Translate "it is I who is writing"

Question

I presume this should be translated as "soy yo quien escribo" and not "soy yo quien escribe"? While I'm asking can one say "soy yo el que escribo"? Muchas gracias de antemano

Answer 1

All expressions are understood, but "Soy yo el que está escribiendo" would be most correct.

Literally, yes, but i never used yours. i would use "¿soy yo el que escribe?" - txustaboy, Sep 14, 2015

txustaboy, you make it sound like it is a bad construction in Spanish, can you explain? - chileno, Sep 14, 2015

@ Crucesingatus, txustaboy and chileno: please get together and come up with one clear answer. You've confused me! - Jubilado, Sep 14, 2015

Note: not that that is hard to do ;-) !! - Jubilado, Sep 14, 2015

El que escribe soy yo. That should take the mystery out of it. I'm with txustaboy on this one. (you would never say "es yo" - Daniela2041, Sep 14, 2015

Certainly Dani, English can do this; but no Spanish. :) - crucesignatus, Sep 15, 2015

Dani, está mal decir "Soy yo el que está escribiendo"? - chileno, Sep 15, 2015

¿qué pondrías en su lugar? "¿Es yo el que está escribiendo?" No lo creo. - Daniela2041, Sep 15, 2015

Dani! :D Soy yo el que está escribiendo... no? - chileno, Sep 15, 2015

Answer 2

I will translate it like "El que está escribiendo soy yo"

Hello jubilado.

I think that the solution to this, is in the question and in the way to respond to it.

The question would be . ¿Quien es el que está escribiendo?

possible answers

1) responding base question guidelines "soy yo/yo soy quien está escribiendo" or " soy yo/yo soy el que está escribiendo" or "Quien/El que está escribiendo , soy yo"

2) directly "soy yo"

to clarify this I will modify a little the question

Who is the person who writes?

The person who writes is me

¿Quien es la persona que escribe?

La persona que escribe soy yo.

If the question is :Who write?. "¿Quien escribe? The answer will be .I write. Yo escribo. Or for, Who is writting? ( at this moment) ¿Quien está escribiendo (en este momento)?. I am writting . Yo estoy escribiendo.

Please correct my English.

Thanks very much for the clarification! Your English seems fine although in English we would answer "Who is the person who writes?" like this: "It's me." some will say "It is I." Literally Spanish does not say "It is I." but "I am." or,,,, - Jubilado, Sep 14, 2015

...."I am (the one) who writes." Does Spanish ever use the phrase "Es yo"? because both French (C'est moi) and English (It's me / I) do. - Jubilado, Sep 14, 2015

i have removed the "it" from it's me at the last second. thanks I hope to have been able to explain it a little. but I'm not sure of having achieved - 000a35ff, Sep 14, 2015

not Spanish uses "Soy yo" never "es yo" but in the example it's used "el que está escribiendo" like a set. other example ¿ quie es el que no sabe inglés ?. (el que no sabe inglés ) soy yo. - 000a35ff, Sep 14, 2015

the only way to say "es yo" in Spanish with the the third singular person id " es mi persona" pero suena muy antigüo. - 000a35ff, Sep 14, 2015

Thank you for the explanation, what you wrote in the comments is especially helpful. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 14, 2015

It's always "soy yo" "Yo soy el que escribe." El (or in my case "ella") que escribe soy yo. - Daniela2041, Sep 14, 2015

Another way of saying the same thing is: "El que escribe es un servidor" (un servidor = yo). :) - crucesignatus, Sep 15, 2015

or el que escribe es menda - 000a35ff, Sep 15, 2015

Answer 3

I will try to do my best.

Son frases relativas adjetivas, la frase subordinada, en su conjunto, hace la función de un adjetivo que identifica al sujeto de la frase principal.

Vamos a jugar a los detectives: ¿QUIEN ES QUIEN?

Direct sentences

Txelis está leyendo un libro.

Mojac está leyendo un tebeo.

Aitor está leyendo un periódico.

Nosotros estamos leyendo un panfleto.y nos llamamos Jon y kepa

Vosotras estáis leyendo una crónica y os llamáis Maite y Eder

Ellos están leyendo éste rollo, y son los compañeros de SD.

Main sentences, + Relative sentences.

Yo soy, el que está leyendo un libro (entonces yo soy Txelis).

Tú eres, el que está leyendo un tebeo, (entonces tu eres Mojac.)

