# He cenado con mi hermano



## cavewoman

¡Buenas!
Me gustaria saber cuál de las dos frases es correcta para la traducción de ésta: He cenado con mi hermano.
I dined with my brother. / I had dinner with my brother.
Si las dos son correctas, ¿cuál es la diferencia?

¡Gracias por la ayuda!


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## chamyto

Hola, nunca he visto I dined, siempre I _had dinner_.


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## ogeido

Hola, Cavewoman, Yo si he visto I dined , pero lo que sé es que éste es de un uso nétamente formal y quizás también algo anticuado, pero mejor esperemos que los nativos lo aclaren.

Saludos.


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## St. Nick

No, es un verbo de verdad: We dined by candlelight. Pero es un uso algo afectado.


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## cavewoman

La verdad es que "I dined" me sonaba bastante raro - a pesar de mi poco conocimiento en la lengua inglesa -, pero pesquisando había encontrado esa forma de decirlo. Bueno, mejor será que use "I had dinner", por ser más utilizado.
¡Muchas gracias Chamyto, Ogeido y St. Nick!
¡Que tengáis una excelente Nochevieja y un maravilloso 2012!


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## ogeido

cavewoman said:


> ¡Que tengáis una excelente Nochevieja y un maravilloso 2012!


Muchas gracias Cavewoman, son mis mismos deseos para ti y a todos los demás en este hilo y foro, que la pasen bien, y de veras que tú en Europa lo celebrarás primero que yo.  ( si eres de Brasil también  )


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## ducpiloti

He cenado con mi hermano = I have dined with my brother

http://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb_conjugation/cenar

("supper" is not too commonly used here in the United States)


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## cavewoman

¡Me será muy útil ese enlace, Ducpiloti! ¡Gracias y mis mejores deseos a tí también!
Ogeido, gracias una vez más. ¡Sois todos muy amables! Ahora estoy en Brasil, así que será poca la diferencia de celebración.


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## roxcyn

Hola, "to dine" suele usar con una manera formal por ejemplo con su marido o novio(a).  "I wined and dined her, but she wouldn't go out on another date with me".

"He cenado con mi hermano" - I've eaten dinner (supper) with my brother, I ate dinner (supper) with my brother.
I've dined with my brother o I dined with my brother está bien, pero es formal.


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## roxcyn

ducpiloti said:


> He cenado con mi hermano = I have dined with my brother
> 
> http://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb_conjugation/cenar
> 
> ("supper" is not too commonly used here in the United States)



En mi ciudad sí se usa, pero creo que se usa más "dinner".  A veces se usa apodos por dinner, por ejemplo "dinnie din din" o algo así chistoso.


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## ogeido

Is _supper _also a verb itself ? I remember hearing it used in a british documentary, I found it odd, but maybe I just misheard what the narrator said  , I remember hearing : " after suppering at the Ritz Hotel ..."


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## horsewishr

In my small part of the world, there is sometimes confusion between dinner and supper.  Some of my older patients use the word dinner to refer to lunch.  And "supper" is what most people call dinner.  (They eat three meals a day: breakfast, dinner, and supper.)  I have no idea if this is common in other parts of the country.  It had never heard it before I moved here.


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## St. Nick

ogeido said:


> Is _supper _also a verb itself ? I remember hearing it used in a british documentary, I found it odd, but maybe I just misheard what the narrator said  , I remember hearing : " after suppering at the Ritz Hotel ..."


That's a good question, Ogeido.  And, yes, "to sup" is a verb, and if we had just finished wolfing down a lot food at the Ritz, we could say, "After supping at the Ritz, ...."  Of course, if we were to say that, people might think we were puttin' on the Ritz a little.


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## Wandering JJ

En BrE, 'I had dinner with my brother (last night)' is the commonest way to say 'He cenado con mi hermano ayer.' If it's the same night, then 'I've (already) had dinner with my brother.'

'To dine' is rather formal in the UK, as indicated by other foreros.

Concerning the names of the meals and following on from horsewishr's post, the norm in England is three meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, there are significant variations depending on geography and _nivel social_. In the north of the country, it is common to speak of: breakfast, dinner and tea. These names are also used in some parts of the south, as are breakfast, lunch and tea. Supper is used in different ways: either a light meal just before retiring, or something closer to dinner. It really is confusing.


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## St. Nick

I think farming families eat their largest meal at midday when they truly need the calories and have a lighter meal, their supper, in the evening.


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## inib

horsewishr said:


> In my small part of the world, there is sometimes confusion between dinner and supper. Some of my older patients use the word dinner to refer to lunch. And "supper" is what most people call dinner. (They eat three meals a day: breakfast, dinner, and supper.) I have no idea if this is common in other parts of the country. It had never heard it before I moved here.


In many parts of the UK there is also confusion regarding "dinner". Usually it's the main, hot meal of the day but it can be at mid-day or in the evening, so some families have breakfast, lunch and dinner (in that order) and others have breakfast, dinner and tea. In UK, the word "supper" is less used nowadays (I'm not sure about the north), and I never used it when I was living there, but I do use it now to refer to my last meal of the day in Spain, because it's so late (around 10pm) - you can hardly call that "tea", can you?
And back to the original question, I think it is more common to use "to have..." with any of these meals than the verbs _to breakfast,to dine, to lunch, to sup_ (and I don't think _to tea_ exists)
EDIT: Others have posted while I was writing this. Sorry for any repetition


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## St. Nick

In the U.S.A., we usually "scarf" or "wolf down" our breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Of course, I routinely forgo mealtimes and just climb into bed with a gallon of ice cream at around 4 a.m.


