encontrar(se)
I've always thought 'encontrar' was 'to find', 'to meet' and so by extension 'encontrarse' would be 'to find oneself', so I was a bit confused by the following:
'Appleby, tienes moscas en los ojos ? le susurro con la mejor intención del mundo al encontrárselo a la entrada de la tienda de los paracaídas el día del vuelo-chollo semanal a Parma.
....here encontrarse would seem to be to meet ...on meeting/finding him at the entrance to the tent
12 Answers
:
I've always thought 'encontrar' was 'to find', 'to meet' and so by extension 'encontrarse' would be 'to find oneself', so I was a bit confused by the following:
Your confusion is understandable, because many grammars and teachers (and people in this forum) seem to be against giving this kind of verbs a name to differentiate them from the rest. Let me explain:
Many Spanish verbs can go along with a pronoun that appears to be reflexive, but it is not reflexive, and it cannot be translated either. These verbs are called "pronominal", and as soon as you see this word, you should forget about using "myself / yourself /..." to translate it.
"Encontrarse", as they already have explained to you, it is a pronominal verb, unlike "encontrar", and this also suggests that its meaning is likely to be completely different from the "normal" one. "Encontrarse" can mean, depending on the sentence, "to meet", "to be", "to feel", and a few more things that you can't get without the pronoun "se". A comparison would be the phrasal verb "run into": if you run into someone, you are not literally running like an athlete, and getting inside a person's body. "Run into" is simply different from "run" in this context. The same with "encontrarse" and "encontrar".
As someone has already told you, encontrarse is a pronominal verb. That means you have to use the indirect object pronouns with it. The meaning is different from encontrar. Encontrar means to find. I think that is clear. Among all the meanings of encontrarse there is also to find, but without purpose (there is no previous search).
Look at these sentences:
La policía encontró al ladrón en su domicilio (they went to the house on purpose, looking for him). La policía se encontró al ladrón en su domicilio (they weren't expecting to find him in his house).
Sadly, this is not a fixed rule. You can also use encontrar without the purpose:
He encontrado este libro en el desván (you weren't looking for this particular book, maybe you were looking for anything)
Me he encontrado este libro en el desván (same meaning, only difference when you use it as a pronominal verb: you make the casual finding stronger).
I hope that was helpful.
Cheers, Elena
Thanks for your help everyone.
Gus said:so I did not study spanish formally;I speak it by instinct-am surprised at how well I speak it but writting it is a lot diferent So, that is how I find myself in this site- thank God that it is available.
Gus I am the opposite -I have got to the point where I am able to read and write at a basic level, but my speech and understanding of speech are woeful. I would swop my skills for yours anyday.
As always Lazarus -eres la leche
lazarus1907 said:
:
I've always thought 'encontrar' was 'to find', 'to meet' and so by extension 'encontrarse' would be 'to find oneself', so I was a bit confused by the following:
Your confusion is understandable, because many grammars and teachers (and people in this forum) seem to be against giving this kind of verbs a name to differentiate them from the rest. Let me explain:Many Spanish verbs can go along with a pronoun that appears to be reflexive, but it is not reflexive, and it cannot be translated either. These verbs are called "pronominal", and as soon as you see this word, you should forget about using "myself / yourself /..." to translate it."Encontrarse", as they already have explained to you, it is a pronominal verb, unlike "encontrar", and this also suggests that its meaning is likely to be completely different from the "normal" one. "Encontrarse" can mean, depending on the sentence, "to meet", "to be", "to feel", and a few more things that you can't get without the pronoun "se". A comparison would be the phrasal verb "run into": if you run into someone, you are not literally running like an athlete, and getting inside a person's body. "Run into" is simply different from "run" in this context. The same with "encontrarse" and "encontrar".
As always Lazarus, a clear and concise explanation.
Tad: pronominal
Encontrar me lo
econtrar te lo
encontrar se lo
(all in one word of course)
Econtrarse con alguien: find/meet somebody
Econtrar algo: find something
Gus said:
Thank God you are around, I was in trouble for a minute- there.
Don't thank me too soon. I may be wrong but encontrarse also has the following meanings,
Descubrir - To find
Coincidir - To meet
Quedar citados - to meet
Chocar - to crash (vehicles)
Estar - to be
Thank God you are around, I was in trouble for a minute- there.
According to Collins, encontrarse is a pronominal verb and also means to find or to meet so it would appear your assumption is correct.
yea, you could say that. what the sentence that you wrote means is
when they ran into each other . See, this encounter was nor plan- they did not had a date, they happened to be in the same place by chance. If they had planned this encounter then the sentence would off read
Al reunirse en la tienda de paracaidas. o, al encontrarse en la tienda......You see what I mean?
they were not looking for each other, they met by chance.
You see, they ran into each other
tad said:
Gus said:
Pequeño Larousesse Ilustrado 1983 ediciónLists the following:Encontrar:Tropezar una persona con otraEncontrar a un amigo en la calleHallar lo que se buscaEncontrar la solución del problemaDescubrir, adivinar, acertar
...and was encontrarse in that dictionary? It's not in spanishdict...could it be al encontrarlo 'on meeting him' al encontrarselo 'on finding himself with him 'sorry no accents on this keyboard
>
...and was encontrarse in that dictionary? Yea it is by implication since
econtrarse has the same meaning as encontrar only that t it is conjugated. I cant explained the verb conjugations but hopefully some one will come to our rescue.
ll
note that I left my country 48 years ago(give or take a day)
so I did not study spanish formally;I speak it by instinct-am surprised at how well I speak it but writting it is a lot diferent So, that is how I find myself in this site- thank God that it is available.
Gus said:
Pequeño Larousesse Ilustrado 1983 ediciónLists the following:Encontrar:Tropezar una persona con otraEncontrar a un amigo en la calleHallar lo que se buscaEncontrar la solución del problemaDescubrir, adivinar, acertar
...and was encontrarse in that dictionary? It's not in spanishdict...could it be al encontrarlo 'on meeting him' al encontrarselo 'on finding himself with him ?
sorry no accents on this keyboard
Pequeño Larousesse Ilustrado 1983 edición
Lists the following:
Encontrar:
Tropezar una persona con otra
Encontrar a un amigo en la calle
Hallar lo que se busca
Encontrar la solución del problema
Descubrir, adivinar, acertar
