Thread: Anyone know if these 5 translations are correct?

A boy that called himself Juan ran...
Un niño que se llamaba Juan corrió...*

A snowball came out of nowhere and hit him in the head!
¡Una bola de nieve vino de la nada y lo golpeó en la cabeza!

only three snowballs did not hit anyone
sólo tres bolas de nieve no le cayeron a nadie

He was getting very cold...
Le estaba dando mucho frío

They started to throw all of their snowballs at Juan!
¡Ellos empezaron a tirarle todas las bolas de nieve a Juan!

* called himself...meaning that wasn't his real name but a name he chose for himself? Why not a boy called/named Juan?

@mariaklec: oops, sorry... moving it right now :P

@Cotty:
1. The story is written in the past tense so I figured I needed to use the correct verb... but now that I think about it "a boy called Juan" is good, how do you translate that? Btw, are you just using google translate? Because you just said "A boy that was calling himself Juan" that's the imperfect form, it should be preterite still :/

2. Why not "salió" since that means "came out" and "vino" just means "came"

3. Ok, I thought so... but why doesn't it change to "sólas"? Also, why use "no le cayeron," doesn't that mean that none of the snowballs "fell" on anyone?

4. Umm... what's with the "Le"?

5. why "las" instead of "sus" because they are throwing "their" snowballs, not "the" snowballs.


Sorry if I'm wrong, but I'm just trying to make sure I get all this right :P

Hi renegade, I'm sorry I really don't have the time to explain to you in detail all my grammar choices. For the time being, I can only help you with the translation.

1. The story is written in the past tense so I figured I needed to use the correct verb... but now that I think about it "a boy called Juan" is good, how do you translate that? Btw, are you just using google translate? Because you just said "A boy that was calling himself Juan" that's the imperfect form, it should be preterite still :/

I do not use Google translator because I don't need to. You need to check the use of both the preterite and the imperfect. If it's easier for you then by all means say: Un niño llamado Juan corrió.

2. Why not "salió" since that means "came out" and "vino" just means "came"
Yes, salió is good.

3. Ok, I thought so... but why doesn't it change to "sólas"? Also, why use "no le cayeron," doesn't that mean that none of the snowballs "fell" on anyone?
Solo is used here as an adverb not as an adj. Therefore, it doesn't have gender or number changes. I prefer cayeron, but golpearon is OK too.

4. Umm... what's with the "Le"?
You need to study the use of the reflexive.

5. why "las" instead of "sus" because they are throwing "their" snowballs, not "the" snowballs.
You need to study the use of definite articles instead of possessive adjectives in Spanish. It is different from English.


Sorry if I'm wrong, but I'm just trying to make sure I get all this right :P

You are not wrong, but you seem to want to communicate at a level that you are still not ready to. You need to study more to be able to understand some of the structures that you are attempting to use.

Good luck with your assignment.