'acabasen pasando' meaning

Question

Hola amigos, encontro una frase que me costa entender:

'se creaba una serie de vicisitudes que hacían que acabasen pasando auténticas penalidades para subsistir'

Creo que en inglés, se traslada: 'a series of vicissitude were created that make them endure real hardships to survive'

pero, qué significa acabasen pasando? Es igual a 'acabasen de pasar'?

Muchas gracias!

me cuesta entender - 006595c6, Sep 8, 2017

ooops - Mercent, Sep 8, 2017

Answer 1

Hi Mercent, nice question

Well, acabar de + infinitive means to happen, to occur.

Acabo de hablar con mi padre. I have just talked to my father.

However, acabar + present participle (acabar + gerundio) means things happened over a period of time.

El niño no comía, pero al final acabó comiendo.

So this was a longer period of time.

Acabasen de pasar: this would mean, things JUST happened.

acabasen pasando...things happened over a period of time, slowly but surely.

pasar penalidades = to endure hardship

Your translation is spot on.

Gracias! So is 'acabar + gerundio', like 'acabar de + infinitivo', a Terminativas Perifrasis Verbales? It also has a meaning of 'end up, finishing'? - Mercent, Sep 8, 2017

please un-accept the answer, you might get more input or answers this way, as when people see the chosen best answers they tend to not answer any more - 006595c6, Sep 8, 2017

Answer 2

Gracias! So is 'acabar + gerundio', like 'acabar de + infinitivo', a Terminativas Perifrasis Verbales? It also has a meaning of 'end up, finishing'? - Mercent

Hi Mercent, if you have a doubt, it is better to post a new answer instead of a comment, the thread will be bumped up to the first page and you might get more or better answers.

acaba de - infinitive doesn't really mean finishing.

It has the exact same meaning as

To have just done something

A completely different structure in English, obviously.

I have just spoken to my mother.

Acabo de hablar con mi madre

I have just finished the essay.

Acabo de terminar la redacción.

I have just answered this question.

Acabo de contestar esta pregunta .

Answer 3

Cosas acabasen pasandoi. ("cosas " is the subject in the subjuntive past)
Things ended up happening.

-The subject after "que" here is "auténticas penalidades para subsistir. Real hardships to survive ended up happening.

It's different from acaban de pasar, acababan de pasar, acabasen de pasar. In all these cases we use the structure "acabar de +infinitive" meaning something that "just happened.

acabar pasando end up happening
acabar de pasar just happened

Aaah, so 'auténticas penalidades para subsistir' is the subject. So would this be a better translation: a series of vicissitude were created, allowing real survival hardships to happen/arise'? - Mercent, Sep 9, 2017

You wrote Una serie de vicisitudes se crearon, permitiendo sobrevivir a las auténticas penalidades. - Polenta, Sep 9, 2017

A series.........were crearse, which Made real hardships to survive Ene upbhappening - Polenta, Sep 9, 2017

Tells me if this e - Polenta, Sep 9, 2017

Is what you need. - Polenta, Sep 9, 2017

Yikes, i am always careless when it comes to tenses. ''A sereis...WAS' indeed. I understand that 'acabar pasando' is rightly translated to 'end up happening', but when it is translated in the sentence to 'Made real hardships to survive End up happening', - Mercent, Sep 10, 2017

it feels like a tongue twister and not very elegant. So i think getting rid of changing 'end up happening' to 'to happen'. - Mercent, Sep 10, 2017

Answer 4

“se creaba una serie de vicisitudes que hacían que acabasen pasando auténticas penalidades para subsistir.”

1-“A series of changes was created that would end up being real obstacles to survival.”

2-“A series of changes was created that ended up being real obstacles to survival.”

Are these two examples good translations of the phrase?

To me there is a difference in meaning, so which is the best?

In the first, from the writer's point of view, the changes hadn't happened yet although he believed that they would happen. In the second example both actions were competed and the writer is simply reporting it after the fact.

I think 1 is the better translation. If "acabasen" were changed to "acabaron", then 2 would be the better translation.

What do you folks think?

Answer 5

Please delete.