what does this mean?

Question

What does this say''? Whatever I come up with doesn't make any sense.

Probaste alguna vez una empanada?

sorry I can't to the upside down question mark thing because this computer doesn't have a keypad.

Answer 1

Have you tried an empañada? It's a desert pastry I think. At least some kind of food.

Answer 2

Hi ani
Before posting another question, please click on the link below.

[url=http://my.spanishdict.com/forum/topic/show'id=1710195%3ATopic%3A4947]http://my.spanishdict.com/forum/topic/show'id=1710195%3ATopic%3A4947[/url]

Answer 3

I thought about that (have you tried vs. did you try), but the simple past doesn't sound as good to my ear. It certainly is used by native English speakers, but for me the present perfect tense makes more sense, because you are asking whether someone has done something during a period stretching over their entire life, until now. But either way is acceptable.

Answer 4

Have you ever tried an empanada?

Probar=to try and Probaste is past tense (you tried) since it's a question we add have

alguna vez is like saying any time/some time/once... but in english we replace it here with ever

and an empanada is a type of food basically a bread pastry with filling, meat cheese almost anything : )

Answer 5

You're probably right. It is definitely not the idea of a typical pie, so it is probably better to describe the dish than providing a poor translation.

On the other hand, I used "Did you..." because that's the way a Spaniard would interpret the original sentence. For us, "Have you ever..." would be "¿Has probado alguna vez...'", since they are quite different from one another, but this distinction is not common in Latin America.

Answer 6

I would recommend "Have you ever tried an empanada'" Food names (such as taco, sushi, and spaghetti) are best left in their original language. If you use "pie," you will surely confuse an English speaker, since an empanada is quite different from what they will imagine. An empanada is closer to a pasty, but is different enough to warrant leaving it alone.

Answer 7

Did you ever try a pie? (it is a particular kind of pie, of course).