this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
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Do you have a cat? (lemmy.world)
submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by karsov@lemmy.world to c/comicstrips@lemmy.world
 

English Translation:

Cat: Do you have a cat?

Girl: No.

Cat: Now you have one!

Girl: And that's how I got a cat.

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[–] chiwiu@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"un gato", it's missing the word "a" in "a cat", which makes it sound wrong and funnier in spanish than if it'd be written well

[–] OhmsLawn@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Like I said, I'm not a native speaker. However, I was taught that the indefinite article is often omitted in this type of sentence to avoid confusion between an and one.

In other words "¿Tienes carro?" and "Tiene novio." still mean "do you have a car?" and "she has a boyfriend" even without the articles.

[–] chiwiu@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

you're right of course, and for me the first panel the sentence sounds correct, but not the last one, where she's already refering to her cat which is a cat like "gato" only. Maybe not the same asking if you have any car, any boyfriend or any cat as opposed to saying that now you have a cat, which should go with the "a" before. Unless the cat is called "Cat" 😅

I'm not a linguistic and cannot argue the why properly, but the sentence in last panel is definitely off