Grammar help please

[Ken10]

A while back I tried to write a short "chiste" in Spanish. I later sent it to a bilingual friend, of course hoping he would offer needed corrections. My attempt was as follows:

Jefe: Joven, me gustaría darte un aumento de sueldo.

Joven: Ah, muchas gracias, señor. ¿Cuándo será efectivo?

Jefe: Tan pronto como tú haces effectivo.

My friend has responded with this: En la ultima linea se puede poner asi:

Tan pronto como tu te vuelvas (o hagas) efectivo.

I'm grateful for the "correct" construction, but am not sure I understand the grammar underlying it. Is the subjunctive required here because the context indidicates the "joven" is not presently "effective."? Am also unsure of why the pronoun "te" is required. Is it because the verb is reflexive in this context? I also notice that he did not use tildes in spelling "tu" and "asi". Were these spelling errors on his part? :confused:

Any clarifying help will be appreciated.

[aleCcowaN]

You're right about "tú" and "así".

Subjunctive is mandatory here, as a condition is set: something that is not real now (the employee is not effective by the moment) will trigger a higher salary the moment it become real. We could also say the moment it'll happen is uncertain, that's why subjunctive, but, though this is also true, it's not the cause of subjunctive here.

About "te", it means that the employee will become effective by his/her own effort and action, that's why "te hagas efectivo" or "te vuelvas efectivo". Also, by using "tú" -not grammatically necessary at all- the boss would be highlighting that is up to the employee taking the needed steps to become efficient. Besides, without "te" both phrases mean different things "hasta que hagas efectivo" may mean even "fork over", but always refer to a person acting on a thing or system, not on him/herself.

[English student. Forgibb my misteakes]

[Juanjo]

You're right about "tú" and "así".

Subjunctive is mandatory here, as a condition is set: something that is not real now (the employee is not effective by the moment) will trigger a higher salary the moment it become real. We could also say the moment it'll happen is uncertain, that's why subjunctive, but, though this is also true, it's not the cause of subjunctive here.

About "te", it means that the employee will become effective by his/her own effort and action, that's why "te hagas efectivo" or "te vuelvas efectivo". Also, by using "tú" -not grammatically necessary at all- the boss would be highlighting that is up to the employee taking the needed steps to become efficient. Besides, without "te" both phrases mean different things "hasta que hagas efectivo" may mean even "fork over", but always refer to a person acting on a thing or system, not on him/herself.

[English student. Forgibb my misteakes]

Doesn´t this joke rely on the word play of "efectivo" (effective or cash/money?)

Q. "When will the raise be effective?"
A. "As soon as you start making money!

[Legazpi]

Doesn´t this joke rely on the word play of "efectivo" (effective or cash/money?)

Q. "When will the raise be effective?"
A. "As soon as you start making money!




I think in both cases "efectivo" is used to mean "effective" rather than "cash/money". I guess you could say:

Q. "When will my pay rise become effective"

A. "As soon as you start being effective"

[Ken10]

Juano: The joke wasn't intended as a "play" of the different meanings (parts of speech) of the word "efectivo." As I used it in the joke, it was as an adjective in the question asked by the young man and in the answer by his boss. The employee was asking about when the increase in salary would "happen." The boss was responding that it would happen when there was sufficient improvement in the employee's job performance. The word is often used as a noun - meaning cash - dinero, but I wasn't using it in that way.

But, I think your analysis and translation wasn't far off the mark. You translated it as "as soon as you start making money." and that is no doubt a reasonable interpretation of what the boss meant, but it isn't what he said. Without the "te" in it - as my friend and aleCcowaN responded - I think what you suggested would be the accurate translation and it would have then been a play on the noun-adjective meaning of the word. :thumbs-up:

Thanks for the suggestion. If I'm not right on this point, would be pleased to be corrected.

[aleCcowaN]

Doesn´t this joke rely on the word play of "efectivo" (effective or cash/money?)

Q. "When will the raise be effective?"
A. "As soon as you start making money!



Though I'm not entitled to point anything to anyone on English vocabulary matters, I would say that, if effective is taken as "cash", then the raise has already occurred and cashing it would be the only thing left, so an ineffective employee would have been rewarded with a raise that he only couldn't cash by the moment -the joke becomes then a bit tricky-. On the contrary, I understood that -both English and Spanish- the joke is based on "be or become effective", with "be" as a less formal way to say "become" -maybe I'm mistaken with this-

be effective = ser efectivo (producir efecto)
become effective = entrar en vigencia, hacerse efectivo, entrar en vigor, surtir efecto

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Besides:

Jefe: - Joven, me gustaría darle un aumento de sueldo [why "gustaría" but for a raise that is intended in the future]
Empleado: Ah, muchas gracias, Señor ¿Cuándo se hará efectivo?
Jefe: ¡Cuando Ud. se vuelva (más) efectivo!

["hacer efectivo" or "volver efectivo" mean in many countries "ser confirmado como empleado de planta", then, that "más" avoids any ambiguity]

[Dany]

Hola,

tengo que aprender el vocabulario de casa hasta el lunes.
El vocab de sotano a devan y todas cosas situadas en casa.
?Sabeis una pagina web donde puedo encontrar este vocabulario?

Saludos
Dany

[greytop]

Try here (http://www.languageguide.org/espanol/)- with pictures so it may help you learn

[Urgellenk]

I personally had to translate it into English to understand the joke.

The second meaning of effective is not translated in Spain as "efectivo", but rather as "eficiente" or "eficaz". This might be different in Latin America, where the influence of English, particularly in the field of business, seems to be much stronger than in Spain.