Entremeses, por favor

Question

Heidita suggested that I post my answer in the WOD thread as a separate question, so here it is:

Estoy supuesto a llevar entremeses a la fiesta. ¿Qué debo hacer? / I am supposed to take appetizers to the party? What should I make?

I await your responses with interest. Please post both Spanish and English.

good for you , ann, this was interesting, as all English speakers fell for it, jeje, Daniela didn't say anything about the "make" bit either. - 006595c6, Jul 6, 2017

Answer 1

What I find interesting is that nobody said anything about "¿qué debo hacer? "

interesting, as this was the wrong or utterly ambiguous part.

Any Spanish speaker, without reading the translation, would think she said:

Se supone que debo llevar/tengo que llevar los entremeses a la fiesta. ¿qué debo hacer?

meaning:

I am supposed to take appetisers to the party. What shall I DO ? !!!!

No native speaker would think that you are talking about "make" here.

So the correct wording:

¿Qué debo preparar/cocinar/llevar?

Same here, Ken:

Me han pedido que lleve entremeses a la fiesta. ¿Qué debería hacer?

...to the party. What should I do? take them, not take them...?? Should I just not go to the party?

I forgot about the last part. I would have said "¿Qué debo preparar?" - Daniela2041, Jul 6, 2017

So does this mean estoy supuesto is okay? - bosquederoble, Jul 6, 2017

No way, güey! Check out my answer above I gave four possibilities. Remember, Spanish speakers think differently. We don't use the passive as much. - Daniela2041, Jul 6, 2017

Answer 2

There was a time when "he de + inf." served to express "I am supposed to----whatever"

But nowadays you hear "Me toca a mí" "Me toca a mí llevar/traer los entremeses a la fiesta."

This is also used to express "It's my turn."

Also you hear "Se supone que debo + inf. "

Most of the time we get by with just "Tengo que +inf."

If you try to think like an English speaker and use English ways to express yourself in Spanish you'll get confused.

Dani, My natural inclination would be to use the Se supone que debo construction but it is good to know that tengo que +infinitive can also be used ;) - FELIZ77, Jul 7, 2017

o se supone que tengo que etc.... - FELIZ77, Jul 7, 2017

My natural inclination is not to think in English "passive" construction. It's more natural to use the "me toca a mí" type of construction. - Daniela2041, Jul 7, 2017

Answer 3

I suppose Heidita will tell us the correct.

Two ways I might have tried:

Se supone que traigo llevo entremeses a la fiesta…

Quieren que (yo) traiga lleve entremeses a la fiesta…

I will be interested to see options, especially from native speakers, as I am supposed to is a very tricky concept to translate.

Bosque: I don't think you should use traer. Once you are at the party you can use traer to say what you brought. But when you are not there you should use llevar (take) In English we use bring for both llevar and traer. - DilKen, Jul 6, 2017

Now that you mention it you are probably correct. But if you replace traer with llevar, any comments on the "I am supposed to". :) - bosquederoble, Jul 6, 2017

Bosque: I chickened out with supposed to and said it in a different way which I think is more typical Spanish for this, but I could be wrong. - DilKen, Jul 6, 2017

My answer is quite similar to your second answer "the infamous they" want me to... - DilKen, Jul 6, 2017

Your answer sounds good to me to. :) - bosquederoble, Jul 6, 2017

I think Se supone works. One could just go with Tengo que llevar.... if you have taken the "supposed to" to heart and have decide you have to do it. Debo llevar is a little weaker commitment I think. - DilKen, Jul 6, 2017

Answer 4

Ann:

Seven layered Mexican dip and heavy duty scoop-shaped corn chips. Yummy.

I thought you were looking for ideas for what to bring.

Maybe you wanted this?:

Me han pedido que lleve entremeses a la fiesta. ¿Qué debería hacer preparar?

Literally, "they" have asked me bring appetizers to the party. What should I prepare?

In English, your original sentence with "I am supposed to" or:

I have been asked to bring appetizers to the party. What should I make?

Answer 5

So does this mean estoy supuesto is okay? - bosquederobl

No, it is not correct.

However, a native speaker would have understood she meant: se supone...

On the other hand. no native speaker would have understood "Qué debo hacer?" like, what shall I make, but what shall I DO.

