Spanish Spanish

[Pacifica]

Oh but if you mean whether it's like in Latin when a dative can be translated with "from", then yes, I guess it's similar. But the function is dative, not ablative, hence my instinctive reaction "no".

 

[Pacifica]

I mean, when you translate such a dative with "from", that's more like a concession to the English language than saying anything about the word's function or supposed equivalency with something else in the original language.

 

[Clemens]

I mean, when you translate such a dative with "from", that's more like a concession to the English language than saying anything about the word's function or supposed equivalency with something else in the original language.

This is the most succinct explanation of the reality of translation that I’ve come across.

 

[Quaeso]

Thank you, and that does it for Marcelino, which I enjoyed. And now onto the next novella, El Principito by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry translated from the original French. (For anyone who doesn't know, note that (ctrl+f) can bring up an option to search for words or phrases on most websites or pdf's)

Mostré mi obra maestra a las personas grandes y les pregunté si mi dibujo les asustaba. Me contestaron: “¿Por qué habrá de asustar un sombrero?” -El Principito, I
J'ai montré mon chef-d'oeuvre aux grandes personnes et je leur ai demandé si mon dessin leur faisait peur. Elles m'ont répondu: "Pourquoi un chapeau ferait-il peur?"

It looks like habrá de asustar is an haber+de+inf. construction which means obligation, but I've never seen that with a future tense haber. In English a literal translation sounds too wordy, and a bit strange: "Why will one be obliged to fear a hat?". But the main question here is why the future tense instead of another, like present or even conditional?

 

[Pacifica]

I'm guessing this must be some idiomatic thing.

 

[Quaeso]

Thank you, I should have mentioned that I don't know any French, so what tense and mood is "ferait-il peur"?

 

[Pacifica]

Present conditional.

 

[Quaeso]

Thank you, conditional is how I would want to phrase that in English at least. But I have a newly arrived Spanish grammar book (Butt & Benjamin 1988, although I'm still looking for an older one...). Anyway, I think I found the solution, so maybe we don't have to bother Mr. Rothbard yet.

Me contestaron: “¿Por qué habrá de asustar un sombrero?” -El Principito, I

14.6.3 Suppositional Future
An important function of the future tense in ordinary Spanish, especially in Europe, is to express suppositions or approximations... In questions, the future expresses wonder, incredulity or conjecture..."Que sera esto?"- "I wonder what this is?"... Kany, 190, notes that this use of the future is much more common in Spain than in Latin America, where deber (de) [plus infinitive] often replaces it... In Mexico haber de is commonly used for deber de in this construction.

So that's a bit complex but it looks like what the grammar describes as a Mexican variant of the Suppositional Future in a question form: "I wonder why one would fear a hat."