"Mi perro no tiene una vida dura."
Translation:My dog doesn't have a hard life.
29 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
Interestingly, in English "a dog's life" is actually an idiomatic phrase meaning a hard life.
Interesting, I've never heard it used that way, but it makes sense. I've only heard the phrase used sarcastically, in a way meaning it's an easy life. Hence the sarcasm I guess, I just never thought about it.
Funny thing my big mixed Labrador is on my lap while I am trying to do this lesson
1863
Mi perro no tiene una vida dura, "dura" In mexico we say mi perro no tiene una vida dificil. if you say "dura" it can hear like mexican albur, so, you should say Mi perro no tiene una vida difícil.
Yes, I have wondered if that was partially regional. Most of the spoken Spanish I hear in San Diego is, obviously, Mexican. And I have always been reluctant to use dura to mean difícil, although the English equivalents can be commonly used interchangeably. But I have been watching a lot more American shows and movies dubbed in Spanish, and they seldom mention who does the dubbing or where it was done. But I have noticed duro used instead of difícil there, from time to time. But at least I will now know which to use around here or in Mexico.
Thanks, good to know! Can anyone tell me if dura is used this way in any other Spanish-speaking countries? I'm guessing that it is used somewhere, to appear in the lesson this way, but curious where.
The word duro has quite a few different nuances in Spanish, although all essentially related in someway to our English word hard. I suspect all the uses lessen it's use simply as difficult. But looking at both the variety of meanings and the fact that difficult is a possible transition for duro in many of the examples on the examples page that use hard, I don't think it's a particularly dialect driven word, at least when it comes to understanding. Obviously different dialects do seem to have favorite ways of expressing certain things, but that's slightly different. You may be recognized as not being a local for using duro as difficult, theoretically, but I don't think they would associate that with a particular other dialect.
Has anyone else noticed that the slow version of "una" often sounds like "ina" as in "pagina?" I find it really confusing.
Es que todos los perros tienen solo UNA vida no 2 o más. Jajaja por eso. Pero los gatos dicen que tienen 7 Jajaja. Los perros no tienen suerte.
- 1559
Because it is the subject of the sentence. The personal a is only used with direct objects.
I've never had much success with the speaking exercises, although some people seem to have no problem with them. And, frankly, I don't know how valuable they really are at best, because they can't give you tips there, it's just pass/fail. If you're having problems with the speaking exercises, just turn them off in settings. Just remember to read the exercises out loud anyway. And if you have specific concerns about your pronunciation, record yourself reading something and listen to see any problems you can identify. If you are forcing yourself to regularly speak Spanish out loud, no matter how artificial the circumstances, intermittent recordings every two or three months should demonstrate improvement.
Duro reminds me of durable. Could I use dura in the same way as durable?
Not really, although they are related concepts. Duro essentially means hard, tough, stiff and the like, although I have seen it more for things that are physically hard than for things that are difficult.
https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/duro
Durable is duradero/a in Spanish,... or simply durable (same spelling, Spanish pronunciation)