"Yourself" in conversations.
I have been having problems expressing "yourself" in my conversations. Here are 5 sentences for review and comment. (If the grammer is wrong -- that's the way I speak -- and am always learning.)
1.) ¿Hiciste gozar tú mismo anoche en la fiesta?
(Did you enjor yourself at the party last night')
2.) No puedo hacerlo para ti, necesitas hacerlo tú mismo.
(I can't do it for you, you need to do it yourself.)
3.) Si tienes calor, deberías abanícarte. (reflexive ')
(If you are hot, you should fan yourself.)
4.) Hágaste cómodo, seré volver enseguida. (reflexive ')
(Make yourself comfortable, I will be right back.)
5.) Cuándo te encontrares, me dejares saber. (reflexive ')
(When you find yourself, let me know.)
14 Answers
Daniel, it strikes me that some of these sentences are a little bit complicated and are making you mix various slightly tricky points of grammar all in one go. If you just want to practise reflexives, you might want to think about some simpler sentences (ones that can answer the question "What are you doing'" or "What do you do on Tuesdays"'). But anyway, looking at your specific sentences:
(1) When you get the verb "did", you need to try and recognise if it's just there for the sake of allowing inversion. In English, to ask a question (and for a few other things), we invert the subject and the verb: compare "I must", "I can" with "must I'", "can I'" etc. This is quite common. However, it turns out that in English, only a verb small set of verbs can be directly inverted: we don't say "plays he'", "come you often'" etc. Instead, we use "do" as a kind of "dummy" verb: "dooes he play'", "do you come often'" etc. So in your first sentence, you don't need to even think about how to translate "do". You're just looking for a verb meaning "to enjoy oneself". If you look up "enjoy" in your dictionary, it ought to give you a verb for "to enjoy oneself". (In this case, you could use "divertirse": but make sure you can find where this is in your dictionary, because it's an important skill you're going to need for other words.) So then you just have the problem of getting the correct past tense form of "divertirse", a reflexive verb.
(2) In this sentence, you actually don't need the fimal mísmo, though for many speakers I think it's OK to leave it in. In this sentence, the English yourself is essentially serving for emphasis. Well, the Spanish tú on its own (and Spanish subject pronouns in general) also serve that purpose. If you judge that you really want it to mean "by yourself", then you could use "tú solo" or "tú solito" (at least here in Mexico-- do Spaniards also say that')
(3) I think this is basically OK, though I wonder if it's a bit formal? I'd be interested to hear other views, but I think "debería(s)" tends to suggest an aobligation, something that "ought" to happen. Here, you're just making a suggestion. So maybe: "Si tienes calor, ¿por qué no te das un poco de aire"/"...por qué no te abanicas'". No accent on "abanicar(se)".
(4) In Spanish, the verb "poner" is often used where in English we'd use "make" with an adjective. So, using "poner", see if you can get the right imperative, remembering it'll also be reflexive. For "I'll be right back", the idiomatic way of saying this in Mexico would be "ahorita regreso", "ahorito vengo". I'm sure that Spaniards will also have an idiomatic way of saying this-- can somebody fill us in?
(5) "Let me know" is one of those idiomatic English phrases. I think Spanish speakers would tend to say simply "Dime", "Me dices...", "Me avisas, por favor". I'm not clear what verb form you were after with "encontrares": there's no actual verb form like that. The form I think speakers would generally use here is the present subjunctive: do you know how to form this tense and when it's generally used'
Heidita said:
2.) No puedo hacerlo por ti, necesitas hacerlo tú.---|---|---|-->No puedo hacerlo POR ti, necesitas hacerlo tú mismo.
Thank you everyone for your comments.
What I did was write these sentences in English, then recorded them in Spanish on my dictaphone. As I said, this is exactly how I speak Spanish in my everyday world -- pretty bad Uh? I did not look up any words in the dictionary or try to correct the grammar. I did see things wrong while I was writing this post and that I could have corrected; but decided not to.
Yes #5 is in terms of "when you get your act together" or "when you have addressed your problems"...
I will rewrite these sentences with your corrections and try to store this information in my mind. I cannot guarantee that when I am speaking or thinking in Spanish tomorrow, or the next day, I will use the proper words or grammar. I will eventually.
Why did you capitalize POR? I already had written por.
My page was not opening correctly, so I used that to indicate the correction made by you before. I wanted to say: hacerlo tú mismo, is better. In this case mentioning the tu mismo sounds necessary.
Estás en tu casa, siéntate como en tu casa...eso está perfecto. I just gave another option.
