a gross girl??? What does this say?

[hola]

di a una chica muy linda que me gusta algunas golosinas. sonrió, dijo gracias y las cojió. más tarde cuando miré noté que las comió nunca. las dejó en la mesa. que grosera. no la dije nada y yo me comporté como no supe pero en mi mente supe que nunca yo iba a darla golosina otra vez. que grosera.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It's not the most orthodox Spanish ever, but it's mostly correct. It looks like this person either has English as his mother tongue or he's been living in the USA for a long time.

(Le) dí a una chica muy linda, que me gusta, unas golosinas. Sonrió, dijo gracias y las cogió. Más tarde, cuando miré, noté que no las comió nunca. Las dejó en la mesa. ¡Qué grosera! No le dije nada y yo me comporté como si no hubiera sabido, pero en mi mente supe que nunca (yo) iba a darle golosinas otra vez. ¡Qué grosera!

I gave some candy to a pretty girl I like. She smiled, said thank you and took them. Later, when I looked, I noticed she never ate them. She left them on the table. How rude! I didn't tell her anything, but I pretended I didn't know (what she did with the candy), but in my mind I knew I would never give her candy ever again. How rude!

[Rusty]

The girl is rude (grosera).

The indirect object pronoun le isn't used as it should be with the verbs decir and dar. Golosinas is missing an s the second time. There are mistakes in punctuation and capitalization. It's OK. There are other word choices, of course.

[hola]

why "unas" instead of "algunas"???? i would have used "algunas" too...and where is proof the person has been living in the usa a long time????? your sentence looks every bit as much like his. so maybe YOU have been in the usa a long time. is it really written well?

[pjt33]

"nunca yo iba a X otra vez" catches my eye as very English-influenced. It would be far more idiomatic to say "no volvería a X".

[hola]

i would interpret no volveria as i wouldnt return. if there's a way he could've used it to say i was never going to give her candy again i don't know it. it must be a hidden way. even Angelica used the word iba in her correction. and she is 100% spanish (i think)

[chileno]

Is the original text/thought in English or Spanish?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Hola: My conjectures about this person not being a native Spanish speaker or being very influenced by English speakers come just from observing the way he writes.

Many English speakers tend to translate "some" by "alguno" in all cases. Here, "unas" was only a mistake I made, since it's what sounds more natural to me, but I should have kept "algunas". Meaning is not changed, but no one I know would use "algunas" as first choice.

The second thing that might point to a foreign speaker, is "yo me comporté como no supe", which is an incorrect conjugation "como si no supiera" or "como si no hubiera sabido" would have been much better. This is also a common difficulty among English speakers.

Pjt has also pointed out "nunca yo iba", which is heard often from Latins who live in the USA. Not incorrect, but not natural for many Spanish speakers.

And no, although I have much access to people and uses of language from Americans, I have never lived in the USA.


My sentences look very much like his, because I only kept your paragraph as close to the original as possible, so you would understand better and see what was right and wrong about it. I did not correct the style, for that is always a personal choice.

As for your question about it being well written, Rusty has replied concisely and you have a paragraph to compare, so you can judge by yourself.



@Hernán:

[chileno]

@Angélica:

You see, to behave is somewhat different from pretend, and other differences..in order to get a good translation.

[irmamar]

Coger with "g"

[chileno]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Coger with "g"

Correcto. Lo ví, pero no me llamó tanto la atención como otras partes del texto/traducción.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Hernán: No sé traducir palabra por palabra... prefiero dar la idea de lo que me parece que algunas expresiones quieren decir.

@Irma: corregido, gracias.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

It's not the most orthodox Spanish ever, but it's mostly correct. It looks like this person either has English as his mother tongue or he's been living in the USA for a long time.

(Le) dí a una chica muy linda, que me gusta, unas golosinas. Sonrió, dijo gracias y las cogió. Más tarde, cuando miré, noté que no las comió nunca. Las dejó en la mesa. ¡Qué grosera! No le dije nada y yo me comporté como si no hubiera sabido, pero en mi mente supe que nunca (yo) iba a darle golosinas otra vez. ¡Qué grosera!

I gave some candy to a pretty girl I like. She smiled, said thank you and took them. Later, when I looked, I noticed she never ate them. She left them on the table. How rude! I didn't tell her anything, but I pretended I didn't know (what she did with the candy), but in my mind I knew I would never give her candy ever again. How rude!

Angelica I didn't understand the text written in Spanish.

I have a suggest. Why don't you use the verb recojer instead of Cogío.

Really that word sound very bad at least for the Mexican people and you know that.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Hernán: No sé traducir palabra por palabra... prefiero dar la idea de lo que me parece que algunas expresiones quieren decir.

@Irma: corregido, gracias.

No hay problema, siempre es un placer ver tu interpretación.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by hola

why "unas" instead of "algunas"???? i would have used "algunas" too...and where is proof the person has been living in the usa a long time????? your sentence looks every bit as much like his. so maybe YOU have been in the usa a long time. is it really written well?

Both "unos" and "algunos" can be translated as "some" or "a few". "Unos" sounds more natural in a lot of cases.