Cuántas personas caben en el coche

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Perikles: "Pasajero", when referred to the number of people a private transport can hold, includes the driver. It's a convention.
(Not the same for public transport, where the number of "pasajeros" do not include the driver.)

Thanks - that's interesting, because I don't think the convention is the same in English for passenger. A car can have a driver and three passengers = four in the car.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Perikles: I have asked, and I've been informed that a relatively new convention prefers "plazas". "Un coche de 5 plazas" avoids the ambiguous use of "pasajero".

@Hermit: Does "How many people have room in the car?" sound equally awkward?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Perikles: I have asked, and I've been informed that a relatively new convention prefers "plazas". "Un coche de 5 plazas" avoids the ambiguous use of "pasajero".

@Hermit: Does "How many people have room in the car?" sound equally awkward?

It could sound like a silly competition to see how many people fit into a car, regardless of the number of seats.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

But that can also be an ambiguous meaning of the question in Spanish.

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Hermit: Does "How many people have room in the car?" sound equally awkward?

Eso significa algo distinto, más o menos "¿Cuántas personas tienen espacio en el coche?" Pues, depende de cuántas personas están adentro actualmente, y de si son gordas o delgadas.

[hermit]

Yes, technically correct, but to my North American ear it would sound better as:
"How many people does the car have room for?". This effectively rearranges Robin's
sentence, and is commonly heard colloquially, although grammatically incorrect.