"She looks a lot like her mother."
Translation:Ella se parece mucho a su madre.
67 Comments
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If I'm understanding correctly, Ella se parece muy como su madre ---- Basically would translate as: She looks like very like her mother. You don't need the como because it's repetitive. You need mucho instead of muy (a lot vs very). You need the se to reflect that it's herself that's like the mother. And you need the "a" to indicate the mother is a person and not an object.
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I MIGHT BE WRONG AS NEITHER SPANISH NOR ENGLISH IS MY MOTHER TONGUE
because 'parece' already means 'look like', thus we only need 'mucho' to express 'a lot' in the source text. if we use 'mira' it would mean the action literally looking
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What if any difference is there between "Ella se parece mucho a su madre." and "Ella parece mucho a su madre." Or is the "se" obligatory because of the "a su madre"
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I've seen this in another mini-forum for another question, and they said the 'a su madre' is actually referring to the pronoun 'se' for clarity, thus if you simply omit the 'se' the whole sentence will not make sense
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"parecerse a" is the expression for "to look like" Just is. Like a zillion other Spanish verbs, there is often a mandatory preposition ;)
To start this analysis, first a discussion of direct and indirect objects. In the example, "I send her a letter," the word "letter" is the direct object (DO) and "her" is the indirect object (IO). In other words, the English syntax (i.e., order of words) when it comes to indirect objects is: I - send -> her -> letter. To make the syntax of the English sentence "I send her a letter" the same as the syntax of its translation into Spanish, you must convert the IO into the object of a preposition (that is, make it "to her" instead of just "her") and place that prepositional phrase at the end of the sentence. In other words, convert "I send her a letter" to "I send a letter to her (subj -> verb -> DO -> prepositional phrase "to her").
The syntax of the English sentence "I send a letter to her" (subj -> verb -> DO -> prepositional phrase) resembles the syntax of the English sentence "She looks a lot like her mother" (subj -> verb -> DO-> prepositional phrase). In addition, "like her mother" can be placed where an English indirect object would go: ("She looks like her mother a lot"). This English syntax is: subj -> verb -> prepositional phrase -> DO.
Also, the Spanish modifier "mucha" becomes a different part of speech when converted into the English "a lot" (article + noun). It changes from being an adverb to being a noun phrase.
Accordingly, the English translation of "a lot" is considered the DO (because it is a noun) instead of an adverb, such as the adverb "really" that might also be substituted in this translation (She really looks like her mother.)
The point of all this is that, except for one thing, the"se" in "Ella se parece mucho a su madre" has nothing to do with any pronoun that is a direct or indirect object. By default, that means that "se" must be reflexive. Thanks, rspreng, for giving us the colloquial definition.
I wondered why it was mandatory, so I checked at: http://www.spanishdict.com/
To find out whether a verb is transitive, intransitive, or both, and to see examples, use this site.
To conjugate any verb fully, see:
Found out it is mandatory. Now all I want to know is whether reflexive verbs can be used in both transitive and intransitive sentences. Anybody know?
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This is the first lesson I've encountered where Duolingo does not provide sufficient explanation over a few important points. Links to other websites that others have provided in this discussion have been very helpful in understanding the reflexive pronoun "se" (which refers to the speaker as both subject and object) and the personal "a" (which is always used over "como" because it refers to a person). DL should provide explanation in the overview, especially since (in the words of the other website) not using these correctly are a serious error.
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"se parece" translates as "she looks like" for those who do not know meaning como is not needed.
I was wondering the same, I think it is because "mucho" here refers to "parece" so it is an adverb, which is always with an -o. Mucha only gets used when its referring to a fem noun e.g. "mucha fresas". I hope that's right, I lost an heart for that too :(
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I ask someone who speaks spanish fluently, and your absolutely right. Thank you :)
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Thanks, dj63010! This IS a language site, after all. Another misspelling I see a lot lately is "loose" for "lose." Arrrgggh!
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"mucho" is an adverb here, not an adjective:
As an adjective, "mucho" changes to agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies:
mucho café - how much coffee? a lot of coffee
mucha leche - how much milk? a lot of milk
muchos coches - many cars
muchas casas - many houses
As an adverb, it does not change form:
Corrí mucho - modifies a verb
se parece mucho - modifies a verb
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Thank you so much. Unobvious--until pointed out--and obvious thereafter. Adjectives (can be gender modified because they modify gender specific nouns) Adverbs modify verbs (and only wierd verbs would be gender specific). I was so afraid I would get another one of those unsatisfying and perplexing answers like "its Spanish, we can't explain it, just learn it" or "it is mucho because in this case its the predicate nominative of the hypotenuse."
Q: What comes first when spelling, the 'i' or the 'e?'
A: Funny English rule: " 'I' before 'e,' except after 'c,' which is not wierd but 'weird.' "
Funny ending. ;^)
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The rhyme I remember is "i before e, except after c...where the sound is 'ee'"...but that doesn't work for 'friend' so I think the rhyme is for very young children (& non-native speakers) who need a lot of help. Jane Austen always spelt "neice" thus, so perhaps we shouldn't get too hung up on English spelling (provided we can write like she did!). And no, "spelt shouldn't be "spelled" (unless you're American!).
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So, this whole "reflexive"idea is beginning to break down now. She looks a lot like her mother. Subject: She Verb: Looks (a lot) like Object: Her mother So, clearly, she is not the object. Why then are we using the reflexive se business?
What is the function of "se" in this sentence. Does it refer to the mother?
No, it refers to "Ella", see reflexive verbs - http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/reflexive1.htm
Thank you for the link, but just to be clear: based off of that, the sentence literally would translate as,"she looks like her mother to herself." ?
hmm no, I would not say "to herself", if at all maybe: "She, herself, looks like...", but I would try not to think in an English-way on this one, it just does not work out. (at least that is how I understand it, but I am not an expert :) )
I think of it literally as "She appears herself much like her mother is pleasing." In other words, "She (herself) looks a lot like her mother (looks)." Also, see my reply to rspreng.
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Whats wrong with Ella se ve mucho identico su madre?
Why does it have to be a su madre?
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Ella luce mucho como su madre. Or, Ella se parece mucho a su madre. I've never seen "luce mucho como" before. I looked for lucer as a verb but did not find anything close. Somehow, luce como seems to not require the personal a, either. Could someone shed some light on this construction? Gracias.
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Might help: http://context.reverso.net/translation/spanish-english/luce+como
The verb is "lucir." I'm sure it's the "como" that yields no personal "a."
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I think the system often tries to pick an answer to show you that has the same number of words as what you entered. You left off the "se" I guess, so "luce mucho como" has the same number of words as what you entered.
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In the previous example, DL used como not a - correct for them but wrong for me!! Such inconsistency - how can DL do this??
Why is everything in this sentence feminine, then I use mucha instead of mucho, and guess what.......wrong. Anyone know why???
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Is 'un monton' the common translation for 'a lot'? I usually use 'mucho.' Thoughts?
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"como que" looks very strange so I would be upset if a Spanish speaker replied "yes".
