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Someone and I were having a conversation where they told me that after one of their closest family members had died, they started experiencing something. It was something like,

Cuando se fayesio, me quiso dar fuerte en lugar de ponerme a llorar o gritar.

While I know most of that sentence, I don't understand what was meant by this. It literally sounds to me like

It wanted me to give force.
Charlie
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HeavenlyHarmony
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    I can't be completely sure but "me dio fuerte" would translate as "it hit me hard" and can be used to talk about a feeling ans well as something physical ("me ha dado fuerte con ese videojuego" would mean that you are kind of addicted to the game). My understanding is that this person felt something very strong (probably sorrow) after someone passed away, but that didn't lead to crying or yelling (to have some sort of "cathartic" moment to move forward with the pain and sorrow). I guess that you have the original sentence, but since it's poor Spanish is difficult to know what they really meant – Diego Jul 27 '19 at 02:29
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    My guess would be that it has something to do with being strong, i.e. keeping a firm upper lip (not crying). – aparente001 Jul 27 '19 at 04:06
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    “Se fayesio” should be “se falleció” (fallecer). – Traveller Jul 27 '19 at 08:20
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    For the sentence to have complete sense, I would say that the original sentence could be "cuando él falleció, me dio por ser fuerte en lugar de ponerme a llorar". It would mean that against all odds that person was strong and did not start crying. – Charlie Jul 27 '19 at 08:46
  • In el pretérito indefinido, the verb querer can mean ‘to try’. So the translation could be something like “I tried to be strong instead of starting to cry or scream/shout/yell’. – Traveller Jul 27 '19 at 09:16
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    I guess you tried to capture what you heard in the moment, so we should try to make minimal corrections. Maybe you inserted "se" assuming the verb would be reflexive, or maybe you got the rhythm right and it was "cuando me falleció". I think the reflexive assumption is more likely. For the next part, maybe it was "me quise hacer fuerte." All that leading up to "Cuando falleció, me quise hacer fuerte en lugar de ponerme a llorar o gritar." Translation, "When [the person] died / passed, I tried to be strong, instead of crying or shouting." Or "and hold off from crying or shouting." – aparente001 Jul 27 '19 at 14:15
  • Where was the other person from? In Argentina, dar + adjective/noun is short for dar la impresión de = aparentar ser "to give the impression (that one is)". – pablodf76 Jul 28 '19 at 14:50
  • "Se fayesio” should be “falleció”, or "se murió", or "murió", pero no "se falleció". With respect to "me quiso dar fuerte" is simply unclear (who? what is strong?). For the context, It could be that "someone" (the deceased, or maybe the Freudian id) "me quiso dar fuerzas" or as commented, "me dio por ser fuerte" in the sense of "it was unexpectedly calm". But it cannot mean "me dio fuerte" in the sense of "his loss hurt me hard", because then "instead of crying and screaming" have not any sense. – Fran Aug 06 '19 at 18:28
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    By the way, the person who uttered this phrase is from Mexico,. – HeavenlyHarmony Aug 06 '19 at 20:58
  • HeavenlyHarmony - this is helpful. We are are all pretty clueless about this expression, though. Can you ask this person to confirm that you wrote down their expression accurately, and can you ask for some explanation? // I checked online and found lots of "fallecerse." I guess it's a regional variant. – aparente001 Aug 07 '19 at 16:00

2 Answers2

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It can have various meanings depending on the context. In your example, it means that the person was about to have an emotional outburst that would lead to a public breakdown. Other contexts where this phrase is used are:

1- For a sickness or an external situation. VG1: 'La gripa me quiso dar fuerte' - 'The flu was about to hit me hard'

2- For the usage of force or combat. VG2: 'Mi oponente me quiso dar fuerte'-'My opponent wanted to strike/hit me hard'

3- For a description of enhancing something's qualities. VG3: 'El mesero me quiso dar fuerte el café' -'The waiter wanted to give me a strong coffee'

4- ... In a sexual context. in this case, giving it hard means in a vigorous way.

