavesdropping on a conversation, but when the fire trucks arrive, it's too loud for her to hear their conversation anymore.

Lo que tengo ahora (past tense): "El sonido de las sirenas me envolvió, dejando imposible oír lo demás de la conversación."

Not sure if my conjugation of "dejar" is correct but I don't know why it would be wrong. Should I use "... dejándolo imposible oír ..." with the pronoun instead? Or is that an anglicism (literal: making it impossible to hear)?

Am I even allowed to use a verb (even if it is in the infinitive) after the expression "dejar imposible" ? Or does it have to be a noun? ie, is it preferable to say "dejando imposible el oído de lo demás"?

Muchísimas gracias por su ayuda!

Answer 1

The verb "dejar" have more than one meaning, 22 according DRAE. I am going to explain those that have been named here:

You can use "dejar+infinitive" equivalent to "let+infinitive":

• Let me go= déjame ir

We have too "dejar+ de+ infinitive", this construction is similar to "stop + gerund"

• Stop writing: Deja de escribir

The use of "Dejar + adjective/participe/noum" is used to express a result, that is not what you want to exprees with your text so you can't use it. I copy you all examples that reverso has, because every one is translated differentely,

• dejó la ventana abierta she left the window open
• lo ha dejado muy triste it has left him very sad
• me dejó confundido she left me confused, she confused me
• nos dejó a todos asombrados he stunned us all
• hay algo que quiero dejar bien claro there is one thing I want to make perfectly clear
• dejaron el jardín tal como estaba they left the garden as it was

We have more meanings, as leave, lend, drop off..., but I think that those don't give you problems.

Great post :) - Kiwi-Girl, Sep 18, 2013

Answer 2

...haciendolo imposible....

making it...

o, impoSible... ;) - rogspax, Sep 17, 2013

oops, my accent! lol!!!!!!!!!!!! - chileno, Sep 17, 2013

Answer 3

And in general, you can and often do use a verb, in the infinitive, after dejar, but, with a preposition.

Dejar de trabajar, Dejar de fumar, etc etc.

hth

gracias, i'm well used to using "dejar de" but remembered hearing the phrase "la ayuda dejó inútil el uso de armas" -- that's what I meant by noun vs verb. - silverdoe81, Sep 17, 2013

in the sense "dejar inútil" o "dejar imposible" o "dejar mejor" algo. - silverdoe81, Sep 17, 2013

Also...I'm pretty sure I would be able to use the verb hacer in the same way here. - silverdoe81, Sep 17, 2013

In the case of dejar inútil, it means that rendered unusuable an item. You cannot render impossible something en English or Spanish. ;) - chileno, Sep 17, 2013

Answer 4

• "El sonido de las sirenas me envolvió, haciendome imposible oír el resto de la conversación."

or with a more complicated verb for you:

• "El sonido de las sirenas me envolvió, imposibilitandome oír el resto de la conversación."

Correct. But I guess he's doubt was whether to use "dejar" and if it was correct to use it. - chileno, Sep 17, 2013

Answer 5

Thanks! I would vote you both up but unfortunately I don't have enough rep!