Tu madre me dijo

Question

I don't have too much longer to send letters to my boy in Spanish. If I do it after he comes home, he'll think I finally went over the edge. In his last mail he said "hoy estamos con la Caro..." It turns out that he had told his mother about a girl named Carolina in their last phone call. but I wasnt home at the time, and I had no idea what he was taliking about. I was about to ask people here if they could tell me what a Caro was, then a light went on. I'm sure he'll be able to decipher this, but I wanted to see if I have used ser and estar properly, and if my use of the había was right. Also, should it be de ti or de tú in the first sentence, or does it matter?

Tu madre me dijo que había(') un nuevo email de ti Lo leí y mi pregunta primera fue ¿Qué es una Caro? Creo que es bueno que estás pasando este tiempo con una chica quien te gusta. Espero que no será demasiado difícil salir sin ella. Estamos contando los días hasta estás aquí.

Answer 1

Thanks Heidita,
I don't know why it is so hard for me to remember That if my sentence starts with creo que or espero que or something like that, I will be following it with the subjunctive, but it is. Thanks to to you I'll look much smarter than I am.

Heidita said:

Tu madre me dijo que había un nuevo mail tuyo Lo leí y mi primera pregunta fue ¿Qué es una Caro? Creo que es bueno que estés pasando este tiempo con una chica que te gusta. Espero que no sea demasiado difícil pasar un tiempo sin ella. (not sure what you wanted to say) Estamos contando los días hasta que estés aquí.

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Answer 2

Oh by the way, sorry, I thought I had posted the English as well. I was up way too late last night.

Answer 3

Thanks, you're right, that is what I meant. I think'll just change the verb to return(regresar instead of salir). thanks all

Natasha said:

I'm pretty sure he meant: "I hope it won't be too hard to leave (the country) without her."

Heidita said:

Tu madre me dijo que había un nuevo mail tuyo Lo leí y mi primera pregunta fue ¿Qué es una Caro? Creo que es bueno que estés pasando este tiempo con una chica que te gusta. Espero que no sea demasiado difícil pasar un tiempo sin ella. (not sure what you wanted to say) Estamos contando los días hasta que estés aquí.

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Answer 4

I'm pretty sure he meant: "I hope it won't be too hard to leave (the country) without her."

Heidita said:

Tu madre me dijo que había un nuevo mail tuyo Lo leí y mi primera pregunta fue ¿Qué es una Caro? Creo que es bueno que estés pasando este tiempo con una chica que te gusta. Espero que no sea demasiado difícil pasar un tiempo sin ella. (not sure what you wanted to say) Estamos contando los días hasta que estés aquí.

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Answer 5

Tu madre me dijo que había un nuevo mail tuyo Lo leí y mi primera pregunta fue ¿Qué es una Caro? Creo que es bueno que estés pasando este tiempo con una chica que te gusta. Espero que no sea demasiado difícil pasar un tiempo sin ella. (not sure what you wanted to say) Estamos contando los días hasta que estés aquí.

Answer 6

Yeah I think your right. Actually I already made that change to the draft I was working on. I just got tired of editing the post. Boy, your worse than me about staying up late. I'm on the west coast. Thanks for the input

Answer 7

http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/courses/ADJECT.HTM

I'm still wondering about primera pregunta or pregunta primera.

If you read the part of the above site that discusses the position of adjectives, it says that limiting adjectives go in front of the noun. Others go after the noun. It doesn't specifically mention primero as one of the limiting adjectives, but there is a sentence in there using primera to describe a feminine noun and it is placed before the noun. Also, if you google primero, primera, you will see lots of examples where primera is used in front of nouns.

My reasoning is: if primero, primera went after the noun, why would they need the rule about dropping the o before masculine, singular nouns (primer lugar)

Answer 8

Thanks I actually made a couple of changes based on your suggestions so that it will look better by the time the natives get to it

Quentin said:

de (from) is a preposition. The object of the preposition pronoun is ti. Tú is a personal pronoun that is used as the subject of the sentence. I think it should be primera pregunta, but I can't tell you why. It just sounds backwards the way you wrote it.

¿Qué es una Caro?

fuera? un nuevo email

hay=there is, are había=there was, were había (tu madre no dice, sino dijo) ...un nuevo email

Creo que .... I think the indicative mood could be used here as you are declaring a fact, not expressing doubt

Espero que .... here, I think you are expressing probability or doubt about the difficulty of his leaving her behind. I would use rather that , but I'm no native. Wait for one.

hasta (que) estás aquí.(''')

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Answer 9

de (from) is a preposition. The object of the preposition pronoun is ti. Tú is a personal pronoun that is used as the subject of the sentence.
I think it should be primera pregunta, but I can't tell you why. It just sounds backwards the way you wrote it.
¿Qué es una Caro?
fuera? un nuevo email
hay=there is, are había=there was, were había (tu madre no dice, sino dijo) ...un nuevo email
Creo que .... I think the indicative mood could be used here as you are declaring a fact, not expressing doubt
Espero que .... here, I think you are expressing probability or doubt about the difficulty of his leaving her behind. I would use rather that , but I'm no native. Wait for one.
hasta (que) estás aquí.(''')