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Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.

The above Bible verse, Romans 15:7, is translated in the NTV (Nueva Traducción Viviente) as

Por lo tanto, acéptense unos a otros, tal como Cristo los aceptó a ustedes, para que Dios reciba la gloria.

But I've tried to translate it using SpanishDict and I've obtained

Acéptanse unos a otros tal como Cristo acceptados para que God reciba gloria.

Why are the 2 imperatives rendered differently here?

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  • The SpanishDict link provides a very poor translation but it does not show the verbal form that you have copied: acéptanse.
    – RubioRic
    Commented Apr 20, 2021 at 5:48

2 Answers 2

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Acéptense is the correct form of the imperative of "aceptarse" in formal second person plural (ustedes)1. See a conjugation table of "aceptar" here: the ustedes form of the imperative is the very last entry. You then add the clitic pronoun "se", and add an accent on the first "e" as per the accent placement rules.

Acéptanse is not an imperative. It is the third person plural (or formal second person plural ustedes) of the indicative present. It means "they accept each other". The second translation suggested in the question is most likely wrong, which is supported by the presence of the word "acceptos", which is not a Spanish word.

1The ustedes form is a formal second person plural in Spain (the informal form is vosotros). In Latin America, ustedes is the only second person plural form, used both in formal and informal contexts.

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  • Wimi, you gave me a very informed answer! I appreciate your conjugation table of "aceptar."
    – Jck Gutknecht
    Commented Apr 20, 2021 at 15:25
  • Wimi, I looked up the accent placement rules that you referred to, but still don't get this:
    – Jck Gutknecht
    Commented Apr 20, 2021 at 15:26
  • @JckGutknecht what is it that you don't get? It seems that your comment is missing some text... Words whose stressed syllable is the third-to-last (esdrújulas) always have an accent on that syllable.
    – wimi
    Commented Apr 20, 2021 at 18:06
  • acéptense -- if this verb did not have the accent, aceptense, how would I know where to put the accent?
    – Jck Gutknecht
    Commented Apr 22, 2021 at 11:54
  • @JckGutknecht you would need to know how it is pronounced. The accent may or may not be present (according to the linked rules), but when it is present, it is always on the stressed syllable. "Acepten" has the stress on the "cep" syllable (second to last, word ending in -n, so no accent). "Acéptense" has the stress also on the "cep" syllable, but this time it is the third to last syllable, so it has an accent.
    – wimi
    Commented Apr 22, 2021 at 12:39
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It's useful to compare several Bible translations to each other. You can compare them side by side at this web page.

Notice that some Bibles use the ustedes form that is widely used in Latin America. Many of them use the vosotros form, even if they are widely used in Latin America. Reina Valera is widely used in evangelical groups, and readers are expected to have a passive knowledge of the vosotros from, even if they use the ustedes from in daily conversation.

Also note that some translations say that Christ also accepted you, while other say that Christ also accepted us. This has to be a translator's choice.

None of them use the form you got from SpanishDict. Some of the other answers flag that as an incorrect form. I'm inclined to accept that.

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