kind of / sort of

Question

This is NOT a question about "clase de..." These phrases have almost no real meaning in English, but they are both extremely common. They are almost space-fillers. I doubt that there is an exact Spanish equivalent, but I wonder if there is something similar.

Examples:
When we all quit laughing, we kind of looked around and said, 'Hey, that's not a bad idea.?
I sort of like to break it down into two categories.
You know, we kind of have a philosophy. Why not us, why not now?
They sort of ran out of gas a little bit in the fourth quarter.
She kind of wants to make it like Times Square.

As you can see, "kind/sort of" can be omitted from all the above without changing the meaning at all. And yet, the sentences sound somehow different with them included.

This usage should not be confused with usage in which "kind/sort of" means "a little" or "rather."

I kind of like mushrooms, but I'd prefer something else.
She sort of bugs me.

Here, the meaning would change if "kind/sort of" were omitted.

How would this meaningless "kind/sort of" be handled by a good English-Spanish translator? Would she just ignore it? Or is there something similar in Spanish'

Answer 1

Tis is kind of difficult. )
I think that the expresion "es como que" might be similar. In the mushroom example, saying " Es como que me gustan los hongos, pero preferiría otra cosa". Sounds pretty close to me but i'm note sure it will work for every "kind of" situation.

Answer 2

James Santiago said:

I sort of like to break it down into two categories. Es como que me gusta dividirlo en dos categorías.

You know, we kind of have a philosophy. Why not us, why not now?

Sabes, es como que tenemos una filosofía. ¿Por qué no nosotros, y por qué no ahora?

They sort of ran out of gas a little bit in the fourth quarter.

Es como que se les acabaron las pilas un poco en el cuarto período.

She kind of wants to make it like Times Square.

Es como que quiere hacerlo parecido a Times Square.

Do these sound natural?

They do.

In other cases you can say "algo", "cierto" or similar words, which sometimes add nothing, or re-phrase the whole thing.

Answer 3

Just to reiterate, the last two examples I gave were of this pair being used in a different sense, one which cannot be omitted without substantially altering the meaning of the sentence. The first five, on the other hand, are examples in which the words can be omitted.

I like Guillermo's suggestion of "es como que," and would like to see some examples of this in real Spanish usage.

When we all quit laughing, we kind of looked around and said, 'Hey, that's not a bad idea.?
Al dejar de reír, es como que todos nos miramos y dijimos - Oye, esa no es mala idea.

I sort of like to break it down into two categories.
Es como que me gusta dividirlo en dos categorías.

You know, we kind of have a philosophy. Why not us, why not now?
Sabes, es como que tenemos una filosofía. ¿Por qué no nosotros, y por qué no ahora?

They sort of ran out of gas a little bit in the fourth quarter.
Es como que se les acabaron las pilas un poco en el cuarto período.

She kind of wants to make it like Times Square.
Es como que quiere hacerlo parecido a Times Square.

Do these sound natural'

Answer 4

James Santiago said:

Thanks. Could you please give me an example or two or using "algo" or "cierto," or of rephrasing the whole sentence?

I'm (sort of) busy right now = Estoy (algo) ocupado ahora mismo
He's sort of charming = Tiene cierto atractivo

Answer 5

I just thought of another example that should probably fall under the category started by Lazarus for "sort/kind of" used to described someone or something...

"He's kind of absentminded," means, "ÿl es medio elevado."

...I would think it gives that 'cushion' effect mentioned earlier but it probably also alters the meaning somewhat.

Answer 6

tad said:

I was wondering about using 'pues' in some way which is often used as a meaningless filler word and so to add it might diminish a statement. Me gustan los hongos. I like mushrooms.

Los hongos, pues, me gustan. I sort of like mushrooms. (')

Tad, that English sentence does not fit the pattern in question here, since the "sort of" substantially changes the meaning. It means "a little" here. Lazarus has given us an example of how to say this. I gave an example of "sort of" being used both ways in the same sentence. See above.

Answer 7

I was wondering about using 'pues' in some way which is often used as a meaningless filler word and so to add it might diminish a statement.
Me gustan los hongos. I like mushrooms.
Los hongos, pues, me gustan. I sort of like mushrooms. (')
Just a shot in the dark, as most of my Spanish attempts are though.

Answer 8

How about, 'Tú sabes, tenemos como una filosofía...' and 'Cuando todos dejamos de reírnos, como que nos volteamos a mirar y dijimos, "Hey, no es mala idea".'

