Asking questions that end with a preposition in English
How do I say "that book you are reading - what is it about" I am struggling with questions that in English end with a preposition, specifically, about and of. Can someone help me please? Thanks in advance X
5 Answers
I interpret your question as being about how to ask, in Spanish, questions that in English end with prepositions. As AnnRon points out, the question isn't exactly clear.
What is it about? ¿Sobre qué es?
What does it remind you of? ¿De qué le recuerda?
There are of course other ways to translate those English sentences, and there are approximately 3.2 bajillion other English sentences ending with about, of, and other prepositions. I'm afraid I can't help you with a general rule for dealing with those, except possibly: Reword the English so it doesn't end in a preposition, and then translate.
About what is it?
Of what does it remind you?
In English it is common to end a sentence with a preposition. In Spanish I'ts almost impossible and will not make sense.
English: Where are you from? Spanish: ¿De dónde es usted? It would sure sound funny to say "¿Dónde es usted de?"
However, there was a time in Mexico when the government was promoting more school attendance and created billboards with the slogan: Las escuelas son para ir a
A famous conversation took place many years ago when Prime Minister Churchill was told by an English grammarian that he shouldn't end a sentence in a preposition. According to the story Churchill quickly replied:
"This is the sort of nonsense up with which I shall not put!"
It is perfectly fine to say "What is it about?" The rule about not ending sentences with prepositions is outdated and seldom adhered to in modern English except in the most formal situations. Many times to avoid doing it requires a wordy circumlocution that sounds unnatural or just doesn't make much sense. For your example sentence it might be something like "About what topic is that book you're reading?" which sounds stiff and overly formal.
You should avoid superfluous prepositions at the end of your sentences. Examples: Where is he at? Where are you going to? These prepositions simply are not needed and should be omitted.
Re-reading your question makes me wonder whether it is a Spanish translation of this kind of sentence that you're struggling with rather than the English "rule," but without your levels of proficiency, there's no way I could be sure.
Lynda The most common way of asking "What is it about?" is "de qué se trata?" Literally, "of what is it about?" This is how spanish speakers phrase questions in order to avoid ending a question with a preposition as suggested by Churchill's quote that Daniela provided earlier.
