# I don't know how to say



## aloha-ya'll

Hola!
How would I say 'I don't know how to say' in really basic spanish. 
Context- '...and many other things that I don't know how to say.'
Ayudan por favor!


PS. Please write responses in english! I'm still a beginner at this. Gracias!


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## victoryvball10

well, i know that "no se" means i dont know.

sorry, thats all i know haha.


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## rq554

I don't know how to say = No se como decir


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## riglos

It'd be:

"... y muchas otras cosas que no sé decir."

Cheers!

Mara.-


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## morita8

I don't know how to say: Yo no se como decir
And many other things I don't know how to say: Y muchas otras cosas yo no se como decirlas


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## aloha-ya'll

uho! who's right here? I need to know for my exam tommorow. Which one would my teacher expect? I'm in a beginers spanish class. Ayudan! Gracias


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## rq554

'...and many other things that I don't know how to say.'
"...y muchas cosas mas que no se como decir"


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## morita8

I'm not sure I understand your message, but I'll try to figure it out somehow, 

who's right here?, quien esta ahi?

You better say: Yo no se como decir which means I don't know how to say


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## aloha-ya'll

What I was trying to ask was what would be the best way to say '...and many other things that I don't know how to say.'
I saw many different versions of this sentence in spanish and now I'm a bit confused which to use. Which would be most expected in a beginers spanish class? (i hope this made my question more clear) Thank you!


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## morita8

Ahh ok, the best translating is:

"...y muchas otras cosas que yo no se como decir"


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## aloha-ya'll

Thank you! What does como mean in this case? could I just say 'yo no se decir'? - Aloha


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## morita8

Como means "how"


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## Aquileo

Como literally means how (so it doesn't change meaning in this case).


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## morita8

nope, here it doesnt


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## Aquileo

I know you are a native so it wouldn't be smart for me to argue, but I am feeling stubborn and somehow I can't see how you could be right.  What does it mean then?


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## morita8

Are you doing a spanish course?


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## Aquileo

Me?  Yes, I'm in my fifth year of taking Spanish in school.


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## morita8

ahh good, and how are you doing in spanish?


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## Aquileo

Is this a trick question?  I am doing very well in Spanish.  It has always been easy for me and I am one of the top ones in the class.  In fact, I come here because I get a little bored in my class.  Thanks for asking but why do you ask?


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## morita8

I don't know, I just wanted to make you a question, and I thought I'd ask you that, why a trick question?


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## Aquileo

I don't know, I was hoping you'd give me the answer of what como means in that situation.  So what does como mean in that situation?


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## Reina140

"Como" does mean how in this case

Yo no sé como decir . . . . I don't know how to say

Como y Cómo ---they are different . .  only because the first is in a declarative statement and the latter is interrogative.


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## Aquileo

Oh, tricky, OK, I knew that, but I didn't know that that's what you were getting at.

I thought you were saying that "como" in _no sé como decir_ did not mean how.  I was wondering how that could be possible   Now that I've butchered this small detail, I'm going to stop posting about it.  Good night!


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## Reina140

Aquileo said:


> Oh, tricky, OK, I knew that, but I didn't know that that's what you were getting at.


 
I wasn't . . . I'm new to this thread . . . I was only backing you


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## Reina140

morita8 said:


> Are you TAKing a spanish course?


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## Reina140

Aquileo said:


> Oh, tricky, OK, I knew that, but I didn't know that that's what you were getting at.
> 
> I thought you were saying that "como" in _no sé como decir_ did not mean how. I was wondering how that could be possible  Now that I've butchered this small detail, I'm going to stop posting about it. Good night!


 

I believe you are correct . . . don't go to bed YET!


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## Aquileo

Oh, well thanks Reina.  Sorry, I didn't even look at who posted that.  Morita was going back and forth with me so I just thought it was her posting again hehe.


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## Reina140

morita8 said:


> Como means "how"


?????


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## Reina140

morita8 said:


> nope, here it doesnt


????????????


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## Reina140

No sé lo que estás intentando hacer aquí!!! Quieres confundir alguien?


