Thread: Couple of words for Mexican speaking Spanish

Originally Posted by mariaklec

"Supposed to + verb" is "tener que hacer algo" or " haber de hacer algo."
Veo en el horario que tienes que trabajar el miércoles.
Veo en el horario que has de trabajar el miércoles.

"Supposed to + verb" is not the same as "to suppose" which is "suponer."

Hmm, excellent translation and grammatically superb. Although as an expression in Mexican Spanish (my opinion) it's not very common.
If I use "horario" then I'm used to specify an hour like:

Veo en el horario que vas a (o tienes que) trabajar a las 11:00AM el día miércoles.

Then that would be a common expression. If I use "calendario" I'm used to specify a date like:

Veo en el calendario que vas a (o tienes que) trabajar el 14 de este mes que cae en miércoles.

So if I want to be more general, I prefer to use "programa" like:

Veo en el programa... hmmm... that would be a good translation although it's more common to say:

Según el programa (o lo programado), tienes que ("se supone que" it's also good) trabajar el miércoles.

However it's just my opinion (I'm not good in grammar btw)

Kindest Regards

Originally Posted by mariaklec

I certainly defer to a native speaker of Spanish---I'm here to learn!

I'm confused about "se supone" for "supposed to." Wouldn't "se supone" have a translation something like "it is supposed that...?"

Se supone que él trabaja el miércoles.
Supongo que él trabaja el miércoles.
I suppose (I believe, it is supposed) that he works on Wednesday.

El tiene que trabajar el miércoles.
He is supposed to (has to) work on Wednesday.

Thanks for your help.

In México it's very common to play with the meaning of the word suponer, because it's quite ambiguous, according to the RAE means:

1. tr. Dar por sentado y existente algo.
2. tr. Fingir, dar existencia ideal a lo que realmente no la tiene.

So if we play with this two meanings we could form situations like this:

Hablante1: Oye, se supone que trabajas el miércoles (meaning 1) -supposed to + verb.-
Hablante2: Sí, sólo se supone (meaning 2) he just suppose -hipotetical but unreal situation.-

If you use "Yo supongo" then it's in the forth meaning of suponer:

4. tr. Conjeturar, calcular algo a través de los indicios que se poseen.

What do you think mariaklec?