Te llamo hoy...

Te llamo hoy...
 

Esta mañana, una amiga me envió un mensaje. Ella dijo "Te llamo hoy." Yo sé que ella significa "I will call you today" porque ella me lo dijo ayer. Pero, ¿por qué no dijo "Te llamaré hoy" en el futuro?

Idiotsyncracy of the language? :)


We use it like that.

That's it!? That's all there is!? Really!?

So, could she have said "Te llamaré hoy"? Would it mean the same thing? Is it not something that is said like that? Would it be different if she wanted to say that she'd call me next week (longer time frame)? But because "hoy" is very close in proximity to "now" that it's given in the present tense? Is that for every situation that is close proximity to "now", or is it only for certain situations, like telephone calls? ????

Igual :-) Da lo mismo en presente o futuro.

Te llamo la proxima semana para ponernos de acuerdo.

No se si se usa asi en españa pero en chile y aca siempre se escucha asi. :-)

Sí, en España también se usa en presente: te llamo hoy, te llamo la semana que viene... Es coloquial, pero la verdad es que se usa más que "te llamaré"

It's colloquial phrase of the people but meaning the same than other one

We do the same thing in English (albeit less frequently) but English speakers just don't notice the grammar involved because they aren't conjugating the verbs consciously, it's all taking place on a sub-conscious level.

"When is your cousin leaving?"
"She leaves tomorrow" is very standard way of answering the question using the present tense to refer to a future event.

I'm sure someone learning English would say "Hey, wait a minute, shouldn't this be in the future tense?" The answer is "yes, it could be", but it sounds a bit unnatural and stiff (in American English) if you say "She will leave tomorrow" or even worse "She shall leave tomorrow." The most common ways of answering the question, at least in the Pacific NW where I grew up would be "She leaves tomorrow", or "She's leaving tomorrow" .

I guess what I'm getting at is that language learners are always noticing the idiosyncrasies in their target language while never noticing the same odd behaviors in their own language. The reason, in my opinion, is that you didn't "learn" your native language, you "acquired" it. After all, we all learned about verb conjugations, prepositions, pronouns etc. well after we spoke our native language fluently.

I have one doubt above some that you said before in your previous post.

albeit meaning aunque.

Although- meaning aunque.

I'm not sure if that two words meaning the same.

I appreciate so much your help.

¡Lotería! Good work amigo.

I didn't understand.


Then they are both meaning the same.

Albeit and although is aunque.

What is the word user between the American people?

Albeit is seldom used in modern British English, as it is old fashioned. It is not quite the same although. Albeit has a verb included.
Albeit = Al(though) be it. The "be" here is a "fossilised" English subjunctive!!

That's right! I was trying to think of an instance that I knew I had heard that before, but as always my mind was and is still in blank. ;) :)

I got it, thank you for the information.

As others have said, it is completely normal in Spanish to use the present tense for near future activities. You can also use the future tense for this, but it's not as common.

I'll pick you up at 3. = Voy por tí a las 3.
I'll call you tonight. = Te llamo (hoy) en la noche.

Thanks, David ... and everyone. It's not that I'm questioning the colloquialisms. I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to put together a Spanish sentence that makes sense to me AND doesn't sound awkward. :)

Yes, I'm sure you will. Take this as an opportunity and try writing things here in Spanish-- we'll understand and if anything can be corrected, I'm sure it will be.

Yo lo estoy haciendo ... más y más. Gracias! :)

Y está muy bien. Eso es lo que te va a dar bagaje. :D

I'm wondering that you don't need to write anything that sound awkward, but I believe that you must write the colloquial phrases, because so you will can able to understand them or know about them, and it's in case of that you don't know the meaning the each one to them.

You're right - I do need to get more used to the colloquialisms! :)