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- "Yo presento a mi capitán."
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How do you distinguish "I present my captain" from "I present to my captain" in Spanish?
This is an example of the "personal a." "A" is not being used as the preposition "at." To learn more about the personal a, go to:
http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/persa.htmhttp://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/personal_a.htm
http://spanish.about.com/od/prepositions/fl/Spanish-Proposition-A-Has-Multiple-Uses.htm
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/identifying-and-using-common-spanish-prepositions.html
http://www.espanol-ingles.com.mx/phrase_book/spanish/prepositions.html
Thanks LindaHill that is helpful however another question arises:
If "presento a mi capitan" = I present/introduce my captain (which is a complete and coherent sentence), how would we express "I present to my captain".
I assume that in Spanish this requires a reflexive form of "presentar". For example: "me presento a mi capitan = I present (myself) to my captain" but this is only a guess and I hope someone can confirm or duly correct me!
On another point. In English, "I present to my captain" doesn't make much sense.
"Present" is a transitive verb, meaning that it needs a direct object. ("I present something to my captain."
"Presentar" is also a transitive verb.
One of the important meanings of "presentar" is "to introduce." (Presentar a mi capitan" = "to introduce my captain."
(Present/ presentar" can also be a pronomial verb -- to present oneself, or "to turn up" -- " An opportunity presented itself.")
It does make sense. Present as in to conduct a presentation. "Every week i present to my peers or boss" "In my job, i present to others regularly" How would one say that?
Your point is exactly why I thought the sentence meant, "I report to my captain" which is what military types do.
Exactly. It would be interesting to hear from Spanish or Latin American military. In the American Military I would far more likely to report to a Captain than introduce or present to a Captain. I am going to run this one past the Latinos that I served with in Vietnam and put this in proper context.
That doesnt really address the question. Yes, there needs to be a direct object to present, and if the direct object is not a person (ie: Presento un regalo a mi novia), I think I understand the rules. But what if you are introducing one person to another? Would "Yo presenté a el soldado a mi capitan" be an accurate translation for "I introduced the soldier to my capitan"? It doesnt sound right, but I dont know what would be correct.
This is a good answer that makes sense. We need to know "what" we are presenting to the captain to make the sentence make sense.
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To LindaHill, Thanks for all those links! They were great!! I definitely had to give you an additional Lingot, even though I am three years late. ;-)
Hello. I'm learning English and would like to practice with a native speaker of English. I am a native speaker of the Spanish language itself could learn from each other the two. If anyone is interested this is my Whatsapp +584262391396
arlowhite- If you say I present to my captain, you have to specify whom you present to your captain. I present my brother to my captain/ yo presento a mi hermano a mi capitán, but this way is a bit confusing, so you can say presento mi hermano a mi capitán. But il the direct complement is a proper noun, a person, if your brother's name is Juan, you'll have to say presento A Juan a mi capitán. and never presento Juan a mi capitán.
I guess the question is in a sense asking how you would say "I present (myself) to the captain. So if I am the required object, would that then be "yo me presento a mi capitán"? Thank you :-)
I'm just providing the exact excerpt where the answer is found on the page LindaHill linked.
"A" has different uses in Spanish. In this instance, "a" is used as a personal "a".
"Finally, the third instance (le pregunta a sus anfitriones meaning "you ask your hosts") shows the use of the personal a. Generally, when a verb (in this case pregunta) has a person or persons as an object, the preposition a must come before the object. As in this case, the personal a usually is left untranslated in English" (http://spanish.about.com/od/prepositions/fl/Spanish-Proposition-A-Has-Multiple-Uses.htm).
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I believe "I present to my captain" would need an indirect object pronoun. So, it would be "Le presento a mi capitan".
Hello. I'm learning English and would like to practice with a native speaker of English. I am a native speaker of the Spanish language itself could learn from each other the two. If anyone is interested this is my Whatsapp +584262391396
Hello. I'm learning English and would like to practice with a native speaker of English. I am a native speaker of the Spanish language itself could learn from each other the two. If anyone is interested this is my Whatsapp +584262391396
What is the sense of presenting here? Gifting something or introducing someone?
Introduce is often a far better translation, the answer is unnatural English without more context. That the course has failed to explain the concept of the personal Spanish preposition "a Name" and you have to read the dicussion to have a clue.
