Which Choice for “got” in Best Spanish Usage

Question

Mientras escribía, quería decir “I tried to study yesterday, but I got distracted.” Pero me preocupa sobre la traducción de la palabra, “got.” Es español mejor decir “tuve” o “conseguí”?

Gracias por sus repuestas

Por favor, aconséjeme sobre mi uso de Español Si ves cualquier error

Have a look at the post I opened at the top of the page Q A. - ray76, Jun 30, 2016

What's the best choice for "am" in "I am ten years old"? Answer: You're asking the wrong question. Don't translate word by word. - jtaniel, Jun 30, 2016

Answer 1

Yo diría:

Traté de estudiar ayer, pero me distraje.

:) - FELIZ77, Jun 30, 2016

Answer 2

Open this Link

Wonderful link! - Daniela2041, Jul 1, 2016

I think "get" just got gotten. - Jubilado, Jul 1, 2016

Answer 3

"To get" is the same as "to become" in this case. In Spanish we normally say "ponerse" to say the say thing, ie: Traté de estudiar ayer, pero me puse distraido.

Luis´ suggestion is also good.

Answer 4

This question has been well answered, but I want to add that many of the "get" verbs in English are reflexive in Spanish.

Get sick---enfermarse

Get better---mejorarse.

Get up (like in the morning) levantarse.

Get married to. ----casarse con

Get divorced from ---- divorciarse de

Get angry ------enojarse

Just to mention a few.

I have opened this link so many times but nobody is prepared to learn them anymore , very disappointing. - ray76, Jul 1, 2016

Answer 5

This post caused me to review the many ways of saying "to become" in Spanish versus English. I found this site in my search for this topic here.

Spanish equivalent of: to become, to get

You found it...lol Hola amigo. - rac1, Jun 30, 2016

Answer 6

Hello Jgundy,

Welcome to the SpanishDict forum

You asked:

Which Choice for “got” in Best Spanish Usage Mientras escribía, quería decir “I tried to study yesterday, but I got distracted.” Pero me preocupa sobre la traducción de la palabra, “got.” Es español mejor decir “tuve” o “conseguí”? Gracias por sus repuestas Por favor, aconséjeme sobre mi uso de Español Si ves cualquier error

In this example of yours, it would be better to simply say I was distracted: (yo) Estaba trastornado/a

The word did is usually not translated in Spansh and sometimes the word 'got' is not independently translated either, depends on the context!

However, in order to give you the best possible (most accurate) answer we need more context What were you distracted by? Please give us the complete intended sentence so we can really understand what you are trying to say! Thank you in advance

An example: She was distracted with grief/anxiety: (Ella) Estaba trastornada por la pena / por la angustia (Oxford English / Spanish Dictionary)

In English we often use the same word eg got to cover a wide range of different situations/contexts but Spanish is much more precise and they use different words according to the exact context!

I would say:

Intenté estudiar / Traté de estudiar pero estaba distraído (por ejemplo ...por un ruido afuera de mi ventana

I tried to study yesterday but I got distracted (for example ...by a noise outside my window)

Intenté / o traté de estudiar ayer pero me puse distraido (por un ruido afuera de mi ventana.)

I hope this helps

Hola, Feliz. De acuerdo, también podrías decir: "estaba distraido" (trastornado me suena demasiado fuerte en este caso). - LuisCache, Jun 30, 2016

Otra opción sería: "...pero algo me distrajo". En tu ejemplo: "...pero me distrajo un ruido afuera de mi ventana". Saludos - LuisCache, Jun 30, 2016

Muchas gracias por tu ayuda, Luis :) - FELIZ77, Jun 30, 2016

De nada! :) - LuisCache, Jun 30, 2016