Перевод как искусство и бизнес » Linguistics »
Sobre la expresión 'Eramos doce en la fiesta" en inglés
Автор темы: Antonio Berbel Garcia
Antonio Berbel Garcia
Antonio Berbel Garcia
Local time: 18:49
испанский
+ ...
Mar 4, 2023

A student wants to know why the sentence "We were seven at the party" is wrong. I know it should be "There were seven of us at the party".
What is the best way to explain it from a grammatical point of view?
thanks a lot in advance


[Editado a las 2023-03-04 16:15 GMT]
 
philgoddard
philgoddard
США
немецкий => английский
+ ...
I don't think you can always explain things in grammatical terms Mar 6, 2023

English just says it differently.
'We were seven" is not totally wrong, just less colloquial.

Marijke Singer
expressisverbis
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Португалия
Local time: 17:49
Член ProZ.com c 2007
английский => португальский
+ ...
@Antonio Mar 6, 2023

There + to be and groups of people or objects

https://www.practisingenglish.com/english-grammar/there-is.htm

expressisverbis
 
Antonio Berbel Garcia
Antonio Berbel Garcia
Local time: 18:49
испанский
+ ...
Автор темы
Not really an explanation Mar 6, 2023

So why not "We are seven" from the point of view of prescriptive grammar?
 
Jennifer Levey
Jennifer Levey  Identity Verified
Чили
Local time: 14:49
испанский => английский
+ ...
It ain't wrong, so no explanation warranted. Mar 6, 2023

Antonio Berbel Garcia wrote:
A student wants to know why the sentence "We were seven at the party" is wrong. (...)


If I were you, I'd just tell the student there's nowt wrong with the sentence.

What is 'wrong' is your next assertion:

Antonio Berbel Garcia wrote:
I know it should be "There were seven of us at the party".


'should' ought to read 'could'.

JL

expressisverbis
 
MollyRose
MollyRose  Identity Verified
США
Local time: 11:49
английский => испанский
+ ...
We were seven ... Mar 6, 2023

... leads one to think that "we" were seven years old. When we read the rest of the sentence in context, we should usually understand that the writer meant, "There were seven of us at the party." Someone not familiar with this Spanish way of saying it, or not very literate in some way, could misunderstand it or wonder what the writer meant by that. It sounds unnatural in English. As M.T.B. de A. said, there is a rule, which corresponds to "Hubo siete de nosotros en la fiesta."

expressisverbis
 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Модератор(ы) этого форума
Fernanda Rocha[Call to this topic]
Rita Pang[Call to this topic]
Simone Catania[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Sobre la expresión 'Eramos doce en la fiesta" en inglés






Pastey
Your smart companion app

Pastey is an innovative desktop application that bridges the gap between human expertise and artificial intelligence. With intuitive keyboard shortcuts, Pastey transforms your source text into AI-powered draft translations.

Find out more »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »