Mind you

[cogu]

Hi there!

I'm a student of English. I've heard the expression "mind you" in many ocasions, mainly in colloquial speech, and whenever I hear it I don't know how to interpret it. Sometimes it seems to mean "however", and sometimes it seems to mean "you know", and sometimes I don't know what it means. It really confuses me.

Could you give me some examples of the use of the sentence? I know asking for a translation of this sentence is tricky, but I'd appreciate clear examples of its use, in order to see if I'm able to understand, or to find a pattern.

Thanks in advance!

[chileno]

Hola Cogu:

Check this link out http://www.wordreference.com/es/tran...nword=mind+you

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[Rusty]

Originally Posted by cogu

Hi there!

I'm a student of English. I've heard the expression "mind you" on many occasions, mainly in colloquial speech, and whenever I hear it I don't know how to interpret it. Sometimes it seems to mean "however", and sometimes it seems to mean "you know", and sometimes I don't know what it means. It really confuses me.

Could you give me some examples of the use of the phrase? I know asking for a translation of this phrase will be tricky, but I'd appreciate clear examples of its use, in order to see if I'm able to understand, it or to find a pattern.

Thanks in advance!

Mostly, the phrase is used to emphasize what was just said or what follows it. It can also be used to interject contrasting information.
Other phrases can be used instead, like 'on the other hand', 'however', 'admittedly', 'I must admit/say' and 'you know'.

Mind you, don't go swimming on a full stomach. (adds emphasis, a degree of caution)
It doesn't matter, mind you, that I have no date. (adds emphasis)
I don't like dogs, mind you. ('you know'; adds emphasis)
A degree is required for this job. Mind you, previous work experience is considered in kind. ('however'; preface to contrasting information)

[poli]

Additionally mind you can almost always be replaced with bear in mind that.(llevar en tu mente).

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Just a slight correction:

Originally Posted by poli

Additionally mind you can almost always be replaced with bear in mind that.(llevar en tu mente) (Tomar en cuenta) .

My old teachers used to replace "mind you" with "please note" too.

[cogu]

Thanks a lot for your answers, and especially to Rusty for correcting my English. Very appreciated.

These examples were helpful:


Mind you, don't go swimming on a full stomach. (adds emphasis, a degree of caution)
It doesn't matter, mind you, that I have no date. (adds emphasis)
I don't like dogs, mind you. ('you know'; adds emphasis)
A degree is required for this job. Mind you, previous work experience is considered in kind. ('however'; preface to contrasting information)

I think I understand that when "mind you" connects two sentences, it means however, although... But I am still kind of confused when it comes to the "adds emphasis" part. I'm afraid that I don't understand what kind of emphasis or feeling the sentence adds.

I don't like dogs in particular is the example that confuses me the most. In Spanish, if I wanted to add emphasis to this sentence:

No me gustan los perros. I don't like dogs.

I would say:

No me gustan nada los perros / No me gustan los perros en absoluto / Odio los perros.

In English I would go for "I don't like dogs at all."

It seems to me that it's not this kind of emphasis what "mind you" adds. Is it more like looking for the attention of the listener? Kind of:

No me gustan los perros, mira tú /mira por dónde.

Or:

No me gustan los perros, ¿sabes?

It's really hard for me to get the intention. In the case of "mira tú", the sentence sounds like: I don't like dogs, go figure! (???) whereas in the case of ¿sabes?, that ¿sabes? doesn't mean anything. Rather, it seems that the speaker doesn't have nothing to say next ...it sounds a bit silly.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by cogu

... It seems to me that it's not this kind of emphasis that "mind you" adds. Is it more like looking for the attention of the listener? Yes. And it can serve as a filler, which is also one of the things you mentioned.

... whereas in the case of ¿sabes?, that ¿sabes? doesn't mean anything. Rather, it seems that the speaker doesn't have anything to say next...

Creo que has dado en el clavo. A veces no significa nada la frase. En otros casos, sirve para llamar la atención del oyente.