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- Topic: Spanish >
- "Mi mujer es doctora."
53 Comments
Why isn't there an "una" before doctora? The way it seems to read now is, "My wife is doctor" instead of "my wife is A doctor."
This is just conjecture, but maybe in Spanish, saying that something IS another thing is equal to applying that "another thing" as an adjective before the noun. For example, the phrase "the bed that is red" has the same meaning as the phrase "the red bed." Maybe saying "My wife is doctor" (in Spanish) is similar to saying "My doctor wife," with "doctor" being an adjective. This seems like an abstract concept, and, like I said, this is just conjecture. I might be completely wrong! I hope this helped though. :)
1883
In Spanish, when the direct object is something you normally have just one of---such as an occupation---you can drop the indefinite article.
- Soy ciudadano.
- Tengo nariz.
I object to "my lady is a doctor" not being an acceptable translation as with both English and Spanish referring to your woman/lady implies ownership (i.e. marriage) and similarly in Spanish the Mi mujer (mujer meaning woman/lady) also being an acceptable replacement for esposa to mean wife.
I feel like this sentence is very patriarchal and would be better said as, "My wife is a doctor/ Mi esposa es doctora."
Agreed! I couldn't make myself type "my woman is a doctor" without cringing. I wonder if this is common in any Spanish speaking region and whether it has the same kind of connotation that English speakers see in that.
It sounds like 'possesion' of the woman, but in Greece we also say 'my man' meaning my spouce,so it's kind of common, but in general I agree spoken language can be patriarchal..(unfortunately)
Though in Spanish sounds bad. Esposa refers to the woman when she's getting married (it literally translates as bride), while mujer, other than 'woman', means wife. I know it's hard to understand the right translation, but that is how you say it in Spanish
A lot of times when you're referring to someone's profession in Spanish, the article ("a") gets dropped. "Mi padre es granjero" means "My father is a farmer." It's just a little idiosyncracy of the language. I don't think you have to drop the article, but if you don't, you'll sound a little awkward and like a foreigner.
Thank-you Suetois! So glad someone finally answered this question about the seemingly missing article "una."
That can be gleaned from the gender of the subject noun here. Mujer means woman, so that would be feminine, and hence there needs to be an 'a'. :)
I have been watching the Spanish drama "I know who you are" on BBC4 and each time "my wife" has been said, they have said "mi mujer". That is the common way the Spanish refer to their wives. We are trying to learn to speak Spanish so we should follow what the Spanish say surely.
Probably part of the problem is that a bunch of us are focused on Spanish as spoken in the Americas.
'My woman' is said even in English, moral discussions aside it is not hard to understand it to mean wife or girlfriend.
As for the article, you don't use them when referring to occupation in Spanish. Comparitivly, native Spanish speakers learning English often omit the article when speaking English, and that is a mistake. Don't waste your time trying to understand why...Different languages just evolved in different ways, and when translating, you impose your own language's grammar.
Yes, but does "mi mujer" come off as patriarchal in español in a way similar to "my woman" comes off in English?
I don't know about Spanish, but I don't agree that it sounds patriarchal in English. It's the opposite of "my man," which I hear more often anyways. Men and women alike feel possessive over their spouses and special friends, and what you call patriarchal, I call romantic or cute.
Wait Im confused, I thought I learned that woman was mujer. And wife was something else.
I read the comments but perhaps I dont fully understand about there being no article used with doctor. It seems that, in Spanish, articles are used more frequently than in English. I expected this one to need the article with doctor. : ( Anyone else confused about this? Perhaps some input from native Spanish speakers? Thanks!
My grandmother calls this "dirty Spanish" and would slap me for using such uncouth phrasing.
I read all the comments - I understand that in some places mi mujer means my wife. My concern is that when you tap on mujer, Duolingo doesn't show that option, only woman. Hiw are we supposed to learn something if we arent being taught it??
If you're asking, mujer means both wife and woman, just like hombre. About the missing article, you don't use any with jobs in Spanish.
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When I was growing up, it was common to hear people refer to their common-law wives our girlfriends as their woman, but I have never heard anybody refer to somebody they're married to as their woman. But we can't judge another language or culture by our standards. Maybe mujer is just another name for wife in some countries. It just sounds vulgar when we translate it as 'woman,' and it is used in a context in which we find 'woman' unacceptable
In Guatemala it is extremely extremely extremely rude to refer to your wife as "mujer." Unless you want a divorce.
Mujer, woman. When did it stop being "esposa"? Or with Duo, both are correct? Back to learning.
Mujer when coupled with a possessive pronoun means wife in Spanish. It's a standard usage and therefore must be taught. It does not change the meaning of esposa, it just specializes the word mujer sometimes.
No. Sexism stikes again. German is the only language I know where the word for man and husband are the same, but it's more common for women. In French femme always means both.
