De meaning if?
Hello everyone,
I was reading some news articles in Spanish and I saw a lot of sentences that started with 'de'.
For example: De alguien que ha encontrada formas para llegar a potenciales reclutas sin ponerse en riesgo and De confirmarse la hipótesis terrorista, etc.
From context I think it would translate to 'if' but I'm not sure about that. My question is if it indeed is translated to 'if' and if so, when should I use the word 'si' and when should I use the word 'de' when making Spanish conditional sentences/If clauses. Thanks in advance and greetings from Holland!
2 Answers
De confirmarse la hipótesis terrorista,....................
You are absolutely right this would mean "if".
As for De alguien ................I don't see it . Maybe you should give us the whole sentence or contjext.
The use of "de " as "if" is new for me but I agree with your discovery. It works.
My advice is : use "si" or "if" because the other one could be very unusual. I'll try some examples but that doesn't mean it's not very much used although sometimes heard.
De hacer pan en casa, mejor usar levadura fresca.
De responder , hazlo por carta.
De tener noticias de Juan, te lo haré saber.
De cocinar en casa, cocina algo rico que tenga chocolate.
It seems it's always de+ infinitive. I couldn't think of anything else.
As I was so curious I went to the Real Academia and saw this:
- prep. U. seguida de infinitivo con valor condicional. De saberlo antes, habría venido.
"De" usually has the meaning of "of" or "from." But there are also idiomatic expressions such as "de acuerdo" (agreed) or "de repente" (suddenly) or "de vacaciones" (on vacation) or "de compras" (shopping as "Ella está de compras" she is shopping) There are many, many more like this.
