Thread: Derógese
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Old December 19, 2023, 07:52 PM
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AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mexico City
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I agree with Rusty.
This an "impersonal imperative". Of course it's mostly found in legal documents, where an institution receives an order, but it's also used in any formal writing where a command is issued for someone we don't know who it will be.

- Acátese. -> Comply with it.
- Cúmplase. -> Carry it out.
- Entiéndase... -> Be interpreted as...
- Léase la nota al pie. -> Read the footnote.
- Preséntense los siguientes documentos. -> "These documents must be shown." This is not a command for the documents of course, just a formal way to say these documents must be shown at some desk.
- Repítase la dosis, de ser necesario. -> "Repeat the dose if needed." You can find this one in a bottle of medicine.
In all these cases, you are telling someone you don't know who it will be, to do something.

Of course you could say "Acate", "Cumpla", "Lea", etc., but in this case, you are assuming you have one person to be responsible for the action. In the examples, you don't know (and don't really care) who will be doing the job. You just need it done, and you are issuing a formal instruction for that.
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Last edited by AngelicaDeAlquezar; December 21, 2023 at 10:33 PM.
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