"Me gusta poder ser de ayuda!"

Question

I told one of my friends (who speaks Spanish) that reading and translating what she says is good practice for me. In response she said "Genial! Me gusta poder ser de ayuda!" I'm not entirely sure what this means.

I just want to make sure I'm right, I translated it as "Great! I like to be able to be of assistance." Does that sound right?

One more thing, she didn't have to conjugate "poder" or "ser" because she already conjugated "me gusta," right?

Answer 1

You have it right about the translation and the reason why poder ser is in the infinitive.

The subject never changes so you only need to conjugate the first verb, even though in this case the verb is gustar which conjegates in the 3rd person even though the sugject is in the 1st person.

Answer 2

You are exactly right. You can verify this using the translator here, which is accessible by clicking on "Menu" at the top of your browser. However, in the title of the question, you did omit the first, required upside down exclamation point. No big deal. I make a lot of mistakes with my Spanish. I try to learn from them. It's truly exciting to be learning a new language. What else could be more fun! Well, I just thought of something that is equally as exciting as learning a new language, and that is finding the songs and artists that you can relate to in your new cultural environment. My favorite musical artists include Maná, Natalia Lafourcade, and Fase. I would have NEVER found these wonderful (and deeply influential to my life) artists had I not been studying Spanish. It's been a real, wholly unexpected, benefit! Good luck with your studies, mi amigo.

Sorry I didn't think to use the translator, I never trusted translation programs. - endlessexplosions, Jul 17, 2014

They are not perfect and sometimes miss idioms totally, but they have their usefulness. One just has to exercise discretion with using translators. - Esteban3304, Jul 17, 2014

Answer 3

Your reasoning seems completely correc to me.

The one thing to add- in English we use the gerund as a noun, in Spanish you have to use the infinitive.

I like being able to be of assistance

Me gusta poder ser de ayuda

I won't claim I know whether a grammarian would tell you that poder is functioning as a noun, so is an infinitive, or whether it is an infinitive because the primary verb (gustar) is conjugated, because if I can do it right it doesn't matter. But I think poder is functioning as a noun, and ser as an unconjugated verb since it follows poder. Even though I just said that I think poder acts as a noun. So I will just say you seem to get it.

Answer 4

Yes, exactly right, but there is also a shorter form in English:

I like to be of help/assistance which translates to: Me gusta ser de ayuda

This is similar and avoids the need for three verbs

I hope this helps