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- "Me gustaría mucho que usted …
"Me gustaría mucho que usted hiciera el ejercicio bien."
Translation:I would really like it if you did the exercise well.
81 Comments
187
This is not necessarily physical exercise. Exercise can also mean exam problem or test question. http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=ejercicio
The past subjunctive is used in this kind of "if" sentences: if(verb in the past subjunctive) then(verb in the conditional form). for more reference://www.spanishdict.com/topics/show/98
187
"The imperfect subjunctive following a conditional independent clause: The imperfect can refer to a present possibility when it follows a main clause in a conditional tense. Such sentences cannot be translated word for word into English and may require the use of "if" or "would":
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Nos gustaría que hubiera más participación. = We would like it if there were more participation. (Note the use of the English subjunctive "were" in the translation.)
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Me temería que mi amigo tomara la misma actitud. = I'd be afraid my friend would take on the same attitude.
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Estaría feliz que me dieras su opinion. = I would be happy if you gave me your opinion."
https://www.thoughtco.com/using-the-imperfect-subjunctive-3079852
Just for the heck of it, I tried 'It would please me a lot if you did the exercise well." Incredibly, DL would not accept it. Yet the idea of being pleased is the most common explanation we're given about how gustar works. I reported it. It bothers me that "Yo quisiera" and "Me gustaria" are being translated identically.
1624
Absolutely correct English grammar. The thing that's "weird" about your sentence is that it is highly formal speech, not colloquial at all. Well, except for "like it a lot". If you really want to put some starch in your collar, say "like it very much", then it could be inserted into any 19th century English novel without anyone noticing.
@Jeffrey I actually don't see that as formal but accurate, speaking ppl are sloppy. I shudder to think what the DL English course is teaching, as the Spanish is likely derived from the from Spanish effort. I do not know if any of our feedback on English has any effect on those supposed bi-linguals course creators. I have had to report a huge number of errors.
Great sentence. Great. This is correct and not 18th century to me. Charlie's Angels', the employer used it. Various figures on tv shows who are formal. Films. Great English. The thing about subjunctive is it CAN signal to folks sit up a bit straighter for their own healths and be appreciative and MORE CERTAIN there rights will not be abused by persons in power, often. That may not work out...but in my experience it signals decent training in self-control of a person with power. [OR a smart sociopath, as in some films, we all hope to avoid] . My grandmother used the subjunctive to be sure she never stepped over lines and the result was that people loved being around her so much they went out of their way and were thrilled to be so appreciated. Nothing wrong with the subjunctive.
1624
Duo's acceptance probably has mostly to do with the fact that there's no imperfect tense in English, so that grants translators a lot of license in how they word things. "If you do" is English present subjunctive, and I think "if you were doing/to do" is more accurate, but the meaning of your sentence is clear, so why not mark it as correct?
Why not then also accept: " I'd like very much that you do the exercise well. " DO must be in past tense? Perhaps in English putting it in past tense makes it subjunctive? I use subjunctive but have never used it this way. still...for translating, bending may help us learn?
It does not make much sense (to me) as stated above to have present tense like and past tense subjunctive following. But tenses vary in languages so it would be nice to know all the accepted translations. The idea is to learn, and that would help.
If hiciera is past subjunctive, shouldn't there be some indication of the "pastness" of the verb in the translation? I guess "did" in English might seem to get at that, but it seems to me that "if you did the exercise well" means "if you did it well (at some point from now into the future)," which I would think in the Spanish would be represented by haga, not hiciera. Is that right?
Could someone explain the difference to me between the following?
Me gustaría mucho que usted...
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hiciera el ejercicio bien.
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haga el ejercicio bien.
253
"I would really like it if you would have done the exercise well." Would this be correct as well?
35
I wrote: "I would like very much that you do the exercise well" and it was marked wrong. Duo says that I should have used "did" instead of "do" for the translation to be correct. I'm sorry but that doesn't sound right to me. I put the Duo sentence in Google's Spanish/English translator and it gave me "do" and not "did" just as I thought.
115
If the exercise has already been done, then the proper tense, at least in English, would be "I would have been happy had you done the exercise well." This phrasing would satisfy those people wanting to use the conditional as well as the subjunctive.
115
I am still at a loss as to when I use 'yo gustaría' and when I use, 'me gustaría'. I was told that me gustaría really means , 'it would please me' rather then 'I would like' but when I used it that way, it was disallowed. How does one tell the difference?
537
I wrote, "I would very much like that you do the exercise well". I believe DL should accept this answer.
278
"I would very much like that you did the exercise well" this was marked wrong. How can that be wrong?
Depending on the context, English can use if instead of that for que. Me gustaria means I would like it all by itself, so que doesn't enter into the equation. Lo doesn't always mean it. Welcome to the wonderful world of actually understanding the sentence instead of trying to translate it word for word and then trying to make it make sense.
178
Im getting fed up with the absolutely useless hints Duo gives on this difgicult subject. This is not learning, this is pure gambling. Either provide usefull in structions or hints or simply skipp the subject Duo.
Simply- "me gusta" = it pleases me. With the absence of a defined subject "gusta" = IT pleases. With a defined subject--- Me gusta el béisbol. Béisbol here is the subject. When I first started working with verbs of this type, I tried to relate it to English. I eventually concluded that it is like the negative idea "it disgusts me" in English. Did we ever have the affirmative idea "that gusts me"? Maybe in Olde English? Anyway that's what the Spanish (and the French, Italians, and Portuguese see it.} ¿Te gusta?
105
With great nervousness I tried "I would really like it if you were to do the exercise well." Bless Duo! He took a true (to my ear) English subjunctive...the way I'd really say it.