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Old October 21, 2009, 03:31 PM
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Cloudgazer Cloudgazer is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
Would it be correct to say that "comprender" would be like "comprehend" in English? Whereas "entender" would be more like "understand" in English? I feel like they are synonymous and interchangeable to a point, but "comprehend" has a deeper feel to it than "understand".

Ex:
I understand what you are saying.
She truly comprehends the gravity of her situation.

Does this subtlety exist with these two words in Spanish?
I wanted to share that, for me, "understand" and "comprehend" are completely synonymous in the contexts Laepelba is using. I'd have to intentionally search for nuance if I was told there was a difference; that is, it wouldn't have come to me initially upon hearing those sentences.

I hear "comprehend" used less frequently than "understand" so, for me, it has more of a formal sound but no difference in meaning for the two contexts above.


For example,

I comprehend what you are saying.

would sound somewhat pretentious to my ears.


Also, for me,

She truly comprehends the gravity of her situation.


biases the profundity of the meaning associated with "comprehends" since "truly" and "gravity" lend, well, more gravity to the statement and to the activity of comprehending, but not to the basic meaning of "comprehends" itself.


Therefore, if I heard,

She truly understands the gravity of her situation.

I'd give as much weight to the "understanding/comprehension/awareness of" activity represented by "understands" as I do for "comprehends".


And it would initially sound like a contradiction to me if I heard,

I understand you but I don't comprehend you.

So would,

I comprehend you but I don't understand you.

I'd have to go to the next category of meaning for "comprehend", that of "including, comprising, embracing", or another category of meaning for "understand" such as "thoroughly familar with something and its subtleties" to make sense of these statements.


There is a meaning of "comprehend" in English which I think Irma's sentence

Te entiendo pero no te comprendo.

shows Spanish also shares in its verb "comprender". It is the idea of inclusion/containment which can be extended in many ways, physically, emotionally, etc. So the sentence

I understand you but I don't comprehend you.

might mean, among multiple interpretations in English, "I understand you but I don't share your views." or "I'm completely familiar with who you are but I don't get why you're that way."


In any case, "entender", "comprender", "understand", and "comprehend" are such great verbs!
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Last edited by Cloudgazer; October 21, 2009 at 03:33 PM.
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