Quote:
Originally Posted by BobRitter
¿Sin más contexto, ¿qué significa la oración, "Estoy en el hospital"?
(With no context otherwise, you're stating your location in Spanish.)
Otro ejemplo:
Mi esposa, (una) montañesa de Kentucky, diría que "my shoes are IN the floor" en lugar de "my shoes are on the floor". Creo que "IN the floor" es un inglés antiguo y arcaico, pero no estoy seguro.
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I would call this regional usage.
On and
in are usually not used interchangeably in English and have been separate words in the language since its inception.
The Spanish phrase "
en el hospital" can mean "in the hospital" or "at the hospital," which both mean the same thing in American English (one's location), but if you're a patient at the hospital, we usually make it clear that we're not there visiting someone by providing more information (if there's any confusion).
The British use "in hospital" to mean that you're a patient, and "at hospital" to mean you're visiting someone in the hospital.