Prepararse/preparar

[travis]

Hola otra vez =)

Esto me da muchas problemas. Por ejemplo, en inglés yo diría: "The men were preparing for the arrival of the guests." pero me ha dicho que se necesita usar el reflexivo: "Los hombres se preparaban para la llegada de los invitados.". No entiendo por qué es así, con el reflexivo, para mí, no es el mismo.

The men were preparing for... los hombres preparaban para...
The men were preparing themselves for... los hombres se preparaban para...

Si tengo que usar el reflexivo en los dos casos, ¿como se expresa exactamente la segunda?

Gracias y por favor corrijan cualquier errores que he cometido.

[Elaina]

Originally Posted by travis

Hola otra vez =)

Esto me da muchas problemas. Por ejemplo, en inglés yo diría: "The men were preparing for the arrival of the guests." pero me ha dicho que se necesita usar el reflexivo: "Los hombres se preparaba para la llegado de los invitados.". No intiendo por qué es así, con el reflexivo, para mí, no es el mismo.

The men were preparing for... el hombres preparaba para...
The men were preparing themselves for... el hombres se preparaba para...

Si tengo que usar el reflexivo en los dos casos, ¿como se expresa exactamente la segunda?

Gracias y por favor corrijan cualquier errores que he cometido.

I could probably help you with what the translation should read but as far as grammatical rules, I will let someone else take care of that.

The men were preparing for... el hombres preparaba para...
Los hombres se estaban preparando para ....

The men were preparing themselves for...el hombres se preparaba para..
Los hombres se preparaban para...

My attempt....maybe someone else has other suggestions.

[travis]

Sí, sí... no creo que cometo esos tipos de errores... el/los y preparaba/preparaban , ¡Gracias por ayudarme!

Entiendo lo que dijiste... todavía no entiendo porque usaste el reflexivo en los dos casos pero en inglés cuando las hablo, quiere decir dos cosas diferentes.

The men are preparing themselves for the arrival ...<- puedo ver como esto es en el reflexivo.

The men are preparing for the arrival... <- no puedo verlo

Gracias

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Preparar" needs a direct object ("preparar algo").
"Prepararse" is used when you talk about a personal disposition.

Los hombres prepararon una cena para sus esposas.
The men prepared dinner for their wives.

Estamos preparando una fiesta para mi cumpleaños.
We're preparing a party for my birthday.

Voy a preparar una presentación para el negocio.
I'll prepare a presentation for the business.


No me he preparado para el examen.
I haven't prepared for the exam.

Prepárate para lo peor.
Expect the worst.

Toda la isla se prepara para el huracán.
The whole island is getting ready for the hurricane.

[travis]

Thank you, thank you. I think.

I understand all of what you said, in those cases it makes perfect sense and is quite intuitive. I don't understand it in cases where what's being prepared is understood/implied and it's not a personal disposition -- I guess I'm thinking of it as if there is a direct object, but it's not stated, why is it reflexive then?

Also then, If it's a rule that you have to use the reflexive when a direct object isn't provided -- how do you clarify something that is reflexive with something that may not be 'they prepared for the party' and 'they prepared themselves for the party'. The second one is obviously reflexive, the first one, not necessarily.

If I say:

Me estoy preparando para una fiesta.

How do you know what I mean? To me, that means I'm getting myself prepared (shower, dressing up, etc...) to go to a party because of its literal translation from english "I'm preparing myself for a party". Would you clarify that with more words? Like:

Me estoy preparando para asistir a una fiesta.

Thank you so much!

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by travis

Hola otra vez =)

Esto me da muchas problemas. Por ejemplo, en inglés yo diría: "The men were preparing for the arrival of the guests." pero me ha dicho que se necesita usar el reflexivo: "Los hombres se preparaban para la llegada de los invitados.". No entiendo por qué es así, con el reflexivo, para mí, no es el mismo.

The men were preparing for... los hombres preparaban para...
The men were preparing themselves for... los hombres se preparaban para...

Si tengo que usar el reflexivo en los dos casos, ¿como se expresa exactamente la segunda?

Gracias y por favor corrijan cualquier errores que he cometido.

In the first phrase is necessary that you write the word were.
Estaba translated in Spanish.

For example.

Paul were preparing himself for the traverse for the country most big of Europa.

My attempt in Spanish.

Paul se estaba preparando para la travesia por el pais mas grande de Europa.

You need to write necessary the word Estaba in Spanish that it's literally in past.
Then you can't write only Paul preparing himself etc.. Because the words really hasn't more sense in Spanish.

