To drive or not to drive?
I want to discuss another verb which is used differently between Spanish and English (to drive) but first I need to clarify something: where I live (in Spain) "to drive a car" is translated as "conducir un coche". But that's not true in all Spanish speaking countries. For example, in Mexico it's usually "manejar un carro" and in Argentina "a car" is usually "un auto". I'm going to use the "conducir un coche" construction for this topic, but the main idea is the same in all countries:
You don't usually "drive someone somewhere" using the verb "to drive" in Spanish.
So first of all, when do you use the verb "to drive"? Answer: when you are talking about driving and not taking people places. For example:
1. Conduzco 20 millas todos los días = I drive 20 miles every day.
2. No me gusta conducir = I don't like to drive.
3. Conduces demasiado rápido = You drive too fast.
Now comes the part where you don't use the verb "to drive". You usually use the verb "llevar" which means "take something or someone someone" in the sense of transportation. Notice the differences between the Spanish and English translations below:
English
1. I'll drive you to work tomorrow.
2. We drove our children to school early yesterday.
3. I'm going to drive him to his new house tomorrow.
Spanish
1. Te llevaré al trabajo (en el coche) mañana.
2. Llevamos a los niños al colegio temprano ayer (en el coche).
3. Lo voy a llevar a su nueva casa mañana (en el coche).
The "en el coche" part is in parentheses because it's optional. If it's understood that a car is being used, you don't say it. Example sentence number one will be simply "Te llevaré al trabajo mañana" if both people understand that a car will be used.
So the error is "Te conduciré al trabajo mañana" which is Spanglish. "Te llevaré al trabajo mañana" is Spanish. This is a common mistake for English speakers learning Spanish.
Brad
