Pasó apenas un año o una cosa así, y...
Hardly a year or so passed, and...
Caption 15, Biografía - Pablo Echarri
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La vida me ha dado un hambre voraz y tú apenas me das caramelos
Life has given me a voracious hunger and you just give me candy
Caption 11, Shakira - Loba
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Our recent interview with illustrator Antonio Vargas brings us another use of apenas you might be less familiar with:
Este restaurante todavía no existe; apenas se va a hacer.
This restaurant doesn't exist yet; it is about to be built.
Caption 3, Antonio Vargas - Artista - ilustración
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When placed before a future tense phrase, apenas often conveys the message that the action is just about to happen, or is on the verge of happening.
Yo creo que apenas va a empezar.
I believe it's just about to start.
Caption 17, Arturo Vega - Entrevista
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Le encanta el poder y le atrapa la noche
She loves power and the night ensnares her
Caption 6, Chayanne - Lola
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The Spanish verb encantar literally means "to enchant" or "to delight greatly," so when Chayanne sings "le encanta el poder," he means to say that "power enchants her" or "power delights her." In English we would simply say "she loves power." If this looks a lot like the way we use gustar (to please) when we want to say someone "likes" something, that's because encantar belongs to a family of verbs known as "verbs like gustar." These verbs always take an indirect object pronoun, usually to refer to the person who in the English version would be the subject, and in this example the "le" is the indirect object pronoun (her), referring to "Lola."
Atrapar/"to trap; to ensnare" is NOT a "verb like gustar," but Chayanne, in the interest of lyrical flow, seems to be doing his best to set it up like one. First, notice he is putting the subject la noche/"the night," after the verb atrapa/"ensnares" (a bit unusual, but not incorrect). Secondly, he is referring to Lola using the indirect object pronoun "le," but in this case it is really acting as a direct object pronoun. You can tell because it answers the question "what?" about the verb ("The night ensnares 'what?' It ensnares her") rather than the question "to whom?" or "for whom?" which would call for an indirect object pronoun.
Note that, unlike indirect object pronouns, the direct object pronouns in Spanish DO have gender distinctions, "lo" for him and "la" for her. Chayanne could have expressed the same sentiment by putting the subject before the verb and using the proper direct object pronoun, making it clearer for most Spanish learners:
La noche la atrapa.
The night ensnares her.
Strictly speaking, "le" is not to be used as a direct object at all, but Chayanne, like a great many of his fellow Spanish speakers, IS using "le" as a direct object. The phenomenon of using the indirect object pronoun "le" (or its plural "les") where you technically should have used a direct object pronoun is known as "leísmo," and its use varies by region. It is common enough that it is not always heard as "wrong" by a great many Spanish speakers, and there are even a few cases where "le" is seen, even by the strictest grammar mavens, as an acceptable alternate to the "proper" direct object pronouns.
These "acceptable" cases of leísmo usually involve the substitution of "le" for the masculine direct object "lo," but Chayanne is substituting "le" for the feminine direct object "la"—which, while not entirely unknown in colloquial Spanish, is usually not considered "acceptable" by those with learned opinions on such matters (such as the RAE).
Further reading:
https://www.thoughtco.com/leismo-and-related-variations-3079360
http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltGUIBusDPD?lema=leísmo
Carambola: more than tricky pool
We already know Chayanne from the tv series Provócame, where he portrays a shy stable hand who also sings the show's sanguine theme song. Now we encounter his wilder side, singing about Lola, a jet-set party-loving socialite who might even be a bit dangerous:
Como disfrutas la carambola, Lola
How you enjoy deceit, Lola
Caption 15, Chayanne - Lola
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But how does carambola translate as "deceit?"
The usage evolves from a billiards shot (known in English as a cannon), whereby the cue ball ricochets off its target and hits a third ball, seemingly by chance, in a way that's beneficial to the player. The word comes from a pocket-less type of billiards known in English as carom billiards, and in Spanish as billar de carambolas (or just carambolas) where these types of rebounding shots are standard and can be amazing to watch.
So when someone (like Chayanne's Lola) plays her hand to achieve some benefit and makes it look like an accident, she is doing una carambola. A skillful billiards player bounces off one ball to hit another, and a skillful conman sets a trap that does not directly point back to him.
Estoy seguro que los políticos están haciendo carambola.
I'm sure that the politicians are doing something illicit.
