ÿl tiene un huevo pero no está lo comiendo.

Question

Translate: He has an egg but is not eating it.?

I currently have "ÿl tiene un huevo pero no...". For the rest of it, I'm not sure if the "lo" is part of estar or comer

I'm guessing the full translation is either
1) ÿl tiene un huevo pero no lo está comiendo.
or
2) ÿl tiene un huevo pero no está lo comiendo.

Thank you for your time...

Answer 1

We do not allow this kind of discussion on this forum.

(I deleted the inappropiate answers).

Please read the rules, namely rule 2

Offensive content includes: swearwords, offensive pictures, sexually implicit words or pictures, violence, racism etc.

I think this should be clear enough.

Answer 2

I recall that explanation from a previous thread. I just didn't recognize the usage. Thank you very much.

Answer 3

I'm still not too confident with that usage. That's Spanish using the pronominal verb (or just adding the reflexive pronoun) to express a passive meaning (that the egg is being eaten)?

Neither, really. This "se" implies completion of the action (or total consumption). If you say

Comí arroz.

it means the you ate some rice, but you don't specify whether you ate all you were given or not. You simply ate some. But if you specify the amount you ate up, you'd say:

Me comí el arroz.

The sentence "Me comí arroz" is inadmissible (and it sounds very weird), since you are not specifying what did you ate up.

Talking about specific fully eaten amounts of food without this "se" is not very common, and in many countries its absence in these cases makes it sound almost incorrect:

Comí el arroz. (!!)

Other verbs like fumar or beber admit specific fully consumed amounts without this "se", but its use is frequent when we want to highlight or emphasize that we did finish it, or other secondary meanings, such as "we enjoyed every bit of it".

This "se" is only possible with transitive verbs expressing actions that have a clear start and an end, and tends to be colloquial in many circumstances.

Answer 4

The sentence still sounds a bit strange (I wouldn't say it like that). To me, it is more natural:

1) ÿl tiene un huevo pero no se lo está comiendo.

I'm still not too confident with that usage. That's Spanish using the pronominal verb (or just adding the reflexive pronoun) to express a passive meaning (that the egg is being eaten)'

Answer 5

The sentence still sounds a bit strange (I wouldn't say it like that). To me, it is more natural:

1) ÿl tiene un huevo pero no se lo está comiendo.

Answer 6

HI Jason, look at the change of title, please include your question directly in the title to enable later searches

This is the correct answer:
1) ÿl tiene un huevo pero no lo está comiendo.