Which Translation is Correct

Question

Often times when I am studying flashcard for Spanish, I realize that when I google the word on the card the translation is different that the one I am studying. For example: One of the cards I am studying said "to count" and the answer was "contar" When I googled "to count" is says "para contar" Which one should I choose to learn?

Another card is "count" and the answer is "cuenta" When I googled "count" is says "contar" Which one should I choose to learn?

These are just 2 examples of when I have noticed that my cards say something different than something else.

Answer 1

Please don't expect every English word to have exactly one Spanish word that it translates to and from in all cases. Count has a lot of meanings: to name the numbers (count to ten); to consider (I count him among my friends); to have value or relevance (my opinion doesn't count); a European nobleman like a British earl (The Count of Monte Cristo); a total obtained by counting (the final vote count is in); and on and on. It would be odd (and lucky!) indeed if a single word in any other language had all those meanings.

This old Latin saw about not learning from a dictionary: "Semper ubi sub ubi." - Jubilado, Oct 20, 2015

How do you tell which meaning means which then? - k_nelson, Oct 20, 2015

Answer 2

You do know that every Spanish verb has many, many (I don't feel like counting them!) forms depending on person, number, tense, and mood. All verbs are learned in the infinitive form which is the form ending in R. English uses the word "to" for designating the infinitive.

The Spanish word "contar" means "to count" in English. There are many free tools on this site and others to help you learn verbs in their various forms and other vocabulary. I like to use www.WordReference.com selecting Spanish on the home page. I've saved the Spanish to English from that site in my favorites.

I don't think Google is going to help you learn Spanish. Spanish is much much larger than a fact - for which Google is great.