Pozo

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for July 22, 2009

pozo (masculine noun (el)) — well. Look up pozo in the dictionary

Mi hijo vive en las montañas y saca su agua de un pozo.
My son lives in the mountains and gets his water from a well.

[laepelba]

Cuando andaba en el bosque, yo encontré un pozo seco. Yo bajé una piedra a dentro de el. Oí un ruido de la piedra achocando la tierra unos segundos luego.

(I am NOT sure about my vocab choices here ... bajar? dentro de? achocar? etc.... Any suggestions are most welcome!)

[poli]

Nice use of Spanish. One suggestion: In Spanish, the use of yo is not necessary unless you need to be emphatic or some clarification is needed. The conjugated verb is usually all you need. The use of subjective pronouns are essential in English, but much less so in Spanish.

[laepelba]

Thanks, Poli! You mean that my word choices were correct?? Really!!?? I'm SO psyched! I know that the "yo" wasn't necessary, but sometimes the conjugations aren't obvious to me without the subject pronoun. Do you think it would sound awkward to a native speaker?

[poli]

Yes, you will sound so much better without the habitual use of the subjective pronouns. Save them for emphasis--especially yo
and nosotros.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Cuando andaba en el bosque, yo encontré un pozo seco. Yo bajé una piedra a dentro de el. Oí un ruido de la piedra achocando la tierra unos segundos luego.

(I am NOT sure about my vocab choices here ... bajar? dentro de? achocar? etc.... Any suggestions are most welcome!)

Lo escribes en inglés ¿por favor?

Welcome back!

[laepelba]

I was trying to say the following: "When I was walking in the woods, I found a dry well. I dropped a stone into it. I heard a sound of the stone hitting the ground a few seconds later."

Help me out with this. Thanks for the "welcome back", Hernan!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Cuando andaba en el bosque, yo encontré un pozo seco. (Yo) bajé arrojé/tiré/aventé/dejé caer una piedra dentro de él. Oí un el ruido de la piedra achocando chocando contra la tierra unos segundos luego después.

(I am NOT sure about my vocab choices here ... bajar? dentro de? achocar? etc.... Any suggestions are most welcome!)

Nice to see you back around, Lou Ann!!


"Bajar" would be used when you do it slowly and accompany the stone's movement right till the end of its trajectory.

I'm not sure about why you used "achocar" but in this case, it's just "chocar" the verb you need to express the stone's crash.

[laepelba]

Thanks, Malila! It's good to be home again ... but only for a couple of days. I have a couple more trips planned for the next few weeks.

Help me with the suggestions you made to replace "bajar". Are you saying that any of "arrojé/tiré/aventé/dejé" would work? And that I should use one of those verbs WITH caer? Really? Both verbs? Hmmmm.....

The rest of your changes make lots of sense to me. THANKS!!

[chileno]

Hi laepelba!

Originally Posted by laepelba

"When I was walking in the woods, I found a dry well. I dropped a stone into it. I heard a sound of the stone hitting the ground a few seconds later."

Cuando (yo) estaba caminando en el bosque, (yo) encontré un pozo seco. (Yo) dejé caer/tiré una piedra dentro de él. (Yo) escuché el sonido de la piedra chocando con/en el suelo unos pocos segundos más tarde.


go here http://www.wordreference.com/es/tran...?tranword=drop to find the meaning(s) of drop.

Now I heard a sound of the stone does not jibe with what wanted to say, not even in English. If you want to use "a sound" I think it would be better to say "...a sound, supposedly from the stone I threw..." or something similar to that.

I think what you wanted to say was: "...the sound of the stone..." Right?

Originally Posted by laepelba

Help me out with this. Thanks for the "welcome back", Hernan!

You're very welcome

I think you did excellent, and remember to write down in English first what you want to translate. I, somehow, imagine you trying to concoct everything in Spanish straight out of your mind. Am I (write)?

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by chileno

Hi laepelba!

Cuando (yo) estaba caminando en el bosque, (yo) encontré un pozo seco. (Yo) dejé caer/tiré una piedra dentro de él. (Yo) escuché el sonido de la piedra chocando con/en el suelo unos pocos segundos más tarde.


go here http://www.wordreference.com/es/tran...?tranword=drop to find the meaning(s) of drop.

Now I heard a sound of the stone does not jibe with what wanted to say, not even in English. If you want to use "a sound" I think it would be better to say "...a sound, supposedly from the stone I threw..." or something similar to that.

I think what you wanted to say was: "...the sound of the stone..." Right?



You're very welcome

I think you did excellent, and remember to write down in English first what you want to translate. I, somehow, imagine you trying to concoct everything in Spanish straight out of your mind. Am I (write)?

Thanks, Hernan!

Yes, I am on purpose trying NOT to translate from English into Spanish. That was my disaster the first time I attempted to learn to speak Spanish. I want it to come more naturally ... and I don't want to develop any bad habits. I am going to continue to try to work with the Spanish first, without really translating from English. I know you don't advise that ... but I think it will work better for me that way.

Having said that, I do have a few questions about what you wrote here:
- I know there have been discussions about andar/caminar. Why would you recommend caminar here?
- Same question I asked Malila - why combine dejar with caer or tirar? Doesn't one verb suffice here?
- Why escuchar instead of oir?
- Is ruido not at all correct? (Yes, I did mean to say the sound, and not a sound!)

Thanks for your help!!!!

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Thanks, Hernan!

