correcto? si o no?

[canyonff]

Ééáí

Just wondering if this little "telephone" conversation I made up is correct. It's short and is two females talking. I wrote this for basic help with pronoun usage, which I've always had a problem with while reading spanish as i tend to read it word for word and not as a phrase. "[]" indicate an understood object. here goes:

maria: juan bought me a gift.
azucena: what did he buy you?
maria: he bought [me] some flowers & chocolates. (or [for me])

en español:

maría: Juan me comprado un regalo.
azu..: ?Cual él te compró?
maría: Él comprado unos flores y chocolates. or
Él me comprado unos flores y chocolates.

in the last sentence, since 'me' is understood, is it necessarily incorrect to use the i.o. pronoun? or may it be written either way at the writers discretion.

[Rusty]

Here are some corrections:

María: Juan me compró un regalo.
Azucena: ¿Qué te compró [él]?
María: [Él me] Compró flores y chocolates.


The first and last sentences need a verb in the preterite tense, just like the one used in the second sentence.
Subject pronouns are often omitted because the conjugated verb and context convey the meaning. If you want to keep the subject pronoun in the second sentence, which is an interrogative, it goes after the verb.
The indirect object pronoun in the last sentence may be omitted, since it is understood.
In English, we have to say 'some' in front of the noun in the third sentence. In Spanish, there is no such requirement.

Hope that helps!

[canyonff]

Here are some corrections:



The first and last sentences need a verb in the preterite tense, just like the one used in the second sentence.
Subject pronouns are often omitted because the conjugated verb and context convey the meaning. If you want to keep the subject pronoun in the second sentence, which is an interrogative, it goes after the verb.
The indirect object pronoun in the last sentence may be omitted, since it is understood.
In English, we have to say 'some' in front of the noun in the third sentence. In Spanish, there is no such requirement.

Hope that helps!


thanks rusty.

i noticed that the verbs were off before I posted, for some reason I only changed the second sentence. As for the interrogative sentence... I wrote the conversation so fast i didn't even think to switch the s/v order, so i feel like an idiot about it. Thanks again though for the corrections. /salute

[Alfonso]

Further reflection about a simple conversation:

If you want to keep the subject pronoun in the second sentence, which is an interrogative, it goes after the verb.
Actually, it's not a question of wanting to keep the pronoun or not. If you keep it, you are specifically asking for a confirmation (you are surprised, you are enumerating who bought what, you've got a doubt you want to clarify, etc.). In the given context of the conversation, it's hardly possible to keep the pronoun.

Anyway, it's also possible, in an emphasising sentence, to ask: ¿Él te compró el regalo?, where the pronoun is at the beginning of the sentence. You are emphasising the subject, so you are asking if it was he who bought the present.

The other important point is the election of the past tense, pretérito perfecto or pretérito indefinido.

For me, as a Spaniard not from the North of the peninsula, since there is a connection between the time on which somebody bought something and the result (I've got a present) it would be much more natural to use pretérito perfecto. A natural dialogue would be like this:

M: Juan me ha comprado un regalo.
A: ¿Qué te ha comprado?
M: Flores y bombones.

But, most of Spanish speakers, including those from American countries and some areas in the North of Spain, would say:

M: Juan me compró un regalo.
A: ¿Qué te compró?
M: Flores y bombones / chocolates / chocolatines.

Both dialogues share the absence of subject and verb in the last sentence.

This is only an addition to Rusty's great explanation.

Corrections are welcomed