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| JMPH | Sunday 01st of May 2005 08:11:56 AM |
| Dos preguntas - I have two questions that maybe someone could help me with.
How come the word "tú" has the tilde and sometimes it doesn't? My other question is... Why does the phrase "Por lo menos, sí." mean, (for the most part, yes)? Can anyone answer these questions, please? | |
| C_david | Sunday 01st of May 2005 08:19:43 AM |
| some help - tú with tilde is used when is personal pronoun, but when mean "your"(pronoun possesive) without tilde; but the tilde don't make much difference, it's indifferently understood.
The other isn't clear understood. i hope it'll help you | |
| GoranBcn | Sunday 01st of May 2005 08:20:45 AM |
| - Regarding your first question:
TU means YOUR and TÚ means YOU (in singular) Here there is an accent only to difference these words. In Spanish this accent is called "acento diacrítico" Examples: Tú eres francés = You are French Tu coche es rojo = Your car is red -------------------------------------------------------- Other examples: SÓLO/SOLO DÉ/DE MÁS/MAS AÚN/AUN SÍ/SI etc I don't understand your second question... | |
| their_confessional | Sunday 01st of May 2005 08:51:24 AM |
| - It seems the others have nicely answered your tú vs. tu question, so I guess I'll explain the second to the best of my ability.
"Por lo menos, sí" is one of the phrases that does not necessarily translate literally to mean the same thing. Por (in this instance) is 'for,' menos is 'least,' and sí is 'yes.' Lo is an article for menos, like la is to 'la mujer.' One thing that people tend to forget is that there are three articles, 'el, la, and lo.' Of course, you don't see lo as much. It is a neuter article, usually for something in general that is not definite... example: lo desconocido - the unknown. There is no certain "unknown." To really grasp the meaning of 'lo' is somewhat as difficult as understanding the use of subjunctive. Other nouns that have 'lo' as the definite article are 'lo mismo,' 'lo bueno,' 'lo malo,' etc. So, to translate "Por lo menos" literally, it would be "for the least". One thing you have to keep in mind, however, is you cannot always translate literally... I hope I helped and didn't confuse you entirely! Perhaps someone will explain it a bit better than how I did. | |
| jvz8a | Sunday 01st of May 2005 10:07:04 PM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by JMPH[/i]
My other question is... Why does the phrase "Por lo menos, sí." mean, (for the most part, yes)?[/quote] Could you give us more information? The context would be helpful. | |
| JMPH | Tuesday 03rd of May 2005 05:33:49 AM |
| Requested context - Un hombre dice: ¿Las casas sobrivivieron el terremoto reciente?
El otro hombre dice: Por lo menos, sí. The translation given for the last sentence in my computer program was "For the most part, yes." or something like that. | |
| jvz8a | Tuesday 03rd of May 2005 05:49:23 AM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by JMPH[/i]
Un hombre dice: ¿Las casas sobrivivieron el terremoto reciente? El otro hombre dice: Por lo menos, sí.[/quote] Here the second man is saying: "Yes, those houses at least remained stood after that earthquake", meaning that those houses will stand some other worse thing or that the minimun thing those houses were expected was to be safe after an earthquake. | |
