22 Comments
"The father looked for his daughter" is wrong... "the father looked to his daughter" is correct. English is my first language and there may have been a handful of times that I used a sentence like this. For example, I might have said, "The father looked to his daughter for advice" Without that kind of context it would have been, "A father looked at his daughter"
"The father looked at his daughter" makes perfect sense to me here, but I believe they are trying to translate literally "para"...
Literal translatins are wrong most of the time! That's what Spaniards do when learning English. And they have huge troubles later on (speaking from the experiences of my friends) I agree with you Dale. They should not translate literally because this translation for example has a completely diferent meaning when translated like so. I have lots of troubles with that here, also because English is not my 1st language and I don't know who is wrong then.
Though "look to" can also be translated as "olhar para", "buscar/consultar" is another possible translation:
- "The father looked to his daughter for advice" = O pai buscar/consultou sua filha para obter conselho.
What do you think?
Can someone please confirm that this in fact means "looked to his daughter". In English this usage is restricted in the sense of "looked to .. for advice" "for guidance" "for help" "for reassurance", and isn't really equivalent to "looked at". Can we confirm that this is the meaning in Portuguese, and that translations along the lines of "looked at" or "looked toward" should be excluded?
so if i am actually trying to say "the father looked at his daughter" would "O pai olhou para sua filha" be the best/most common way?
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I thought it was "looked for" or "looked at" but definitely not "looked to". Does "look for" work here? Or just "procurar"?
No, "to look for" does not work here. As you said, "procurar" or "procurar por" is a best translation in this case.
"olhar para" is directional - "looked toward." "Watched his daughter" would just be "olhou sua filha" or "vigiou sua filha"
OK, in this case the correct English is "looked toward(s)", and "looked to" is even more wrong than "observed" or "looked at"- which would probably be an ok translation
This might sound a bit inappropriate and is very likely not what is meant with this sentence, but translating to "The father looked at your daughter" would be technically correct here as well, right? (Duo marked it incorrect).
I understood from another explanation [https://www.duolingo.com/comment/224920] that in Brazilian Portuguese it would be more common to say "O pai olhou para a filha dele." Please correct me if I understood that wrong ;-)
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No, GinhoFresh. I am Brazilian, and it is not more common to say o pai olhou para a filha dele. Actually, in Minas Gerais and in the Federal District, at least, it would be more common to say just o pai olhou para a filha.
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But in other cases, it would be more common, yes, at least in colloquial language, but not in written language.
My Brasilian husband says that if it were "The father looked for his daughter", it would be "por sua filha", if that helps anyone.
"olhar por" sounds odd to me. You should use "procurar" or "procurar por" for "to look for".