Your question makes me think about the implied indirect object "it." If I understand correctly, this "it" is implied, so that the meaning of the sentence is "I present (it) to my captain. In Spanish, the direct object is what is presented, and the indirect object is the one to whom it is presented. In contrast, an English sentence puts the indirect object before the direct object instead of after it. So: English = "I present my captain it" or "I present it to my captain." English = I present you my captain" or "I present my captain to you."
To answer your question: the sense is of introducing someone, not of making a present.
Saying "I present my captain" is unneccesarly formal. "May I introduce" or "I'd like you to meet" is modern colloquial English.
Actually, I think "I present my captain" is not a valid translation. I believe duo is trying to say "I present my captain (the report, the gifts, the ??)". "Capitán" is an indirect object in the Spanish, and should be an indirect object in English. However, in the English sentence "I present my captain", without an explicit direct object, "captain" becomes the direct object, which changes the meaning significantly.
mrule- captain is a direct object. Ask the question : I present who? the captain. In the Spanish sentence,, capitán is still the direct object, so this is a clue, that you don't present a report or a gift to the captain, or it would be I present a gift to my captain. gift, would be the direct object. captain would be indirec t object.
As an English speaker, I really appreciate the Spanish viewpoint. It (the viewpoint) helps me learn the word order so that I can think in Spanish. However, in this Spanish-to-English translation, "I present the captain" (also translated as "I am presenting my captain") the meaning is NOT changed, and the word "captain" is simply defined as a direct object in an English sentence. (In English, there is no distinction between a direct object expressed and a direct object pronoun). Also, in English the DO goes in the same place whether or not the direct object is a noun or a pronoun. So, the word order in this translation dictates that the word "captain" cannot be anything other than a direct object. An English sentence example of subject verb direct object = He told me. An English sentence example of subject verb indirect object direct object = He told me a secret (Equivalent to "He told a secret to me.")
In English, there is no "understood but unsaid (or unwritten) indirect object. What might help you understand this is for you to recognize that in English the words "to the" are not understood but unsaid before the word "captain." If you substitute the other meaning of "presentar," which is "to introduce," the sentence becomes "I introduce my captain" or I am introducing my captain." Both English and Spanish speakers understand that the captain is being introduced to someone. In English, therefore, the indirect object pronoun is unnecessary in this sentence as well. If the English speaker/writer wants to use a pronoun, however, the sentence will read like this: I am introducing you to my captain OR I introduce you to my captain. This is equivalent to the Spanish word order that has both a direct object pronoun (you) and an indirect object (to my captain).
So, if you add an DO to "Yo presento a mi capitán," the sentence might be something like "Yo lo presento el reporte a mi capitán." (In Spanish, the "lo" is the indirect object pronoun that must appear before the verb when the indirect object is an "expressed indirect object.")
I'm sorry but this is just wrong. LO is never an indirect object pronoun (unless you're committing a loísmo, which is incorrect but sometimes ok in colloquial speech in certain areas). I think you mean Le. Direct obj pronouns: Me, Te, Lo/La (Le- Spain only), Nos, Os, Los/Las Indirect object pronouns: Me, Te, Le (Se) [never Lo], Nos, Os, Les (Se) I just keep seeing this error over and over in comments and I felt I should post them. I have created a PowerPoint on direct and indirect object pronouns for a class and it is in the public domain, if anyone wants the link just reply to this.
hhowell- you're right, lo is is always a direct object. http://spanish.about.com/od/sentencestructure/a/lo.htm
Not unnecessarily formal at all. I used this very expression just the other day. Yes, it's formal. And also quite useful and fun.
Not necessarily if one was introducing one's captain as a speaker, one might say, "And without further ado, I present my captain." In that context one would not say, "May I introduce" or "I'd like you to meet." Also, I could imagine the sentence, "General Smith, as per your request, I present my captain, Captain Jones." This is very formal speech, but not unnecessarily so.
I bet almost everyone in your examples simply says something like "Here's my/our captain", ten times more often.
There should be an indirect object pronoun before "presento" as "Le presento mi capitán a usted." (I'd like you to meet my captain.)
