# echo de menos



## leys117bardos

*Someone can help me to understand the expression "Te echo de menos", in spanish. I asked for teachers, and some natives, and i´ve got the aswer of the meaning, "i miss you". But....the real meaning, the native meaning, could be "i won´t loose you" or "i´ll be with you even so far"....*
*    i´m i right?*


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## gza1105

to me it means "I miss you" ... that is the only meaning it has to me


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## jc963

De acuerdo con Gza1105, it means "I miss you", not anything else.


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## leys117bardos

*ok...i see.....*
*but i really want to understand it...*
*how "te echo de menos" became "i miss you"?*


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## ivonna93

I agree. It's just _I miss you_


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## el Rawi

That is the native meaning, "Te echo de menos" I've miss you.


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## piraña utria

leys117bardos said:


> *ok...i see.....*
> *but i really want to understand it...*
> *how "te echo de menos" became "i miss you"?*


 
Hi:

"Echo de menos" is a fix phrase whose meaning is "I miss you" or someone else instead of "you". 

A literally translation into Spanish would be " Te extraño" or "Te añoro".

Regards,


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## gza1105

I don't think it has a literally translation, and I know what you mean it doesnt even come close to Te extraño... but that is what it means! lol I'll try to look it up for you tho


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## jc963

Leys esta expresión viene de una expresión portuguesa como verás en este link.

http://www.wikilengua.org/index.php/echar_de_menos


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## leys117bardos

*  thank you, guys.*
*   i still have some doubts about it...but the aswers untill now and the link was very helpfull. Thanks a lot. *
*   see you.*


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## el Rawi

After some more research I've an analogy which might help you with the terminolgy. If translated word for word, 'echar' means to place or throw etc. 'de menos' would mean less or an amount missing from a whole (something like that) so the analogy would be lets say you bought one pound of meat and paid for one pound of meat, but the actual weight was less. So you would say "me echo menos" you are stating you have something missing. So "echar de menos" in your feelings for a person you have something missing.


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## nmmad

the problem is that you're thinking in English, so that it seems incredible that there isn't a word for "miss".  But there isn't.

Miss a train - perder un tren
Miss a person -- echar de menos a alguien
can't you imagine that you're feeling that there is a hole in your life?

there are plenty of concepts that are expressed more succinctly in Spanish, and plenty more where English expresses things with more finesse (French word!).


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## gza1105

el Rawi said:


> After some more research I've an analogy which might help you with the terminolgy. If translated word for word, 'echar' means to place or throw etc. 'de menos' would mean less or an amount missing from a whole (something like that) so the analogy would be lets say you bought one pound of meat and paid for one pound of meat, but the actual weight was less. So you would say "me echo menos" you are stating you have something missing. So "echar de menos" in your feelings for a person you have something missing.


 
Interesting analogy


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## aurilla

It's something along the line of "feeling your absense".


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## Tanotelo

tus traducciones Leys están 'bien' poéticas. Si lo que quieres es la traducción de uso corriente, entonces están mal. 

'To miss" = extrañar, echar de menos

Your teachers are right.




nmmad said:


> there are plenty of concepts that are expressed more succinctly in Spanish, and plenty more where English expresses things with more finesse (French word!).


 
You are wrong.


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## Jim986

nmmad: right on. English has 3 verbs to distinguish different ways of viewing the near future: wait, hope and expect. We find this natural, but many Spanish people find it confusing. All are covered in Spanish by constructions containing "esperar". The English are notoriously punctual, the Spanish, traditionally, are not. On the other hand, Spanish has many more verbs dealing with certain emotional states. In English we apply the same verb, "to miss" to the bus, an absent loved one, a lost puppy, a soldier presumed dead....whereas Spanish, with much more finesse (English word from Latin through French) about affaires (ditto) of the heart, has a different word for each one, and they are, as a whole, more articulate about feelings than are the English. No language is a translation of another. Pablo Neruda is awful in English, as is The Parrot Sketch in Spanish.


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## cesarduck

in mexico we use to say ``te extraño´´ which is the same than ``i miss you´´

i think ``te hecho de menos´´ is a phrase from spain or some country like this.


