Consider this sentence:
- Part of Ester’s salary was deduced because she did not go to work for a week.
This (above) sentence makes no sense in English. “To deduce” something means to come to a conclusion by reasoning (razonamiento). In Spanish you might use “inferir o deducir algo de algo”. That is where the similarity (la similitud) stops.
“Deduce” does not mean “descontar”. Descontar is translated “to deduct or to exclude”.
Here are some correct uses of deduce:
- What do you deduce from Mr. Podemos’s speech? (¿qué conclusión sacas del discurso de Señor Podemos?)?
- As can be deduced from Mr. Podemos’s speech (según se deduce del discurso de Señor Podemos), the party is in chaos (está en el caos).
- We deduced that Mr. Podemos was the only one that could have done it (dedujimos que solo Señor Podemos podría haberlo hecho).
What is your deduction (¿cuál es su deducción?) from all this (de todo esto)?
If there is a word that looks similar, check it first in a good dictionary.
