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- Topic: Spanish >
- "Lo voy a iniciar."
30 Comments
I answered "I am going to initiate him", in the sense of initiating someone in a club or society. Is that not valid?
That was the first thing I thought about, and yes, that is also a correct translation.
Is Lo voy a iniciar completely the same as Lo iniciaré?
Or is the ir+a+infinitive the same as the simple future in general?
Not completely, there are situations when you would use the simple future in which you would not use the phrasal future.. However in some parts of Latin America the phrasal future is used more than in English so much so that there may be places where we would say "will" and they would say "ir a". http://spanish.about.com/od/usingparticularverbs/a/ir_expressions.htm http://spanish.about.com/cs/verbs/a/future_uses.htm
166
7 Feb 2015 - I wonder if 'iniciar' is used for starting engines, as opposed to events like plays or fights.
No. Prender or encender are used for starting engines, machines, or electronic devices.
How come "I go to initiate it" is rejected (other than the skill is supposed to be future tense)?
Possibly 'I am going to initiate it' will work. I haven't tried it.
"I go to initiate it' has the sense of moving yourself to the place where something is will begin' rather than the future tense.
- 423
I think it works fine as a translation, but "I will" would be used with the future tense of iniciar (iniciaré). I agree it's frustrating when there never is an exact translation, but they want you to use their version. Anyhoo when I see a present tense of ir, I try to put in the gerund going in the answer. Hope this helps.
Could this be, I am going to start him, as in a game, like something a basketball coach might say?
I'm not sure I understand, but I think in that case we would rather say "voy a incluirlo en el equipo titular" or en la alineación titular.
I'm surprised by the number of phrasal future phrases in this skill. I thought we'd be learning mostly the "pure" future tense in this lesson. - Is there a reason for this?
- 177
I guess that with the 'ir+a+infinitive' structure, there is an earlier indication to a listener of a future tense (rather than waiting for the end of the verb) and maybe it is simpler all round. Brazilians seem to prefer a similar phrasal future in their spoken Portuguese so they too may need to "use it or lose it" - where 'it' is the 'pure' future tense.
- 166
June 17, 2016 - They are indeed the same, but 'gonna' is definitely not even close to standard written English. You will hear "gonna" quite a lot. However, in formal written English, do stick to 'going to'.
