Si dios quiere

[oldschool]

Yes old school. I appreciate your point . Dominicans do not speak good spanish .. I would also think that si Dios LO quiere would be more correct. I have been to Colombia many times and can not recall hearing Si Dios quiere o si Dios permite ever.

What is Good Spanish ? I am of the opinion that any language you speak Spanish, English French etc. will have different accents and dialects depending on where you live in the world and Dominicans speak Caribbean Spanish with there own flare.

Because you weren't educated in England and don't speak like them is your English bad

Because you weren't educated in France and don't speak like them is your French is bad

Because you weren't educated in Spain and don't speak like them is your Spanish is bad

I would say not bad just different.....but being that I was born in the Western Hemisphere from Italian and Spanish roots I speak the way I speak because it's what I was surrounded by, so how I speak ( in whatever language I am speaking ) is good by me as long as you can understand me.

This is not meant as an insult to the quoted post by the way just an observation

 

[Kipling333]

I appreciate your point and maybe I should have said that Dominicans do not speak grammatically good spanish as they do in Peru and most parts of Colombia. For example the imperfect and the past is often used incorrectly and Dominicans often forget to use the subjunctive and they often do not position the adjectives correctly . They also often do not use the adverbs correctly , they have this in common with Americans .That is far as grammar is concerned . Even for spanish people it is the dropping of letters in a word that can confuse..Dominican spanish is lazy and I regret that it is catching. The accent is of no importance . .
However it is not a complaint . I am used to it .

 

[bob saunders]

Yes old school. I appreciate your point . Dominicans do not speak good spanish .. I would also think that si Dios LO quiere would be more correct. I have been to Colombia many times and can not recall hearing Si Dios quiere o si Dios permite ever.
Yes 4 4 4 .. I should have mentioned Gracias a Dios is also infuriating at times. My most recent recollection of this is when I emptied my pocket one day to enable a young man to buy his mother some much needed medicine.. When he came out of the shop I asked if he had bought the medicine ok and he replied si gracias a Dios . I was thinking why not Gracias a Kipling

With religious people " God made it possible for you to help him" I have a brother like this. He always says " God will provide " Although my observation is he's certainly does what's required to make things happen. He is very successful. Perhaps his inspiration comes from the bible, so he credits God. Gracious a Dios is very common in South America, including Colombia.

 

[PanfilodeVaca]

Si Dios quiere most likely comes from the Arabic...and it pervades a lot of Latin America in different forms. In Guatemala, they will say "Primero Dios.

It is also an excuse as noted by the OP...tardiness or lack of compliance...

However, anytime you issue an invitation, you must specify "hora ingl?s!" or "hora americana!" in order for them to make an effort to be on time.

On more than one occasion I have either left people behind or started a session or meal without some of those invited..I really don't give a sh!t if they are offended. I gave them an hour--specified "hora americana and when they were not there, I just carried on.

I always loved my golf dates with Bushbaby and some of the guys from the North Shore. He and his pals were always 1/2 an hour early!!

Love to all and to all this poem from my mother: (not hers, probably Gertrude Stein)

I burn my candle at both ends,
It will not last the night.
But ah, my friends and oh, my foes,
It gives such a lovely light.


HB, back again, "Si Dios quiere"

Edna St. Vincent Millay, the original Greenwich Village bohemian

 

[PanfilodeVaca]

There are many aggrevations in the Dominican Republic that North Americans and Europeans, in particular, have trouble living with and hence we have a large number of threads and comments showing frustration at living here. I tend to let most go through to the keeper ,or let them be like water running of a ducks back .
However, I find myself bristling when Dominicans say ..si Dios quiere.. or ..si Dios permite.. for non spanish speakers if God wants or if God desires . For example I may invite a couple for dinner at 8 .. and they reply ..yes we will be there if God wishes , but then do not show up until 9.30 . Of course , the late arrival has nothing to do with what God wants but simply because punctuality is not an important thing for Dominicans . This sort of fatalism is actually taught in the protestant churches so that many Dominicans believe their life is preordaned by God and there is nothing that they can do to change it.
For many years I have been doing voluntary work here in a field previously unknown to me and I tried to tell Dominicans that this fatalism was wrong but every person was responsible for his or her own actions and of course Christians are taught that we will be judged eventually by the Almighty .
Kismet , which is also fatalism , is widely believed in the Hindu faith and many Indians do nothing to improve their lives because their position is determined by fate or Kismet and the belief is also in many Muslim countries.
In the Dominican Republic, the phrase ..si Dios quiere .. is used by those who believe in the phrase and those who do not ..the common feature is that God is responsible for every minute in our lives and not us ourselves.
Maybe that goes to explain many different ways of living in this country such as riding a motor bike facing backwards, passing cars on a blind hill or corner or doing dangerous things.. it does not matter how you do anything because the end result is in Gods hands...... Just food for thought

