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- "¿Podemos estar en tu casa?"
131 Comments
In English, "Can we BE at/in your house?" is very different from "Can we STAY at/in your house?" A kid might ask their friend the first question before coming over for the afternoon, if their friend's parents aren't home. In English, "Stay" implies being at someone's house for an extended period of time (so you would ask this before spending the night, or the weekend).
I don't know which is intended by this sentence in Spanish - perhaps the latter is an accepted idiomatic translation in some countries.
"Can we BE backstage (at the concert), can we Be in your crime scene, kitchen" etc is a perfectly acceptable and normal query aimed solely at establishing whether an action is appropriate and permissible. In regards to the kitchen I would ask 'can we be in your kitchen (public health and safety codes for restaurants fro eg) far more often than i would "can I stay in your kitchen". This must obviously be able to be applied to the whole house for anyone seeking to know if it is considered appropriate/ permissible. And we need to be able to use all forms to differentiate nuances of permission. A employee may have been told that his friends "can't be at his placer of employment at all", or they can be waiting for him outside but cannot be inside/ come inside, or they may be inside briefly but may not stay for any extended period of time.
1276
I think an American English-speaking kid would be more inclined to say "Can I come over to your house?" instead of "Can I be at/in your house".
Hi Elizabeth! It is a bit strange, but it would be better with "to stay" instead "estar". We say more commonly: ¿Podemos ir a tu casa? or ¿Podemos quedarnos en tu casa?. The sentence of DL, for example, seems as a person runaway from the police and he ask a friend for a place to hide for a while. I hope you understand me. I speak spanish. Regards:)
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well actually there is in australia particularly if we were to be there at a certain time like " can we be at your house at 9.00 tonight ? "
"May we be at your house?" This is preferable. The speaker is asking for permission, hence "may." "Can" merely means are "we physically able" to be at your house. It has nothing to do with permission, which seems to be the point of the question of being at the house. "May" at least ought to be offered as an alternative to "Can," even if the language has slipped into using "can" all the time.
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I have wondered about this myself. "Poder" translates to "can" or "may" I gather. I assume a Spanish person decides from context if a person is asking permission or is asking if they can physically do something. I use only "can" on duolingo now because I think I used "may" one time and it was marked wrong.
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Considering the vast majority of English speakers use "can" when they mean "may", this is something in Spanish that I think I'll like :p
In reality the kids would say something like "is it OK for us to go to your house " or "is it OK for us to hang out in your house " I don't believe anyone is going to say "can we be in your house" if they are already at the house they would say " are we allowed to be here " stay is preferable to be in this sentence .
''¿Podemos estar en tu casa?'' en español implica un día o un corto tiempo. Creo que en inglés 'to stay' es un tiempo muy prolongado (a long time), entonces en español diríamos: ¿Podemos quedarnos en tu casa?. To stay = quedar = estar harto tiempo, o, dormir ahí. Perdón, aún estoy aprendiendo inglés.
585
No, en inglés, "to say" podría ser un corto período de tiempo también. Por lo general, "can I stay at your house" quire significa más tiempo (por ejemplo durante la noche), pero no necesariamente.
(Por supuesto, Duolingo escribió "to be (in your house)" y es differente de "to stay.")
¿Por cierto, qué quiere decir "harto."?
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I couldn't hear this as a question at all; I thought it was a statement. (Good thing punctuation doesn't count!) Is there some inflection that I am missing in the audio?
English natives are having the problem because we know what Duo is saying/trying to teach us, the oroblem lies with we do not know how to translate " can we be in your house" to "can we stay at your house" Stay does not have to mean extended, but even for a time, for example, the pool party or the homework. To say "can we be at your house" would seem to mean to us " are we allowed to be at your house" for any reason. The usage, " Can we stay at your house" was accepted 07/20/16
When and where the English translation may or may not be used is not really my interest. I'm here to learn Spanish. I want to be exposed to Spanish sentences that communicate clearly and are actually used -- and better yet, are commonly used. And I do start to wonder about Duolingo a veces. Is this sentence spoken in Spanish at all, or much? Maybe a servant or migrant worker would say this...seems a little cowed. We then should learn to say: Si, como no?!!
