Help on Plurals

Question

Hi, I was working on a Spanish lesson and I need help. A sentence that I want to write includes a plural form of a word but then again I tried to write it but it did not sound correct. Here is my sentence:

"I can buy them plants."

I was wondering if we should say unease plants or just plantas. Yo necesito su ayudarle, por favor. ¡Gracias!

I fixed your formatting. We couldn't tell exactly what you were saying. - rac1, Feb 11, 2017

I think more context is needed. - rac1, Feb 11, 2017

"I can buy "those" plants?" is correct English. :) - ian-hill, Feb 11, 2017

Sorry, it must've auto-corrected again even though I already fixed it. - zaneypal, Feb 11, 2017

Are you trying to write "I can buy plants for them" or "I can buy those plants"? - bosquederoble, Feb 11, 2017

Yes, who he is talking to makes the difference. - rac1, Feb 11, 2017

I was trying to write I can buy the plants - zaneypal, Feb 11, 2017

I see, so, "them" was a typo. Correct? - rac1, Feb 11, 2017

Yep! - zaneypal, Feb 11, 2017

Answer 1

"I can buy them plants."

I was wondering if we should say unease plants or just plantas.

Your question is made very hard to interpret due to what I think is failure to correct the results of a spellchecker, and odd formatting.

I think you are asking:

If I translate “I can buy them plants”, can I use “plantas” or do I need “unas plantas”?

You can use “plantas” without an article- If you put your final sentence in Spanish we can check it for accuracy.

Answer 2

"I can buy them plants is poor English. It should be "those" plants. I make this correction because of those students who are studying English.

"unas plantas" means "some" plants. You need to look up the word for "those." It will be the plural of "that"

What about "I can buy him plants". I assumed "I can buy them plants" meant "I can buy plants for them". But I speak colloquial not always correct English. :) - bosquederoble, Feb 10, 2017

Yes, you can say, "I can buy him plants"...perfectly fine. - rac1, Feb 10, 2017

But yes, people do replace those with them sometimes, leaving the sentence ambiguous. A lesson illustrating my interpretation:https://www.englishgrammar.org/direct-indirect-object-position/ - bosquederoble, Feb 10, 2017

It depends on if he is talking to himself or someone else. If he is just saying it to himself, then, "I can buy those plants. If he is telling someone say, "I can buy them plants for Christmas" or it would be, "them".... - rac1, Feb 10, 2017

Yes, I know, that's true. It just depends on the situation. I couldn't make much sense out of what he was even asking. - rac1, Feb 10, 2017

I fixed the formatting error. - rac1, Feb 11, 2017

Sorry for the poor formatting, it was an auto-correct. I meant to write "the plants" and instead of "unease plants" I meant to write "unas plantas". - zaneypal, Feb 11, 2017

The sentence "I want to buy them a plant" does not have the ambiguity. - bosquederoble, Feb 11, 2017

Well you wouldn't say, "I want to buy those a plant"...lol - rac1, Feb 11, 2017

Answer 3

I want to buy them a plant.

I want to buy those plants. (like he's talking to the sales person)

I want to buy plants for them. (talking about someone he wants to buy the plants for)

But, I guess now, it's all irrelevant since we know now what he wants to say. lol

I still do not know which he wants- they are not the same in Spanish, my answer was based on one meaning, that of Daniela the other, and to correct a final sentence we may need to know. :) - bosquederoble, Feb 11, 2017

I want to buy those plants , I want them all, wrap them up , what all of them ? Yes all those that Io chose , all of them . English can be a real bugger . - ray76, Feb 11, 2017

Yep, it's so true, Raymon. xo - rac1, Feb 11, 2017

Answer 4

OK now that the mess is cleared up, (I hope), If the English is "I want to buy them a plant."

Its. "Quiero comprarles una planta." Or the variant, "Les quiero comprar una planta."

Hi, thank you for the answer! My sentence was originally: I want to buy the plants, but it was auto-corrected; sorry for the mess-up (My main language is English and I am learning Spanish). - zaneypal, Feb 11, 2017

I wanted to know if I were to write "plants" in one of my sentences would I have to write "Yo quiero unas plantas" or just simply write "Yo quiero plantas"? - zaneypal, Feb 11, 2017

It's just like English in this case. I want S O M E plants vs. I want plants. " I want T H E plants" would be: Quiero L A S plantas. Sheesh!!! - Daniela2041, Feb 11, 2017

Lol - rac1, Feb 11, 2017