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Eerie
March 21, 2010, 03:19 PM
I'm confused. Can someone translate the phrase 'no te lo puedo creer' and I'd also like to know how 'te lo' is used.

Shan't it be "no te puedo creer"?

pjt33
March 21, 2010, 03:49 PM
"Te" here is an indirect object pronoun (dative), and "lo" is a direct object pronoun (accusative). My instinct is that this is the ethical dative: this sentence could be written as "No lo puedo creer" - "I can't believe it" - but adds a dative to show a relationship. Depending on context (does the person saying it consider you trustworthy?) I might translate it as "I can't believe that, coming from you" or "I can't believe that, even coming from you".

chileno
March 21, 2010, 03:55 PM
"Te" here is an indirect object pronoun (dative), and "lo" is a direct object pronoun (accusative). My instinct is that this is the ethical dative: this sentence could be written as "No lo puedo creer" - "I can't believe it" - but adds a dative to show a relationship. Depending on context (does the person saying it consider you trustworthy?) I might translate it as "I can't believe that, coming from you" or "I can't believe that, even coming from you".

Exactly right.

I can't believe it, even coming from you.

Eerie
March 21, 2010, 04:54 PM
That was clear, thank you. :)

irmamar
March 22, 2010, 01:22 AM
I've heard "no lo puedo creer" or "no me lo puedo creer" or "no te creo/no te puedo creer". But it's the first time I've seen "no te lo puedo creer". :thinking:

Eerie
March 22, 2010, 03:06 AM
I heard it on this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AQ0YNrZIPM

irmamar
March 22, 2010, 07:17 AM
A sentence in a song doesn't mean that it's grammatically correct. "No poderse creer" is equivalent to "no creerse" that would be the verb "creer" used in a pronominal way. As in pronominal verbs the pronoun must agree in person with subject, the correct sentence would be: "no me lo puedo creer / no me lo creo". In the former sentence "te" would be used as an indirect object, which is not possible in this case with a pronominal verb.

Maybe it's widely used, I don't question that. I'm just saying that it's not grammatically correct (in my opinion). :)