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"I don't" in Spanish :/

 

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  #1  
Old August 06, 2010, 03:23 AM
lochness lochness is offline
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"I don't" in Spanish :/

anyone happen to have any idea on how to translate i dont in spanish?

EXAMPLE - i dont know
no me se <----- es correcto?

i dont like you
no me te gusto <-- es correcto
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  #2  
Old August 06, 2010, 05:33 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lochness View Post
anyone happen to have any idea on how to translate i dont in spanish?

EXAMPLE - i dont know
no me se <----- es correcto?no, but you can say no sé

i dont like you
no me te gusto <-- es correcto no, but you can say no me gustas/ no me caes bien
This may be a little bit of a brainbender for English speakers just leaning Spanish, but the verb to do is not used as an auxiliary verb. In Spanish to do (hacer) means to do as in to do something.
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Old August 06, 2010, 06:10 AM
maybnxtseasn maybnxtseasn is offline
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so..

so...how would i still say it in spanish lol like

i dont want to go would be equivalent to??

no quiero a ir?
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Old August 06, 2010, 07:04 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maybnxtseasn View Post
so...how would i still say it in spanish lol like

i dont want to go would be equivalent to??

no quiero a ir?
I'm not much farther along in my Spanish learning than you, so more advanced speakers may have to correct me. But I would say that it's good to keep in mind this key concept: You can't really translate word-for-word from one language to the other. (Mathematically, it's not one-to-one...)

The word "don't" when you use it with another verb in English doesn't really translate the way you're attempting to do so. You place a "no" before the verb to negate the idea.

I know. / I don't know.
(Yo) sé. (Yo) no sé.

I drink coffee. / I don't drink coffee.
(Yo) tomo café. / (Yo) no tomo café.

As for your sentence "I don't want to go", I believe it should be like this (I'll wait for someone smarter than I to tell me if I'm wrong to leave out the preposition "a"...):

I want to go. / I don't want to go.
Quiero ir. / No quiero ir.
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Old August 06, 2010, 07:10 AM
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No quiero ir. = I don't want to go.

In English, all verbs can be broken into two parts; an auxiliary and a main verb.
The verb 'want' can be rendered 'do want'. The auxiliary 'do' is now visible.
We would generally use this form only to show emphasis. For example:
I do want to go.
However, when we ask a question or when we use negation, the auxiliary is always present. For example:
Do you want to go?
I don't want to go.

In Spanish, the verb isn't broken into two parts. There is no auxiliary. There is only a main verb.
The same sentences I just wrote above are rendered in Spanish as follows.
Yo sí quiero ir. = I do want to go.
¿Quieres ir? = Do you want to go?
No quiero ir. = I don't want to go.
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