choice
Is there a noun for "choice" in Spanish?
The english equivalent would be "There is a lot of choice" or "The choices you make now could determine your future"
Or would it have to be "hay mucha variedad" ... "or "hay tanto para eligir"...'
3 Answers
lazarus1907 said:
... but you can't say "There is not much selection among the different options" (using the 1st meaning)
However, if you take away "among the different options" it becomes acceptable. e.g. "I don't often go to that store because there is not much selection." (more likely, still, would be "the selection's not very good").
There are many translations for "choice", but bear in mind that "choice" has many meanings in English, so it wouldn't be a surprise if each one was translated differently.
A "choice" can be a selection among different options. Hence, you have sentences like "You have to make a choice". Notice that you can say "You have to make a selection among different options" to mean the same thing. In this case, "elección" is the most common translation, followed maybe by "alternativa".
The word "choice" can also mean "range of available options". Hence, you have sentences like "There is not much choice" to mean "There is not much range of available options", but you can't say "There is not much selection among the different options" (using the 1st meaning), and you couldn't have said "You have to make a range of available options" in the previous paragraph. Here, "choice" translates as "variedad" or "tanto para elegir".
And I'll stop here, because there are probably more meanings I have not considered yet.
You cannot ask for a translation of a word out of context, because chances are that you cannot find a single translation for an English word with multiple meanings... and expect it to work all the time.
'No hay mucho de qué escoger,' and 'Lo que escoges (eliges) ahora podrá determinar tu futuro.' I see what you mean. There doesn't seem to be a word for choice per se other than 'selección' or 'elección'.