I hope that you can understand me.
Greetings.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Travis: I'm sorry, my limited English will need you to tell the difference, between "they prepared for the party" and "they prepared themselves for the party"... I had always thought both sentences meant the same(?).


As for Spanish differences, I can't make a proper grammatical explanation, but:

Me estoy preparando para (asistir a) una fiesta. -> I'm getting ready to attend a party.
Pronominal particle says I am doing things to myself (shower, dressing up, etc.) so I'll look good at the party.

Estoy preparando una fiesta. -> I'm organizing a party.
The direct object is the party and you're doing things (buying food and drinks, hanging decorations, etc.) in order to have everything guests will need.

I guess one of the differences is the preposition "para", so "prepararse para" is the one referring to the personal disposition.

Me preparé para recibir el golpe.
I prepared myself to be hit.

Necesita prepararse para recibir la noticia.
He needs to prepare to receive the news.

Prepárate para morir!
Prepare to die!


Some more sentences with personal pronouns ("prepararle algo a alguien"):
Me estoy preparando una fiesta. -> I'm organizing a party for myself.
The direct object is still the party and you're doing the same things (buying food and drinks, hanging decorations, etc.) but personal pronoun says you're going to celebrate your own birthday, a personal achievement, etc.

Me están preparando una ensalada. -> They're preparing a salad for me.
Salad is the direct object and personal pronoun says it is for me (indirect object).

[CrOtALiTo]

I have more examples about it.

You prepare for kill him.
You prepare to take the money and give me it.

I hope that it can help you.

[travis]

Primero... ¡muchas gracias a los dos!

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Travis: I'm sorry, my limited English will need you to tell the difference, between "they prepared for the party" and "they prepared themselves for the party"... I had always thought both sentences meant the same(?).

Your english is fantastic, I can only hope my Spanish becomes as good.

There is a difference between the 2 sentences, this seems to be the key to my misunderstanding. I don't know if it's good english or just how it's spoken or what, only that it exists. I double checked with my wife and co-workers to make sure I'm not going insane . We do talk this way and it is understood. The direct object(s) are being omitted and what is understood is that it's usually something other than the person that is being prepared (in this case, in other cases the opposite is understood ).

They prepared for the party = They prepared (something that is not themselves, the house, mowed the grass, decorated, etc...) for the party.

They prepared themselves for the party = This is exactly how you said it, they got dressed, put makeup on, bathed, shaved, meditated... a reflexive activity.

A funnier example (or mean, depending on how you look at it) would be:

I'm preparing for the grandkids to come over and visit. (in this case, you're cleaning and if you're a nice grandma, you're baking cookies, etc... hehe)

I'm preparing myself for the grandkids to come over and visit. (in this case, with the 'myself', you're expressing mentally -- in order to handle/deal with them because they're loud, annoying or make a mess everytime they come)

I often say it about my mother-in-law even though it's not nice to say. "I'll be back dear, I'm going to prepare myself for your mother's visit".

Like you said earlier, in other cases it's understood to be reflexive, rather than having an understood/implied direct object:

Prepare for a beating.
They were preparing for the test.
etc..

I really think it has to do with what's being prepared and in english we just understand if it's a reflexive activity or not and if we don't understand, we ask for more information. I'm going to take away from this, that in spanish if there is no direct object or you intend for the direct object to be reflexive, make it reflexive.


muchas gracias una vez más por la ayuda, me ayuda mucho.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Thank you for your kind words and for the explanation.

I see now what it is: in Spanish we do need an explicit word for what you are preparing then.

"They prepared for the party" can be said:
- Prepararon todo para la fiesta. (They prepared everything for the party.)
- Prepararon lo que hacía falta para la fiesta. (They prepared what was needed for the party.)
- Prepararon las cosas para la fiesta. (They prepared the things for the party.)

Same case for "I'm preparing for the grandkids to come over and visit":
- Estoy preparando las cosas para la visita de los/mis nietos. (I'm preparing things for the grandkids...)
- Estoy preparando la casa para la visita de los/mis nietos. (I'm preparing the house for the grandkids...)

Loved the examples.

[travis]

Angelica: ¡Muchísimas gracias! Esos son repuestas sobresaliente y me han ayudado mucho.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by travis

Angelica: ¡Muchísimas gracias! Esas son repuestas sobresalientes y me han ayudado mucho.

I'm always glad to help.

[CrOtALiTo]

You're welcome.