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- "Él me consideró su amigo."
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Why is "He considered me as his friend" wrong? Isn't that a proper english sentence?
As a native English speaker I will tell you that this is a perfectly good English sentence.
It is, but it could be taken to mean "he considered me as his friend" where he's still trying to decide or is making a decision and is taking how he feels about you into account. For example, if you asked him to keep something critical secret, you could narrate his thoughts as "he considered me as his friend."
I wonder if the general sense of this statement is the same in English and Spanish. In English, a likely interpretation of this sentence, (He considered me his friend.), is that he no longer considers me to be his friend.
The reason for this is that the simple past of English often (but not always) signals an event that has completed in the past and is no longer impacting the present. English has the present perfect tense (has considered) for things that started in the past and continue in the present. [ I know that American English often uses the simple past in place of the present perfect.]
My question is, does the given Spanish sentence, (Él me consideró su amigo.), suggest that he no longer considers me to be his friend?
I think your right. My first impression was that this is something someone would say who was feeling guilty, as in "He considered me his friend. I really shouldn't of slept with his fiance."
aha, maybe that's it - that he decided he was his friend (thus preterite as a finished single action in the past, not imperfect, which i felt it should be to translate 'he used to consider me his friend'). I'd be interested to see the reply to this.
Spanish has two separate tenses for those situations. Unfortunately i havent learned that yet.
Like many of Duo's sentences, context is key. When telling a story, the writer could say that normally - and when learning Spanish, a lot of the drilling is writing, whether in weekly journals or writing prompts. If read alone, then it, of course, be read in the way you said.
Agreed. Why is the "a" preposition not allowed. Why not "El me considero a su amigo"?
I think it may be because the amigo in this case isnt the direct object. http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/persa.htm
it is right, su can be his or your, but the common use of this sentence is his.
Does it strike nobody as odd that a woman (a female voice) uses "amigo" and not "amiga" to refer to herself?
With a female speaker, shouldn't it be "amiga"? Or is it "friend" in the general sense?
Why is the preterito used here instead of the imperfecto? Friendship (even one of a short period of time) is an ongoing activity.
I find it easier to understand the difference between the preterite and the imperfect if I think of how they are used in storytelling.
The preterite describes something that happened which is complete in the sense that the speaker is done with it and ready to move to what happened next. A sequence of preterite verbs describe events in the order that they happened (absent time expressions to the contrary). These are not instants of time, but they do have specific durations--even if the speaker doesn't say how long.
The imperfect describes something that requires further explanation. A sequence of imperfect verbs describe the setting for something and leave the listener expecting to eventually hear a preterite verb that will advance the action.
If you say Me consideraba su amigo, then the listener takes that as a description of the environment in which the story will take place.
If you say Me consideró su amigo then the listener expects to hear about something that happened after that time. Somehow you lost touch. Or the other guy died. The next sentence or two should say.
imperfect would cover that - as in 'he used to consider me his friend' - preterite seems strange to me as a french speaker as unless he literally 'considered' for one moment in time, it would be imperfect as it describes an action that was ongoing in the past....anyone like to explain the spanish way of thinking about this to me?
I am not a native English speaker and I wrote: "He considered me to be his friend". Isn´t that proper English or why was it marked wrong? Could someone explain, please?
That is correct. I think it's looking for, "He considered me his friend." Either one should be fine.
Thank you but I still do not really understand what is the difference between these two sentences. Does "He considered me his friend." means that he is thinking if I should become his friend and "He considered me to be his friend" means that he thought that I am his friend but I am not?
There's no difference between the meaning of the two in English. "He considered me his friend," is simply a shortening of, "He considered me to be his friend." Both mean that in the past he thought of me as a friend, but he doesn't anymore.
I wrote 'he has considered me his friend' and it marked it wrong, just because of the word has. No difference in meaning.
Those phrases do have subtle differences. Your phrase would be a translation of "él me ha considerado un amigo." If you add the word "has", it implies that, while he did consider you his friend, it was only from time to time, or that it was short lived.
You will find that in Spanish they employ even more of these subtleties than in English. Ask a Spanish speaker what the difference in these two phrases is "Podrás hablar español?" and "Puedes hablar espanol?" Or better yet, try to research it yourself.
Exactly the same way. "Su" has no gender. It can mean him or her. The only way you would know the difference is in context.
"He considered me her friend" should be accepted. Su can mean his/her or even yours, if it's usted!
