Dejar

[ElDanés]

Hello, everyone!

Just another quick question from me.

I was trying to read El Mundo, when I stumbled upon a headline, which I almost was able to translate.
The only word baffling me was "dejar," and I've noticed it has many meanings, but I can't seem to get it right in this context.

La hija del "Friztl" polaco: "Amenazaba con matar a mi madre si no me dejar hacer."
The girl of the Polish "Fritzl": "He threatened to kill my mother, if ...?"

I'm sure I would had been able to figure it out, if I knew more about the case, but I don't at the moment.

I was able to translate another headline with "dejar," in another newspaper, El Sol de México.

"Ike" avanza hacia occidente de Cuba tras dejar cuarto muertos.
"Ike" advances towards west of Cuba leaving four dead.

But in this case, I also knew what it was about.

If someone could come with some other examples of the usage of "dejar," I'd be happy.

Thanks.

[Freddy]

La hija del "Friztl" polaco: "Amenazaba con matar a mi madre si no me dejar hacer" should surely be "dejaba hacer", but even then it's hard. "Si no me dejaba hacerlo" would be "if he didn't let me do it", but it needs the lo after dejar. I think you may have stumbled on an example of poor copy-editing, unless someone else can put us right. Of course, it's being translated from what seems to be Polish.

[ElDanés]

Originally Posted by Freddy

should surely be "dejaba hacer"

Of course, sorry, my mistake. All the talk I did about the infinitive, dejar, made me forget that it shouldv'e been dejaba. Again, sorry.

The article can be found here.

[Rusty]

dejarle hacer algo = to allow or to let someone do something
In headlines, this could have been left unconjugated on purpose (to save space), but it is not grammatically correct. The proper conjugation should have been 'si no me dejaba hacer'.

The other usage you found, about Ike, employs an expression known as tras + infinitivo. It is used in a temporal sense as an adverbial subordinate clause.
If the infinitive is dejar, the translation is after leaving.

[ElDanés]

Originally Posted by Rusty

The other usage you found, about Ike, employs an expression known as tras + infinitivo. It is used in a temporal sense as an adverbial subordinate clause.
If the infinitive is dejar, the translation is after leaving.

Yes, I forgot after in my translation. I think I was a bit too fast writing the thread. I hope I haven't caused too much confusion. But it seems like no one still haven't come up with a translation for the sentence. I guess I shouldn't trust newspapers and their grammar too much. Apparently, even they fail.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by ElDanés

Yes, I forgot after in my translation. I think I was a bit too fast writing the thread. I hope I haven't caused too much confusion. But it seems like no one still haven't come up with a translation for the sentence. I guess I shouldn't trust newspapers and their grammar too much. Apparently, even they fail.

The sentence you didn't finish translating could have a couple of translations, but we needed more context to do it justice. You provided the subject pronoun 'he,' but we can't be sure what the sentence refers to without context. Is there more context?

[Rusty]

Oops! You posted the article so we could read it. Sorry about that!

The meaning of the sentence is 'He threatened to kill my mother if I didn't submit (to his will)." In this case, the verb is dejarse hacer instead of dejarle hacer.

[ElDanés]

Thanks, Rusty!

[Rusty]

You're welcome!

[sosia]

Agree with Rusty

'Amenazaba con matar a mi madre si no me dejaba hacer'
"si no me dejaba hacer" --> If I didn't let myself do his wishes
"Si no le dejaba hacer lo que él quería" --> If I didn't let him do his wishes
'(He)threatened to kill my mother if I didn't submit (to his will)."
You can use both, but I'm not sure. I susually use the second (le dejaba hacer)
the first sounds forced perhaps its for space.
Saludos

[ElDanés]

It's always good with a second opinion, thank you a lot, sosia!

Edit:
+rep given to you sosia. I would have given you some too, Rusty, but it still says I've to spread some more.

I will go spreadaholic!