Trataron.

Question

Can this word stand alone as a sentence, or is this just a bad translation from the English? Here is the part from the book.

Al fin Lucía dijo:
--No soporto mirar ese horrible bozal. ¿Podremos quitárselo?
Trataron. Después de mucho esfuerzo . . .

I'm just asking, because previous discussions on this site gave me the idea that tratar should always be followed by de when meaning "to try." Thus, I would have expected one of the following:

Lo intentaron.
or Trataron de hacerlo.

Answer 1

Natasha said:

OK, so how would you say it?

Intentaron.

Lo intentaron.

Do you need the "lo" or am I just carrying that over from English?

"Lo intentaron" is the only option for me.

Answer 2

I agree that this looks to be a poor translation in this instance. Here is the original for comparison.

"I can't bear to look at that horrible muzzle. I wonder could we take if off'"
So they tried. And after a lot of working at it (for their fingers were cold and it was now the darkest part of the night) they succeeded.

Maybe Lazarus or someone else can give a better rendition.

Incidentally, in a recent thread about "I wonder" several people tried to convince me that "Me pregunto" is normal Spanish,' but you see here how a different translation was used, one which sounds much more natural in Spanish.

' I'm not saying it is abnormal, just that it isn't used anywhere near as often as "I wonder" is in English, and that other constructions are usually used in its place.

Answer 3

lazarus1907 said:

Trataron'''?

I won't go into the regional thing again, but I have studied entire grammatical chapters comparing how this can't be said in Spanish, even though it is common in other languages. The periphrasis "tratar de" cannot be used without the verb and the preposition; otherwise "trataron" becomes "they treated", which is not used without a direct object neither anyway.

In any case, regardless of any grammar I've ever studied, it sounds foreign to me.

OK, so how would you say it?

Intentaron.
Lo intentaron.

Do you need the "lo" or am I just carrying that over from English'

Answer 4

Trataron'''?

I won't go into the regional thing again, but I have studied entire grammatical chapters comparing how this can't be said in Spanish, even though it is common in other languages. The periphrasis "tratar de" cannot be used without the verb and the preposition; otherwise "trataron" becomes "they treated", which is not used without a direct object neither anyway.

In any case, regardless of any grammar I've ever studied, it sounds foreign to me.