Él es el que está leyendo el periódico, (entonces el es Aitor)

Nosotros somos los que estamos leyendo el panfleto, ( entonces nuestros nombres son Jon y kepa)

Vosotras sois** los que estais leyendo una crónica** .(entonces vosotras sois Maite y Eder)

Ellos son los que están leyendo éste rollo, (luego ellos son.....)

I have no time to translate it properly into the English. I hope that it is useful.

Okay, this doesn't make a lot of sense in the 1st and 2nd plural. Don't get me wrong, I trust you on this but as the OP points out singular and plural follow different rules here. - Manity, Sep 17, 2015

First of all I'd like to thank you most sincerely for taking the time and effort to respond to my query. I still don't see why there is a different rule for the second person singular and the second person plural as in your explanation. Maybe in the fu - mojac, Sep 17, 2015

For the first, second and third person singular, look at the direct sentences, are the same , "esta leyendo". then if we build a relative sentences from them , we must respect their structure and would be the same in the three cases. - 000a35ff, Sep 17, 2015

For the first , second and third person plural, look at the direct sentences. are not the same. and we will respect the structure of each one of them , as we made with the singular persons - 000a35ff, Sep 17, 2015

Answer 4

Hi txelis

I was going to leave this, but it keeps going around in my head.

What you saying is that there are different rules for singular and plural and it is quite likely you are right but it makes no sense.

If we leave out the third person singular and plural, as they seem straightforward, you say:-

"Soy yo el que está leyendo" (3rd person) but "Somos nosotros los que estamos leyendo" (1st person)

And

"Eres tu el que está leyendo" (3rd person) but "Sois vosotros los que estáis leyendo" (2nd person)

And that, even if correct, is not logical.

Answer 5

If you are right why isn't the verb in the second part of the following sentence in the third person "Fuimos nosotros los que construimos la chabola" (as it appears in my grammer book) and not "fuimos nosotros los que construieron la chabola" which would follow the logic of your example. I don't understand why there would be 2 different rules.

Answer 6

The essence of my question was whether the verb escribir should be in the first or third person and, it would appear from the answers that the third person "escribe" is the correct formulation. However, in one grammer book I came across the following: "It's you who should take care" "Sois vosotras las que deberíais tener cuidado". Following from my earliear example should 'deber' not be in the third person, viz," ...... las que deberían....."? Another example is "Fuimos nosotros los que construimos la chabola" 'it was us who built the shed'. Going back to my original question, if I put it in the past tense, is the correct formulation "it was I who wrote the letter" "Fui yo el que escribió la carta" or "Fui yo el que escribí la carta"?

Just like in English. Keep in mind that YOU means tú/usted/ustedes (vos/vosotros) - chileno, Sep 15, 2015

Fui yo el que escribió la carta. Yo la escribí. You cannot say Yo la escribió. - chileno, Sep 15, 2015

I know that one cannot say "yo la escribió" but doesn't answer the question or what appears, to me, contradictions in the examples I quoted - mojac, Sep 15, 2015

Es como cuando ves una foto en la que sales cuando eras niño y alguien te pregunta. ¿quien eres tu? y le contestas . yo soy el que esta sonriendo . - 000a35ff, Sep 15, 2015

It's like when you see a photo in which you are retrated when you were a child and someone asks you. who are you? and you answer him. I am the boy that is smiling. - 000a35ff, Sep 15, 2015

it' is me who is smiling ...and if you apears in the photo writing what would you respond him? - 000a35ff, Sep 15, 2015

Answer 7

Es un servidor quien está escribiendo.

Answer 8

jejejejejej♥♥♥ - Daniela2041, Sep 15, 2015

:) - crucesignatus, Sep 17, 2015

Es un servidor el que escribe. :) - crucesignatus, Sep 17, 2015

Answer 9

I've gone back to my grammer book (and of course the book could be wrong) but I'm pretty sure that the correct version, according to the book, is "soy yo el que ESTOY sonriendo" and not "el que esta ......" This is the form of the verb used in the examples I'very previously quoted, otherwise they are all wrong. Just to be clear what I am translating here is "it is I who is smiling at this moment " not "I am the one who is smiling in the photo".

make an exercise. type in the google search box "soy yo el que" - 000a35ff, Sep 16, 2015

se construye de igual manera que en inglés con la unica diferencia de que en Inglés se puede decir es yo , mientras que en español no se puede decir es yo, obligatoriamente tiene que ser soy yo. It is me who is smiling. Soy yo quien está sonriendo. - t - 000a35ff, Sep 16, 2015