The invisible 'demasiado'

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by laepelba

But what would the word order be in the question that I was trying to write?

N.Y. ya es demasiado grande para decir que es un town.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by irmamar

N.Y. ya es demasiado grande para decir que es un town.

But with question marks:
¿N.Y. ya es demasiado grande para decir que es un town?

[irmamar]

¿Es ya demasiado grande NY para ser un town?

Hay varias maneras de decirlo, tanto en la forma afirmativa como en la interogativa:

NY es demasiado grande para ser un town.

Ya lo puedes poner en cualquier

¿ es demasiado grande NY para ser un town?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

¿Qué rango de habitantes puede tener un town? ¿Entre 200 y 20.000, por ejemplo?

Entonces el "Vatican City" es también un "town"

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by irmamar

¿Es ya demasiado grande NY para ser un town?

Hay varias maneras de decirlo, tanto en la forma afirmativa como en la interogativa:

NY es demasiado grande para ser un town.

Ya lo puedes poner en cualquier

¿ es demasiado grande NY para ser un town?

VERY helpful! Thanks for those suggestions with the possible placements of "ya".

Originally Posted by irmamar

Maybe "demasiado viejo" is better than just "viejo". I think I'd say "demasiado", but it's perfectly understood without it.

Originally Posted by Perikles

Only if you are fluent in Spanish.

Going back to the beginning of this thread, the original sentence offered used "ya" and not "demasiado" and the intent was that the man described was too old for his mother to be after him about such things.

When I wrote about New York being "too big" to be called a "town", I wondered if the same type of sentence structure would be possible. But you say that the "demasiado" MUST be used here. Why MUST it be used here, but in the sentence about the man who's old enough, it's not necessary...???

Originally Posted by Perikles

Entonces el "Vatican City" es también un "town"

P ~ I think it's one of those things that doesn't necessarily relate ... like sometimes "seas", "oceans", "bays", etc. don't make sense when compared to each other. Are there always definitions of these things?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

P ~ I think it's one of those things that doesn't necessarily relate ... like sometimes "seas", "oceans", "bays", etc. don't make sense when compared to each other. Are there always definitions of these things?

I'll leave the question above for Irma. I'd like to know myself. But as for the Vatican, sorry, I was being rather flippant. There are no clear global boundaries between "town" and "city", especially considering different types of English. (There is one in the UK, because having a cathedral is a necessary and sufficient condition for a town to be a city, which makes little sense in cases like St Davids in Wales which is a city smaller than a village.) And Vatican City is of course neither a city nor a town, but a State. I don't think we should worry about the classification.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

I'll leave the question above for Irma. I'd like to know myself. But as for the Vatican, sorry, I was being rather flippant. There are no clear global boundaries between "town" and "city", especially considering different types of English. (There is one in the UK, because having a cathedral is a necessary and sufficient condition for a town to be a city, which makes little sense in cases like St Davids in Wales which is a city smaller than a village.) And Vatican City is of course neither a city nor a town, but a State. I don't think we should worry about the classification.

If I could understand the question, I would answer...

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

When I wrote about New York being "too big" to be called a "town", I wondered if the same type of sentence structure would be possible. But you say that the "demasiado" MUST be used here. Why MUST it be used here, but in the sentence about the man who's old enough, it's not necessary...???

Originally Posted by irmamar

If I could understand the question, I would answer...

It's the question above.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

It's the question above.

"Ya" es adverbio de tiempo y "demasiado" es adjetivo.

I think I'd say "ya soy demasiado mayor para..."

You can use 'ya' in a sentence like this:

Ya eres mayor, ya puedes ir al colegio solo (you can't say 'demasiado' here).

But in a sentence like yours, it is said and understood:

Ya soy viejo para estas cosas.

Maybe it is a way of elision (or with an implicit meaning) of: [antes era joven, ahora] ya soy viejo para...

Ya eres mayor para leer tebeos (you were a child and you used to read comics, now you should read books).

I'm not sure, anyway.

[Perikles]

Thanks - I think that has answered Lou Ann

[laepelba]

Oh, I had my answer awhile back ... with all of the "" marks.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Oh, I had my answer awhile back ... with all of the "" marks.

Así, no tenía por qué estrujarme el coco...

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Así, no tenía por qué estrujarme el coco...

?????

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Así, no tenía por qué estrujarme el coco...

Originally Posted by laepelba

?????

She means she doesn't see why she should rack her brains again.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Perikles

She means she doesn't see why she should rack her brains again.

(sigh...) I still don't get it. But, I assume it's an idiom, right? Humor is lost on those who can't speak the language..........................

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Lou Ann: There has been a recent topic on "estrujarse el coco". That's why Irma assumed you already knew it.

[irmamar]

Well, I didn't remember. I'm losing my memory, too.