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- "Ellos nos van a alcanzar."
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'They are going to catch up to us' is poor English, in the UK at least. I would say 'They are going to catch us up' (which was marked as wrong!) or ' 'They are going to catch up with us'.
Interesting use of words and thanks for that insight. That would not make sense to Americans right away as a phrase. In what countries or areas would this be the right phrase?
I think this is pretty common in UK influenced English around the globe. As I mentioned in my comment below, this actually means something different in American English. There is at least one other verb phrase with up in it that has a different meaning in American English. The other one is more remarkably different. In British English if they are in the neighborhood a British person might opt to knock somebody up to have a conversation rather than calling them up. Obviously knocking somebody up in American English means something quite different.
In American English both to us or with us would be used. If I were to over-analyze a difference I would say that you catch up to the frontrunner in a race but with your friends at the mall (e.g. catch up to and proceed with) You also catch up with friends by hearing their news but I don't think that would be alcanzar in Spanish. In American English to catch somebody up is to fill somebody in on what they missed in a movie or a project. Again I wouldn't think that is alcanzar but I am not sure. So I am curious whether those two examples in British English both mean to catch up with as in reaching a moving object. I am also curious as to whether any native Spanish speakers can weigh in on what word(s) would best be used to express the other type of catching up which is learning about the progress and events of something.
I am Spanish "alcanzar" is commonly used in these contexts
1-Get to match someone in some trait, feature or situation.
2-Reach out to where a person or thing is ahead in time or space.
3-Get to touch or grasp by hand a thing that is some distance away.
4-Get to a place before a person or thing goes or ends.
In all these cases the word "alcanzar" can not be replaced by another word. You can use it in more contexts but are grammatically more difficult to learn and the word can be easily replaced by other words
I hope this has helped you a little, it's difficult for me to explain it in English
In America (USA) this might be considered like being caught u p in a trap, net, mistake even. It would not make immediate sense unless the context were VERY self-evident. I am curious where this is used so we can travel and welcome people appropriately.
In a race the norm would be to say he/she/they/we are/is going to catch up to her/him/us/them.
Yeah, but in British English, the phrase would be to catch someone up.
I, as an American, thought it was weird at first, but I found this dictionary link http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/catch-sb-up :)
"Catch us up" seems to have evolved as an idiom in some parts of the English speaking world. People started inserting "us" between the compound word/phrase of "catch up" - Anyways, "catch up to us" is not wrong either and sounds more natural to me
I don't think it is "poor English" as per Jangeloid's comment above ( but agree its not the most common way to say it. At least for me)
Catch up is separable phrasal verb. We can catch someone up, or Catch up to someone - as used here
Like you though I'd use " They are going to catch up with us"
:)
I'm thinking that's a UK regional phrase? It sounds very odd in US English. I would definitely say, "They are going to catch up to us."
I put " they are going to catch up with us" and it was accepted. That's what we would say here in Ireland.
That's interesting. I realized that I say both catch up with and catch up to, but in different contexts. I am American. I would say catch up to if I were walking and physically trying to go faster to reach people ahead of me. But I would say catch up with in terms of both work or other group activities (catch up with the class). I would also use with in the idiomatic expression catch up with as in I spent my first weekend home from college catching up with friends. I think that is a common usage of each in American English, but I doubt I would notice if the other one was used.
They are going to catch up to us. Also translates as . They are going to catch up with us in english
We're talking two different situations. If you are in a race then you can certainly say they are going to catch up to us. You could also say that you're competitors are going to catch up to us. However to say "catch us up", at least where I'm from, means that you are passing information as in: "we haven't seen you for years why don't you "catch us up" on what's happening in your life.
I put catch us up as well. Duolingo is quite poor at recognizing English idioms. I hope they're not presenting us with dodgey Spanish as well!
the translation for Alcanzar is also 'to be enough for' and that translation seems to fit this context.
I wrote they are not going to reach us --- and got it wrong. DUO? surely that is an alternative translation
You were wrong. You eye apparently caught the nos twice in reading and read it as a negative statement. The problem is not reach instead of catch up to, it is the not. You sentence would be Ellos NO nos van a alcanzar.
I have never heard "catch us up" (that sounds VERY strange to me and I would not know what it means) and "catch up to us" is very common. From WI USA
Catch us up meaning catch up to us is British, although I am not sure how wife spread. I am American and to me it means something different. If I came late to a meeting, class or movie, I might ask someone there to catch me/us up, meaning give enough of what happened so we are all on the same page.
To summarize, in a race: Americans only say ".. catch up to us", which makes no sense in British English. British Eng uses "... catch us up" instead.
"... catch us up" IS used by Americans, but has a completely different meaning than the Spanish and British Eng sentences in this question . In America it means "tell me what I missed"
agreed... in the USA, catch us up=give me the latest (gossip)... like... let's have coffee, there is much to catch up on.
100
Without the slow-speed option, I would never have been able to hear the a alcanzar. But, I think the standard speed is realistic and I'm sure learners of English have the same problem (only in real life we don't have that handy "slow" button).
The handy "slow" is something I learned very early in Spanish... "mas despacio, por favor"
Can someone put this phrase "They are going to catch up to us" with some context or in an example? please
At least in Spanish for instance you can say "Ellos nos van a alcanzar" in a marathon to your partner, like "hurry up". But I don't know if in english has the same meaning :)
Seems to be a discrepancy between British and American English. "Catch up to us" is a very common expression in America. As in--"If they run faster, they can catch up to us."
Would anyone mind taking a moment to discuss why there is an "a" before alcanzar? I am aware of the Spanish personal "a" but am not sure how the "a" works in this scenario. Thanks!
Ir + a + infinitive verb = a unique construction in Spanish, simple future tense, that means "to be going to do something"
Van a comer - they are going to eat
Voy a hablar - I am going to speak
"They are going to catch up." Should be accepted, not "catch us up". That's different. A group of people are going somewhere but one person can't leave yet. He is going to meet the others later wherever they are, hence he is going to catch up. Catch us up is used if a couple people need to miss a class and the teacher plans to meet with them to give the information that was missed. I would say the teacher is going to catch us up.
'Catch up' is not sufficient. The word "nos" is included meaning they (a group of 2 or more people) are going to catch up to us (another group of 2 or more people). The context loses specificity if you translate with the word "us".
How can it be redundant.
Ellos = they Nos = us Van a =are going to Alcanzar = reach
Except for the fact that Spanish places the direct object pronoun before the verb phrase, it is essentially word for word.
The instructions say to write the sentence in Spanish, but the intention is to translate into English (as the Spanish is already provided).
The US understanding of "...catch us up (with)..." would often be expressed as "...bring us up to speed (with)...". In British English.
Is this perhaps the origin of the difference nowadays?