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## Wandering JJ

inib said:


> EDIT: Others have posted while I was writing this. Sorry for any repetition


Thank Goodness we said the same thing! One family I knew use to have breakfast, luncheon, tea (about 16:00h) and supper (about 19:00h). I think this sort of pattern has virtually disappeared as more married/partnered women are now at work all day.


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## Wandering JJ

St. Nick said:


> In the U.S.A., we usually "scarf" or "wolf down" our breakfast, lunch and dinner. Of course, I routinely forgo mealtimes and just climb into bed with a gallon of ice cream at around 4 a.m.


Isn't it 'scoff' - pronounced like 'scalf' in the US?


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## horsewishr

Wandering JJ said:


> Isn't it 'scoff' - pronounced like 'scalf' in the US?





Not here.  It's scarf:





> *Scarf* verb [ trans. ] informal
> eat or drink (something) hungrily or enthusiastically _: he scarfed down the waffles._





It looks like scoff is used the same way.  But to me scoff is used like this:





> scoff verb [ intrans. ]
> speak to someone or about something in a scornfully derisive or mocking way _:department officials scoffed at the allegations _| [with direct speech ] _“You, a scientist?” he scoffed._


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## Wandering JJ

Seems as though 'scarf' in the eating sense is US and possible S. African. This is what the online Etym. Dictionary says:

_"eat hastily," 1960, U.S. teen slang, originally a noun meaning "food, meal" (1932), perhaps imitative, or from scoff (attested in a similar sense from 1846). Or perhaps from a dial. survival of O.E. sceorfan "to gnaw, bite" (see scarf (2)); a similar word is found in a S.African context in the 1600s. 

_Thanks for the clarification.


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## cavewoman

¡Vaya! Se aprende mucho aquí en WR. ¡Gracias también a vosotros, Roxcyn, Horsewishr, Inib y Wandering JJ!
¡Un Feliz 2012!


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## St. Nick

No, no, no—none of that _'scoff'_ business.  We in the U.S.A. are far too refined for elocution of such an insipidly parochial predicate.  The finite form of the infinitive _'to scarf'_ is clearly not derivative, but onomatopoeic.  If you listen rather closely, you’ll find that diligent auditive processing proves this verb to be remarkably representational of the sound we Americans create either when feasting in celebratory fashion or when merely regaling ourselves by way of a light wee-hours repast. Although at heart we are boldly epicurean, we take etiquette in the gastronomical sense quite seriously.  Even my own comestibles-associated conventions have at least at one time or another been alluded to as petite or gustatorily eloquent.   Take, for instance, the mention of my predawn ice cream forays contributed in post #17.  At the time of writing, I didn’t care to expand on the topic for fear that the Brits may have in consequence fallen victim to envy or might have even mistaken my good intentions as needless boasting.  However, since the subject again has recently been broached, please permit me to elaborate.  On more than several occasions, I have awoken to the buzz of my alarm clock and have found the partially filled card-stock ice cream container still perfectly perched in the middle of my chest, yet in absolute pristine condition, no less, and with the spoon still readied for faithful deployment.  Now how’s that for sheer elegance in dining!


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## roxcyn

ogeido said:


> Is _supper _also  a verb itself ? I remember hearing it used in a british documentary, I  found it odd, but maybe I just misheard what the narrator said  , I  remember hearing : " after suppering at the Ritz Hotel ..."



¡Hola! No sé usa aquí en mi parte de los EEUU. (to sup).  Y tuve que buscarla en el diccionario para averiguar si existe, sí "to sup" significar "cenar", pero no se usa aquí según mi experiencia nativa.  Suele decir "to have/eat dinner" o "to have/eat supper" 




horsewishr said:


> In my small part of the world, there is sometimes confusion between dinner and supper.  Some of my older patients use the word dinner to refer to lunch.  And "supper" is what most people call dinner.  (They eat three meals a day: breakfast, dinner, and supper.)  I have no idea if this is common in other parts of the country.  It had never heard it before I moved here.



Vivo en OH y nunca he oído esto antes. Aunque tal vez sea así con los ancianos.  Lo normal es: "breakfast", "lunch", y "dinner".


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## ribran

roxcyn said:


> ¡Hola! No sé usa aquí en mi parte de los EEUU. (to sup).  Y tuve que buscarla en el diccionario para averiguar si existe, sí "to sup" significar "cenar", pero no se usa aquí según mi experiencia nativa.  Suele decir "to have/eat dinner" o "to have/eat supper"



I don't think it's used in normal speech anywhere. It's a very formal/literary word.


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## ogeido

roxcyn said:


> ¡Hola! No sé usa aquí en mi parte de los EEUU. (to sup).  Y tuve que buscarla en el diccionario para averiguar si existe, sí "to sup" significar "cenar", pero no se usa aquí según mi experiencia nativa.  Suele decir "to have/eat dinner" o "to have/eat supper"


Hola, justo había mirado un rato atrás este hilo para repasar el tema. 
Gracias por responder XD.


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