...or, as we say in Dearborn, "Inshallah."

 

[franco1111]

And, not being the most patient person, I am sometimes reminded by those around me that things will happen cuando Dios quiere, no cuando yo quiero.

 

[KITTU]

But the guy is alive to tell the story and you have to thank God for that!

true and what about the people he hit or ran down etc, still alive? Did god save them?

 

[KITTU]

Anecdote on this 'Si dios quieres'
I had a dominican lady who was my kitchen help in the resto. One day she came to me and told me that she wanted to visit her village near Hato Mayor as her cousin is very sick. The week before she skipped work as her mother was sick and a day's leave was extended 3 days without my approval. Well so i asked her if she was going to come back to work the same day, her reply : 'Si dios quieres' as she is very religious... So i told her that it's not if 'Dios Quieres' (if god wants),but 'Yo quiero Saber' - i wanted to know, was my statement. She got furious on so many levels as she cannot tell me if and when she would be back and furious because i told her to organize herself instead of putting it on god. She told me she didn't want to work with me any more and that moment i settled her payment and basta. Maybe all that was god's plan? still trying to get the hang of it. Now i actually kinda love this country and accept their defaults and ignorance is a bliss attitude.

 

[Marianopolita]

Yes old school. I appreciate your point . Dominicans do not speak good spanish .. I would also think that si Dios LO quiere would be more correct. I have been to Colombia many times and can not recall hearing Si Dios quiere o si Dios permite ever.
Yes 4 4 4 .. I should have mentioned Gracias a Dios is also infuriating at times. My most recent recollection of this is when I emptied my pocket one day to enable a young man to buy his mother some much needed medicine.. When he came out of the shop I asked if he had bought the medicine ok and he replied si gracias a Dios . I was thinking why not Gracias a Kipling

I appreciate your point and maybe I should have said that Dominicans do not speak grammatically good spanish as they do in Peru and most parts of Colombia. For example the imperfect and the past is often used incorrectly and Dominicans often forget to use the subjunctive and they often do not position the adjectives correctly . They also often do not use the adverbs correctly , they have this in common with Americans .That is far as grammar is concerned . Even for spanish people it is the dropping of letters in a word that can confuse..Dominican spanish is lazy and I regret that it is catching. The accent is of no importance . .
However it is not a complaint . I am used to it .

Si Dios quiere is an idiomatic expression in Spanish. There is nothing incorrect about it grammatically or linguistically nor is the phrase itself regional. Therefore, why would it be better to say Si Dios lo quiere?

Here is a list of expressions with Dios in Spanish.

Si dios quiere is in section 3.

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/spanish-english/dios#dios_2

Another dictionary:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/translate/spanish-english/dios


Regarding the subjunctive, it's a part of the language. Spanish speakers just learn it as they learn to speak. Most people don't even know what the subjunctive is although they use it in their speech daily. The only way I could see Dominicans or any Spanish speaker missing the subjunctive is in a complex sentence structure and that happens but in everyday speech it's very unusual.

In the DR some archaic usage of the subjunctive is still lingering around especially in the Cibao valley which is very distinct if you have studied (advanced level) modern Spanish grammar. I find that usage stands out and I hear it but people not using the subjunctive at all is very unusual. Do you have some examples of phrases where in your opinion it should have been used and it was not?


-MP.

 

[tee]

A few people say this in our office when they are leaving for the day and I say "see you tomorrow" and they say "Si Dios quieres"....but my reply is "I don't give a shxt si Dios quieres, your boss quieres!!!"

 

[Lucifer]

"I don't give a shxt si Dios quieres, your boss quieres!!!"

And what happens si Dios no quiere que tu boss quiera?