No tiene nada que envidiarle

Question

So we were talking about the many applications of the verb "Quedar(se)" in Spanish and I commented that it was a bit like "to get" in English in that it seems to crop up in so many expressions and with so many different meanings.

My Spanish friend responded; "Llevar" no tiene nada que envidiarle.

Now literally I read that as; (the word) Llevar has nothing to envy it.

And I assume the meaning is that; (the word) Llevar is much the same/just as bad/no better.

But I can´t help the feeling that there is an English expression that is closer, literally, to "no tiene nada que envidiarle" but I can't for the life of me think of one.

Can anybody help with suggestions?

Answer 1

Perhaps good colloquial English for X no tiene nada que envidiarle (a Y) would be Y has nothing on X.

Quedar is a verb with many uses, but it has (or perhaps it's got) nothing on llevar.

For example: The verb "to be" has many uses, but it's got nothing on "get" Yes, I could imagine hearing that and it would sound quite natural. - DilKen, Apr 18, 2017

Bingo. Yes I think that's a winner. It's definitely the phrase that was playing at the edges of my mind. Thank you. - ErikainAndalusia, Apr 18, 2017

I don't think that's winner, cuz "have nothing on sb or sth" means (according to the Cambridge dictionary) ​to not be as good as someone or something - DoctorSpanish, Apr 19, 2017

"No tiene nada que envidiarle" it's used to say that someone or something is as good or useful as sb or sth else. - DoctorSpanish, Apr 19, 2017

DoctorSanis you will note that jtaniel has transposed the X and Y in his response. I feel that the expression is similar in intent, form and tone albeit expressed in reverse. - ErikainAndalusia, Apr 20, 2017

And whilst not a literal translation it is, in fact, the expression for which I was searching.. (Sorry DoctorSpanis - typing on a bus so letters keyboard is skipping letters) - ErikainAndalusia, Apr 20, 2017

For the sake of those learning English - "cuz" is some kind of colloquial substitute for "because" (from somewhere in the USA perhaps?) and "sb" and "sth" are abbreviations of "somebody" and "something" respectively. - ErikainAndalusia, Apr 20, 2017

Answer 2

"To get" would give "to be" a good run for its money. (to indicate approximate equality)

"To get" would beat "to be" hands down. (to indicate superiority)

"To get" would beat the pants off of "to be" (vast superiority)

In terms of words, "get" has nothing to be jealous of.

And, yes, I realize that some grammarians say that ending with a preposition is wrong...but there is no agreement on this point.

An alternative way of saying this would be:

In terms of words, "get" has nothing of which to be jealous. To me this just sounds clumsy, but hey...I'm an American.

The reference to jealous sounds like an "English as a second language" speaker to me. It's not anything I would ever say. - ErikainAndalusia, Apr 18, 2017

But then I'm not American. And I prefer not to put prepositions hanging at the ends of sentences when it can be avoided. - ErikainAndalusia, Apr 18, 2017

That was a joke. But my smiley face didn't work. - ErikainAndalusia, Apr 18, 2017

Kenhuezenga how did you get a smiley face into your answer and I can't? - ErikainAndalusia, Apr 18, 2017

You can put a smiley face in the body of an answer, but it just looks like this :) in a comment. Was that your question? - DilKen, Apr 18, 2017

Erikain: my usage of prepositions at the end of sentences varies depending on the audience: informal vs formal sort of thing. It isn't technically wrong, but it can sound a bit crude to some people's ears. - DilKen, Apr 18, 2017

There are many articles on this topic. The gist is that someone "made up" this rule based on Latin grammar rules, but English isn't a Latin - derived language. Yet the "new rule" gained in popularity in some circles and still exists today for some. - DilKen, Apr 18, 2017

And it´s a bit like starting a sentence with "and". Also frowned on in some circles but actually there is no rule against it. And sometimes it makes the sentence do just what you want that it do. - ErikainAndalusia, Apr 18, 2017

It's also like the prohibition against splitting infinitive, which also was a holdover from Latin.s - AnnRon, Apr 18, 2017