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LES or SEPANThis is the place for questions about conjugations, verb tenses, adverbs, adjectives, word order, syntax and other grammar questions for English or Spanish. |
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#1
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LES or SEPAN
how do you correctly say I DON'T WANT THEM TO KNOW I SPEAK SPANISH
i said it was NO LES QUIERO SABER QUE YO SE ESPANOL i asked a spanish woman on the street and she said i was wrong she said it's NO QUIERO QUE SEPAN QUE YO HABLO ESPANOL who is right? |
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#2
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She is right, hola. "No quiero que sepan que hablo/sé español" is the correct one.
No les quiero decir que sé/hablo español. I don't want to tell them I speak Spanish.
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#3
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The second one is right.
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#4
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so what does NO LES QUIERO SABER QUE YO SE ESPANOL mean?
this is what i usually say and it's what i meant to say to the girl the ending is irrelevant (....QUE YO SE ESPANOL/QUE YO HABLO ESPANOL) it's the beginning that i am questioning i believe it's NO LES QUIERO SABER she said it's NO QUIERO QUE SEPAN who is right when it comes to the first half of the sentence? |
#5
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'No les quiero saber means nothing' = yo no quiero saber a ustedes (les) The best construction would be: yo no quiero que ustedes sepan...
You can use "les" with another verb, for instance: No les dije a ustedes que yo sabía español. |
#6
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Quote:
Hola, to say this properly requires some advanced verb conjugation: the subjunctive mood. It's often confused with a tense by English speakers who don't think that English has a subjunctive, but actually moods are separate from tenses. Tense is about when: distant past, recent past, present, future, etc. Mood is (vaguely!) about the reality of the action expressed in the verb. You're probably familiar with three moods from English: the indicative (default: simple statement of fact); conditional (statement hypothecated on another); imperative (command to make the statement true). (Some people classify the infinitive as a mood too, but that's arguable). The subjunctive mood indicates hypothetical or untrue statements. It exists in English, but most native speakers are unaware of it. Sample usages: If I were you, I would ... (hypothetical in subjunctive, statement hypothecated on it in conditional; this carries over into Spanish as imperfect subjunctive + present conditional; or pluperfect subjunctive + imperfect conditional). God save our gracious Queen, long live our noble Queen (expression of desire rather than statement of fact; in some sense, you could argue that the first one at least is a 3rd person imperative, and again this carries over: imperatives other than tú and vosotros in Spanish use the subjunctive). Here you're saying "I don't want them to know that I speak Spanish"; in English it appears to use an infinitive, but you can recast it (somewhat unnaturally) as "I don't want that they know that I speak Spanish". Since it's an expression of desire rather than a statement of fact it requires the subjunctive. It is impossible to speak fluent Spanish without the subjunctive, but I don't know what your level is. If you're still learning the tenses in the indicative then maybe you should focus on that first. I know that my teachers didn't mention the subjunctive until I'd been studying Spanish for nearly three years (and I never learnt it in French, despite studying that for five). PD Irma, "no quiero saber a ellos" sería "I don't want to taste like them", ¿no? Last edited by pjt33; September 19, 2009 at 02:31 AM. |
#7
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LES ...... SEPAN
I can only think of this sentence with the word ... LES... -No quiero darles a saber que hablo español. -No quiero que sepan que hablo español. they are both correct.
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#8
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Sorry, I didn't realize of that "them".
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#9
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Quote:
La primera opción también podría decirse: No les quiero hacer saber que hablo español. |
#10
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pjt33's explanation was excellent
i really appreciate her taking the time to analyze it but you know what? i don't care what nobody says i still do not see why or where "NO LES QUIERO SABER....." is wrong in spanish the nouns are placed before the verbs i have done that i have also conjugated i am sorry i don't see how these 2 sentences are different i don't see where or how mine is wrong NO LES QUIERO SABER QUE YO SE ESPANOL NO QUIERO QUE SEPAN QUE YO SE ESPANOL they both say i don't want them to know i speak spanish how and where does mine NOT say it??? |
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