Almost

[Perikles]

It has come as a complete surprise to me that casí or por poco has a very odd habit in Spain, but not in Latin America. I was trying to explain to one neighbour about another neighbour whose car demolished a wall on a very steep hill just outside our house. If he had missed the wall, he would have driven into a barranco, never to reappear. Anyway, I wanted to say 'he almost killed himself' which I now reckon is casí se mata.

Is that correct?

If so,

1) Is there some historical reason for this present tense?
2) How would you say 'drive up the road until you almost reach the top'?
3) How would you say 'he should stop running, he is almost killing himself'?
4) How would you say 'we had almost finished our meal when the phone rang'?

(I'm referring to Spanish Spanish)

Thanks

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Perikles

It has come as a complete surprise to me that casí or por poco has a very odd habit in Spain, but not in Latin America. I was trying to explain to one neighbour about another neighbour whose car demolished a wall on a very steep hill just outside our house. If he had missed the wall, he would have driven into a barranco, never to reappear. Anyway, I wanted to say 'he almost killed himself' which I now reckon is casí se mata.

Is that correct?

If so,

1) Is there some historical reason for this present tense?
2) How would you say 'drive up the road until you almost reach the top'?
3) How would you say 'he should stop running, he is almost killing himself'? **
4) How would you say 'we had almost finished our meal when the phone rang'?

(I'm referring to Spanish Spanish)

Thanks

Who told you that in Latin America this is not used? An old hag?

Casi (no accents) se mata.

'drive up the road until you almost reach the top' = maneja/sube por el camino hasta casi llegar a la cima

we had almost finished our meal when the phone rang = Casi habíamos terminado de comer cuando el teléfono sonó

** We don't use casi in this case.

In any event "he almost killed himself" can also be translated as "casi se mató"

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by chileno

Who told you that in Latin America this is not used? An old hag?

The Oxford Spanish dictionary says both are used:

almostadverb

!! Where almost is used with a verb in the past tense, it is translated by casi or por poco, and the verb is usually in the present tense: I almost fell casi me caigo; we almost missed the train casi or por poco perdemos el tren. In some Latin American countries the preterite tense is often used: we almost missed the train casi or por poco perdimos el tren.

Thanks, by the way

[JPablo]

Yes, "casi me caí" could be probably heard in some place in the South of Spain, and I heard some Latin Americans doing this preterite tense usage, but "por poco me caigo" is the most common in Spain...

A friend of mine, (12 years old or so) was running all happy without looking at little to none car traffic along the small streets of the village... and suddenly a screeeeecchhh... and he got missed by the car that had just stopped:

¡Uyyy, casi me pilla!, yelled him happily and nonchalantly

The driver answered:

Casi me pilla..., casi me pilla... ¡que te parto la cara, imbécil!

I'll never forget that one...

[poli]

nice anecdote

Latin Americans I know use the present tense in this case also when logic would dictate the prederate.

[JPablo]

Yup... it's an interesting logic, because "casi me pilla" it would mean, "it almost would have hit me [run over me] in the immediate future, that it's now past"... but I guess my mind got "stuck" in the present of the moment... and I am still in the moment of the shock...

"Casi me habría pillado si no hubiera frenado" would be an analytical statement... but I guess we talk a lot more "reactively", ie. stimulus-response type of mechanism... at least in these cases.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Perikles

It has come as a complete surprise to me that casí or por poco has a very odd habit in Spain, but not in Latin America.

You're welcome Perikles.


Típico. Fíjate que ayer casi me caigo en el centro. Casi se me cayó la cara de vergüenza.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I'm not sure that there are such great differences in the use of this "casi" in Spain and other countries. In Mexico, for instance, we do not use the past tense.
So apart from what has been said:

1) Casi + present tense to indicate a past action is used for emphasis, I think. Since the past is mostly associated with something that actually happened, we tend not to use it and prefer present instead.
- Casi me muero en ese incendio.
- Por poco (y) choco con esa pared.

(In Mexico) when we use a past tense with casi, it would imply a remote past.
- Casi se murió en aquel accidente. (Something that happened a long time ago.)
- El dinero de mi familia casi se acabó en la guerra. (It's likely that I wasn't even born then.)


2) Sube por el camino hasta que casi llegues a la cima. ("Hasta que" needs a subjunctive.)
And there is of course, Chileno's alternative with an infinitive.


3) Debería dejar de correr; casi se está matando. (An ongoing action that won't stop until he stops running or he actually drops dead.)
But Chileno is right that we wouldn't use this kind of construction.
We might prefer something like:
-... se va a morir.
-... va a acabar por morirse/matarse.



4) (Ya) casi habíamos terminado de comer (the act of eating) / la comida (the occasion) cuando sonó el teléfono.

[Perikles]

Thanks all