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Permalink Reply by tad on July 19, 2008 at 12:09pm

It means 'to rest' or 'have a rest' and is pretty much a straightforward translation and so can be used for the same occasions as you would use 'rest' in English.

(Cansar is 'to tire' so I suppose it's like to 'de-tire')

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on July 19, 2008 at 1:08pm

There are other meanings of descansar

Dormir - to sleep
a medianoche, se retiraron a descansar - at midnight they retired (to bed)
hasta mañana! que descanses! - See you in the morning, sleep well

Estar enterrado - to be buried
aquí descansan los restos mortales de - Here lies the remains of
tu tío, que en paz descanse - your uncle, may he rest in peace

Military use
Descansen - at ease, stand easy

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Permalink Reply by Bob Robertson on July 19, 2008 at 1:38pm

would you use it differently addressing a female verses a male or differently singalar or plural

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Permalink Reply by Eddy on July 19, 2008 at 3:10pm

Well yes and no, depending on the context. Generally I believe that the terms are used for both sexes, for example
Military use
descansen when there is more than one person males or females.
descanse when there is one person male or female.

descansa - he/she/it rests.

But the past participle of descansar is descansado. If this is used as an adjective ie, rested, then it has to agree with the gender ie decansado/a.

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Permalink Reply by Heidita on July 19, 2008 at 3:26pm

Descansar is a verb, Bob, so the feminine masculine doesn't apply.

descansada: rested fem.

descansado: rested masc.

Here, it is an adjective.

Very nice post Señor Eddy!!!

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Permalink Reply by lazarus1907 on July 20, 2008 at 9:42am

He is right: past participles are treated as adjectives, and they must agree, no only with the gender, but also with the number of the noun they modify.

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