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## Aquileo

Jeje sí, yo quiero saber eso también porque estoy confundido por eso.  Parece una contradicción (es una palabra?).

Oh, well, I'll wait 'til tomorrow as it appears she has left for the night.


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## Reina140

Aquileo said:


> Jeje sí, yo quiero saber eso también porque estoy confundido por eso. Parece una contradicción (es una palabra?).


 
Sí . . tienes razón . . Morita me está confundiendo MUCHO!


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## riglos

Well, first off, sorry for butting in on this discussion, but I think there has been a real misunderstanding here, which needs clarification.

Aloha posted:


> Thank you! What does como mean in this case? could I just say 'yo no se decir'? - Aloha


 
Morita8 answered:



> Como means "how"


 
,which is the right answer, except for the fact that "cómo" should be stressed in this context.

Since both Morita and Aquileo were posting at the same time (4:42 AM), we got this answer from Aquileo, which is also correct, since it agrees with what Morita had said in her previous post:



> Como literally means how (so it doesn't change meaning in this case).


 
To which Morita replied (and here starts the confussion):



> nope, here it doesnt


 
IMHO, what Morita meant to say, was:

Right, "como" doesn't change meaning in this case, thus agreeing with Aquileo's post.

But Aquileo interpreted it as:

Nope, here "como" doesn't literally mean "how".

And so the confusion started, which can be inferred from Aquileo's following post:



> I know you are a native so it wouldn't be smart for me to argue, but I am feeling stubborn and somehow I can't see how you could be right. What does it mean then?


 
Again, probably because of having been simultaneously writing replies to posts, we get this question from Morita:



> Are you doing a spanish course?


 

,which was - again probably- (I'm just inferring and trying to clear up the situation here) aimed at the thread starter (Aloha), since the poster had made a previous reference to "being on a Spanish course". And, in any case, even if this question had been aimed at Aquileo, I'm sure it was just out of curiosity and free from any kind of ill will.

The discussion that ensued afterwards was a result of further misinterpretations of posts. Aquileo's answer to Morita's question was:



> Me? Yes, I'm in my fifth year of taking Spanish in school.


 
Morita's reply:



> ahh good, and how are you doing in spanish?


 
I imagine Aquileo interpreted this as an ironic comment and it's perfectly understandable where he's coming from when he asks:



> Is this a trick question? I am doing very well in Spanish. It has always been easy for me and I am one of the top ones in the class. In fact, I come here because I get a little bored in my class. Thanks for asking but why do you ask?


 

Morita, overlooking the fact that her comment could have been interpreted as an irony, replies:



> I don't know, I just wanted to make you a question, and I thought I'd ask you that, why a trick question?


 
There's yet another misunderstanding when Reina joins the thread and Aquileo thinks he's still replying to Morita:



> Oh, well thanks Reina. Sorry, I didn't even look at who posted that. Morita was going back and forth with me so I just thought it was her posting again hehe.


 
It's evident from Reina's following posts that she interpreted Morita's replies in the same way as Aquileo had done previously:



> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *morita8* [URL]http://forum.wordreference.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif[/URL]
> Como means "how"
> 
> ?????


 


> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *morita8* [URL]http://forum.wordreference.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif[/URL]
> nope, here it doesnt
> 
> ????????????


 


> No sé lo que estás intentando hacer aquí!!! Quieres confundir alguien?


 


> Sí . . tienes razón . . Morita me está confundiendo MUCHO!


 

I reckon you've been a little hard on Morita, since all she was doing was trying to help. And, in fact, this has all been a great misunderstanding for, in the end you all agree on this subject! Just a piece of advice to all forum members: Try to read carefully whenever you get a reply. Usually posters are just trying to be helpful and doing their best. Due to language and cultural differences, we're all likely to misinterpret what someone says now and then. Also, try to always check previous and following posts to avoid overlooking simultaneous posts and misunderstandings of this sort.

