# mimar (dar cariño)



## mulan_

Hello guys! 

I'd like to know how to say "mimar" in English, the sentence would be "Le encanta que le mimen y le traten con cariño".

My attempt "She love being (pamper/fussed over?) and be treated with affection" It sounds really bad but I can't think in other way... Plus as my understanding of  the rest of threads I've read, pamper and spoil is the same as "consentir", which has nothing to do with this meaning of mimar, am I right?

Could you give me an example of how to use "fuss over" as "mimar"?

Thanks in advance

Mulan


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## Södertjej

She loves to be cuddled? Es más bien achuchar, pero va un poco en la misma línea que hacer mimitos y no se me ocurre otra cosa.


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## mulan_

¡Muchas gracias Sodertjej! Suena bien, la verdad es que no se me ocurrió, pero ahora que lo dices sí que podría expresar lo mismo... ¿Alguien me puede confirmar si se podrían usar pamper o fuss over en este contexto? ¿Y un ejemplillo de cómo usar fuss over? Es que lo he buscado en los foros pero no encuentro nada.... 

¡¡Gracias a todos!!


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## Ming Dang Go

Question for english speakers:

Could be 'she loves to be petted' acceptable for " ser mimada "? 
When and where can you use this verb?

Thanks.


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## Bevj

Yo diría que se usa 'to pet' hablando de mascotas.

Contestando a mulan, creo que 'fuss over' está bien; 'pamper' suena un poco anticuado pero también sirve.


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## gengo

mulan_ said:


> Le encanta que le mimen y le traten con cariño.
> 
> My attempt "She loves being pampered/fussed over and be treated with affection"



Your version (with corrections) sounds OK, but I would translate it as "She loves to be spoiled and treated with affection."


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## Södertjej

But be spoiled has nothing to do with mimar meaning "hacer mimos" which is what we're discussing here.


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## sueca1

mulan_ said:


> .. Alguien me puede confirmar si se podrian usar pamper o fuss over en este contexto? y un ejemplillo de como usar fuss over?? Esq lo he buscado en los foros pero no encuentro nada....


 
en cuanto a "fuss over" , to give someone/something excessive attention, more than the necessary in time, gifts, flattering comments, etc.   Often used about a child, e.g.  her grandmother really fussed over her.    She used to fuss a lot with her paper dolls, dressing and undressing them, moving them from place to place, and always putting them away in tissue paper.   She fussed a lot with her hair.     etc.


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## gengo

Södertjej said:


> But be spoiled has nothing to do with mimar meaning "hacer mimos" which is what we're discussing here.



I disagree.  I don't think it has anything to do with physical cuddling, since the original poster used the words pamper/spoil.  But I could be wrong, so I guess we need more input from the original poster.

And by the way, one of the meanings of "to spoil someone" is to pamper them and treat them with indulgence, which is one of the meanings of mimar.


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## Södertjej

Aren't we mixing up two things? 

1. Mimar -> consentir, malcriar: giving a child everything he ever wants, letting it do whaterver he wants. To spoil
2. Mimar -> hacer mimos -> cuddling, kissing, hugging, caressing a child, a pet, a lover, a physical expression of love and tenderness. No idea what that is called in English.

The OP did mean mimar as in hacer mimos, not as in spoil.


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## gengo

Södertjej said:


> Aren't we mixing up two things?
> 
> 1. Mimar -> consentir, malcriar: giving a child everything he ever wants, letting it do whaterver he wants. To spoil
> 2. Mimar -> hacer mimos -> cuddling, kissing, hugging, caressing a child, a pet, a lover, a physical expression of love and tenderness. No idea what that is called in English.
> 
> The OP did mean mimar as in hacer mimos, not as in spoil.



I'm afraid you are misunderstanding the word spoil.  It does mean consentir/malcriar, but it also means to indulge someone.  For example:

_-My husband is so good to me.  He buys me flowers every week, paints my toenails, and takes me out to dinner a lot.  He really spoils me.
_
That is, it does not always mean to ruin a person by overindulgence, and can mean to treat a person very affectionately.


