Tratar de = to be about

[hola]

ese libro me gusta porque trata de temas taurinos.

first off i thought ESTA meant THIS.
second it looks like she is saying THIS BOOK I LIKE BECAUSE IT TRIES FEARING BULLS. but i never knew that TRATAR DE had a hidden meaning. i always thought it meant TO TRY. but it also means TO BE ABOUT. up until now i thought there were only 2 words for ABOUT: ACERCA DE and SOBRE. now there are 3 words for ABOUT. this is what can make spanish frustrating at times. you almost have to know all the meanings of a verb or the sentence will confuse you. you will not know what the sentence is saying. so you really have to make sure the verb has only 1 definition or learn all of the definitions of the word. there are a ton of spanish words that have hidden definitions.

[CrOtALiTo]

You talking about the verbs?

Estar- are
Esto- this
Ser or estar- be.

I'm not sure if you are talking about above the verbs or if you need know something about of the verbs in kind of time verb.

[hola]

no i was talking about the word TRATAR DE

[literacola]

I like that book because it is about the subject of bullfighting

[Rusty]

Litercola provided a correct translation of the sentence you wrote.

There are several ways to say about in Spanish besides the ones you mentioned. Even the word de, by itself, can be translated as about:
¿De qué hablan? = What are you talking about?

Don't worry, someone trying to English is just as troubled by all the different ways we can say things, too.

By the way, the verbal phrase tratar de has other translations, one of which is to deal with. So, it's also possible to translate your sentence as:
I like that book because it deals with bullfighting.

And, there is another way to say tratar de in Spanish. The idiomatic expression tener que ver con means exactly the same thing (to have to do with, or to deal with, or to be about). So, we could rewrite a part of your sentence and still get the same translation, just like we can say it three (or more) different ways in English:
Ese libro me gusta porque tiene que ver con temas taurinos.

ese = that (masculine demonstrative pronoun)
este = this (masculine demonstrative pronoun)
esa = that (feminine demonstrative pronoun)
esta = this (feminine demonstrative pronoun)

[hola]

Rusty I'm glad you broke down those demonstrative pronouns. While crotalito said that ESTO means THIS, I can clearly remember a conversation I was having on the street with a Puerto Rican woman who told me, and reiterated, that ESTA means this. But thank you for finally breaking it down. It is often difficult to know when to use which of those demonstrative pronouns.

Also, does anyone know why she used the word TEMAS. I looked up the word TEMAS and found out it's from the word TEMER which means AFRAID. When I looked up the word TEMA (without the "S") I found out that means SUBJECT. So, did she make an error by adding the "S" to the word TEMA or am I missing something?

[Rusty]

Esto also means this. That is the neuter form, used when the gender is not known or if the noun it stands for is an abstract.

tema = subject
temas = subjects, but can be interpreted in the singular when it is followed by an adjective that clarifies the subject. Notice I left out the word subject entirely. This is also a proper translation of temas taurinos.

[CrOtALiTo]

Hola, I know, you are trying to say with the word Temas or Tema, I would use the word Tema as thread here at the forum, and also I would use the Temas to say sundry threads created for me, for you can use the word as Tema, for example, you don't fear me, (No me temas), then, If you are very smart, then you can use the word of the way you want, besides the word Temas and Tema is generalize in sundries sentences made in books and idioms, well, I hope you have understand me everything.

[poli]

Originally Posted by hola

ese libro me gusta porque trata de temas taurinos.

first off i thought ESTA meant THIS.
second it looks like she is saying THIS BOOK I LIKE BECAUSE IT TRIES FEARING BULLS. but i never knew that TRATAR DE had a hidden meaning. i always thought it meant TO TRY. but it also means TO BE ABOUT. up until now i thought there were only 2 words for about: ACERCA DE and SOBRE. now there are 3 words for ABOUT. this is what can make spanish frustrating at times. you almost have to know all the meanings of a verb or the sentence will confuse you. you will not know what the sentence is saying. so you really have to make sure the verb has only 1 definition or learn all of the definitions of the word. there are a ton of spanish words that have hidden definitions.