Let's not forget that the Spanish version of this sentence makes use of the personal "a". "A" in this sentence is not the preposition "to". It has no direct translation in English and may in fact be looked at as a grammatical "extra" from a native English speaker's point of view. There's a really thorough explanation here: http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/persa.htm
Thanks for this link, very good. But one thing I am wondering that I have still not found the answer to here is...how do you put it in spanish if indeed you are presenting something to him i.e. captain is the indirect object such as in the sentence " I present the award to my captain". Any help on this appreciated.
In this case, the "something" has to be voiced. e.g.: Yo la presento a mi capitan.
If you really enjoy sneeking a good ways off base think of how "I present my Captian" could be a statement being made by someone to a third person standing within the circle to let that third person know you are giving the Captian a gift. You are laying a present on him. You present him. Eh?
That was my question and it still doesn't appear to be answered? I am assuming that mitaine56's answer is wrong, as it has a down vote on it, but no ones has cared to give a better answer?
jerry - submit is someter and has nothing to do with a person. You can submit a project or a plan to a person. But here I really present the captain to someone, nothing else.
that's the same thing i came up with. It seemed to make more sense than "I present to the captain."
razer- the sentence says that I present (introduce) the captain to someone. It doesn't say that you present someone to the captain.
Is the translation here correct? "I present my captain" is introducing the captain to others. "I present TO my captain" is giving the captain something. If this is an introduction, then how does one say they are presenting something to the captain, as in a gift?
Le presento un regalo (gift) a mi capitán, I believe. Because he then becomes the indirect object.
esperanza- in front of an animated noun, you need it. Voy a invitar a mi hijo para la cena.
DL accepts both "I present to my captain" and "I present my captain" WHich is it? Those have different meanings. I would think the 'a' means the captain is being presented to, not the one being presented. Is that not so?
clemsnman-- here in the sentence, it's a personal A, which goes before an animated noun. It doesn't mean the preposition A meaning to.
roger- A, hasn't 2 functions here. It can't be to my captain because the A doesn't nean To
So, looking at the other definitions of "presento" I put "I submit to my captain", which I thought made more sense than the alternatives. Yeah, I lost a heart.
jeff- you submit something to someone, but you have to say what you submit, or the sentence is not complete.for exemple : I submit my new plan to my captain.
"I submit to my captain" also can mean "I give in (submissively) to my captain." As an inferior submits to a superior, or a slave submits to a master.
In addition, Mitaine56's point is correct, also. (see above). That would avoid the double-meaning problem
This is an example of the "personal a." "A" is not being used as the preposition "at." To learn more about the personal a, go to:
http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/persa.htmhttp://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/personal_a.htm
http://spanish.about.com/od/prepositions/fl/Spanish-Proposition-A-Has-Multiple-Uses.htm
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/identifying-and-using-common-spanish-prepositions.html
http://www.espanol-ingles.com.mx/phrase_book/spanish/prepositions.html
So does this sentence mean "Im presenting myself to the captain" or does it mean "I present the captain to someone"?
Would " I present to my captain" be correct if your were doing a presentation or showing him something? Or is there another way of saying "I show my captain?"
In that case, a mi capitan would be the indirect object and the sentence would require le.
there is an a where the to is supposed to be in the Spanish sentence. =(
mi pero es mas guapo que su gato...not chauvinist at all (don't know how to say this in spanish)....
I don't know how you can be able to tell the difference between "I present to my captain" or "I present my capitain"
why is it sometimes correct to say "I am doing VERB" such as I am presenting my captain (which I got wrong) but in previous statements, I typed other -ing verbs and got them right. Is it ever a good translation to say "I am presenting my captain"?
No, and the other examples were wrong. This is simple present. gerund verbs usually end in -ando or -iendo. "Presento" = "I present"; "Estoy presentando" = "I am presenting"
Dear Linda Hill, thank you for the links! They were very helpful.
With love,
Samantha
How would you say "I present myself to my captain" ? I put this and got it wrong
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It marked me wrong for ''I introduce my captain.'' and corrected to ''I introduce my skipper.'' What?
I lost what I wrote first? Came back and read some of the comments. I have to say I was at lost with this statement exercise and the best I could come up with was "I introduce myself to my captain" Thinking he had not met me already and i was required to do so hmm. But I'm not really more enlightened now...i wonder if this is a little too ambigue (or subtil) for starters?
I have answered " I present my captain"...correct in other exercises, now wrong !! Now its Skipper...wt....
