What did they say exactly?

Question

I read a very short dialogue, but it was without a translation. I can guess what they said but I want to know what they said exactly.

A: ¿En quién piensas, Susana?

S: En Víctor...es que...es tan guapo.

A: Sí lo quieres mucho.

I used SD's translator and got something like this:

A: Who do you think, Susan?

S: In Victor ... is ... it is so handsome.

A: If you want a lot.

But it still sounds very odd, so I try to translate it as follows.

A: Whom do you think of, Susana?

S: I think of Victor ...who is...is so handsome.

A: Yes, he is handsome if you like him a lot.

Is my understanding correct? If not, please correct my translation. Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi there joygogo. I would say:

A: Who do are you thinking about, Susana?

S: I think of Victor ...who is...is so handsome.

And now, the heart of the matter is in the word Sí in Sí lo quieres mucho. Is it Sí (with accent) or Si (without it)?

• Sí (accented) ? Yes. (affirmative)
• Si (not accented) ? If / Wheter (conditional)

You wrote Sí, then I think it should be:

• Yes, you love him a lot.

[Revise my English, please]

Hello, RC, I have further questions. Please click my question again. - joygogo, Oct 5, 2013

English help: affirmative, whether, conditional :) - Raja-jani, Oct 5, 2013

Sure. Thanks Rajaji! - RelaxingCup, Oct 5, 2013

Just an observation, "Who are you thinking, Susana?" is not correct. You could say, "Of whom are you thinking of" or "Who are you thinking about" :) - rac1, Oct 5, 2013

Thanks Annie. I was doing a little research about that right now in order to answer joygogo. - RelaxingCup, Oct 5, 2013

Answer 2

Hola, RC,

Thanks for your answer, but it brings me more questions.

(1) Don't you have to translate the word "en" in the first sentence( ¿En quién piensas, Susana?)? Doesn't "pensar en" mean "think of" or "think about"?

(2) The first sentence isn't using a present progressive but you still can translate it like that?

(3) I think the second sentence is shortened. Should its full sentence be like "Pienso en Víctor...que es...es tan guapo."? Why is it written as "En Víctor...es que...es tan guapo."?

(4) The third sentence confuses me most. In my opinion, it should be "Si" to make the dialogue sound more logical, but it is shown as "Sí", so I really don't know how to translate it. Could it be possible a typo? Besides, "sí" can be translated as "so"; therefore, I guess it might be explained as "You would think so because you like him a lot." (After all, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.")

I will let RC address the details as he did an excellent job in the first answer. Conversation is very often spoken in sentence fragments, rather than complete grammatically correct sentences. - gringojrf, Oct 5, 2013

Sí (with tilde) means yes not if. So A's comment makes sense as a reflective thought, Yes, you likelove him. a lot. - gringojrf, Oct 5, 2013

The "en quién" in this case translates to "Of whom". - gringojrf, Oct 5, 2013

Spanish speakers use the present progressive a lot less than English speakers and in translating to English it is often necessary to use it in English where it is not in Spanish. - gringojrf, Oct 5, 2013

Hola, gringojrf! Oh, I see. Thanks for telling me so much! - joygogo, Oct 5, 2013

Answer 3

Hi again.

(1) The first one has been already answered by rac1 in a comment above/below (it depends on the votes).

(2) I used present continuous in that sentence because it is What are you thinking right now?. In this case to think isn't a synonym of to believe thus it isn't a state verb and I think it should be conjugated in a continuous form as an activity: the action of thinking.

(3) You're right: that's not a full sentence. The words es que (is that) haven't a direct translation (I think) and they are used in speaking colloquial Spanish. Most times they are used when the speaker feels insecurity or uncertainty. I am not sure about its equivalent in English. For instance:

• Bill, ¿se puede saber porqué no has hecho tus deberes?
• Bueno, verá... señor Ruiz... es que... se me ha olvidado.
• Bill, can you tell me why you didn't do your homework?
• Well, let me... Mr. Ruiz... is just... I forgot.
  
  
• Has suspendido el examen. Dejé muy claro que quería todas las respuestas justificadas.
• Es que yo no escuché eso. No lo sabía.
• You failed your exam. I made myself very clear that I wanted all answers to be justified.
• But I didn't hear that. I didn't know.

As you can see, it is also used to argue or to excuse oneself. I had a professor that told me once that: "When the sentence starts with es que..., you already know that it won't be a good argument or justification".

Do you know the expression the thing is that... in English? In Spanish would be la cosa es que... or el caso es que.... Well, for economy of language you get rid of first two words and you have es que....

(4) You cannot figure it out without a proper context and your guess is completely valid. There many options. It could be:

• Sí, lo quieres mucho. ➜ Yes, I already know that you love Victor a lot, stop talking about him.
• Sí, lo quieres mucho. ➜ I just realized that you love him a lot because he is really ugly as sin.
• Si lo quieres mucho... ➜ Your guess: If you love him a lot... (You would think so because you like him a lot.)

To sum up, it always depends on the context of the conversation and the intonation of the speaker.

[Revise my English, please]

Hola, RC! Your answer is superb! Very detailed and well-analyzed! You are awesome! Now I completely understand the nuance behind the dialogue. Muchas gracias! - joygogo, Oct 5, 2013

By the way, just a reminder: he is really ugly as sin --> he is really as ugly as a sin (Actually, I don't think I am qualified to tell you this, but just for your reference) - joygogo, Oct 5, 2013