What's the bill?

My mechanic told me I should be using cuánto va a ser rather than my usual cuanto quieres. Says my way sounds to vague or open ended. Cuánto va a ser pronounced rapidly sounds like cuánto vaser. Basically - what's it going to be

sparks wrote:My mechanic told me I should be using cuánto va a ser rather than my usual cuanto quieres. Says my way sounds to vague or open ended. Cuánto va a ser pronounced rapidly sounds like cuánto vaser. Basically - what's it going to be

sparks, when NOB do you ask for an estamate or a quote?

This was after the work and I/we didn't know what the problem was or how bad before hand. Turns out that cleaning and adjusting the rear brakes and disconnecting my horn that was going off in the middle of the night ..... was $120 pesos

Yes I get estimates when I'm looking at spending a lot

Your mechanic's right.You could also ask (cuanto me va a costar).

Maybe he was telling you to say " cuanto vas a hacer? "

Ms.Thang wrote:Maybe he was telling you to say " cuanto vas a hacer? "

I don't think so.

viajero wrote:Your mechanic's right.You could also ask (cuanto me va a costar).

But that is still only an estimate, and not a fixed price "Quote".

viajero wrote:

Ms.Thang wrote:Maybe he was telling you to say " cuanto vas a hacer? "

I don't think so.

LOL You don't know what sparks might have been up to. Probably looking at one of those calendars that usually hang in the mechanic shops.
Actually V., it should be "¿cuánto va a costarme?....(direct object pronouns follow the infinitive)

slainte39 wrote:
Actually V., it should be "¿cuánto va a costarme?....(direct object pronouns follow the infinitive)

There are any number of ways to ask what something will cost. And the pronoun doesn't necessarily follow the infinitive.

¿cuánto me(te,le)va a costar (o cobrar)? would be a more common form.

Yeah, but doesn't "me" become an indirect object pronoun to the verb va (ir), rather than a direct object pronoun to the verb costar. Different sentence structure.
Better yet... "dígame las noticias malas"

Google returns 461,000 hits for "cuanto me va a costar" and 3090 for "cuanto va a costarme".

Ahi tienes las malas noticias.

seisdedos wrote:Google returns 461,000 hits for "cuanto me va a costar" and 3090 for "cuanto va a costarme".

Ahi tienes las malas noticias.

You weren't gone long enough to run up that many hits, but I'll take your word for it. Can't argue with google. LOL
At least there are 3,089 other bad Spanish speakers out there.

I thought the "me" could go in either location and be correct.

Pronumbres y prepociones. The death of me.

And there are regionally prefered ways to say things. There is no correct Spanish in Mexico. If you know enough you will get by ... but if you are lucky they will tell you "how we say it here"

sparks wrote: There is no correct Spanish in Mexico.

What are you talking about? Of course there is correct Spanish here. Because colloquialisms and slang are popular doesn't mean correct Spanish isn't spoken.

seisdedos wrote:

sparks wrote: There is no correct Spanish in Mexico.

What are you talking about? Of course there is correct Spanish here. Because colloquialisms and slang are popular doesn't mean correct Spanish isn't spoken.

Perhaps not locally.

torre wrote:

seisdedos wrote:

sparks wrote: There is no correct Spanish in Mexico.

What are you talking about? Of course there is correct Spanish here. Because colloquialisms and slang are popular doesn't mean correct Spanish isn't spoken.

Perhaps not locally.

Not locally? Do all the people in a certain locale share the same education level? I think Sparks might have tried to say "there is no ONE correct way to say something in Spanish". That, amiga, is true. There are many ways to say something correctly in Spanish, just as any other language. Saying there is no correct Spanish in Mexico is ridiculous. Especially from a poster that has failed to become fluent after many years spent in the country.