Yes, I am on purpose trying NOT to translate from English into Spanish. That was my disaster the first time I attempted to learn to speak Spanish. I want it to come more naturally ... and I don't want to develop any bad habits. I am going to continue to try to work with the Spanish first, without really translating from English. I know you don't advise that ... but I think it will work better for me that way.

Having said that, I do have a few questions about what you wrote here:
- I know there have been discussions about andar/caminar. Why would you recommend caminar here?
- Same question I asked Malila - why combine dejar with caer or tirar? Doesn't one verb suffice here?
- Why escuchar instead of oir?
- Is ruido not at all correct? (Yes, I did mean to say the sound, and not a sound!)

Thanks for your help!!!!

Hello Lou Ann, I'm glad you're here again

- In your sentence I could easily say:
Estaba paseando (instead of caminando o andando)

- It's not the same "dejar caer" (drop) than "tirar" (throw), there are slight semantic differences, although they give you some options to choose.

- Escuchar: listen to. Oír: hear. An example:
I was trying to listen to you, but I couldn't hear anything
Estaba intentando escucharte, pero no pude oír nada.

- Both sonido and ruido work well here. Sonido: sound; ruido: noise.

I hope it'll be helpful.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Lou Ann: "arrojar", "tirar", "aventar" and "dejar caer". You are right that "arrojar caer", "tirar caer" or "aventar caer" make no sense.

Although the first three are similar in intention (to throw) and "dejar caer" is just to drop, all of them would work here, because in the end the stone will free fall into the well.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Hello Lou Ann, I'm glad you're here again

- In your sentence I could easily say:
Estaba paseando (instead of caminando o andando)

- It's not the same "dejar caer" (drop) than "tirar" (throw), there are slight semantic differences, although they give you some options to choose.

- Escuchar: listen to. Oír: hear. An example:
I was trying to listen to you, but I couldn't hear anything
Estaba intentando escucharte, pero no pude oír nada.

- Both sonido and ruido work well here. Sonido: sound; ruido: noise.

I hope it'll be helpful.

Thanks, Irmamar - it's good to be back, even if only for a few days.

I really wanted to say that "I heard the stone...." and so I used oir on purpose. Why should it be escuchar? That doesn't sound right to me. I still don't get it.

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Lou Ann: "arrojar", "tirar", "aventar" and "dejar caer". You are right that "arrojar caer", "tirar caer" or "aventar caer" make no sense.

Although the first three are similar in intention (to throw) and "dejar caer" is just to drop, all of them would work here, because in the end the stone will free fall into the well.

Thank you for that explanation ... I really wanted to say "drop", as in, just releasing the stone into a free-fall. So I think that "dejar caer" would best represent what I was thinking.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Thanks, Hernan!

Yes, I am on purpose trying NOT to translate from English into Spanish. That was my disaster the first time I attempted to learn to speak Spanish. I want it to come more naturally ... and I don't want to develop any bad habits. I am going to continue to try to work with the Spanish first, without really translating from English. I know you don't advise that ... but I think it will work better for me that way.

Having said that, I do have a few questions about what you wrote here:
- I know there have been discussions about andar/caminar. Why would you recommend caminar here?
- Same question I asked Malila - why combine dejar with caer or tirar? Doesn't one verb suffice here?
- Why escuchar instead of oir?
- Is ruido not at all correct? (Yes, I did mean to say the sound, and not a sound!)

Thanks for your help!!!!

I asked you , because I can "see" it, literally.

But, as you wish... it is going to take you a phenomenal amount of time and energy, though.

Energy that could be taken advantage of in a more productive way.

Change must be brought from within...

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Lou Ann: neither "oir" or "escuchar" would be wrong.
"Oí la piedra chocar contra el suelo" sounds more natural for me though.

[irmamar]

You can say "escuchar" if you were waiting for the noise of the stone. If you just heard it, you should use "oír":

RAE:

oír. (Del lat. audīre).
1. tr. Percibir con el oído los sonidos.
2. tr. Dicho de una persona: Atender los ruegos, súplicas o avisos de alguien, o a alguien.
3. tr. Hacerse cargo, o darse por enterado, de aquello de que le hablan.
4. tr. Asistir a la explicación que el maestro hace de una facultad para aprenderla. Oyó a Juan. Oyó teología.
5. tr. Der. Dicho de la autoridad: Tomar en consideración las alegaciones de las partes antes de resolver la cuestión debatida.



escuchar.
(Del lat. vulg. ascultāre, lat. auscultāre).
1. tr. Prestar atención a lo que se oye.
2. tr. Dar oídos, atender a un aviso, consejo o sugerencia.
3. intr. Aplicar el oído para oír algo.
4. prnl. Hablar o recitar con pausas afectadas

[Tomisimo]

The goal of not translating from English to Spanish, and learning to think in Spanish is the only way to become fluent. It's hard, but there's simply no other way.

[laepelba]

So, David - should it be a *goal*, but not something that I do yet ... or should it be a habit that is developed through discipline? I hardly imagine that having lived in the US for all these years, Hernan is still translating his thoughts from Spanish to English ... that seems counter-productive to me. And my good friends who are native spanish speakers now living in the US definitely talk about when they are thinking in Spanish vs. when they are thinking in English.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

In time, Lou Ann... it requires a bit of discipline and work to do it "automatically"... you have made the first step by buying a Spanish-Spanish dictionary so now replace the Spanish-English section with your new acquisition and you'll see words will start having the right meaning little by little.