Spanish Translation of Conjunctions III

The Spanish translation of subordinate conjunctions from English is especially critical because there are many words in English like ‘before´ which, depending on the context, can work as conjunctions or adverbs or prepositions. Translators must be capable of distinguishing among the various uses, and using the conjunction only when it is necessary to introduce a subordinate clause into a sentence.

The English conjunction ‘that´ generally translates into Spanish as ‘que´, but ‘que´ can also mean either ‘for´ or ‘because´. Once again, translators will have to make use of their powers of discrimination to distinguish between the various meanings of ‘que´. Hence, the Spanish translation for the English sentence ‘I doubt that you will arrive on time´ will be ‘Dudo que llegues a tiempo´ and the Spanish translation for the English sentence ‘Don´t get too familiar with that lady because I know you too well´ will also be ‘No te pongas insinuante con esa señora, que te conozco bien´.

The third category of conjunction is known as correlative conjunction. Correlative conjunctions are used in pairs with intervening words. Some of the common English correlative conjunctions and their Spanish translation are as follows: scarcely…when/apenas…cuando, neither…nor/ni…ni, either…or/o…o.

During the Spanish translation of English correlative conjunctions translators must pay particular attention to the position of the correlative conjunction in the Spanish sentence. If the noun/pronoun that is linked by the correlative conjunction appears before the verb, the latter must take a plural form. On the other hand, if the noun/pronoun that is linked by the correlative conjunction appears after the verb, the latter must take a singular form.