La Palabra Del Dia: "gato"
gato ( gah'-toh )
noun ( cat )
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There are many native English speakers here, most of us can offer great suggestions to the English sentences. I will do my best to go through them all, too. For the Spanish sentences, edit your posts according to the native Spanish speaker's suggestions. Use today's Word of the Day in your own Spanish sentence (and include the English translation as well). Try to use the word in a completely new way and vote on the sentences you like best. The winner will be chosen based upon the correct use of the word as well as the number of votes.
Guidelines:
Write sentences at least 5 words long, but don't write a paragraph either. Write your Spanish sentence, but include the English translation as well. Make the corrections suggested by other users and moderators in the comments section (try not to use personal pronouns unless absolutely necessary). Use your own words! (Don't use a translator, copy from a book, use song lyrics, etc.) Please keep political, religious or personal statements to a minimum. This is a practice game.
How to post a picture
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Examples:
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1. Nuestra gata parió tres gatitos.
Our cat gave birth to three kittens.
2. ¿Es verdad que a los gatos les gusta jugar con su presa antes de matarla?
Is it true that cats like to play with their prey before killing it? .
18 Answers
Algunos gatos se escapan de la casa si la puerta se deja abierta, pero el gato de mi sobrino no lo hace.
Some cats run away from home if the door is left open, but my nephew’s cat does not do that.
Los gatos son la prueba viviente de que aunque tú eres seas perfecto, no le vas a gustar a todo el mundo
Cats are living proof that even though you are perfect, not everyone is going to like you.
Creo que la relación entre los seres humanos y los gatos se estableció porque los antiguos egipcios antiguos querían que los gatos protegieran sus granos mediante la matanza de roedores, pero hoy in en día es más común que se usan usen los gatos para como mascotas, y las trampas o el veneno para matar roedores.
I think that the relationship between humans and cats was established because the ancient Egyptians were wanting the cats to protect their grain by killing rodents, but nowadays it is more common that cats are used as pets, and traps or poison to kill rodents.
Hay una película húngara de dibujos animados de la guerra entre los gatos y los ratones. Tiene un gran éxito, no sólo entre los niños , sino entre los adultos también.
There is a Hungarian animated film about the war between cats and mice. It had a great success, not only among children, but among adults too.
Hoy mi hijos han recibido un postal de sus abuelos que están de vaccaciones en la Isla de Man. El imagen meustra un gato sin cola del tipo que es frecuente allí (y casi en ninguna otra parte). Así los niños pueden ocuparse en contar relatos de cómo se perdió la cola este gato...
Today my children received a postcard from their grandparents who are on their holidays on the Isle of Man. The picture shows a cat without a tail of the kind that is common there (and almost nowhere else). Thus the kids can entertain themselves in telling stories of how this cat came to lose its tail...
From Dilbert (see comic strip below for original English)
Do you think people are basically good or evil?
¿Crees que la gente es basicamente buena o basicamente mala?
Well, I know that dogs are basically good.
Pues, sé que los perros son basicamente buenos.
And dogs are better than people.
Y los perros son mejores que los seres humanos.
But people are better than cats.
Pero las personas son mejores que los gatos.
And cats are evil.
Y los gatos son malos.
Therefore, all people are stupid.
Por lo tanto, todas las personas son estúpidas.
I don't follow that logic.
No le veo la lógica.
Alt: No comprendo esa lógica.
Yes, my theory predicts that you would say that.
Sí, mi teoria predice que digas eso.
Sí, mi teoría predijo que dirías eso.
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I want to practice the use and omision of definitive and indefinite articles.
Quiero practicar el uso y la omisión de los artículos determinados y los articulos indeterminados.
A. I have a cat. (probably means I have one cat, but could mean I am a cat owner and I might have more than one cat, however in this case you would probably say "I am a cat owner" or "I have X cats")
A. Tengo gato. (al menos uno, puede ser más que uno)
B. I have a cat. (same as A)
B Tengo un gato. (exactamente uno, no ambigua)
C. Cats can be fun. (cats, in general, can be fun, not ambigous)
C1. The cats can be fun (refering to some specific cats, perhaps your own cats)
C2. El gato puede ser divertido. (ambigua?: los gatos en general o un gato específico)
C3. Los gatos pueden ser divertidos. (puede ser ambigua también)
D. Chinese eat cat. (cat is being used here as a type of meat, this use is somewhat uncommon in English)
D1. The Chinese eat cat. (The is optional here, but not commonly used, still uncommon)
D2. (The) Chinese eat cats (same meaning, more common to say it this way)
D3. Los Chinos comen gatos. (Los is required, because Chinos is the subject, el is not used before gato because comer is a verb of consumption, even though, in this case, you might be referring to cats in a generic way)
E. I like Chinese people. (people is required because "I like Chinese" would typically mean that I like Chinese food in English)
E1. I like the Chinese. (this removes the ambiguity and means I like Chinese people in general)
E2. Me gustan los chinos. (article is used for the generic group and because with a "verb like gustar" chinos is the subject. I don't think personas is required here because I like Chinese food would always mention comida, also, this sentence could not refer to the Chinese language, which could be Me gusta el chino although this would more commonly mean I like the Chinese guy)
F. I like Chinese. (usually means I like Chinese food, but it could mean I like the Chinese language, this type of statement is very common, true meaning is inferred from context)
F1. I like Chinese food. (means the same as F and is also a very common way to say this, removes some of ambiguity but do you only like some Chinese foods or every type of Chinese food that you have ever tasted?)
