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Las cosas no pintan bien

 

An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not readily apparent based on the individual words in the expression. This forum is dedicated to discussing idioms and other sayings.


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  #1  
Old September 23, 2009, 12:49 AM
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Arrow Las cosas no pintan bien

How do you say " Las cosas no pintan bien"? It means that things don´t seem as good as they should be.
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  #2  
Old September 23, 2009, 02:18 AM
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"Things don't look good", ¿no?
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Old September 23, 2009, 04:06 AM
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I guess so .
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Old September 23, 2009, 04:41 AM
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how about "he/she/it doesn't paint a pretty picture.".

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Old September 23, 2009, 06:42 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hermit View Post
how about "he/she/it doesn't paint a pretty picture.".

hermit
We also say this without the verb paint:
It's not a pretty picture.

This is what we say when something isn't quite as imagined/described:

I just bought an iPod Touch.
Oh, how do you like it?
It's not all it's cracked up to be. (It's not quite as I imagined it would be.)
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Old September 23, 2009, 07:19 PM
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I'd like to give another example in this case.

Las cosas no pintan bien.

The things aren't in optimums conditions.

It can be a equal or equivalent of the you have said here.
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Old September 23, 2009, 08:23 PM
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Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo View Post
I'd like to give another example in this case.

Las cosas no pintan bien.

The things aren't in optimums conditions.

It can be an equal or equivalent of what you have said here.
The correct way to say that is:
Things aren't in optimum condition.

English adjectives don't agree in number with the noun.
We don't use the definite article when we're speaking about things in general.

By the way, this sentence sounds very formal and wouldn't be used in everyday speech. I wouldn't recommend it if I were you.
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