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- "¿A quién estás viendo?"
79 Comments
1183
The translation given here, "Whom are you seeing?" is not a natural expression in English. If we were to say "Who are you seeing?" it would mean "Who are you going out with?" or, "Who are you dating?" Can viendo be used in this sense? We would never use 'whom' in this way. Whom is usually preceded by 'to', or 'in', e.g. "in whom can I trust", or "to whom shall I give this". Even so, it is hardly ever used.
I might translate this sentence as: Whom (who) do you see? rather than the progressive "are you seeing". The translation given- whom are you seeing?- is grammatically correct, since whom, and not who, is used whenever the person in question is the direct object (not just the object of a preposition as in "to whom, by whom, etc). It does sound strange to my American English brain, because we tend to only use who in this instance. In any case, if it were talking about dating someone, the verb would be salir, not ver (Con quién estás saliendo?).
1183
Thanks, elanaknt. It just brings home the fact that we cannot always translate literally from one language to another without losing some of the sense. I think the most accurate (and natural) translation of this sentence would be "Who do you see?"
Well, while I agree that "who are you seeing" can mean "who are you going out with", I think that it is something that only works in English. I don't think "¿A quién estás viendo?" would be used in the context of dating someone, the verb "salir" can sometimes be used in the context of dating. "ver" is usually used to mean literally having someone in your view, at least, that's my understanding.
Really? Can you show me proof of that? I'm not saying you're wrong, I just couldn't find someone who used "ver" in that context nor could I find an article/translation that said "ver" could be used in that context, but just because I couldn't find it doesn't mean it's not true. I just want to see it for myself.
I am a native spanish speaker, and how I said "ver" is used for dating someone, too
example
"Es inevitable sentirse triste y deprimido. Si tu ex novia se esta viendo con otra persona" http://comorecuperaraminovia.org/como-recuperar-a-mi-novia-si-esta-saliendo-con-otro/
"para recuperar a un ex (si él está viendo a alguien más) es darles tiempo"
http://www.comorecuperaraunex.net/mi-ex-ya-esta-saliendo-como-puedo-recuperar-a-mi-ex/
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/im-seeing-someone-romantic.991695/?hl=es
Isn't this translation what people called 'higher' or 'old/older' English?
401
You're almost right. 'Whom' is for objects, whereas 'who' was reserved for subjects. Nowadays, 'who' has taken over the role of 'whom' with direct objects, with 'whom' only being used with prepositions, and then only in formal English.
1183
I agree, Tomk123. 'Whom' is very rarely used in conversational English nowadays. I think 'Who are you watching' is a much better translation than 'Whom are you seeing', although the lack of context does make it harder to speculate.
533
I disagree that it is not natural. Uncommon, yes, but there are many of us who use this kind of construction with nary a second thought.
401
It's not unnatural, just archaic, or, at best, extremely formal. 'Whom' refers to direct objects when used without a preposition, so it's use here is correct.
In the modern vernacular, 'whom' is practically dead, however, though it still hangs around in zombie form with prepositions in some varieties of formal English.
1183
FredHasson: If you were in the pub with the guys, and one of them was eyeing up a pretty girl, would you say to him "At whom are you looking?" I don't think so!
You are right with your example of when not to use the sentence. But, suppose you are standing on an upper balcony with a friend, looking down on a crowd below, and your friend is staring intently into the middle of the crowd. Don't you think the sentence would then be appropriate?
We may think that many of Duo's example sentences sound strange. But, there is probably a context that can be found for all of them.
1183
Glazewg: I'm assuming you were directing your question at me, in which case I reply that we are at cross purposes here. If I was sitting an English grammar exam, I would definitely use the expression 'At whom are you looking?' But if I was with a friend, in any situation, I would never say that, as it is never used in colloquial speech. I would say "Who are you looking at?"
Certain pronouns, like quién, require the personal "a". http://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/personal_a.htm
589
A gerund is a verb ending in -ing when used as a noun. "Shopping" is a gerund when you say "I like shopping", but NOT when you say "I am shopping for groceries."
1183
29 November 2014: I just did a quick 'Google Translate' on this and the translation came up 'Who are you watching'. I'm going to go back to the exercise and see if Duo accepts this answer.
Google Translate is crowd sourced definitions, meaning that the translations are user-defined through majority votes.
I consider it a well-intentioned but overly optimistic failed experiment. As you can tell from the discussions here on duo, the gestalt mind understands neither English or Spanish very well, yet has no shortage of opinions about what is correct. I expect the majority of Google Translate users is drawn from this same crowd of highly opinionated beginners, since anyone with any actual ability with a language quickly realizes how bad Google Translate is, especially at basic translations like this.
Great comment! Here's a lingot. Couldn't agree more with your comments on how well the mass population understands English (or Spanish), but is ready to unload their ill informed opinions. I'm certainly no grammarian, but I would really love it if (especially Americans, like me) would actually try their best to learn proper English, rather than just accepting what the crowd around them has to say!
And, to all those WHO think "WHOM" is on the way out and shouldn't be used, all I can say is "Tch, tch, tch!" as I wave my index finger "to and fro." :)
(And, just so folks reading this "get it", my last phrase, above, is an example of how older words or phrases are still properly in use today) :)