How do you say "It says here that..."

Question

Hi everyone!

Okay so I'm a native Swedish speaker and in Swedish if you, as an example, are reading loud from a paper we for some reason say "It stands here that..." whereas in English you'd probably say "It says here that...". An other example would be if you are telling someone about a sign, you could say "This sign says no smoking". What verb is used for these situations in Spanish? Decir? So would my sentences be "Aqui dice que..." and "Este signo dice prohibido fumar"?

Thank you

Carolina

Välkommen! - annierats, Nov 30, 2013

Tack :-) - carolinaje, Nov 30, 2013

Answer 1

That's correct!

You can use the verb "decir" to describe objects like as if they could really talk:

• El periódico dice que... - The newspaper says that..
• La web del tiempo dice que... The weather website says that...

And you can also use it this way:

• En el periódico dice que... - On the newspaper it says that ...
• En la web del tiempo dice que... - On the weather website it says that ...
• Aquí dice que... - Here it says that...

You can also use "poner" if you want to refer explicitly to what is written or emphasize how it is written.

• En el periódico pone que... - On the newspaper it says that ...
• En la web del tiempo pone que... - On the weather website it says that ...
• Aquí pone que... - Here it says that...

For example, every time my grandmother asked me to read something that was written too small for her to read she used to say to me:

• ¿Qué pone aquí?

As for signs, I think it works the same way as in English because a sign could not have any letter and we still say:

• This sign says No Smoking or Here it says that you are not allowed to smoke.

So, yes. In Spanish we say, again:

• Este cartel/Esta señal dice que..
• Aquí pone/dice que...

But strictly speaking a sign could say nothing because it has no words in it (like most traffic signs). So you can also say:

• Esta señal significa que..
• Esto significa que..

As I was writing this answer I realized that there are a lot of different contexts and ways to say it. I hope this helps.

Correct my English, please

Thank you so much that really helped a lot! - carolinaje, Nov 30, 2013

'as if' they could really talk (you will hear 'like' used in that way often, but it is gramatically incorrect. - 0095ca4c, Nov 30, 2013

Great answer. Your explanations are always very clear. Thank you. :-) - 0095ca4c, Nov 30, 2013

Yes, as if is better than ' like'. Young people tend to say ' like ' a lot, but it sounds bad. - annierats, Nov 30, 2013

Gracias amigas :) - RelaxingCup, Dec 1, 2013