It's usually obvious from.the context who/what "it" is. People do say "yo gusto" but like "yo te gusto?" Do you like me? And sometimes to be cute "tu gustas?" which is incorrect. These examples are not passive voice. "Se gusta?" meaning "is it liked?" is passive voice. Any disagreements will be referred to my daughter, the Spanish teacher.
An improvement on my earlier comment "se me cayó la taza" would be "the cup was fallen on me" which is also passive voice and also makes responsibility ambiguous. Every time I write "passive", Android mail client auto-completes it as "passive aggressive". Frank --- Frank C. Wimberly 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, Santa Fe, NM 87505 505 670-9918 Santa Fe, NM On Fri, Aug 7, 2020, 4:43 PM Edward Angel <an...@cs.unm.edu> wrote: > Literally it says “it pleases me” which is the passive voice leading to > the question who is “it?" > _______________________ > > Ed Angel > > Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory > (ARTS Lab) > Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico > > 1017 Sierra Pinon > Santa Fe, NM 87501 > 505-984-0136 (home) an...@cs.unm.edu > 505-453-4944 (cell) http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel > > On Aug 7, 2020, at 4:30 PM, Gary Schiltz <g...@naturesvisualarts.com> > wrote: > > I'm no grammar expert, even in my native English, but I don't believe "me > gusta el cafe" is using passive voice. It literally says "coffee pleases > me". Comments, Frank? But then, I may be confused about what passive voice > is. > > On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 5:23 PM Angel Edward <edward.an...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Isn’t it a consequence of the routine use of the passive voice in Spanish >> as in “me gusta” instead of “yo gusto?” >> >> The passive voice is pretty much gone in textbooks but I occasionally I >> get objections from Spanish speakers who claim my textbook can’t be serious >> because I don’t use the passive voice. >> >> Ed >> __________ >> >> Ed Angel >> >> Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory (ARTS >> Lab) >> Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico >> >> 1017 Sierra Pinon >> Santa Fe, NM 87501 >> 505-984-0136 (home) edward.an...@gmail.com >> 505-453-4944 (cell) http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel >> >> On Aug 7, 2020, at 4:17 PM, Gary Schiltz <g...@naturesvisualarts.com> >> wrote: >> >> Despite living in a Spanish speaking country for 12 years, I still >> struggle mightily with Spanish grammar. This is mainly due to laziness on >> my part, as well as lack of necessity to immerse myself in the language >> (there are a lot of English speakers here, not to mention expat groups on >> Facebook in English). Still, Spanish is *so* much more consistent in all >> respects than English - pronunciation especially. But the reflexive verbs >> are still somewhat of a mystery to me. I've wondered exactly the same thing >> that Frank mentioned: does "the cup fell itself on me" and "the pencil >> broke itself on mf" represent desire to avoid responsibility? Maybe even >> blame the victim? Ouch! Your nose nearly broke my fist! >> >> On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 2:06 PM Tom Johnson <t...@jtjohnson.com> wrote: >> >>> Or the equally famous Spanish phrase, "The pencil broke itself." A >>> phrase which you think I would remember. >>> TJ >>> >>> ============================================ >>> Tom Johnson - t...@jtjohnson.com >>> Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA >>> 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) >>> *NM Foundation for Open Government* <http://nmfog.org/> >>> *Check out It's The People's Data >>> <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Its-The-Peoples-Data/1599854626919671>* >>> >>> ============================================ >>> >>> >>> >>> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon> >>> Virus-free. >>> www.avast.com >>> <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link> >>> >>> On Fri, Aug 7, 2020 at 12:55 PM Frank Wimberly <wimber...@gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> In Spanish if you drop your cup you say, "See me cayó la taza". A >>>> literal word--for-word translation is "The cup fell itself on me". Some >>>> people say this is an effort to avoid responsibility. >>>> >>>> Frank >>>> >>>> --- >>>> Frank C. Wimberly >>>> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, >>>> Santa Fe, NM 87505 >>>> >>>> 505 670-9918 >>>> Santa Fe, NM >>>> >>>> On Fri, Aug 7, 2020, 9:01 AM Barry MacKichan < >>>> barry.mackic...@mackichan.com> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Very much so. We hired a grad student a long time ago (he stayed with >>>>> us until he retired). He wrote great Pascal programs. He wrote great >>>>> Pascal >>>>> programs in C++, and in JavaScript. The effect of your first programming >>>>> language on style, idioms, and your feelings about recursion and >>>>> encapsulation. >>>>> >>>>> —Barry >>>>> >>>>> On 6 Aug 2020, at 23:24, thompnicks...@gmail.com wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Nah. He means more than that. Even ordinary languages predispose >>>>> users to one kind of discourse or another. I assume that programming >>>>> languages do the same. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> N >>>>> >>>>> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . >>>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>>> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam >>>>> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>>>> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >>>>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >>>>> >>>> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . >>>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>>> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam >>>> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>>> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >>>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >>>> >>> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . >>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >>> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam >>> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >>> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >>> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >>> >> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam >> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> >> >> - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam >> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >
- .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