F2. Me gusta la comida china. (la is required because la comida china is the subject and because la comida china is a generic term for a group of nouns - all types of Chinese food, or a qualified version of comida, which in both cases would require the definite article when you are referring to the entire group / subgroup)
G. I want (some) Chinese (food) tonight. (even without "some" or "food" this would normally be unambiguous in English and mean you want to eat Chinese food)
G1. Quiero comida china esta noche. (here the definite article is omitted because you are not referring to all the Chinese food in the world, you only want some Chinese food, this is called a partitive noun...part of a group, and unqualified partitives (no specific adjectives or other clarification) generally do not take definite articles...example Quiero cerveza = I want (some) beer, not all the beer in the world.)
H. Lets eat Chinese food from "The Magic Dragon" tonight.
H1. Comamos la comida china de "The Magic Dragon" esta noche. (now, in spite of the fact that you're only eating "some" Chinese food, and you are using comer, a verb of consumption which trumps the rule of using the definite article for generic nouns, by specifying that you are going to eat Chinese food from a specific restaurant, the noun has been qualified...it becomes specific in Spanish, and you would use the definite article.)
H2. Comamos comida china de "The Magic Dragon" (I added this sentence after feedback from Tiempo. He says this statement would also be common and acceptable. According to the rules that I have studied it would seem to be incorrect because the generic Chinese food has certainly been qualified by adding "from The Magic Dragon." However, since Tiempo says its fine then this might mean that the Spanish who omit "la" are treating "Chinese Food from the Magic Dragon" as a generic group - after all, like most Chinese restaurants, they have a huge menu. 
The question of whether a noun phrase is generic or specific/qualified is complex and could vary by region and person I suspect that if the phrase said Let's eat the Chinese food that I bought from The Magic Dragon, nearly everyone would treat this as specific, and include the "la." It may very well be that in many situations such as this that the sentence will sound fine to most natives either with or without the definiite article)
H3. Comamos la comida que comí de "The Magic Dragon."
Alguna persona Alguien dijo una vez que Internet es una serie de tubos llena de gatos.
Someone once said that the Internet is a series of tubes filled with cats.
Siempre me ha gustado el dicho " Los perros tienen dueños, pero los gatos tienen empleados!"
I have always liked the saying "Dogs have owners, but cats have staff!"
Yo tenía He tenido gatos para la gran parte de mi vida desde tenía tengo 10 años. Era Fue muy difícil porque cada dos años nuestra familia se mudaba y a veces no podríamos que traer podíamos llevar a nuestro gato con nosotras. Cuando era estaba en la universidad, había una gata en una caja frente del Memorial Union y la tomé llevé a mi habitación. Esta gata (en esta foto), Ebony, vivía vivío desde 20 años. Probablemente he tenido entre 12 a y 15 gatos a lo largo de los años pero sola solo una perra. Ahora no tenemos ninguna mascotas.
¡Muchas gracias Tiempo
I have had cats for most of my life since I was 10 years old. It was very difficult because every two years our family moved and sometimes we could not bring our cat with us. When I was in college, there was a cat in a box in front of the Memorial Union and I took her to my room. This cat, Ebony (in this picture), lived for 20 years. Probably I have had between 12 and 15 cats through the years but only one dog. Now we don't have any pets.
A noche, mi esposa y yo comimos en un restaurante local, El Gato Negro. ¡Es fabuloso! Yo comi el ceviche, y mi esposa comió los camarones de la piña. Ambos tomamos margaritas. ¡Delicioso! Rac1, debe ir alli. Hay dos sitios en Nueva Orleans.
Last night, my wife and I ate at a local restaurant, El Gato Negro. It is fabulous! I ate the ceviche, and my wife ate the pineapple shrimp. We both had margaritas. Delicious! Rac1, you should go there. There are two locations in New Orleans.
Para subir un coche se necesita un gato.
To raise a car a jack is necessary.
Si quieres entender como son los gatos debes leer una pequeña historia de Rudyard Kipling: El gato que caminaba solo. Se trata de como empieza la historia de los gatos y los seres humanos salvajes y después de leerlo entenderás por qué los hombres le dan a los gatos patadas y por qué casi todos los perros los cazan y por cierto por qué las mujeres y los gatos se entienden entre si.
If you want to understand what cats are like you should read a short-story by Rudyard Kipling: The cat who walked by himself. It is about how the story of cats and wild human beings starts off, and once you've read it you'll understand why men kick at cats and why nearly all dogs chase them and indeed why women and cats understand each other.
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En una película, George Burns cuenta una historia acerca de un gato que se le dijo a hacernos creer que es un tigre. El gato lo convence a todos que él es un tigre, con excepción de aquel que le dijo.
In a movie, George Burns tells a story about a cat who is told to believe he is a tiger. The cat convinces everybody that he is a tiger, except the one who told him.
No sé por qué, pero parece que las mujeres viejas siempre quieren tener muchos gatos. ¿Cuál es la razón para eso?
I don't know why, but it seems that old women always want to have a lot of cats. What is the reason for that?
¿Puedes creerlo? A algunas personas sorprendentemente les gustan los gatos más que los perros.
Can you believe it? Some people actually like cats better than dogs.