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## cesarduck

te hecho de menos es una frase tambien conocida en mexico pero lo mas usual en nuetsro pais es deir TE


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## cesarduck

lo que quiero desir es que TE EXTRAÑO y TE HECHO DE MENOS es lo mismo,pero lo mas usual aqui en mexico es desir TE EXTRAÑO.

TE HECHO DE MENOS no se en que pais se diga normalmente.


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## Jim986

CesarducK: es _echar de menos_, sin "h": y se dice en España. Saludos.


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## piraña utria

Jim986 said:


> nmmad: right on. English has 3 verbs to distinguish different ways of viewing the near future: wait, hope and expect. We find this natural, but many Spanish people find it confusing. All are covered in Spanish by constructions containing "esperar". *The English are* notoriously punctual, the Spanish, traditionally, are not. On the other hand, Spanish has many more verbs dealing with certain emotional states. In English we apply the same verb, "to miss" to the bus, an absent loved one, a lost puppy, a soldier presumed dead....whereas Spanish, with much more finesse (English word from Latin through French) about affaires (ditto) of the heart, has a different word for each one, and they are, as a whole, more articulate about feelings than are the English. No language is a translation of another. Pablo Neruda is awful in English, as is The Parrot Sketch in Spanish.


 
Hi Jim:

I've just read your so-interesting post and I've come across the underlined text. Is it correct, I mean "are" usage, or is a mistake?.

On the other hand, there's no doubt that "echo de menos" is not a common expression among Colombians; "me haces falta" is usual to say that idea.

Regards,

Regards,


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## nmmad

Nationalities ending in -h (e.g. French, English, Danish, Spanish) are automatically plural when used with "the".  To make them singular you have to use a different form "an Englishman", "a Frenchman", "a Dane", "a Spaniard" etc.  Otherwise, "a Colombian"/"the Colombians" etc.
It's the same with most adjectives when they are used as substantives, they are automatically plural: the poor are, the rich are... or as W.B.Yeats wrote:  "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity".


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## piraña utria

nmmad said:


> Nationalities ending in -h (e.g. French, English, Danish, Spanish) are automatically plural when used with "the". To make them singular you have to use a different form "an Englishman", "a Frenchman", "a Dane", "a Spaniard" etc. Otherwise, "a Colombian"/"the Colombians" etc.
> It's the same with most adjectives when they are used as substantives, they are automatically plural: the poor are, the rich are... or as W.B.Yeats wrote: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity".


 
Hi Nmmad:

I got this point. However based on the antecedent lines I thought she/he was talking about language, not people. 

Regards,


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## Jim986

Hi, no, I was talking about the people. It's the idea that a language reflects (or defines: chicken /egg situation) the mind-set & culture of those who speak it. The English are very exact in their distinctions about arrangements in th near future and their attitude to punctuality is legendary. Is this because the language allows such distinctions, or does it cater for them on demand, so to speak. Look at the variety of ways there are to say "I miss you" in this thread.  All are acceptable, some more regional than others but all would be understood readily by a cultured Spanish speaker. In English, there's one, and it has to do 3 or 4 other jobs as well. But that's the point nmmad makes.


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## shreck2

nmmad said:


> the problem is that you're thinking in English, so that it seems incredible that there isn't a word for "miss". But there isn't.
> 
> Miss a train - perder un tren
> Miss a person -- echar de menos a alguien
> can't you imagine that you're feeling that there is a hole in your life?
> 
> there are plenty of concepts that are expressed more succinctly in Spanish, and plenty more where English expresses things with more finesse (French word!).


 The best explanation so far... You don not have to understand everything of a language. I mean, this is a fixed sentence, and you should not try to learn the meaning just because you find an obvious and rational formule...


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## shreck2

cesarduck said:


> in mexico we use to say ``te extraño´´ which is the same than ``i miss you´´
> 
> i think ``te hecho de menos´´ is a phrase from spain or some country like this.


 

Ojo a esa "h", Cesar Duck!! Que no será porque no se ha escrito 50.000 veces la expresión "te ECHO de menos" (verbo "ECHAR", no "hacer"!!!)


