# lo que saben es bailar = gerund/infinitive



## rich7

Ellos lo que saben es bailar:

What they now is to dance.
What they now is dancing.
What they now is dance.

¿Cuál es la correcta?


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## englishfreak

yo diría 
what they know is dancing 
pero me suena rara la estructura. 
They do know how to dance (sí que saben bailar)
They know how to dance (saben bailar)
What they do know is how to dance (lo que sí saben es cómo bailar)
what they know is how to dance (lo que saben es cómo bailar)
They can dance (saben bailar)
What they can do is dancing (lo que saben hacer es bailar)

A ver si alguna te ayuda.


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## rich7

El contexto es el siguiente: En la actualidad los jovenes no leen, no estudian; lo que sabe es bailar.


Es algo diferente a saber hacer algo, es que sólo se dedican a eso. ¿Me entiendes?


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## eli-chi

rich7 said:


> El contexto es el siguiente: En la actualidad los jovenes no leen, no estudian; lo que sabe es bailar.
> 
> 
> Es algo diferente a saber hacer algo, es que sólo se dedican a eso. ¿Me entiendes?


Ahora sí se entiende... Mi intento es:"All what they do is dancing"


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## Miry_

Esta es mi versión: "They don't read, they don't study, but they do dance", porque con el "they DO dance" dejas claro el contraste entre lo que hacen y lo que no en una frase sencilla y corta. 

Espero que te sirva de ayuda o, al menos, de inspiración.


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## Tonks-23

Hola!

Sería correcto decir:

They don't read, they don't study, all they do is dancing

?

Gracias!


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## Miry_

Creo que lo correcto en este caso sería "all they do is dance", sin la terminación en -ing.


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## Tonks-23

Muchas gracias Miry!


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## k-in-sc

"All they do is dance." 
"All they know how to do is dance."
"They don't read, they don't study, all they do is dance."

Note that "study" in English generally refers only to the act of studying, i.e. doing homework, reading, memorizing, etc. 
It is not usually used to mean "go to school" or "be in school."

In your sentence, "they don't study" suggests they are in school but they don't do their work.


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## elirlandes

rich7 said:


> Ellos lo que saben es bailar:
> 
> What they now is to dance.
> What they now is dancing.
> What they now is dance.
> 
> ¿Cuál es la correcta?



Ellos lo que saben es bailar.
Sin puntuación, esto no tiene sentido en español.

Podría ser :
Ellos - lo que saben es bailar. _o
_Lo que saben ellos es bailar.
_..._ lo que sería en inglés algo como:
...[however] the one thing they do know is dance.
...[however] the one thing they do know is how to dance.



			
				rich7 said:
			
		

> En la actualidad los jovenes no leen, no estudian; lo que sabe*n* es  bailar.


Esto ya es otra cosa...

In reality, young people neither read nor study; the one thing that they are interested in is dance.


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## k-in-sc

elirlandes said:


> In reality, young people neither read nor study; the one thing that they are interested in is dance.



Haha, that sounds like they go to the ballet every night!

"Ellos lo que saben es bailar" seems perfectly grammatical to me. What do you think is wrong with it?


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## elirlandes

k-in-sc said:


> "Ellos lo que saben es bailar" seems perfectly grammatical to me. What do you think is wrong with it?



"Ellos lo que saben es bailar" sounds wrong to me.

"Ellos saben bailar" & "Lo que saben ellos es bailar" both sound correct to me.

Am I mistaken here?


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## k-in-sc

I think it would be "Lo que saben ellos *es* bailar" ... 
"Ellos lo que saben es bailar" still seems right to me. It's a question of emphasis, expressed in Spanish with word order where in English we mainly just have verbal emphasis.


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## elirlandes

k-in-sc said:


> I think it would be "Lo que saben ellos *es* bailar" ...
> "Ellos lo que saben es bailar" still seems right to me. It's a question of emphasis, expressed in Spanish with word order where in English we mainly just have verbal emphasis.



I agree that the word order of "Ellos lo que saben es bailar" can work, but as you say it is a question of emphasis, and it needs punctuation.

Ellos - lo que saben es bailar.
Ellos, lo que saben es bailar.
Ellos; lo que saben es bailar.
...by way of three examples.


