A más no poder

[Evvie]

I am working on better understanding 'poder' and I saw this sentence in my dictionary.

"Guapa a más no poder" translated to be, "unbelievably pretty".

I'm having some trouble figuring this out. To me, it seems like the literal translation is "she could not be prettier". I think my issue may be an unclear understanding of all the applications of "a".

Can anyone please help me with the literal meaning of this sentence?

Also, I am interested to see if I wrote the title properly thank you in advance for any help!

[Don José]

I don`t know if there is another literal translation for the expression "a más no poder", but your use of "could not be" sounds fine to me, better than "unbelievably".

The title is correct.

Prepositions are not easy to translate (at least to me). I wouldn`t try to understand why "a" is used, but just learn the expression. In fact, I wonder if there is a reason for the use of "a" here, instead of another preposition.

[Rusty]

... a más no poder =
as ... as can be
as ... as possible
as ... as they come
could not be ...-er
the ...-est ever


In the thread title, 'este frase' s/b 'esta frase'. I would choose totally different wording, though, porque el hilo se trata de la frase hecha 'a más no poder'. Así que debes incluirla en el tema.


Edit: I moved the thread to the 'Idioms & Sayings' forum and changed the title.

[caliber1]

Originally Posted by Rusty

... a más no poder =
as ... as can be
as ... as possible
as ... as they come
could not be ...-er
the ...-est ever


In the thread title, 'este frase' s/b 'esta frase'. I would choose totally different wording, though, porque el hilo se trata de la frase hecha 'a más no poder'. Así que debes incluirla en el tema.


Edit: I moved the thread to the 'Idioms & Sayings' forum and changed the title.

That was very helpful Rusty. Thanks,

[powerchisper]

TAmbien vale :

"Guapa a reventar" , "Guapa de cojones" , " más guapa que la hostia"

pretty as hell ??? What about this one ??