Could some one please translate "no hace falta"? Gracias!

"It is not necessary"

I double checked this at http://www.altavista.com

The translate link is pretty good for translating from English to Spanish or Spanish to English. You can even enter a web page in Spanish and get a reasonable English translation. This has been helpful in planning my trip to Malaga next week.

some nuances of "no hace falta": "oh, please don't bother" (said to decline something politely). "It's ok, I can do it" (again, politely declining something).

Thanks, folks, for the translation. The Hotel Esmeralda in Comillas replied by fax with "no hace falta el numero de Visa" and I couldn't figure out whether they do or do not need my credit card number.

Maybe they are referring to Visa (Pasaporte) and you are referring to Tarjeta de Credito (Visa). I don't know about that hotel but several (incl. CondeDuque in Bilbao) asked me for the Credit Card No. to guarantee our reservation. I avoided semantic difficulty by using my MasterCard (which has a smaller foreign exchange surcharge).

'No hace falta' means it's not necessary.

Some hotels won't require your credit card number if you plan to arrive early in the day. I made most of my reservations over e-mail, and didn't want to send my credit card info over the internet, and several of the hotels were fine with that as long as I assured them we would be arriving by about 2:00 (14h) p.m.

Some hostales have wanted our credit card number (especially if we are planning to arrive late) but others have said "no hace falta..." which I now know means "no es necesario." I really don't have a problem with providing this information when it's needed.

A question for the Spanish speakers. Como se dice? "We visited Spain fifteen years ago." I know it goes something like "Hace quince anos..." Thanks for your help!--Carole

Here I have some suggestions based on context:

- Estuvimos en España hace quince años
- Nuestro último viaje por España fue hace quince años

In conversations, I don't think I'd say "visitamos España hace 15 años". In my opinion visitar is more for visiting people than places.

«Hace quince años que pasamos por (venimos a) España.»

Although this could also mean "We've been in Spain for fifteen years...I would use "venimos"...

Of course you could say «Y a tí, ¿qué te importa si vengo o no?» Which of course would be quite rude, and would cause people wonder if you're really from France...

An important thing to bear in mind in the usage of venir: as far as I know, you cannot say venir unless you are physically present at the place you are referring to- venir and come are not identically used. Hence, you can ask someone on the phone who intends to visit you: ¿Cuándo vas a venir? -but the other person cannot answer: vengo mañana-since he or she is still at a different location.

It's the "ago" part that I'm having trouble with. If I want to say "I read it ten years ago," do I say "Hace diez anos que lo leo (or lei)?" Or "I saw her five years ago"--Hace cinco anos que la veo (or la vi). Do I use present or preterite tense and do I begin with the "hace" part?

Both possibilites are correct but meaning is different though.

Hace diez años que lo leo - I've had the habitude of reading "it" for the last ten years.

Hece diez años que lo leí - Ten years ago I read it once.

To my ear to say something happened a certain time ago you need the preterite verb. The same expression with a present tense verb would indicate the activity began a certain time ago and continues.

Hace 3 anos que estudio espanol.
I have studied Spanish for 3years.

Hace 3 anos que comence la clase de espanol.
Three years ago I began Spanish class.

Hey connie, thanks for the tip on usage of venir. I observed that there was something different between our come/ go and venir/ ir, since if the phone was for my Spanish sister she would say "Voy!" not "Vengo!" But I never made the connection to it having to do with where the speaker actually is. Cool.

to key the ñ you have to press ALT + 164

I am seeing that some persons are using n instead of ñ.
the word "año" means year
the word "ano" means anus

Rafael

Gracias por avisarme de las distinciones entre la n y...bueno la otra...pero por ser vaga (y no muy sabia con el PC de la casa) no las marco....intentare (falta de tilde) comunicarme desde el ordenador 'manzana' de mi escuela y asi (falta de tilde) evitarme la critica (falta de tilde).......Creo que es el momento de mencionar mi libro favorito, 'Cien Anos de Soledad' (!!!???)

jajajajaj ¡pobrecita, Soledad!
Quiero recomendar un diccionario: www.vox.es
Saludos de tiajohanna

Sorry, I don't know how to make the "enye" on the computer. Como se hace?

To type the ñ character on a non-Spanish keyboard, first make sure the number pad is set to numbers (i.e. switch on Number Lock). Then press the ALT key and hold it down, while keying in the number 164. (Trying to use the numbers along the top of the keyboard will not work.)

This produces the lower-case ñ. For the upper-case Ñ, type ALT+165.

Any character not on your keyboard can be accessed this way if you know its 3-number "code". For example, I'm from the UK and here in Spain, to type the British symbol for the pound (£) on my Spanish keyboard, I have to type ALT+156.

Hope this helps!

dave

Thanks for the help, Dave. Now--how do I make an accent mark?

Carole Chiaro, you'll find full instructions about how to make accented Spanish characters in the " Spanish on US computer keyboards " thread from last month.

Saludos, MadridMan

Thanks, MM. Don't know how I missed that thread.

Hola a todos-
-That was hilarious about Cien Años de Soledad! Quizá, por lo menos, ¡se pueden juntar, pá que no estén tan solos!
-By the way, to do the ñ on a Mac (MM's favorite, I know!), you press, at the same time, option and n- then release and press the n again. ¡Voila! You have your ñ! (to do the exclamation mark on a Mac, just press opiton and ! and the same time, then release)
-Hablando de ir/venir...
Me gusta, no sé porqué, la frase "ahora vengo", cuando uno quiere decir que "I'll be right there", o algo así... (dicho con acento andaluz, por supuesto)

"Volando voy. Volando vengo. Volando voy. Volando vengo. Por el camino yo me entretengo. Por el camino yo me entretengo....Enamorao de la vida, a veces duele,
enamorao de la vida, a veces duele... (Camarón de la Isla)

Hasta luegoooo
Jen

[ 04-21-2001: Message edited by: Jen ]

Rafael

Have a look at

sitios favoritos, by marval96

and then do a Spanish to English translation (eg with Babelfish) on it.

It gave my children some amusement!

Jo-Anne

[ 04-29-2001: Message edited by: Jo-Anne ]