Te late

Thu, Feb 25, 2016

¿Te late? is an informal way of asking if someone likes a proposal. ¿Te late la idea de ir por un helado más al rato? Are you up for getting an ice cream later?

As with gustar, when the grammatical subject is a person, we may be talking about physical attraction. Sí, me latió. Yeah, I thought he was attractive (the guy I met at that party). However, I heard a mother say no me late to express disapproval of a boy her daughter was hanging out with: Ese chavo no me late. I don't really like that boy. He's a bad influence on my daughter. Me da mala espina. I have a bad feeling about him.

Latería

Me late apparently comes from latir, meaning beat (the heart) — and perhaps things that te laten are things that make your heart race a bit. However, note that for some reason the e from the stem is conserved when forming the conditional. So we have ¿Te latería venir? Would you like to come? — rather than the expected ¿Te latiría venir? Weird, I know.

Me late que

Me late que can express suspicion rather than interest. Note that the dependent clause uses indicative.

In each of these cases, the speaker drawing a conclusion based on the limited evidence they have, but without being certain.

© 2003-2024 Mark R. Alexander