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## k-in-sc

Sorry, I think it is punctuated correctly without anything. Especially not a semicolon ... (?!)


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## eli-chi

k-in-sc said:


> Haha, that sounds like they go to the ballet every night!
> 
> "Ellos lo que saben es bailar" seems perfectly grammatical to me. What do you think is wrong with it?


k-in-sc:
En mi opinión, el orden gramatical ahí debería ser: "Lo que ellos saben es bailar".  Sin considerar que, dicho en el orden que se diga, no está claro lo que en realidad se pretende expresar.

P.S.  Creo que *elirlandes* tiene razón cuando sugiere: "Ellos, lo que saben es bailar".


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## k-in-sc

From http://lalenguaylaplumaroja.blogspot.com/2010/01/usos-de-la-coma.html

No se usa coma…
1. Entre sujeto y predicado.

*El director del proyecto editorial, dirigirá unas palabras a los participantes.


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## elirlandes

k-in-sc said:


> From http://lalenguaylaplumaroja.blogspot.com/2010/01/usos-de-la-coma.html
> 
> No se usa coma…
> 1. Entre sujeto y predicado.
> 
> *El director del proyecto editorial, dirigirá unas palabras a los participantes.



But this does not apply in this case as the subject "ellos" is implied later in the sentence. "Ellos, lo que [ellos] saben es bailar". 
The first "Ellos" is not part of the main clause of the sentence, and is not the subject of the verb "saben". It is a subordinate clause providing emphasis.

[By the way - my post is meant as opinion rather than a statement of fact... correction and continued discussion welcome if wrong]


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## k-in-sc

You're right that "ellos" is not the subject here. The comma still feels wrong to me, though ...


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## rich7

Kinsc, tienes toda la razón, ninguna de la opciones del deirlandes son correctas. La oracion no necesita ninguna puntuación; en tal caso, de haber más predicado en forma de informacion adicional se podría colocar la siguiente puntuación:Ellos, lo que saben, además de estudiar, es bailar.

El sentido que tiene en español redactado de esta manera es para enfatizar que lo que les gusta más hacer a ellos es bailar.


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## englishfreak

No comma or other sign there... Have you guys read "La elegancia del erizo"? It has some funny remarks about that.


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## rich7

Leí una pequeña reseña de la novela que refieres y no veo nada que tenga que ver con la puntuación de esta oración.


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## englishfreak

I've been looking for it and it turns out I read "The elegance of the hedgehog", así que la versión inglesa. It's not the same sentence, but there's an episode in which someone leaves a note for the woman, the main character, I can no longer remember her name, and there's a comma (where it shouldn't). The woman is supposed to be extraillustrated or something, and she goes into a rant about the whole comma thing. When I saw that discussion here, it made me laugh. 
Nothing trascendental... 
I'll try to look for it later. It's something about... taking a dog for a walk? getting a parcel? hum. Anyway, just to say I agree with you, no comma on those sentences.


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## Tonks-23

Hola!

Si mal no recuerdo (tendría que chequear) no se debe separar nunca el sujeto del predicado con una coma en lenguaje escrito, si podemos pausar al decirlo para dar más enfásis a la oración. Por ende, coincido en que la coma tras "ellos" no va.


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## eli-chi

Hola:
Llevé la pregunta al foro español-español.  La respuesta es que sí es correcto escribir "Ellos, lo que saben bailar".  Se trata de un recurso retórico llamado *anacoluto*, en este caso, un _nominatiuus pendens._

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?p=8598001#post8598001


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## kalamazoo

"What they know how to do is dance" seems to me like a reasonable translation.


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## eli-chi

kalamazoo said:


> "What they know how to do is dance" seems to me like a reasonable translation.


¿Considerando el contexto (en post #3) y esta aclaración que hace rich7?
_"El sentido que tiene en español redactado de esta manera es para enfatizar que lo que les gusta más hacer a ellos es bailar."
_


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## kalamazoo

I think it does capture that flavor, although in an indirect way.  It implies that dancing is what they know how to do = dancing is what they are good at = dancing is what they like to do.


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## eli-chi

kalamazoo said:


> I think it does capture that flavor, although in an indirect way.  It implies that dancing is what they know how to do = dancing is what they are good at = dancing is what they like to do.


Gracias.


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