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"Pienso si puedo estar...."

 

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  #1  
Old May 13, 2009, 01:55 PM
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"Pienso si puedo estar...."
I have been trying to read the comics in Spanish every day. In Garfield today there is the following phrase: "Pienso si puedo estar serio por un momento..." I understand the meaning of the whole comic strip (link below) ... but don't quite understand the significance of the "si" in the first frame. An explanation would be appreciated!

http://www.gocomics.com/features/233...e_items/426948
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  #2  
Old May 13, 2009, 02:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by laepelba View Post
I have been trying to read the comics in Spanish every day. In Garfield today there is the following phrase: "Pienso si puedo estar serio por un momento..." I understand the meaning of the whole comic strip (link below) ... but don't quite understand the significance of the "si" in the first frame. An explanation would be appreciated!

http://www.gocomics.com/features/233...e_items/426948
la frase debiera ser: Pienso que sí puedo estar serio por un momento...

Esta mejor. Que me dices?
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  #3  
Old May 13, 2009, 02:04 PM
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doesn't si mean if?
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Old May 13, 2009, 02:08 PM
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@Jessica - that's what I thought, but if you read the whole comic through, it can't mean "if".

@Hernán - me alegro que tú lo dijiste. Eso es lo que yo pensaba.
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Old May 13, 2009, 02:20 PM
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"I wonder if I may be serious for a moment" was the original.

The idea in Spanish about "pienso si puedo estar serio por un momento" is that I'm considering if I can stay serious for a moment.

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Old May 13, 2009, 02:40 PM
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Debe estar mal traducido. Debería ser: "Me pregunto si podría estar serio un momento"
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Old May 13, 2009, 02:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar View Post
"I wonder if I may be serious for a moment" was the original.

The idea in Spanish about "pienso si puedo estar serio por un momento" is that I'm considering if I can stay serious for a moment.

Oh!!! That makes so much sense. So let me ask this: is this a phrase that could be used like this: I'm in my classroom and joking a bit with my students, but I need to get serious about something, so I ask the rhetorical question: "pieso si puedo estar serio por un momento?". Is this correct?
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Old May 13, 2009, 05:21 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar View Post
"I wonder if I may be serious for a moment" was the original.

The idea in Spanish about "pienso si puedo estar serio por un momento" is that I'm considering if I can stay serious for a moment.

Tienes razón Angelica. Leí muy rápido...

Is it I wonder, so the conditional si is used. :-)

Sorry laepelba. But I hope you see the punctuation I used, though...which wasn't in the comic, but still I think it could be used in that context.

IOW, still useful.
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Old May 13, 2009, 06:29 PM
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@Lou Ann: I somehow agree with irmamar that the sentence is a bit forced, so I wouldn't recommend you to copy the structure.

In this case "me pregunto..." as it's been suggested, or "¿será que puedo estar seria un momento?" would be much better.
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Old May 13, 2009, 08:34 PM
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Thanks for the input, everyone! This really helps a lot.
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