Voy a bailar....

[Never2Late4Spanish]

Hi! I am a beginner and I have a question I hope you can help me with.

How do you translate the following sentence (sorry, no accents still)?

- Yo voy a bailar las todas semanas

I was under the impression that it follows I am going to ..." grammar structure. However, I have a teacher who says it translates as "I dance every week".

At first I thought it may be due to the fact she is not fluent in English, but than I tried Google Translate and it gave me the same result. What am I missing here? I will ask her next class, but it is not until next week and I am puzzled.

[chileno]

Ok the difference:

I go dancing every week = Voy a bailar todas las semanas

I am going to dance every week (I can) = Voy a ir a bailar todas las semanas (que pueda)


Would that explain it better for you?

Welcome to the forum.

[Rusty]

Voy a bailar todas las semanas.
I'm going to dance every week.

Bailo todas las semanas.
I dance every week.

Bailo toda la semana.
I dance all week.

Voy a bailar toda la semana.
I'm going to dance all week.

[Never2Late4Spanish]

Chileno:

Actually, this is exactly what is confusing. She gave me the same example by the way.

My grammar books show that "voy a + infinitive" is future.

For example:

Voy a trabajar allí - I am going to work there
Ellos van a vivir con nosotros - they are going to live with us
Vamos a visitar la catedral - we are going to visit cathedral

How come voy a bailar - I go dancing (present)?

Originally Posted by Rusty

Voy a bailar todas las semanas.
I'm going to dance every week.

Bailo todas las semanas.
I dance every week.

Bailo toda la semana.
I dance all week.

Voy a bailar toda la semana.
I'm going to dance all week.

This does make perfect sense. Thank you.

[aleCcowaN]

In fact, when I see "voy a bailar toda/s la semana/s" the first thing I think is "I dance all week". "Ir a bailar" means to attend a disco or a similar place as it means a generic "go out in order to dance".

[Never2Late4Spanish]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

In fact, when I see "voy a bailar toda/s la semana/s" the first thing I think is "I dance all week". "Ir a bailar" means to attend a disco or a similar place as it means a generic "go out in order to dance".

But "voy a trabajar" still means "I am going to work", right?

If this is the case, I suppose the key here, as you said is "ir a bailar" is a specific form/expression. Not just a verb I apply text book grammar to.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Never2Late4Spanish

But "voy a trabajar" still means "I am going to work", right?

If this is the case, I suppose the key here, as you said is "ir a bailar" is a specific form/expression. Not just a verb I apply text book grammar to.

The verb ir can be used to express the future, but it is also used to express movement towards something ('going to' leads a double life). This is the sense that both chileno and AleCcowaN were describing.
Also note that the Spanish present tense has four different English translations.

voy a un lugar
= I go | I do go | I'm going | I'll be going (near future) to some place

voy a trabajar
= I go | I do go | I'm going | I'll be going (near future) to work

voy a trabajar
= I'm going to work (future)
= I'm headed for work (movement)

iré a trabajar
= I'll be going to work (future)
= I'll be heading for work (movement)

trabajaré
= I will work (future)

[Never2Late4Spanish]

Originally Posted by Rusty

The verb ir can be used to express the future, but it is also used to express movement towards something ('going to' leads a double life). This is the sense that both chileno and AleCcowaN were describing.
Also note that the Spanish present tense has four different English translations.

voy a un lugar
= I go | I do go | I'm going | I'll be going (near future) to some place

voy a trabajar
= I go | I do go | I'm going | I'll be going (near future) to work

voy a trabajar
= I'm going to work (future)
= I'm headed for work (movement)

iré a trabajar
= I'll be going to work (future)
= I'll be heading for work (movement)

trabajaré
= I will work (future)

Thank you!

[Rusty]

You're welcome!

In your first post you said "no accents still." Even though there are no accent marks in the words you've used so far, you can always insert the proper characters by selecting them from the 'Accents' drop-down menu that appears in the toolbar just above where you type.