"La pelicula trata problemas de la sociedad" vs "La pelicula trata de problemas de la sociedad"
The movie addresses society's problems vs The movie is about society's problems
So in Spanish these two phrases mean the same thing, or there is a difference? Trying to wrap my head around this one. I have always said "...sobre de" and I want to stop using this, replacing with trata or trata de used correctly. Gracias!
Hola Thomas,
If you really want to get to the bottom of this, it is best to think of “Tratar” as “to address” and “Tratar de” as “to be about.“ Inma deals with this in a response to Felix, if you scroll down below the lesson itself, and makes the subtle difference between the two really understandable.
As for the use of “sobre de,” sobre itself means “on top of, or on” so you won’t need the “de.” Sobre without the de is probably what you mean with regards to “about.” My dictionary gives “acerca de” as a synonym for “sobre” both meaning “with respect to” or simply “about!”
I use “sobre” almost exclusively when I want to say what something is or was about, and I haven’t been corrected so I keep using it. It certainly seems like “tratar de” would be a perfect alternative - I wonder whether it would be for more formal usage? Inma can tell us. Saludos John
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