This is horrible unnatural English without more context, Google translate might agree, and indeed you can say on stage "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you .. someone", but normally we introduce people. This is really the kind of thing a Spanish person is liable to say in English, like "I have hunger" or "I have 30 years".
Why is "I present for my captain" incorrect? Duo says that for my is a correct translation but when I put it in a sentence it was incorrect.
it will be good that DUOLINGO put also infinitive of the word with translation when you put cursor of the mouse on it
How would you say "I present to my captain" rather than "I present my captain"?
i present my captain? It looks like this sentence does not have a meaning, it sounds an incorrect sentence in English language
Duo is telling me that it means, "I introduce my captain. " I feel that this is not a great translation. Im glad I read all'yer posts.
English speakers rarely "present" to the captain. "Reporting" is more common.
The course totally fails to explain this use of "verb + a + person", you need external information. It is really confusing, if you have not learnt this before in some other way. That years later this confusing English still stands is an indictmennt on DuoLingo
Why is there just a random ''a'' in the sentence? It doesn't fit in English or in my opinion, Spanish.
"A" has different uses in Spanish. In this instance, "a" is used as a personal "a".
The following excerpt should help in understanding the use and translation of the personal "a":
"Finally, the third instance (le pregunta a sus anfitriones meaning "you ask your hosts") shows the use of the personal a. Generally, when a verb (in this case pregunta) has a person or persons as an object, the preposition a must come before the object. As in this case, the personal a usually is left untranslated in English" (http://spanish.about.com/od/prepositions/fl/Spanish-Proposition-A-Has-Multiple-Uses.htm).
I said "I present my captain". It said that was the correct answer, and counted it wrong! Bummer : (
I wrote capital but Duo marked it wrong...Duo gave the right answer as 'I present my skipper"
I translated as "I present my capitan" but DUO marked it wrong and said the right answer is "I present my skipper"
i put i present my capitan and it was wrong, it was i present my skipper, why?
I have no idea why, but in my case the right anwser is "i present my skipper"...
'I present my captain' sounds unnatural. Normal English speakers would say 'Let me introduce my captain' or 'May I introduce my captain' - I doubt many people would prefer to use 'present' over 'introduce' when talking about a person. 'Present' tends to be used more for things: 'let me present the latest film'. If you choose to put 'I present TO my captain' then you need to state WHAT you present, as otherwise you're leaving the sentence on a cliffhanger and people will react with "What??? What do you present to him!?? We want to know!".
The sentence has nothing to do with anything being presented to the Captian. It is the Captian that is being presented. Though it could, admittedly, be to another Captian. Yet, there is no way to know that.
Right.
But....
... the wrench in the clock work is that the sentence is in Spanish and English with all its quirkiness has no bearing on any Spanish sentence, whatsoever.
What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas and has no influence on what happens in Madrid.
nancywilder- the sentence is about : you present your captain and not present someone to your captain.
We native english speakers, we see that a literal translation is : "I present to my captain", that's ONE possibility. Then we see: "I introduce to my captain". This is idiom and we love it, no? :-)
Yes I think it is all about introductions and if I was in the unlikely position of having to introduce my captain. I would say. May I introduce my Captain? or may I introduce you to my/our Captain? This is where idiom is important as you say.
patricia- no because the personal A doesn't exist in English and doesn't mean TO.
This statement can only be used by lower personnel in the armed forces or on a vessel at sea...no?
The English language does not automatically indicate the higher or lower status of military men, so the rank of military personnel has nothing to do with this sentence. This sentence could be used by anyone who wanted to introduce a "captain" who was in charge of the introducer. The word "captain" might be an honorific that has to do with something other than military status.
After I wrote the preceding paragraph, Roger Burke made a very strong argument about the use of this sentence in Spanish and American military culture. I will add, though, that this Spanish sentence was ripped from its context and presented here for us civilians to muddle through. Thank you for educating me, Roger. I've learned something about military protocol because of you and DuoLinguo. :^)
I don't agree. A General is likely to say "I present Captain Smith" because he has hundreds of Captains under his command. A sergeant would probably say, I present my Captain, because at the company level there is one company commander and his rank would normally be Captain.
I really don't understand why they mark you wrong for acceptable answers. Google translator says that I am right...sigh....free apps.
