"She likes to break things."
Translation:Le gusta romper cosas.
37 Comments
I agree, I don't understand why it isn't las cosas. I still cannot understand when I need the definite article and when not.
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"A ella le gusta romper cosas" was accepted for me (31 May 2017). I guess "las cosas" is optional, though I don't understand why. Surely "cosas" means unspecified things, but "las cosas" would be used for specific things.
However I do reckon "A ella" is necessary, because "le" could mean "to her" or "to it".
I think 'to her' is an indirect pronoun so 'le' is used. "Breaking things is pleasing to her" Similarly; lo = it, le = to it / of it
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There are many web sites pages which give more detail about DO & IO pronouns. This is a good one: http://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/objectpronouns.htm About half way down this first page there is a table which shows all the DO & IO pronouns. I have copied this table into a text file to remember the object pronouns and what they mean and how to use them. :) Saludos!
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I have the same question (except it's romper): if it pleases her (not "is pleasing" to her), then why do we use the neuter pronoun rather than the feminine?
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I wrote the same: "La gusta romper cosas", which is of course wrong. I just understood why it is wrong from crrrivers's comment:
"To her" is an indirect object pronoun which is "A ella le" in Spanish, or simply "Le".
"La" is a direct object pronoun, meaning "her" or more precisely any feminine object, for example: "La como", meaning "I eat it", where "it" can be any edible feminine object such as "sopa".
And since "She likes to break things" is translated to Spanish as "Breaking things is pleasing TO HER", you have to use the indirect "Le".
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I'm going to add that "a la sopa la tomas", no "la comes". Otherwise, your explanation is perfect.
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Thank you RocoPaolon, I did not know that. So what you're saying is basically you can never "eat" a soup in Spanish? Are there any exceptions to this when you can?
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Not from my experience (I'm from Argentina). But I did a little research just in case... and I found that some people say "comer". It's sounds weird to me but you know how these things are... the world is large enough for variety, even more regarding languages!
But now that you ask about exceptions, I say that I know one. It is la sopa paraguaya. The first time my Paraguayan neighbour invited me with some home-cooked sopa I was surprised at the fours slices of what appeared to be some sort of pie of yellowish hue placed in a blue plate. Now I'm addicted to it hehe. That's the only sopa I would say I eat because it's not a sopa in the usual sense. Here is a recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/paraguayan-cheese-cornbread-sopa-paraguaya-161878
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Hi Roco, If you are from Argentina, you should know "sopa inglesa" too. I thought it was traditional there, or am I wrong?
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Ella, she, is not the subject. The Spanish is saying "Breaking things is pleasing to her." "A ella le gusta romper cosas."
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I just put "A ella le gusta romper cosas" and it was accepted. I realise this is two months on though.
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a ella to the front. you could drop it too, it's not really necessary as it is only used to emphasize or to define the le in the sentence, for example if there is not only one person. le gusta romper cosas is the mandatory part. your sentence would sound like: likes she to break things.
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I can't explain it, but the sentence structure is weird. I can't say if this would be accepted or corrected in normal conversation, but I think it is much better to put "A ella" in front for this verb. Just think of the Daddy Yankee song - "a ella le gusta la gasolina..." lol :) With Duolingo it's best not to get creative.
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Because it is the "breaking" itself that pleases her, not the things that are broken.
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Because "She likes to break things" is translated to Spanish as "Breaking things is pleasing to her". It is the process of breaking those things that pleases her, not the broken things themselves :-)
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Why doesn't "Ella le gusta romper cosas" work. It seems like a more exact translation to me.
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"A ella le gusta romper cosas" can work, but the "a ella" part can be omitted. Read the previous comments for a more detailed explanation.
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i used " le gusta a ella" and it was marked as wrong. some consistency would be good
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I think I just found it! "A ella" interrupts the verb phrase (gusta + romper), so it has to go before. http://www.spanishdict.com/topics/show/109 has a bunch of examples. Often there is a preposition (ir + a + infinitive; tener + que +infinitive), but that is not always the case (poder + infinitive; deber + infinitive). Answer: Don't break the verb phrase.