aparente001
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deags
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  • What's the subject of quiso? I find the sentence confusing because the subject of ponerme a llorar is yo, but that doesn't jive with quiso. – aparente001 Aug 08 '19 at 04:50
  • @aparente001 The subject is "la gripa". "quiso" is the third singular form of the past simple tense [Tercera persona del singular del preterito de indicativo]. – RubioRic Aug 08 '19 at 06:20
  • The subject for 'quizo' is either 'El/ella/eso/aquello' (he/she/it/it). – deags Aug 08 '19 at 15:29
  • @RubioRic and deags - I do understand the conjugation. I don't understand what's going on the sentence OP asked about (Cuando se falleció etc.). What's the subject there of quiso? – aparente001 Aug 08 '19 at 21:20
  • @ aparente001 As I say, the subjhect is El/ella/eso/aquello' (he/she/it/it). As in ' El quiso, ella quiso, eso quiso, aquella quiso. VG: El se quiso aguantar las ganas de llorar de tanta emoción.' (He wanted to restrain himself the desire for crying from so much emotion) VG2- 'Ella quiso decir...' (she meant to say). – deags Aug 09 '19 at 15:43
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As a Spanish speaker, I would interpret that as:

"He/she wanted to hit me hard."

"Dar" in Spanish generally means "to give", but as a colloquialism it can be used to mean "to hit". As in:

Te voy a dar con el bate. ↔ I'm going to hit you with the bat.

In review of the original context, which I had not seen before, (not sure why) the sentence does not really make a lot of sense to me. I have the following 2 guesses. 1) The sentence is poorly written (the grammar, for once, hints at this.) It meant to say something like "Cuando falleció, me quise dar fuerte en lugar de ponerme a llorar o gritar." Meaning: "When he/she passed away, I wanted hit myself hard instead of crying or screaming."

2) "When heshe passed away, heshe wanted to hit me hard instead of making me cry or scream." This one is the least likely of the two in my opinion. It might be in reference to how the passing character aimed to hit someone else with his/her last breath. If I had to guess, I would interpret it as per my first guess. Then again, the original context sentence structure does not make a lot of sense to me as a Spanish speaker. And it does not even sound like it is due to more formal, archaic or dialectic interpretation. It just sounds weird.

Cheers! Arty

Arty Stable
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  • This seems to make sense, but then, looking back at the original context, I don't feel so sure. How does this fit with the situation (alguien falleció, la persona afectada trató de no llorar)? – aparente001 Aug 06 '19 at 00:58
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    You know, that is a really good question. In review of the original context, which I had not seen before, (not sure why) the sentence does not really make a lot of sense to me. Which is probably why you are not feeling sure about how my answer fits in with the context. I have the following 2 guesses. 1) The sentence is poorly written (the grammar, for once, hints at this.) It meant to say something like "Cuando falleció, me quise dar fuerte en lugar de ponerme a llorar o gritar." Meaning: "When he/she passed away, I wanted hit myself hard instead of crying or screaming." – Arty Stable Aug 07 '19 at 14:48
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  • "When he/she passed away, he/she wanted to hit me hard instead of making me cry or scream." This one is the least likely of the two in my opinion. It might be in reference to how the passing character aimed to hit someone else with his/her last breath.

    • If I had to guess, I would interpret it as per my first guess. Then again, the original context sentence structure does not make a lot of sense to me as a Spanish speaker. And it does not even sound like it is due to more formal, archaic or dialectic interpretation. It just sounds weird.

    Cheers! Arty

    – Arty Stable Aug 07 '19 at 14:54
  • I think you need to edit your answer to include much more of the explanation you are now including in comments as our system is flagging this is low quality because of its length. – mdewey Aug 08 '19 at 08:06
  • Alternatively, Arty, you could delete your answer. (I look forward to seeing your participation at other questions, though.) – aparente001 Aug 08 '19 at 21:21
  • @mdewey noted and addressed. Thanks! – Arty Stable Aug 12 '19 at 15:21
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    @aparente001 Noted and addressed. Thanks! – Arty Stable Aug 12 '19 at 15:22
  • Arty, I suggest you go ahead and click on "delete." If that isn't available to you, then you can click on "flag" and request that a moderator do the deletion. Because I don't think your post answers the question. The best way to clean this up, I believe, is deletion. It has happened to me occasionally too. A clean deletion is best, I think. – aparente001 Aug 12 '19 at 19:47
  • Ahh, ok I can do that. But can you first explain to me again in more detail why exactly your system is flagging this as “low quality”? I speak Spanish and I think both my analysis as well as explanation (at least) make sense such that it is a reasonably helpful insight. My understanding was that this was related to the content length which I corrected by adding the further notes I had commented to the answer. If I don’t understand exactly what I did wrong, I can’t make the necessary corrections for future attempts. I look forward to your response. Thanks! – Arty Stable Aug 13 '19 at 20:22