That said, just a side comment: I'm just trying to help and promote understanding among forum members here. In no way is this post intended as harmful or offensive to anyone. If I have been wrong in my interpretation of the situation, I kindly ask you to let me know.

Cheers to all!

Mara.-


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## riglos

And ... one more thing. Reina said:



> "Como" does mean how in this case I agree, but stressed.
> 
> Yo no sé como decir . . . . I don't know how to say I agree.
> 
> Como y Cómo ---they are different . . only because the first is in a declarative statement and the latter is interrogative. Mmmm... not quite so.


 
In fact, in this case "cómo" should be stressed. Even if it is in a declarative statement, it is still an interrogative adverb, thus carrying stress. This "cómo" is different from the one found in:

"Como que no vengas, te mato."

or

"La laguna como cristal espejado." (Comparison)

In all the following examples, "cómo" should be stressed:

"¿Cómo te fue en el examen?"
"¡Cómo llueve!"
"No sabemos cómo seguir adelante."

Cheers!

Mara.-


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## Aquileo

Wow!  Thank you very much for that explanation, riglos (or Mara?).  I _did _interpret all that just exactly as you said, and I didn't know that Morita was agreeing with me until you pointed that out.  It's amazing how big misunderstandings come out of one little misinterpretation.  Not that this is a big misunderstanding, but it did go pretty far.  Sorry for the confusion!  I'll try to read more carefully next time, but I'm not sure that would've done anything in this case since my gut feeling was to interpret Morita's message the way I did.

That post by riglos was so enlightening!


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## Reina140

I reckon you've been a little hard on Morita, since all she was doing was trying to help. And, in fact, this has all been a great misunderstanding for, in the end you all agree on this subject! Just a piece of advice to all forum members: Try to read carefully whenever you get a reply. Usually posters are just trying to be helpful and doing their best. Due to language and cultural differences, we're all likely to misinterpret what someone says now and then. Also, try to always check previous and following posts to avoid overlooking simultaneous posts and misunderstandings of this sort.

I don't believe simply saying that someone has confused me qualifies as being hard on them. I was simply confused as to why the posts seemed to contradict each other. Timing is a lot with these posts and can definitely cause confusion. I was not trying to "be hard on" or offend anyone in any way . . . simply trying to figure out Morita's intentions in her posts. I reread over them and it is confusing and it was late, so maybe we were all a little too sleepy !!!!


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## morita8

Haha, thanks for the message Mara, yeah, it's true, I think everyone was a little confused yesterday, but now I understood what was the problem, well...have a nice day!

Bye


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## Alphadan

I see you guys hate lurking, but that's not a good reason for you to start spamming like billy-o... I mean there have been 1-word replies which were completely daft , and that's rather pointless. Cut the crap... will you?


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## riglos

Alphadan said:


> I see you guys hate lurking, but that's not a good reason for you to start spamming like billy-o... I mean there have been 1-word replies which were completely daft , and that's rather pointless. Cut the crap... will you?


 
Mmmm... I'm afraid I don't quite see what you're getting at, Alphadan. Could you explain what you mean, please?

Thanks,

Mara.-


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## Alphadan

ummm, tell me what your failing to grasp and ill be more then willing to help you.


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## riglos

Well, I was just wondering who you were referring to when you posted your message, or at least to which post. 

Thanks, 

Mara.-


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## Alphadan

Well, if you scroll up a tiddly bit youll notice some guys have submitted rather pointless replies in which they have only written things to let us all know they got startled or something like that... We are not dim-witted, whats the point in boosting your post count yo guyz ?


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## riglos

Well, honestly, Alphadan, I don't see you're doing any different than what you're criticizing here.


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## Alphadan

So are you?


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## riglos

Sorry, was it me the one who criticized that? I must have missed it....


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## aloha-ya'll

Hi all! Amazing how one (I thought) rather simple question turns into a 3 page long forum! It was like watching a tennis match. hehe 
No offense meant to anyone, I just thought it was cool.  

And thank you, those who helped me out on my original question. My teacher really liked it that I went the extra mile to ask for help on here. 

Thanks Again!  
Adios!


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