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I am trying to determine how to best translate the English phrases "Like I said [just now] ..." or "As we discussed [previously] ...", which indicate that what follows has already been said at some point in the past.

Por ejemplo:

"As we talked about yesterday, the cows are not producing milk."

________?________, las vacas no producen leche.

"Like we discussed Tuesday, we should burn all of the documents."

________?________, deberíamos quemar todos de los documentos.

Like I said [just now], I don't want to buy your dirty socks.

________?________, no quiero comprar sus calcetines sucios.

My first guess, attempting a direct translation was something like: "Como discutimos ayer ...", etc. Is "como" the right word to use here for "as/like"? Are there more idiomatic/natural ways of expressing this in Spanish?

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    Likewise in English, in Spanish we have many, many ways to express this. The usage of one or another depends on the specific situation. If there was an agreement, tal y como acordamos; if it was a bit more informal, tal y como dijimos, and so on. So I am not sure if you are looking for a translation for a specific situation or you want a set of options.
    – fedorqui
    Oct 23, 2016 at 18:32
  • fedorqui, Thank you. I figured there were probably many ways of expressing it in Spanish too, and was looking for a set of options (rather than just translations for a specific situation). In particular, I am interested in knowing which sound more "casual" and would be encountered more frequently in everyday speech, and which would sound more formal.
    – J. Taylor
    Oct 23, 2016 at 19:22

1 Answer 1

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Any of the following translations are valid for each of your sentence:

"As we talked about yesterday, the cows are not producing milk."

  • Como ya hablamos ayer, las vacas no producen leche.

"Like we discussed Tuesday, we should burn all of the documents."

  • Tal y como discutimos el martes, deberíamos quemar todos los documentos.

Like I said [just now], I don't want to buy your dirty socks

  • Como ya he dicho, no quiero comprar sus calcetines sucios.

  • Como ya le he dicho, no quiero comprar sus calcetines sucios.

  • Como le acabo de decir, no quiero comprar sus calcetines sucios.

Here are some differences between each form:

  • Como: The most neutral form to introduce a previous situation

  • Como ya: It puts some emphasis to something that has already been introduced.

  • Tal y como: Totally interchangable with the previous one.

Despite the little differences, the three are interchangable with each other.

I would use como as the formal way. Sometimes, to put emphasis might be taken as a provocation. Depends on the situation. So rather use the neutral one.

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