Hi Hum! I speak Spanish. It is a bit strange, but it would be better with "to stay" instead "estar". We say more commonly: ¿Podemos ir a tu casa? or ¿Podemos quedarnos en tu casa?. The sentence of DL, for example, seems as a person runaway from the police and he ask a friend for a place to hide for a while. I hope you understand me. Regards:)
585
Many people in this thread are remembering those grammar-school rules pounded into our heads at a young age (can=be able to; may=permission). However, "poder" covers both in Spanish, so Duolingo should accept both.
Modern grammarian's (e.g, Garner, Fogarty) advise us not to get too fussed over the may/can divide. Sometimes "may I" sounds too formal and "can I" works just fine.
Re the "be" discussion, I can imagine a number of situations in which one might ask whether it's possible to "be" at a house (after damage, if someone who doesn't want us to be there is there, etc.).
On the other hand, perhaps "estar" is an alternative for "quedarse" when you want to ask permission to stay somewhere. We need a native to weigh in on this latter question.
Hi MrHazard! I speak Spanish. It is a bit strange, but it would be better with "to stay" instead "estar". We say more commonly: ¿Podemos ir a tu casa? or ¿Podemos quedarnos en tu casa?. The sentence of DL, for example, seems as a person runaway from the police and he ask a friend for a place to hide for a while. I hope you understand me. Regards:)
Yo puedo tener poder para que podamos pedir vacaciones.
I can have the power to ask for vacations, PODER is a word is used to demonstrate or to ask that you may get some action done, and also is used to say that something or someone has the power of something. for example:
Yo tengo el poder de hacer lo que yo quiera. (I HAVE THE POWER TO DO WHAT I WANT)
Yo quisiera poder hacer lo que yo quiera. (I WOULD LIKE TO DO WHAT I WANT)
In this sentence the phrase is used to ask if they arre allowed to remain or to stay in the house (note that in spanish this phrase also is used to ask if you can be on the total area of the house which is the garden, garage, front garden etc and there's no need to ask...¿Podemos estar en el Jardín? (CAN WE STAY AT THE GARDEN?) unless you really need the garden for some purpose or get some action done like playing.
So many people saying "Can we be in your house?" makes no sense, that it would never ever be used. I disagree. I think it would be used any time where it might not be safe to be in the house or where it is questionable as to if you have permission to be there. Say you had plans to get together with a friend at their house. But your friend's house had a gas leak earlier in the day and you are not sure if the fire department has cleared it as safe yet. So you call up your friend and ask "Hey, has the fire department cleared your house as being safe yet?, What with the gas-leak, can we be in your house? Is it safe? Or should we meet at my place instead?" Just because Duo-Lingo has come up with yet another uncommon sentence, doesn't mean that it is not a real sentence.
As I understand it "estar" is more of the state of mind of "being". The translation of "to be" is just shorthand. "In Spanish, a different verb is used to express "to be" depending on whether the speaker intends to address a condition or an essential quality." http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/serest1.htm
Saying "podemos estamos" is "we can we are", and I don't think "we can we are" makes any sense (although I really like the sound of those two words together). Also, "podemos estamos" are two conjugated verbs. We don't conjugate two verbs; we only conjugate one (the first one).
Take your question "Can someone please clarify?". Now, conjugate the two verbs into their third person singular forms ("someone" is third person singular) and tell me what you get?
If you have done it correctly, you should have gotten "Can someone please clarifies?". That should sound strange and incorrect to you. If so, then that is the same effect as "podemos estamos".