For me the estoy supuesto sounded wrong, what should I do or what should I make where conceptually somewhat similar- how do I solve this issue and decide what to take. :) - bosquederoble, Jul 6, 2017

That should have been were not where. - bosquederoble, Jul 6, 2017

Answer 6

Heidita:

Very fun and interesting little exercise.

I'll explain what went through my mind. Because the English was stated by Ann:

I am supposed to take appetizers to the party? What should I make?

The second sentence did not convey any uncertainty about whether or not she was going to go to the party or whether or not she was going to bring something. For that reason, one of my comments to Bosque was to just use Tengo que llevar in the Spanish sentence instead of anything with suponerse.

The person has already gone through this mental process:

I'm supposed to go and bring an app. (some people expect it of me)
I decided I am going to go and bring an app. (I'm definitely going to go and bring)
Now, what should I make and bring?

If, on the other hand, the person was not sure about the going or bringing they would have said something like:

I am supposed to take appetizers to the party.
Should I go or not?
If I go, I suppose I'll have to bring something, don't you think?

Heidita: In your post:

Se supone que debo llevar/tengo que llevar los entremeses a la fiesta. ¿qué debo hacer?

I can certainly understand that with Se supone there is confusion with hacer between do and make. But I am a little surprised that this confusion would still exist if you used Tengo que. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you wrote above. Maybe you mean Se supone que tengo que llevar....rather than Tengo que llevar.... If you mean the former, then I can easily understand why it is not assumed that you will go & bring. By the way...why do you have to day Se supone que debo llevar instead of just saying Se supone que llovo??? I see sentence in the SD dictionary which don't have the extra debo.

One final question, if you be so kind:

In the following Spanish sentence, is there still a problem with meaning?

Voy a llevar entremeses a la fiesta. ¿Qué debería hacer?

Would it be better to use preparar, cocinar or llevar here as well?

Maybe one of the issues is that hacer is used way more for "to do" in Spanish than for "to make". Maybe a lesson we English Speakers should take from this, is to use preparar, fabricar, elaborar, cocinar, construir, or any of the other Spanish verbs that can be usually be used instead of hacer for "to make" I do believe a lot of English speakers use "make" many times when there are more elegant English verbs available. It is one of our "go to" words with a zillion meanings.

Answer 7

Well, Heidita, you were certainly right that my little post led to an interesting discussion. I was puzzled about how to say "I am supposed to . . ." and looked all over the place and considered at least a couple of possibilities before posting. I almost threw in the towel and rewrote the English sentence to make it easier but decided to choose one and see whether I got a correction. Boy, did I ever!

It never once occurred to me that "hacer" shouldn't be used to mean "to make" in this context, even though I've wondered how, exactly, Spanish speakers figured out which meaning to give the verb where both meanings seemed to fit. Now I'm wondering about other contexts in which English speakers would say "make" but Spanish speakers would never choose to use "hacer."

Ken, I like your suggestion of "tengo que." It solves the first problem handily and, as you point out, clarifies whether I plan to go to the (factitious) party.

And yes, we English speakers would do well to keep in mind that there are often more precise verbs available to help us out of jams like these.

Ann: According to Heidita, using tengo que does not, however, changed the interpretation of the second sentence away from "what should I do" Go? Not go? Take something? Not take something etc. - DilKen, Jul 7, 2017

Yeah, I got that. "Tengo que" still seems to me to be a better indicator of my intentions. - AnnRon, Jul 7, 2017

Answer 8

Que debería hacer? = What I should I do?

Que debería crear? = What should make?

("to make" is to create something that did not exist before)

Teachers "make" the homework - students "do" it.

Answer 9

Hello Ann

Interesting questions:

Heidita suggested that I post my answer in the WOD thread as a separate question, so here it is: Estoy supuesto a llevar entremeses a la fiesta. ¿Qué debo hacer? / I am supposed to take appetizers to the party? What should I make? I await your responses with interest. Please post both Spanish and English.

I think that the se supone construction works well.

¡Se supone que tengo que llevar entremeses a la fiesta! ¿Qué debería preparar? .

Here is a different sentence that I have just composed using the se supone construction:

¡Se supone que tengo que comenzar a trabajar a las ocho mañana por la mañana pero también tengo que llevar mi hija al médico a las ocho menos cuarto! ¿Qué debería hacer?

I am supposed to start work at eight o' clock tomorrow morning but I also have to take my daughter to the doctor at quarter to eight! What should I do?

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor