- I don’t even know this guy.
For the life of me, I cannot get my head around this phrase. Anyone?
For the life of me, I cannot get my head around this phrase. Anyone?
Si yo a éste ni lo conozco.
Steven-W15
February 13, 2017
Dan-H24
February 13, 2017
Not me. I tried to work out the meaning of the title before looking at your post, and got absolutely nothing that made sense.
KelllaurBailar
February 13, 2017
¡Igual que aquí! I was saying, "If I to east neither I know it???"
Google says: "If I do not know him," which starts to make sense to me. Perhaps another one of those odd Spanish translations...
Google says: "If I do not know him," which starts to make sense to me. Perhaps another one of those odd Spanish translations...
the-hefay
February 13, 2017
The last part I would say is "This person, I don't know him."
Why the "Si yo" is baffling. Interesting phrase though.
Why the "Si yo" is baffling. Interesting phrase though.
Steven-W15
March 8, 2020
I'm still baffled by the phrase after all this time! Anyone?
the-hefay
March 9, 2020
I just asked my wife what that phrase meant. She said it means - I don’t even know this guy.
Sorry I couldn't help explain the why behind the phrasing.
Sorry I couldn't help explain the why behind the phrasing.
Liss-Rocket-Languages-Tutor
March 11, 2020
¡Hola a todos!
Great question, Steven-W15! There is some complicated phrasing here. I have done a quick check of the course to see the context of this phrase, but actually haven't been able to find it - am I correct in guessing that this is from an external source?
Without context, I would break the sentence down as follows:
Si yo is "if I," and
a éste means "this (one)." The éste can be referring to a masculine thing or to a masculine person person; in this context, it is a masculine person. The a here is the personal a, and it needs to be present because the speaker is referring to a person.
Ni is a strong negation, like "not even," and
lo is again referring to that masculine person. Finally,
conozco means "know" in the sense of knowing someone.
Thus, somewhat literally, we can translate this as "If I this man don't even know him." Of course, in English we wouldn't have this double repetition of the direct object (i.e. the man who isn't known), so we would say something like "If I don't even know this man."
I hope that this is helpful! Do let me know if you still have any questions.
Saludos,
Liss
Great question, Steven-W15! There is some complicated phrasing here. I have done a quick check of the course to see the context of this phrase, but actually haven't been able to find it - am I correct in guessing that this is from an external source?
Without context, I would break the sentence down as follows:
Si yo is "if I," and
a éste means "this (one)." The éste can be referring to a masculine thing or to a masculine person person; in this context, it is a masculine person. The a here is the personal a, and it needs to be present because the speaker is referring to a person.
Ni is a strong negation, like "not even," and
lo is again referring to that masculine person. Finally,
conozco means "know" in the sense of knowing someone.
Thus, somewhat literally, we can translate this as "If I this man don't even know him." Of course, in English we wouldn't have this double repetition of the direct object (i.e. the man who isn't known), so we would say something like "If I don't even know this man."
I hope that this is helpful! Do let me know if you still have any questions.
Saludos,
Liss
Steven-W15
March 12, 2020
Liss - this phrase comes from the Travelogue 1.2 Ordering Drinks.
Thanks, all.
Thanks, all.
Liss-Rocket-Languages-Tutor
March 12, 2020
¡Hola Steven-W15!
Thanks for letting me know where that's from, Steven-W15!
Looking at the context now, the breakdown given above still works. :)
Do let me know if anything about this is still unclear!
Saludos,
Liss
Thanks for letting me know where that's from, Steven-W15!
Looking at the context now, the breakdown given above still works. :)
Do let me know if anything about this is still unclear!
Saludos,
Liss