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## Södertjej

gengo said:


> I'm afraid you are misunderstanding the word spoil.  It does mean consentir/malcriar, but it also means to indulge someone.  For example:
> 
> _-My husband is so good to me.  He buys me flowers every week, paints my toenails, and takes me out to dinner a lot.  He really spoils me._


I'm focusing on mimar meaning hacer mimos which has nothing to do with flowers or taking someone out for dinner: it's about cuddling and kissing and hugging. Which is what the OP means as she confirmed on post nº 3 where she says achuchar would convey a similar meaning. 

Would you use spoil for that?


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## gengo

Södertjej said:


> I'm focusing on mimar meaning hacer mimos which has nothing to do with flowers or taking someone out for dinner: it's about cuddling and kissing and hugging. Would you use spoil for that?



No, I wouldn't.  But I don't think cuddling is what the context is here (though I could be mistaken).  From post #1:

_"Le encanta que le mimen y le traten con cariño".

My attempt "She love being (pamper/fussed over?) and be treated with affection"_ 

My impression is that the person is an adult, and that she likes for people (probably the men in her life) to treat her like a queen.  Otherwise, why would the original poster have chosen the English verbs pamper and fuss over?


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## Södertjej

gengo said:


> No, I wouldn't.  But *I don't think cuddling is what the context is here *(though I could be mistaken).  From post #1:
> 
> _"Le encanta que le mimen y le traten con cariño"._


Yes it is, especially after I suggested achuchar, which is similar to hacer mimos. Please see post nº 3 where the OP says achuchar conveys a similar idea. 

I still don't know how you say mimar/hacer mimos  in English anyway.

No idea why the OP chose those verbs, maybe because she found them in a dictionary? But the thing is she found achuchar ok as an alternative, which has nothing with being a woman who loves to be taken out for dinner to expensive places. The OP might as well be talking about a cute and sweet female kitten.


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## sueca1

Ming Dang Go said:


> Question for english speakers:
> 
> Could be 'she loves to be petted' acceptable for " ser mimada "?
> When and where can you use this verb?
> 
> .


Used about people, petting can imply a sexual touching, kissing, etc. which is not the intent in this sentence, nor a translation of mimar, as far as I know.


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## gengo

Södertjej said:


> Yes it is, especially after I suggested achuchar, which is similar to hacer mimos. Please see post nº 3 where the OP says achuchar conveys a similar idea.
> 
> I still don't know how you say mimar/hacer mimos  in English anyway.



If that is the case, then I don't understand the context at all, or how "Le encanta que le mimen y le traten con cariño" fits into that context.  Who are the "ellos" that go with the verbs?  And who is the "ella" that is the subject?  The answers to those questions will determine the proper translation.


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## Södertjej

We don't have a clear context but whether it's a woman, a little girl or a puppy "they" is not to be taken literally, it would be a passive in English. 

A mi perro le encanta que le rasquen las orejas. A mi perro le encanta que le mimen. Who does that to him is not the point, it's some kind of "impersonal" they, which will no doubt become passive in English.

Btw, WR offers mimoso for cuddly so you can see there's a connection.


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## sueca1

gengo said:


> No, I wouldn't. But I don't think cuddling is what the context is here (though I could be mistaken). From post #1:
> 
> _"Le encanta que le mimen y le traten con cariño"._
> 
> _My attempt "She love*s* being (pamper*ed*/fussed over?) and bei*ng* treated with affection"_
> 
> My impression is that the person is an adult, and that she likes for people (probably the men in her life) to treat her like a queen. Otherwise, why would the original poster have chosen the English verbs pamper and fuss over?


 
I agree with Gengo.  My version:  She loves being spoiled and treated with affection.  (*Pampered* and *fussed over* could also be used with similar meaning, but I think *spoiled* sounds best.)


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## gengo

Södertjej said:


> We don't have a clear context but whether it's a woman, a little girl or a puppy "they" is not to be taken literally, it would be a passive in English.



Yes, I understand that, but my point is that depending on who is doing the verb, the translation may change.  For example, adult lovers often "spoon," while a parent and child "snuggle" (as can adults).

Without more context, I personally can't translate this sentence.


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## Södertjej

And I, as a Spanish native speaker and after what Mulan said, just don't think that's the meaning of mimar we're discussing here. It's true we need more context. 

