Sustentarse and tenerse

[Premium]

"Esta ciudad se sustenta a base de excesos y malas decisiones."

"This town... on excesses and bad decisions."

What does "sustentarse a base" mean?
According to my dictionary, "sustentarse" means "of live" and something i can't translate to English.

"Te tienes que divorciar donde vives."

"You gotta divorce where you live."

Did i translate it right?
Is it reflexive in this phrase? Would be "Tienes que divorciar..." wrong?

Thanks in advance.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Premium

"Esta ciudad se sustenta a base de excesos y malas decisiones."

"This town... on excesses and bad decisions."

What does "sustentarse a base" mean?
According to my dictionary, "sustentarse" means "of live" and something i can't translate to English.

"Te tienes que divorciar donde vives."

"You gotta divorce where you live."

Did i translate it right?
Is it reflexive in this phrase? Would be "Tienes que divorciar..." wrong?

Thanks in advance.

This town sustains itself on excesses and bad decisions.
This town keeps itself going on a policy of excesses and bad decisions.

Divorciar is transitive, so you would need an object, presumably a spouse surplus to requirements.
Divorciarse means to get divorced, so is correct here.

(The te is the reflexive pronoun of divorciarse, but I guess you know that)

[Premium]

Originally Posted by Perikles

This town sustains itself on excesses and bad decisions.
This town keeps itself going on a policy of excesses and bad decisions.

Divorciar is transitive, so you would need an object, presumably a spouse surplus to requirements.
Divorciarse means to get divorced, so is correct here.

(The te is the reflexive pronoun of divorciarse, but I guess you know that)

Thank you very much.

What about "Tienes que divorciarte donde vives."?

[chileno]

It also means to "feed from"...

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Premium

What about "Tienes que divorciarte donde vives."?

Yes, that's an equal alternative, I think.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Premium: Perikles has given you a fine answer for both questions.
I'd like to add, however, that although "te tienes que divorciar" and "tienes que divorciarte" have both the same meaning in daily speech, "tienes que divorciarte" is better, since the pronoun is related to "divorciar" (divorciarse), not to "tener".

As for "sostenerse de" Perikles and Chileno have given you right answers.

[Premium]

I thought "te" was related to "tener", that's why it didn't make any sense to me.
I've got to look for a new dictionary, mine sucks it doesn't provide accurate translations.
I don't why, but i just cannot get these reflexive verb rules into my head.
There are so many times i get confused why it is reflexive in this case, as they are not reflexive in German.

For instance; Durante la tormenta se apagaron todas las luces.
I do know what it means, but i still think in German when i read something in Spanish. There are a lot of verbs which are reflexive in Spanish but not in German.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Premium

There are a lot of verbs which are reflexive in Spanish but not in German.

It might help a little if you stopped calling them reflexive, because you assume they behave like reflexive verbs in German and English and this I find confusing. I prefer pronominal verbs, because they contain a personal pronoun.

Although reflexives are a subset of pronominal, these verbs are widely used where English and German use something else. Some verbs are inherently pronominal without a reflexive meaning (Se jacta de ser muy listo). Some are intensifying (¿Qué vamos a comer? / El león se comió toda la carne) and there are many other functions I can't type out here.

[Premium]

Originally Posted by Perikles

It might help a little if you stopped calling them reflexive, because you assume they behave like reflexive verbs in German and English and this I find confusing. I prefer pronominal verbs, because they contain a personal pronoun.

Although reflexives are a subset of pronominal, these verbs are widely used where English and German use something else. Some verbs are inherently pronominal without a reflexive meaning (Se jacta de ser muy listo). Some are intensifying (¿Qué vamos a comer? / El león se comió toda la carne) and there are many other functions I can't type out here.

Thank you for you help Perikles.

I have one more problem, though. "Cuando esté llorando del dolor en el suelo gritando."

"When this crying out of pain on the floor yelling?". This sounds ridiculous but i just cannot figure it out.

Thanks in advance.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Premium

I have one more problem, though. "Cuando esté llorando del dolor en el suelo gritando."

"When this crying out of pain on the floor yelling?". This sounds ridiculous but i just cannot figure it out.

Note the accent: éste = this, but esté is 3rd singular present subjuntive of estar. Cuando can take a subjunctive:

"When he/she is crying out of/in pain on the floor yelling".

[Premium]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Note the accent: éste = this, but esté is 3rd singular present subjuntive of estar. Cuando can take a subjunctive:

"When he/she is crying out of/in pain on the floor yelling".

It's embarrassing i didn't come to this conclusion. Thank you, again.