I also have this habit in Spanish when mentioning someone by name, I'll preface it by saying 'esta'.
Example: Esta Norma sí que me cae mal.
Some people might say 'esa' instead.

Answer 9

samdie said:

:

However, it is, unquestionably, ugly and serves to brand the speaker as semi-literate or, at best, very insensitive to the niceties of the spoken language.

I'm afraid I talk like this to friends all the time . . . it's my generation . . .

Nevertheless, it does drive me bonkers when people write like that. Hypocritical? Perhaps.

Answer 10

meaningless fillers that are, unfortunately (it may be on that point that we part company), common in informal speech

I think you've assessed it pretty well. While I try to be very careful with my English in writing, in speech I am very much a chameleon who matches his speech to his surroundings. It is therefore not uncommon for me to inject these meaningless "sort of" phrases into my speech. Although I took my first five examples from the Web (I wanted to be objective about them), I would personally say each of them without any qualms, except in very formal situations.

When I learned Japanese (well, after 30+ years I am still learning, but...), I realized that what really made me sound fluent wasn't my command of grammar or erudite vocabulary. It was my ability to use little throw-away phrases such as these that made people ooh and aah over my Japanese. That's why I'm always interested in learning how to say such things in Spanish, since I unfortunately do not live where Spanish is spoken all around me, so I have less exposure to it.

Answer 11

Natasha said:

Actually, your second "sort of" sounds like the frequent insertion of "like" into sentences that can often be heard in conversation.

So, like, we went to the store, right? Yeah and so like this girl from school came in and we almost got in a fight . . .

It doesn't really add anything to the sentence (and I'm waiting for samdie to tell me that's bad grammar), so could you really translate it?
It's hard to say anything (in grammatical terms) about it since it serves no (grammatical) function at all. However, it is, unquestionably, ugly and serves to brand the speaker as semi-literate or, at best, very insensitive to the niceties of the spoken language.

Nonetheless, if I interpret James' original post correctly, he's quite aware that that it (and "sort of" and "kind of") are meaningless fillers that are, unfortunately (it may be on that point that we part company), common in informal speech but is curious, just the same, about the existence of similar constructions in Spanish.

Answer 12

Actually, your second "sort of" sounds like the frequent insertion of "like" into sentences that can often be heard in conversation.

Exactly.

It doesn't really add anything to the sentence (and I'm waiting for samdie to tell me that's bad grammar), so could you really translate it'

Well, Spanish and English are close enough cousins that I would expect Spanish speakers to have a similar tendency to equivocate, which is what we're actually doing here. That is, we are softening the impact of our statements by qualifying them. I'll let a psychologist explain why we do that, but I wouldn't be surprised if the phenomenon existed in Spanish, too. Guillermo and Lazarus seem to confirm that it does.

Answer 13

Actually, your second "sort of" sounds like the frequent insertion of "like" into sentences that can often be heard in conversation.

So, like, we went to the store, right? Yeah and so like this girl from school came in and we almost got in a fight . . .

It doesn't really add anything to the sentence (and I'm waiting for samdie to tell me that's bad grammar), so could you really translate it?

James Santiago said:

I'm (sort of) busy right now = Estoy (algo) ocupado ahora mismo He's sort of charming = Tiene cierto atractivo

Ah, but those are different, and fall into the second category I gave. That is, the "sort of" cannot be omitted from the sentences here without changing their meaning.

Ex:

He's sort of charming, so she sort of makes an excuse to walk by his desk every few minutes.

Here, the first "sort of" is necessary, but the second one is not. By "necessary" I mean that the basic meaning changes if the words are omitted. (The above example sentence admittedly sounds contrived, but I wanted to use your example sentence and modify it.)

>

Answer 14

I'm (sort of) busy right now = Estoy (algo) ocupado ahora mismo
He's sort of charming = Tiene cierto atractivo

Ah, but those are different, and fall into the second category I gave. That is, the "sort of" cannot be omitted from the sentences here without changing their meaning.

Ex:
He's sort of charming, so she sort of makes an excuse to walk by his desk every few minutes.

Here, the first "sort of" is necessary, but the second one is not. By "necessary" I mean that the basic meaning changes if the words are omitted. (The above example sentence admittedly sounds contrived, but I wanted to use your example sentence and modify it.)

Answer 15

In other cases you can say "algo", "cierto" or similar words, which sometimes add nothing, or re-phrase the whole thing.

Thanks. Could you please give me an example or two or using "algo" or "cierto," or of rephrasing the whole sentence'