Thread: hello, need some help

Vicente, HOW COME YOU'RE ALWAYS RIGHT??? I have been reading the posts and since it is a very interesting thread (I love anything that has to do with literature) I made a small search and it turns out this phrase is part of the book
The Art of Growing Older by Wayne Booth. haven't read it so I can't comment anything on that!

Originally Posted by vicente

Hi amigos

I can't argue with your Spanish!!

I'm not sure I agree with the interpretation though.

I read your version as "I wish the day actually had 24 hours without counting sleep hours" which means to me that you feel there are not enough hours in the day to do what you have to do but does not exclude the need or desire to sleep.

That's an excellent interpretation but this looks like a line from a poem to me, possibly entitled "I wish there was 24 hours in a Day". The words wuk, yew and the abbreviation y' are strange which suggests they are from a poem or antique writing and are deliberately written that way for a purpose so if you change "you can keep your sleep" you change the writer's message that sleep does not matter to him or that he doesn't want to sleep.

What do you think? How would you capture the meaning of "keep it!!" as in you can keep it, I don't want it.

ACTUALLY IT MEANS HE DOESN´'T WANT TO SLEEP ( THE DOCUMENT IS ABOUT COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN LATE ADULTHOOD)....THE THING IS THAT I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE "STRANGE WORDS" THAT APPEARED

tHANKS A LOT....ALL OF YOU

MI TRANSLATION WOULD BE...."ME GUSTARÍA QUE EL DIA TUVIESE 24 HORAS DE ACTIVIDAD, QUE NO FUESE NECESARIO DORMIR...YA HABRÁ TIEMPO PARA ESO DESPUES (PLENTY OF TIME FOR THAT LATER ON...) """COMO EN ...YA DESCANSARÁS CUANDO MUERAS"""

ESO SERÍA...

Originally Posted by Pablohz

ACTUALLY IT MEANS HE DOESN´'T WANT TO SLEEP ( THE DOCUMENT IS ABOUT COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN LATE ADULTHOOD)....THE THING IS THAT I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THE "STRANGE WORDS" THAT APPEARED

tHANKS A LOT....ALL OF YOU

MI TRANSLATION WOULD BE...."ME GUSTARÍA QUE EL DIA TUVIESE 24 HORAS DE ACTIVIDAD, QUE NO FUESE NECESARIO DORMIR...YA HABRÁ TIEMPO PARA ESO DESPUES (PLENTY OF TIME FOR THAT LATER ON...) """COMO EN ...YA DESCANSARÁS CUANDO MUERAS"""

ESO SERÍA...

Great, Pablo! I'm glad you could solve the issue thanks to our help

Personally, I have learnt/learned [since both forms of the verb are correct, which one would you prefer, Vicente?] a lot with this thread!

By the way, in relation to "tuviERA" or "tuviESE", I would prefer the -ERA termination for formal contexts and -ESE for informal/oral language. This is just a perception, but may vary accross the globe...

Originally Posted by Pablohz

mmmm una acotación...tuviera o tuviese se usan indistintamente... no existe una distinción formal o no... tiene q ver con la raiz de la conjugación (latín culto y Latín del pueblo ;en el caso del preterito imperfecto) pero en este caso me pareció q "gustaría"... "dia" y "tuviera" podrian sonar muy cacofónicos todos juntos...en fin
Gracias de nuevo
chauuuuuuuuu

Sí, por eso decía que era una cuestión de mi impresión o gusto particular.

Lógico: es genial poder tener opciones, para evitar la cacofonía

Originally Posted by Guadalupe

Great, Pablo! I'm glad you could solve the issue thanks to our help

Personally, I have learnt/learned [since both forms of the verb are correct, which one would you prefer, Vicente?] a lot with this thread!

By the way, in relation to "tuviERA" or "tuviESE", I would prefer the -ERA termination for formal contexts and -ESE for informal/oral language. This is just a perception, but may vary accross the globe...

Guadalupe!! If you are in London use learnt.

I have no idea why, but learnt, even though it is perfectly correct, sounds uneducated to me. I am sure there are some in the U.S. who use it although I've never heard it used in oral conversation. The first time I saw it written here I almost corrected the writer but first I went to the dictionary to see if it was a real word. It was, so thankfully I didn't embarrass myself again.

Originally Posted by vicente

Guadalupe!! If you are in London use learnt.

I have no idea why, but learnt, even though it is perfectly correct, sounds uneducated to me. I am sure there are some in the U.S. who use it although I've never heard it used in oral conversation. The first time I saw it written here I almost corrected the writer but first I went to the dictionary to see if it was a real word. It was, so thankfully I didn't embarrass myself again.

Thanks, Vicente! That's what I wanted to know: this is the information you cannot learn from dictionaries. As use, in English, is more important than the dictionary itself... Conversely, in the Spanish language, we are bound by the supreme rules of the Real Academia, and we have to --sort of -- stick to their "commands".