Gengo: In Spanish the subject is not relevant so I assume there's no verb you could use for "hacer mimos" in general?  Would you use snuggle for pets too?


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## Bevj

The answer is for mulan to give us some more context so we can see exactly what sort of attention the person who is subject of the sentence really likes.


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## craig10

hacer mimos doesn't really have a good english translation, it means to be shown affection, as in cuddling, kissing, hugging, caressing a child, a pet, a lover, a physical expression of love and tenderness as Sodertej says.

To me, spoiled or pampered sounds as good as anything. Definately don't use 'to pet' due to it's sexual connotations if you're talking about a person.


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## Masood

I was doing one of my numerous transcripts recently, one of which was entitled "_Gatitos que manipulan a los seres humanos_". It started off with:


> Los gatos, estos lindos y elegantes animales que nos hacen compañía, que nos *miman *con sus caricias y sus dulces maullidos, no son tan generosos como parecen. Según un estudio recién publicado en la revista _Current Biology_, los gatos abusan de los humanos.



I think I would translate this as:


> Cats; those cute and elegant creatures that keep us company, that fuss over us with their caresses and sweet miaows...



"fuss over", here, means 'to give excessive (affectionate) attention to', to mollycoddle, etc.
I hesitate to use "pamper" as this normally implies giving gifts etc, which a pet couldn't do.

Does that help any?


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## Ynez

She said something like "it's not like _consentir_, is it?", but I personally think mulan is just confused.

I see "mimar" in the thread's sentence with the idea of _spoil/pamper_, etc. Maybe this use in Spanish is just much more normal than in English? But that would still be the idea.


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## Södertjej

The title is mimar (dar cariño), and dar cariño, as far as I know, is not about giving presents. I see clearly what Mulan meant in Spanish.


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## Masood

Södertjej said:


> The title is mimar (dar cariño), and dar cariño, as far as I know, is not about giving presents. I see clearly what Mulan meant in Spanish.


If the original meaning is 'physical affection' (touching, cuddling, kissing etc) and it is about people, you might say _canoodle, smootch_ (possibly?).

I guess more context is needed.


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## purple escargot

gengo said:


> If that is the case, then I don't understand the context at all, or how "Le encanta que le mimen y le traten con cariño" fits into that context.  Who are the "ellos" that go with the verbs?  And who is the "ella" that is the subject?  The answers to those questions will determine the proper translation.



Because the first poster is asking wrong, I guess he/she means "le encanta que le den mimos" the expresion is "dar mimos" not "hacer mimos" or anything else.

So anybody got a conclusion?


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## gengo

purple escargot said:


> Because the first poster is asking wrong, I guess he/she means "le encanta que le den mimos" the expresion is "dar mimos" not "hacer mimos" or anything else.
> 
> So anybody got a conclusion?



I think the overall consensus was that we can't translate "dar mimos" properly without knowing the exact situation:  who is doing what to whom and for what purpose.  There are various ways to express the idea in English.


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## FlamencoFire

I've always translated 'mimar' as 'to baby'.


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## mulan_

Well.... First of all sorry for the late answer, I didn't realised I had more responses till I got an email a few weeks ago! I think *Södertjej* was right in what he suggested. The subject is a person and it has physical implications. 

Basically mimar has two meanings as *Södertjej* pointed out, to give affection (cuddle) or to spoil (in the bad sense of the word). I was referring to the first one in this case. I don't think pamper or spoil (as in indulge) would work here as they don't imply physical affection. I would translate mimar as to cuddle, that is "she likes cuddles" or "she likes to be cuddled and treated with affection".

Hope it helps!


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## jmolinero

You could say *She loves being the center of attention*. If your context makes it clear that *She* is a baby, then this will imply that she loves it when people give her the kind of attention that a baby receives (cariños).


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## mulan_

I know what you mean but this was not the case, not sure if I didn't explain myself. She is an adult woman and that is for example what a friend could say to her 'boyfriend' (in a very early stage of the relationship) as an advice if he wants to keep her.


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## jmolinero

Ah yes, very helpful to know that. In that case, I would suggest *She likes it when you show your affection*, or a slightly different meaning but leading to the same point, *She likes a guy that is romantic* (as my wife would say).


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## xhizors

How about: "She loves being given tender loving care"?


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