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Have a look here: http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/154286/english-can-vs.-may-and-spanish-poder
The "can/may" divide is muddied by those who want one or the other to be "correct." See my post above for more. The grammar-school rule is simply not really workable, beyond "may" being more polite. On the page above it is noted that you could say, "Por favor, permítame..." or "¿Me permites...?" if you want to be more polite.
Also as the page notes, English has a lot more modals (can I, should I, may I, etc.) that are translated with one word in Spanish. If you want to be more subtle, you may have to add a few more words, as indicated in the example above.
Of course, in English, both "can" and "may" should be accepted by Duolingo as we have no contextual information to guide us.
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Hello Riich3lle: To answer your question, no. Podemos has the "we" built into the verb form, meaning "we can" or if asked in a question as in this example "can we?"
Duolingo uses strict dictionary definitions to make sure we understand the exact meaning. What we do with those meanings later is up to us, but at least we will know what people expect.
In this case, casa can refer to home as you mentioned, but strictly defined, it is just a house. If you talk of your house (casa), then people will probably assume it is also your home (hogar) unless you are listing it for sale. But if you are writing poetry, saying casa will have an impression of four walls and a roof while hogar will have an impression of four walls and a roof around a fireplace next to a table with family and friends being happy. However, it appears that for daily use in many regions casa is becoming more commonly used for "home".
http://spanish.stackexchange.com/questions/10696/home-in-a-non-literal-sense
Hi irene! I speak Spanish. "Ser" is a more permanente state. For example: Soy alta (I am tall), "soy joven" (yes, it is not permament but it changes slowly like childhood) "soy rubia" (I am blonde) "soy linda" (I am pretty). "Estar" is for a time or a moment: "Estoy en el teatro" (I am in the theater), "Estoy enferma" (I am sick). "Estoy viajando" (I am traveling). Be careful: I put a beatiful dress on and """Estoy linda"" (Why "estoy" instead "soy"?, because I am beatiful for a while and for the dress). Greetings:)
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I am having particular problems with the "to be" verbs as well as the past tense verbs. The tiny cards don't seem to be enough. Can anyone recommend an alternative or something to add? I'm struggling here.
Hi Iris! I speak Spanish. "Ser" is a more permanente state. For example: Soy alta (I am tall), "soy joven" (yes, it is not permament but it changes slowly like childhood) "soy rubia" (I am blonde) "soy linda" (I am pretty). "Estar" is for a time or a moment: "Estoy en el teatro" (I am in the theater), "Estoy enferma" (I am sick). "Estoy viajando" (I am traveling). Be careful: I put a beatiful dress on and """Estoy linda"" (Why "estoy" instead "soy"?, because I am beatiful for a while and for the dress). You must memorize the verbs. If I can help you, just tell me. Greetings:)
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Thank you ever so much, Grace. I pasted your comments into a document and is is now hanging by my computer desk.
Hi Iris! Sometimes you can use both forms, for example: "soy feliz" , "estoy feliz". "Soy" means that you are a happy person in all your entire life, obviously in general, but you can also say, "estoy feliz" for a particular reason at this day (present) or last week (past) or next month (future) it maybe because you will make something nice and new . You can also say both at the same time (soy feliz y estoy feliz), for example:You are with a friend and she will say you, why?(about the "estoy")Then you tell her, because I am planning a travel. Another example: "Estoy orgullosa", "Soy orgullosa". The first, means: I am proud about someone or something (Estoy orgullosa de mi hijo porque él consiguió un buen trabajo "I am proud of my son because he got a good job"), this is a good expression instead of "Soy orgullosa" it is more like an arrogant word, but it depends of the context, you can be proud (in a good way) because you have made something good for yourself or for someone else. I hope this helps a little more, I understand you all because is the same for me about various English topics. Regards!
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Estar is used to indicate a temporary condition or a location. It's also used for progressive tenses.
Estoy aquí-- I am here. Estoy bien-- I am fine Estoy hablando-- I am talking
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I think 'Can we enter your house' is another good translation. At least it's way better than 'be in house'. LOL