Ponerse en contacto

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

I find this very difficult, because I see the me as a direct object.

I put my feet on the table
I put myself in contact with...

I suppose it highlights the relativity of grammar.

I'm sorry I can't explain it more clearly. Anyway, transitive sentences must carry out the former rules, and this sentence doesn't (although some verbs don't allow the change into passive voice). Although surely, it is reflexive in English, but not in Spanish.

Yo pongo los pies encima de la mesa (los pies: OD).
Yo me pongo en contacto contigo (no OD).

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Although surely, it is reflexive in English, but not in Spanish.

Brilliant idea. I'll think about this.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by irmamar

The pronoun of pronominal verbs must agree with the subject:

Yo me pongo en contacto con él.
Tú te atreves a todo.
Él siempre se queja.
Nosotros nos abstuvimos de votar.
[Vosotros os desvivís por ayudar - este caso para los que estudien esta persona ]
Ellos /Ustedes se mueren de ganas por viajar.

Originally Posted by irmamar

I can't say if it is like this in English, but it's not in Spanish. We have some ways to know if a sentence is transitive or not:

1 - Direct object is compulsory:
Me pongo en contacto con X. (there isn't a DO).

2 - Change into passive:
Soy puesta en contacto con X por mí.

3 - You can change the DO by a personal pronoun "átono" (la, lo, etc.)
Yo lo soy puesta.

So, as it doesn't follow the rules, "ponerse en contacto" is not transitive. A reflexive sentence is always transitive.

You can use "poner en contacto" as transitive, but never in its pronominal form; for instance, with the meaning of "touch":

Pongo en contacto dos semiconductores.

1 - DO: "pongo en contacto" ¿qué?
2 - Passive: Los semiconductores son puestos en contacto por mí/ se ponen en contacto los semiconductores.
3 - Pronoun: Yo los pongo en contacto.

And there is a rule to know if an object is an ID: the possibility of its duplication:

Yo me pongo a mí (misma) en contacto con X.



If you have doubts about the function "con X", that is a "complemento de régimen" or "complemento preposicional", that is a syntagm with a preposition (which is not OD, ID, CC or an attribute). You can change X (X=María, for instance) with a personal pronoun "tónico": me pongo en contacto con María = me pongo en contacto con ella.

I hope it helps.

Originally Posted by Perikles

I find this very difficult, because I see the me as a direct object.

I put my feet on the table
I put myself in contact with...

I suppose it highlights the relativity of grammar.

Yeah - this is all a bit over my head. I don't understand (1) how the subject is not also the DO, and (2) the difference between reflexive and pronomial (I thought I did prior to this).

I think I'm going to give up trying to understand this for now. I'll come back to it after my courses are over and see if the stuff "fits" for me any better then.....

Thanks for trying, everyone!!

[CrOtALiTo]

I didn't understand the corrections!
Please can I check them again?

Because I have a trouble with the language, with your last corrections and I can see the mistakes that I did and why I did those mistakes.

Almost always I write the think in Spanish into of the English that is my trouble, for that reason I did a lot of mistakes.

I tend to write the I think in Spanish into of the Spanish, and I can see that it can't translated into of the English in the same way that I had the thinking.
How can I change that way to think in the future?

I need to an idea of how I can change the structure of the wrote in Spanish to English.

Please you understand me.

[laepelba]

Crotalito - I'm not sure which part you don't understand. I think that maybe someone who speaks Spanish would be better to answer questions like that...

[CrOtALiTo]

Elaina. I got it everything you told me before.
Don't worry, because I understand the motive for the what I write bad sometimes into of the English.

[JPablo]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

Elaina. I got it everything you told me before.
Don't worry, because I understand the motive for the what I write bad sometimes into of the English.

I think, CrOtALiTo, that maybe it will be good for you to write in Spanish AND the English translation of what you are saying in Spanish, in that way, it would be easier to understand you and easier to help you correct the English version... You have 9,000 plus posts which is a very high amount of communication, which is great, but I believe you may be more benefited if you start concentrating on the QUALITY of the communication.
I am not sending you a personal message, because I believe other forum participants will be more than willing to assist you, and so you can definitely get your basics fully in place, and keep building your ability to understand and be understood. Which is, after all, what communication and language is all about... right?

Siempre podemos "ponernos en contacto", (given that this is the subject of this thread,) e intercambiar puntos de vista...
Un saludo cordial.