# they would never think about trying to dominate others



## BlueMit11

"Ellos nunca pensarían en tratar a dominar otras"? o "Ellos nunca pensarían en tratando a dominar otras"?  O algo diferente?  

Gracias.


----------



## elprofe

I'm afraid your attempts are incorrect... 

Here you have four options:
_Ellos nunca pensarían en tratar DE dominar a otras personas_
_Ellos nunca pensarían en intentar dominar a otras personas_
_Nunca se les ocurriría tratar DE dominar a otras personas_
_Nunca se les ocurriría intentar dominar a otras personas_


----------



## aommoa

Ellos nunca pensarán/pensarían en (tratar de) dominar a otros


----------



## blasita

BlueMit11 said:


> "Ellos nunca pensarían en tratar a dominar otras"? o "Ellos nunca pensarían en tratando a dominar otras"?  O algo diferente?
> 
> Gracias.



Mi intento: _Ellos nunca pensarían en tratar de dominar a otros._

Saludos.

Edito: Coincido. Mandado al mismo tiempo.


----------



## k-in-sc

That sounds good, but you didn't like "Nunca se les ocurriría ..."?


----------



## gengo

k-in-sc said:


> That sounds good, but you didn't like "Nunca se les ocurriría ..."?



Wow, I was just going to write exactly the same thing.

The "think about" in this very common English phrase doesn't literally mean thinking.  It means that it would never dawn on them, never occur to them, to do that.


----------



## elprofe

k-in-sc said:


> That sounds good, but you didn't like "Nunca se les ocurriría ..."?


 
Thank you for taking me into account hahaha


----------



## k-in-sc

I guess the question then is how much "nunca pensarían en" overlaps with "nunca se les ocurriría."


----------



## gengo

Right.  Here are some other examples of this usage.

I would never think about (dream of) taking his girlfriend.
They would never think about hurting her.
She wouldn't even think of doing something like that.

From WR dictionary:
I wouldn't dream of borrowing money:  Ni se me ocurriría pedir dinero prestado.

"Dream of" is exactly the same as "think about" in this context.


----------



## elprofe

In Spanish, both sentences mean exactly the same thing...
Maybe the option with "ocurrir" is a little more emphatic


----------



## k-in-sc

Well, it seems to me that "nunca pensarían en" can be used like that, but I'd like to see what everybody says.
Edit: Yes, maybe "never think of" vs. "never dream of" is a good way to describe the difference.


----------



## elprofe

Well, in fact, two spanish-speakers suggested "nunca pensarían en"...


----------



## k-in-sc

I know, we're just trying to make sure we all mean the same thing.


----------



## gengo

elprofe said:


> Well, in fact, two spanish-speakers suggested "nunca pensarían en"...



As K says, we wanted to make sure that everyone understood that the English does not mean "they would never ponder/give thought to trying to dominate."  The actual meaning is a bit different from that.


----------



## elprofe

Ok, I get it... that is why I posed the option with "ocurrir"...


----------



## blasita

El matiz que yo veo entre “pensar” y “ocurrir” en español es que: _nunca pensarían_ significa que nunca imaginarían, considerarían la idea de dominar a otros, mientras que _nunca se les ocurriría_ es que no les vendría esta idea a la mente. Por lo que creo que ambos serían correctos.

Saludos.


----------



## k-in-sc

Thanks for clarifying, blasita!


----------



## duvija

No entendí bien lo que dijo Blasita. Con 'ocurrir' es 'ni se les pasa por la mente', pero con 'pensar' sí, se les pasa, pero la descartan? Si no, no veo la diferencia.


----------



## k-in-sc

Do you think they mean exactly the same?


----------



## elprofe

yes, I do...
Blasita may have found the difference between them (I don't know if I agree with her), but it is so insignificant that unless we need to be extremely precise, they both still mean the same.


----------



## blasita

elprofe said:


> yes, I do...
> Blasita may have found the difference between them (I don't know if I agree with her), but it is so insignificant that unless we need to be extremely precise, they both still mean the same.



Sí, en mi opinión hay un matiz (yo nunca he dicho que no tengan el mismo significado).

Básicamente, lo comenté para confirmar lo que Gengo había dicho:


> _As K says, we wanted to make sure that everyone understood that the English does not mean "they would never ponder/give thought to trying to dominate." The actual meaning is a bit different from that._


Es decir, que "pensar" no solo tiene esta acepción. Y de hecho, di mi opinión de que tanto "pensaría" como "ocurriría" podrían ser posibles.

Pero sí que pienso que puede haber un matiz entre ambos (pero como muchas cosas en cuestión de idiomas, es solamente mi opinión); p.ej.:

_Nunca pensaría en matarte._ (Nunca lo imaginaría)

_Nunca se me ocurriría matarte._ (Nunca se me vendría a la mente la idea de hacerlo y nunca lo haría)

Saludos a todos.


----------



## duvija

elprofe said:


> yes, I do...
> Blasita may have found the difference between them (I don't know if I agree with her), but it is so insignificant that unless we need to be extremely precise, they both still mean the same.


 

Creo que para mí la diferencia es como pretérito/imperfecto. "Ocurrir" es puntual, a partir de cierto momento. "Pensar" es algo que hacemos durante un buen tiempo, sin principio ni final.


----------



## elprofe

Yes, maybe the verb "pensar" indicates a whole process whereas "ocurrir" just indicates the "coming" of the idea...

Anyway, I still think that the verb "pensar" can also indicate that "coming" of the idea...

By the way, do you (spanish speakers specially) think that this difference is significant enough? If I were talking to a friend a mine, I would understand the same thing either if he said "pensar" or "ocurrir"...


----------



## duvija

elprofe said:


> Yes, maybe the verb "pensar" indicates a whole process whereas "ocurrir" just indicates the "coming" of the idea...
> 
> Anyway, I still think that the verb "pensar" can also indicate that "coming" of the idea...


 

"Ocurrir" is an inchoative (or 'change of state', at least). "Pensar" is not.


----------



## elprofe

Ok, apparently, I haven't taken the difference as "seriously" as you, since you are all focusing on the grammar and I am just focusing on the actual use (well, from my point of view) without thinking about the exact meanings of the verbs...


----------



## gengo

Thanks to all for explaining the usage of these verbs so thoroughly.  I wasn't fully aware that pensar could be used in this way, so I learned something from this thread.


----------



## blasita

duvija said:


> "Ocurrir" is an inchoative (or 'change of state', at least). "Pensar" is not.



Wow, Duvija, this is good!

(Pero hay un matiz, ¿no?)

Saludos a todos.


----------



## roanheads

They would never think about --- they would never consider trying to--


----------

