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Today I was at school talking with a friend about there are a lot of students but very few cafeterias,so he said

Es para que hubiera más cafeterías.

I was trying to figure out how to translate that sentence into English, so far I do not have very clear how it could be translated, I think it could be translated as:

There should be more cafeterias.

Any help would be appreciated!

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  • I agree with your translation.
    – Teacher KSHuang
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 9:34
  • I agree too, but idiomatically, it corresponds exactly to “you’d think...” about something that perplexes you: “Con tantos estudiantes en esta escuela es para que hubiera más cafeterías.” - With so many students at this school, you’d think they’d have more cafeterias. Another example: Después de cinco años en España es para que John hablara mejor español. = After five years in Spain, you’d think John would speak better Spanish. Hope this helps)))
    – CocoPop
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 23:46

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Most faithful translation:

It (the situation) is such that there should have been more cafeterias.

One of the challenges of this question is that the statement in Spanish is not exactly precise and is somewhat colloquial and conversational.

Your friend could have simply said, "Hubiera más cafeterías," and the same meaning would have been conveyed.

The connecting phrase "es para que" is common in conversational constructs, and is simply an informal lead-in or transition.

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  • Is Spanish your native language? Or English?
    – CocoPop
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 23:42
  • Yes! ;) Grew up with both. My parents taught me both. Migrated to US in 2001, now I use both about 50-50.
    – Giaco Carletta
    Commented Feb 1, 2019 at 14:38
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You’d think there'd be more cafeterias!

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    And just to clarify - "There'd" is a more conversational or casual way to say "there would".
    – ColleenV
    Commented Sep 27, 2014 at 20:31
  • As is, that sentence is not quite right. "You'd think there'd be more cafeterias!", short for "You would think there would be more cafeterias!" is better English, and what people really say. In other words:, "If you knew about the situation, you would think ....[whatever]." "You think ... [whatever]." just tries to tell the listener what he thinks.
    – Lorel C.
    Commented Dec 26, 2018 at 17:57

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