Hay mucho donde elegir

Question

Hi friends,

I just read this sentence on SD .. while reading the examples for the verb elegir ... and am a bit confused .. as the English translation for this is given as .. "there is a lot to chose from" ..

It gives me jitters to see "donde" used in this manner .. as the word means "where" and is used either as an interrogative pronoun, for example : dónde has estado ? ... or a conjunction .. for example ... quiero ir donde se hallan tigres (I want to go where tigers are).

In this sentence ("hay mucho donde elegir") it seems to have been used as a conjunction but the core meaning of the word (where) doesn't seem to have much use in this context ... as.. if I say ... there is a lot where to chose ... doesn't make much sense .. So can someone throw some light on this use of "donde" ..

I would have said it as "Hay mucho de que elegir " (I am not sure if this is correct or not but sounds more like it) ..

Any help is appreciated ..

Thanks in advance .. Gracias de antemano..

Regards,

Jimmy ..

http://www.linguee.es/espanol-ingles/traduccion/hay+mucho+donde+elegir.html; it is clearly used, but I cannot find a good explanation and it seems something to just note as a usage. Sorry. - bosquederoble, Mar 12, 2015

http://www.linguee.es/espanol-ingles/search?source=auto&query;=+de+donde+elegir from the same page, i think both are correct - cokee, Mar 12, 2015

Thanks friends :) - Joydeep_Singh, Mar 12, 2015

Answer 1

Hi, As a native speaker, I can say that "de dónde elegir" is a very common sentence. But you can not translate it like that. Is the same with:

What's up? (¿qué hay arriba?)

If you greet me in spanish with a "¿qué hay arriba?" I would say something else rather than of "hola". Hope this helps.

thanx :) - Joydeep_Singh, Mar 17, 2015

Answer 2

I would say " hay mucho de donde elegir", I think it means that there is a lot of where to choose, but I'm not sure if Im wrong, still i use it almost always :S.

Imaginándome que hay un lugar con muchas cosas para elegir, desde donde tú vas a tomar algunas, entonces, desde ese lugar tú tomarás las cosas y, por consecuencia, de ese lugar las elegirás. Así que yo diría "hay mucho de donde elegir".

I hope I can help you

thanx Cokee :) - Joydeep_Singh, Mar 17, 2015

Answer 3

¡Hola!, Joydeep_Singh
 
I executed an internet search and found several "hits" indicating that "hay mucho donde elegir" is a common enough phrase and it does mean "there is much to choose from". See for example this page of notes from Linguee: ----> Linguee.es
 
Saludos/Best wishes,
Moe

Thanx Moe :) - Joydeep_Singh, Mar 12, 2015

Estoy de acuerdo. - annierats, Mar 12, 2015

Gracias amigo :) - Joydeep_Singh, Mar 18, 2015

Answer 4

Worth a bump up Jimmy , a great question and well stated.

Thanx Ray :) - Joydeep_Singh, Mar 18, 2015