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## piraña utria

Jim986 said:


> Hi, no, I was talking about the people. It's the idea that a language reflects (or defines: chicken /egg situation) the mind-set & culture of those who speak it. The English are very exact in their distinctions about arrangements in th near future and their attitude to punctuality is legendary. Is this because the language allows such distinctions, or does it cater for them on demand, so to speak. Look at the variety of ways there are to say "I miss you" in this thread. All are acceptable, some more regional than others but all would be understood readily by a cultured Spanish speaker. In English, there's one, and it has to do 3 or 4 other jobs as well. But that's the point nmmad makes.


 
Hi again Jim:

This is another interesting topic, either accurate in order to obtain a better comprehension of this point.

Thanks a lot. I got it.

Regards,


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## Tanotelo

Jim986 said:


> ...Spanish has many more verbs dealing with certain emotional states. In English we apply the same verb, "to miss" to the bus, an absent loved one, a lost puppy, a soldier presumed dead....*whereas Spanish, with much more finesse (*English word from Latin through French)* about affaires* (ditto)* of the heart, has a different word for each one,* and they are, as a whole, more articulate about feelings than are the English...


 
mmmm you are right


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## Mirlo

Jim986 said:


> Hi, no, I was talking about the people. It's the idea that a language reflects (or defines: chicken /egg situation) the mind-set & culture of those who speak it. The English are very exact in their distinctions about arrangements in th near future and their attitude to punctuality is legendary. Is this because the language allows such distinctions, or does it cater for them on demand, so to speak. Look at the variety of ways there are to say "I miss you" in this thread. All are acceptable, some more regional than others but all would be understood readily by a cultured Spanish speaker. In English, there's one, and it has to do 3 or 4 other jobs as well. But that's the point nmmad makes.


 
Right!!!
Furthermore I think we all agree  that "sayings, expressions" are never traslated literally due to impossibility in most cases. We can get the idea across, but that's about it!!!


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## leys117bardos

*thanks a lot.*

*    actually, you were more helpfull than the natives i asked before.*
*   because the spanish natives(actually, latin american natives) just *
*   fell it(the way to talk, the feeling language). They cannot explain it.  That´s why i tryed to find an aswer.*
*   thanks again.*


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## 榮福美

I am from Cuba and we say "Te estraño". "Te echado de  menos" to us means, I have taken you for granted. So I often think this came about as the language changed. It's not a direct way of saying I miss you. More like a symptom of missing someone. To me it means something totally different than I miss you. My grandmother was born in Spain and immigrated to Cuba and my father was a Spanish teacher in Cuba and we never said Te echo de menos for I miss you.


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## Csalrais

榮福美 said:


> I am from Cuba and we say "Te estraño".


"Te extraño", con x. Y te puedo asegurar que en España usamos "te echo de menos" en los mismos contextos en los que en inglés se diría "I miss you". En América Latina en general se prefiere usar en esos casos el verbo "extrañar" que en España es mucho menos común con este significado.


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## Oldy Nuts

榮福美 said:


> I am from Cuba and we say "Te estraño". "Te echado de  menos" to us means, I have taken you for granted. So I often think this came about as the language changed. It's not a direct way of saying I miss you. More like a symptom of missing someone. To me it means something totally different than I miss you. My grandmother was born in Spain and immigrated to Cuba and my father was a Spanish teacher in Cuba and we never said Te echo de menos for I miss you.



I don't understand the meaning of "Te echado de menos". Regardless, around here "echar de menos" is far more common than "extrañar" for missing someone.


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## Aviador

Oldy Nuts said:


> [...] Regardless, around here "echar de menos" is far more common than "extrañar" for missing someone.


I totally agree. I, for instance, never say "extrañar". The only expresion I use is "echar de menos".
It is only since very recently that "extrañar" has begun to be used more frequently in Chile. I ventured a theory about this in the Sólo español forum, I think. The reason is the big exposition of many Chileans to the Spanish from other Latin American countries that has lately come through social networks, TV dubbings, soap operas and pop music lyrics.


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## Moritzchen

En el área del Río de la Plata se extraña más de lo que se echa de menos.


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