Spanish negarse a = refuse / will not - won't (refusal)
This is a common mistake in Spanish for intermediate and advanced learners:
English has a special use of the future tense (will) which does NOT translate into Spanish. In English, when we want to emphasize that someone habitually refuses to do something, we can use the future tense, as in:
"He won't accept a job as a gardener", or "she won't eat broccoli". Both of these sentences could be reworded in English as "He refuses to accept a job as a gardener" or "she refuses to eat broccoli" and imply that this is an ongoing situation while not referring to any specific situation in the future. When this is the case, we use the reflexive verb "negarse a" which means "to refuse". The future in Spanish is NOT used in this situation. Some examples:
English
1. He just won't listen to me. (meaning 'he never listens to me')
2. He won't accept a job as a gardener. (meaning 'he refuses to accept that job ever')
3. She won't eat broccoli. (meaning 'she never eats broccoli')
4. They just won't pay attention to the math teacher. (meaning 'they never pay attention to him')
5. They won't come here when my father is at home. (meaning 'they never come when he's there')
Spanish
1. Se niega a escucharme. (wrong: No me escuchará)
2. Se niega a aceptar un trabajo como jardinero. (wrong: No aceptará un trabajo como jardinero)
3. Se niega a comer broccoli. (wrong: No comerá broccoli)
4. Se niegan a prestarle atención al profesor de matemáticas. (wrong: No le prestarán atención...)
5. Se niegan a pasar por aquí cuando mi padre está en casa. (wrong: No pasarán por aquí cuando...)
Brad
