realizar o hacer marcha atrás

English translation: backed up

09:28 May 4, 2001

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Automotive / Cars & Trucks

Spanish term or phrase: realizar o hacer marcha atrás

The sentence is:
"la chica hizo marcha atrás".
Se trata de un coche.

nakota

English translation:backed up

Explanation:
The girl backed up.

I am a native English speaker, and this is the way that I would describe someone driving their car in reverse in conversation.

If the document is an official statement you might want to use the more formal "the girl drove in reverse," but really "backed up" I think is the best in either case. Or you can combine the two; see the examples below.

"Pulled back," however, does not sound natural to me. "Pulled out" IS a term used with driving, but it refers specifically to pulling out of a parking space and not to driving in reverse in general.

You do not need to say that she backed her car up if it is obvious from previous context that it refers to a car, although you can if you want to. And don't worry about it sounding like she's physically lifting the car or something - that's not the way it works in English. We know she's driving.

some examples in context:

"The old man backed out of the parking lot, and lined up behind my car. Then he backed
up. He backed up more. He KEPT backing up"
www.snopes2.com/autos/techno/pushcar.htm

"Wyman put her car back into reverse and backed up until
she hit the dining room wall a second time"
cartalk.cars.com/Mail/Letters/1999/07.31/10.html

"the officer suggested that he would have better luck if he backed up
his car"
bcn.boulder.co.us/campuspress/2001/01/18/copsandcourts20010118.html

"the driver put the truck in reverse
and backed up 50 feet or so"
www.bfro.net/GDB/CNTS/KY/PI/ky_pi001.htm

Selected response from:

Jennifer Struna

Grading comment

Thank you very much!!!!!!!!
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

reversed (her car)

Agua

reverse

samsi

PULL BACK

Bertha S. Deffenbaugh

to go in reverse

Ricardo Galarza

The girl set her car in reverse.

Parrot

The girl put her car in reverse and proceeded to back up.

trans4u (X)

the girl backed up, went in reverse.

Reinaldo Quiles

to drive in reverse

Fuad Yahya

backed up

Jennifer Struna

Answers

12 mins

reversed (her car)

Explanation:
At least in the US it would be liked that: "the girl reversed her car".

Good luck,
Mar

I hear it a lot around here

Agua
Spain
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish

17 mins

reverse

Explanation:
marcha atrás = reverse
la chica hizo marcha atrás = the girl reversed
(that would be strictly translated)

here some other ideas:
to move backward
to back up

hope this helps
nice regards

mothertongue

samsi
Local time: 02:07

27 mins

PULL BACK

Explanation:
Vivo en Estados Unidos y soy conductora.

Esta es la forma más usual de decir: dar marcha atrás.

Saludos,:)

BD

Bertha S. Deffenbaugh
United States
Local time: 00:07
Native speaker of:

Spanish

1 hr

to go in reverse

Explanation:
También vivo en EE.UU. y discrepo. Lo correcto, aquí, es "the girl went in reverse".

"To pull back" no es lo mismo, sino que quiere decir "salir hacia atrás", como de un estacionamiento u otro lugar en que el automóvil pudiera estar estacionado. Pero "hacer marcha atrás", o "dar marcha atrás", no necesariamente quiere decir que esté saliendo hacia atrás de ningún lugar, sino que simplemente está retrocediendo. Puede ser en el medio de la calzada, o de la ruta, o del campo. Y esto en inglés (norteamericano y de donde sea) sería "to go in reverse".

Por lo tanto:

"the girl went in reverse".

Suerte!

Exp.

Ricardo Galarza
Uruguay
Local time: 04:07
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Spanish

1 hr

The girl set her car in reverse.

Explanation:
The girl backed her car up.
" " " " " out (of a street).
etc. (But note that the girl does not go into reverse - her car does. Or: [she saw something frightening so] she backed away (ella hizo marcha atrás).

Parrot
Spain
Local time: 09:07
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

1 hr

The girl put her car in reverse and proceeded to back up.

Explanation:
You really can´t say the girl went in reverse because that means that she was walking backwards. To say the girl pulled back..again, is she walking? or did she pull her car back? She has to be a really strong person. So, the only way to say it, although long, is to say:the girl put her car in reverse and proceeded to back up. That's what I think.

Saludos,

trans4u (X)

3 hrs

the girl backed up, went in reverse.

Explanation:
I work every day with insurance claims in Spanish and English as an interpreter and this is the most common way indeed. NOT "reversed her car" (I wonder what part of the country they are in). To reverse a car is not even a verb i mean...HOW do you reverse a car
? inside out? put the engine outside? I say backed up because to put in reverse it would be "poner el carro en reversa o en marcha atrás."

Own experience

Reinaldo Quiles
United States
Local time: 03:07
Native speaker of:

Spanish

10 hrs

to drive in reverse

Explanation:
"The girl drove in reverse."

Look at the following six citations from a variety of sources and contexts where the expression is used:

http://psychology.about.com/science/psychology/library/dream...

“She ran and gave me a hug and the next thing I knew, I was in my ex-boyfriend's (of one year) car in the snow, but he couldn't drive it forwards. Instead, he drove in reverse.”

http://portugal-info.net/rentacar/faro.htm

“Charles Creighton drove in reverse for 11,555 km over a period of 42 days without ever once stopping the engine.”

http://ka-ching.oxygen.com/business/column/startup/yb_column...

“En route, I passed a huge pet store, screeched on my brakes and drove in reverse down a whole city block.”

http://www.safetycommittee.pdx.edu/sm102694.htm

“The fork lift was loaded with a large carton of paper which obscured his vision while driving forward but it was necessary to drive forward because the scope of the route he was taking would cause the load to slip off if he drove in reverse.”

http://www.dailyillini.com/mar_99/mar3/news/police.html

“The suspect then drove in reverse and scratched the victim's vehicle, according to the report.”

http://www.indy500.com/press/2000/kite-05222000.php3

“When he stopped he was pointed in the other direction so he drove in reverse direction into the south end of the pits with fluid dripping from the rear of the car.”

I am not saying that "drove in reverse" is the only way of saying it. In fact, the very idea of an "only way" is quite alien to the nature of human expressiveness. But the phrasing I am suggesting seems demonstrably common.

Fuad

See citations above

Fuad Yahya
Native speaker of:

Arabic,

English

1 day 11 hrs

backed up

Jennifer Struna
PRO pts in category: 3

Grading comment

Thank you very much!!!!!!!!

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English translation: backed up

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