Tratarse de means to be about or deals with. Tratar de means to try to.
Temas taurinos means bullfighting themes. You are right Spanish has all
kinds of hidden meanings, but so does English. Language isn't simple. It's
a reflection of humanity, and humanity is complicated. If you think about it, it's nice to know there are different ways of saying things. You shouldn't get frustrated. Be patient with it; it will come to you.

[Tomisimo]

tratar de = to try, to attempt

tratar de (Spain), tratarse de (Lat. America) = to be about, to deal with, to be about the subject of

[Rusty]

My dictionary doesn't state a regional usage for either form. Both may be used to mean the same thing according to my dictionary and Internet usage.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by Rusty

My dictionary doesn't state a regional usage for either form. Both may be used to mean the same thing according to my dictionary and Internet usage.

Valid point. I'm just going by personal experience that tratarse de is the (most common) way to say it in Mexico, and I'm pretty sure Sosia (or someone from Spain) has mentioned that the reflexive form sounds strange in Spain and they prefer tratar de.

[CrOtALiTo]

I wanna do a commentary above this point of the phrase Tratar, and tratarse de, as you said before David, the word tratase de is usage from Mexico, well, I let me telling you, your own view point is incorrect because, we used both word tratarse de and tratar for say sundries noun or main sentences, for example if you can say, I'm trying to do my test in the school, Estoy tratando de hacer mi examen en la escuela, it's very common in my country, then if the sentence cited before for me, you can't put other kind of noun in replace of tratar, because it will sound incorrect or bad then, now for use the sentence tratarse de in this sentence whatever, you are affirm something when you are sure of something, for example, The relationship of my friends could about be a false amity ( La amistad de mis amigos podria tratarse de una falsa amistad. How you could to see, I have used both sentences in my examples.

Because it's necessary use, if I don't use both sentences or phrases in my text never it will takes some hang, then I don't believe that the use of the words mentioned before being exclusive usages of different countries in the whole world, I don't know, as I said to the start, it's my own view point.

[Rusty]

Crotalito, while I respect your point of view, we are talking about the topic of this thread - how tratarse de or tratar de can mean to be about in English.

¿De que se trata el libro?
¿De que trata el libro?
= What is the book about?

David is saying that the first sentence above is the most common way to ask the question in Mexico. I'm saying that both sentences are identical.

[CrOtALiTo]

Yes, I respect your commentary, I only opined.

[poli]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Crotalito, while I respect your point of view, we are talking about the topic of this thread - how tratarse de or tratar de can mean to be about in English.

¿De que se trata el libro?
¿De que trata el libro?
= What is the book about?

David is saying that the first sentence above is the most common way to ask the question in Mexico. I'm saying that both sentences are identical.

-----------------------------------
I agree that in the above two instances, the meaning of
tratarse de and tratar de is the same, but I would answer the question
in the following way: El libro se trata de guerra y paz.
I would definitely not say: El libro trata de guerra y paz. To my ear this sounds awful . Do you agree?

[Rusty]

Nope, I don't agree. Both are used, and the most popular is the straight forward (non-pronominal) approach.
Do a search on 'el libro trata de' and 'el libro se trata de'.

[Tomisimo]

Rusty is right, and I'll just add that in my opinion and from my experience "el libro se trata de" is a lot more common in spoken Mexican Spanish than "el libro trata de". But a quick Google search will confirm they are both corrrect and common usages.

[CrOtALiTo]

Yes, I know, you are right, the phrase To be about is very common between us, but there are sundries way to drive or use the phrase on my country, if you can use the word is ok. Remind, I only gave my own view point above.

[Zwarte Piet]

It's important to note that "tratar" without any prepositions is "to treat".