[i]No puedo hacerlo por ti, necesitas hacerlo tú.---|---|---|-->No puedo hacerlo POR ti, necesitas hacerlo tú mismo.
2.) No puedo hacerlo por ti, necesitas hacerlo tú.---|---|---|-->No puedo hacerlo POR ti, necesitas hacerlo tú mismo.Si tienes calor, deberías abanícarte.
I wasn't really clear either what the original poster meant.
It sounds to me like the kind of thing someone would say after having been dumped. You know, in response to "I need to find myself, and need some space right now." In other words, "When you are ready to have a serious relationship with me, let me know."
James Santiago said:
' I'm not sure, as Natasha has mentioned, whether this carries the same meaning (to accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation) in Spanish, but I think my translation here is correct. You might also be able to replace encontrar with descubrir.
I wasn't really clear either what the original poster meant. Maybe even something like "Cuando te ubiques...".
Ah, good thinking, now I see where he was coming from. As far as I'm aware-- someone please correct me if I'm wrong-- the 'tú' form (and indeed, non 3rd person forms) are normally never used: it would essentially be a deliberate literary use of an archaic form, similar to if in English you said "thou hast". (I understand there are a few legal/journalistic uses where 3rd person forms are slightly more usual.)
Eddy said:
Neil Coffey said:
Daniel, it strikes me that some of these sentences are a little bit complicated and are making you mix various slightly tricky points of grammar all in one go. If you just want to practise reflexives, you might want to think about some simpler sentences (ones that can answer the question "What are you doing'" or "What do you do on Tuesdays"'). But anyway, looking at your specific sentences: (5) "Let me know" is one of those idiomatic English phrases. I think Spanish speakers would tend to say simply "Dime", "Me dices...", "Me avisas, por favor". I'm not clear what verb form you were after with "encontrares": there's no actual verb form like that. The form I think speakers would generally use here is the present subjunctive: do you know how to form this tense and when it's generally used?
Reference number 5), encontrares is the second person future subjunctive and I believe that Daniel has used it after the word Cuándo which he has interpreted as a doubt. In any case I am sure it is incorrect.
>
Mostly just agreeing with Neil here, but to put it all down in writing:
1.) ¿Te divertiste anoche en la fiesta?
(Did you enjoy yourself at the party last night')
2.) No puedo hacerlo por ti, necesitas hacerlo tú.
(I can't do it for you, you need to do it yourself.)
3.) Si tienes calor, ¿por qué no usas un abanico?
(If you are hot, you should fan yourself.)
4.) Estás en tu casa. Ahorita vengo (Enseguida vuelvo / Enseguida regreso, etc.)
(Make yourself comfortable, I will be right back.)
5.) Cuando te encuentres a ti mismo, avísame.'
(When you find yourself, let me know.)
' I'm not sure, as Natasha has mentioned, whether this carries the same meaning (to accept and make use of one's personality, abilities, and situation) in Spanish, but I think my translation here is correct. You might also be able to replace encontrar with descubrir.
Neil Coffey said:
Daniel, it strikes me that some of these sentences are a little bit complicated and are making you mix various slightly tricky points of grammar all in one go. If you just want to practise reflexives, you might want to think about some simpler sentences (ones that can answer the question "What are you doing'" or "What do you do on Tuesdays"'). But anyway, looking at your specific sentences:
(5) "Let me know" is one of those idiomatic English phrases. I think Spanish speakers would tend to say simply "Dime", "Me dices...", "Me avisas, por favor". I'm not clear what verb form you were after with "encontrares": there's no actual verb form like that. The form I think speakers would generally use here is the present subjunctive: do you know how to form this tense and when it's generally used?
Reference number 5), encontrares is the second person future subjunctive and I believe that Daniel has used it after the word Cuándo which he has interpreted as a doubt. In any case I am sure it is incorrect.
I agree with Neil for number 4). Look for the personal imperative of poner if you know the person plus the correct reflexive pronoun. Also I think I will be right back can simply be "vuelvo en seguida".
In addition to Neil's helpful comments, a couple more things:
3. abanicarte does not have a written accent.
4. If you are using tú, it should be "Hazte," not "Hágaste." The expression that comes to mind is "Mi casa es tu casa."
5. It should be "Cuando te encuentres" (no accent on cuando, and use subjunctive). However, I don't know if this would be idiomatic for "find yourself," which in English carries the idea of discovering what you really want in life.
No estoy seguro, pero creo que numero 4 debería ser: Hazte cómodo..... si es imperativo.
