fui a comprar una botella de vino

heybach

heybach

Senior Member
Madrid, Spain
Spanish
Hola!

En español decimos mucho voy a + infinitivo. Ejemplos en pasado (para no confundir con el going to):
Ayer fui a comprar una botella de vino.
Ayer fui a ver a mis amigas.

La cuestión es que en inglés no me suena natural decir:
  1. Yesterday I went to buy a bottle of wine.
  2. Yesterday I went to see my friends.

Y sin embargo, me suena mejor:
  1. Yesterday I bought a bottle of wine.
  2. Yesterday I saw my friends.

¿Hay alguna diferencia en el uso en inglés entre el "went to + infinitive" y el uso del verbo de principal en pasado?
went to buy --> bought
went to see --> saw
went to visit --> visited
and so on...

Thanks a bunch in advance!
 
    • heybach said:
    La cuestión es que en inglés no me suena natural decir:
    1. Yesterday I went to buy a bottle of wine.
    2. Yesterday I went to see my friends.
    Click to expand...

    Those sound perfectly natural.

    heybach said:
    Y sin embargo, me suena mejor:
    1. Yesterday I bought a bottle of wine.
    2. Yesterday I saw my friends.
    Click to expand...

    Those are also correct, but they lack the nuance of movement had by the first two. That is, the first two emphasize that you had to travel somewhere to perform the action. That movement is merely implied in the others.
     
    heybach said:
    [...]

    La cuestión es que en inglés no me suena natural decir:
    1. Yesterday I went to buy a bottle of wine.
    2. Yesterday I went to see my friends.
    [...]
    Click to expand...
    These are perfectly fine in English. To make them even more idiomatic you could add "out": "Yesterday I went out to buy a bottle of wine."
     
    The Newt said:
    These are perfectly fine in English. To make them even more idiomatic you could add "out": "Yesterday I went out to buy a bottle of wine."
    Click to expand...
    Those sentences that include "went (out) to" kind of sound to me like the opening to a story about what happened when you did so. Yesterday, I went out to buy a bottle of wine, and who should I bump into but hayback, my buddy from WR. Yesterday, I went to see my friends, but strangely, they were not hanging in our usual spot.

    I agree with gengo. Taking "went to" out you lose information, especially with the second sentence.
     
    But if I simply say:
    Yesterday I went to see my friends.

    Could people wonder?: where did you go to? (because of the "went")

    Thanks everyone!
     
    heybach said:
    But if I simply say:
    Yesterday I went to see my friends.

    Could people wonder?: where did you go to? (because of the "went")

    Thanks everyone!
    Click to expand...
    I don't see any problem. They either know where your friends live (or hang out) or don't care. As la Reina says, you can tell them, if that information is relevant.
     
    heybach said:
    But if I simply say:
    Yesterday I went to see my friends.

    Could people wonder: where did you go to? (because of the "went")
    Click to expand...

    The same could be asked about the Spanish, no?

    The answer, in both cases, is that you went to where your friends were.
     
    heybach said:
    Ayer fui a comprar una botella de vino.
    Ayer fui a ver a mis amigas.
    Click to expand...
    Lo que pasa es que estos ejemplos no son buenos para el propósito que tienes sobre “ir a” como forma de tiempo futuro, porque para comprar y para ver a amigos, necesariamente tienes que salir de casa, tienes que ir a algún sitio, entonces se confunde el sentido.
    También que el pret. perfecto es inusual, es más habitual el pret. indefinido (iba a).

    Habría que pensar un ejemplo en el que no haya posibilidad de confundirse con la acción real de ir a algún sitio, por ejemplo:
    Ayer cuando fui/iba a levantarme de la cama, me mareé.

    A ver si a alguien le apetece hacer la traducción.
     
    Ballenero said:
    [...]

    Habría que pensar un ejemplo en el que no haya posibilidad de confundirse con la acción real de ir a algún sitio, por ejemplo:
    Ayer cuando fui/iba a levantarme de la cama, me mareé.

    A ver si a alguien le apetece hacer la traducción.
    Click to expand...
    Sí, es decir "when I went to get out of bed..." (It didn't involve "going" anywhere.)
     
    Ballenero said:
    Ayer cuando fui/iba a levantarme de la cama, me mareé.

    A ver si a alguien le apetece hacer la traducción.
    Click to expand...

    I'll give it a shot.

    Yesterday when I was getting out of bed, I felt dizzy.
    Yesterday when I tried to get out of bed, I felt dizzy.

    I interpret the Spanish to mean that the subject did not fully complete the act of getting out of bed, because of the dizziness, at least at that moment.
     
    It just occurred to me that it is not uncommon, where I live, to hear people use the literal translation of this: "Yesterday when I went to get out of bed..."

    This is a rather colloquial construction, but the meaning is basically "tried to do."
     
    Ballenero said:
    Ayer cuando fui/iba a levantarme de la cama, me mareé.
    Click to expand...
    Creo que esto tiene poco que ver con lo que pregunto aquí. Esto hace hincapié en el desplazamiento.
    Yo pregunto sobre la diferencia en significado entre usar el ver "to go" o no usarlo cuando no es realmente relevante el desplazamiento.
    En "Ayer fui a comprar una botella de vino", ¿es relevante la acción de "ir"? ¿o lo importante es la compra?
    ¿Y en inglés?
    I went to buy a bottle of wine / I bought a bottle of wine. ¿Cuál es la más apropiada si mi atención se centra en que compré una botella de vino ayer?
    gengo said:
    "Yesterday when I went to get out of bed..."
    Click to expand...
    Interesting, I would've never said it so!
     
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