However, not all uses of the term have negative overtones. Because the carambola shot appears to be fortuitous by happenstance, de carambola can also simply refer to chance, good luck, or "dumb luck."
Vine a recoger unos papeles y me encontré con Camilo de carambola.
I came to pick up some papers and I found Camilo by chance.
Pateó al arco, el balón golpeó en un defensor y entró de carambola.
He kicked toward the goal; the ball hit a defender and went in by luck.
Préndete, sácale chispas al "starter"
Turn on, get sparks from the starter
Caption 6, Calle 13 - Atrévete-te-te
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Que tú eres callejera, "street fighter"
You're a woman of the streets, a street fighter
Caption 9, Calle 13 - Atrévete-te-te
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He pronounces the English word "street" as "estreet."
Spanish speakers seem to have trouble saying some English words that start with "s," adding an "e" sound to the beginning? But why would it be? Especially when Hato seems to be able to say "sippy" without turning it into "esippy":
Mira, nena, ¿quieres un "sippy"?
Look, babe, would you like a sippy [a little sip]?
Caption 41, Calle 13 - Atrévete-te-te
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If Hato has no trouble with "sippy," why does he say "estreet" and "estarter" instead of "street" and "starter?" Furthermore, there are plenty of Spanish words that start with an unadulterated "s" sound that we hear him pronounce clearly throughout the song: "sácale," "sudor," "salte," "sacúdete," "seria," and so on. He seems to have no problem with those.
You may have already started to notice a pattern! While many Spanish words start with the letter "s" and an accompanying "s" sound, they almost always follow this leading "s" with a vowel. It's when the first "s" in an English word is followed by consonant (s + consonant) that Spanish speakers feel compelled to precede an English word with an "e" sound. Why? Because almost no Spanish words that start with an "s" are followed by a consonant.
Spanish words that have an "s+consonant" near the beginning pretty much all start with an "e" as the first letter. Certainly you noticed that the language is "español" and not "spañol"? Or that the country from whence it all came is España (not Spaña)? Looking again to Calle 13 for clues, we hear:
Destápate, quítate el esmalte
Show yourself, remove your nail polish
Caption 3, Calle 13 - Atrévete-te-te
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In the word "esmalte" (nail polish), there is an "s+consonant" near the beginning of the word, but, in line with norms of Spanish, it is preceded by an "e."
Modern life causes "stress" in English speakers but Spanish speakers experience "estrés." Why? It's because when this English word made its way into Spanish, it conformed to a typical Spanish pattern. Likewise, when a shop that sells long bread rolls filled with meats and toppings opens up on Old San Juan, Residente and his buddies will no doubt be happy to grab "sandwiches" (or "saandweeches") at "Subway" (or "SOOBway"). The beginning "s" sounds in "subway" and in "sandwich" are no problem, because they are followed by vowels: "u" and "a", respectively -- a pattern Spanish speakers are well accustomed to. ¿Sí o no? -¡Supongo que sí!
Keep an ear open for Spanish words that begin with an "s" and with an "es." Does the theory fit? We hope so, or it will be an escándalo!
Side note: On the other side of the coin, the "es + consonant" phenomenon runs so deep in Spanish-language phonetics, and so many English "s" words have a corresponding similar Spanish "es" word, that Spanish speakers learning English sometimes mistakenly that think that "es + consonant" is only a Spanish-language thing. This will lead them to say specially for especially, state for estate, and streme for extreme, thinking that the "e"s are a hangover from their Spanish pronunciation. You just have to remember Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy, the Cuban immigrant musician and bandleader who was always ready to admonish Lucille Ball's character with "Lucy! You've got some splainin' to do!"
Let's stop by the kitchen of the Di Carlo mansion, setting of preparations for the big gala in Muñeca Brava. The maids are very excited. They want to get a detailed description of how Mili looked as she made her Cinderella-like debut. Notice that Socorrito uses the imperfect tense of both ver (to look) and bajar (to go down, to lower, to descend) when she asks:
...Contame, contame,
...Tell me, tell me,
¿cómo se la veía cuando bajaba de la escalera?
how did she look as she was walking down the stairs?
Caption 1, Muñeca Brava - 41 La Fiesta
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If you've ever heard anything at all about the imperfect tense, it's that it applies to past actions that are not completed or that are ongoing. We see that quite clearly above in the case of bajaba; Mili "was walking down," an action that was ongoing at the time. However, another rule of the imperfect, one less bandied about, also comes into play here: the imperfect is employed when describing two or more simultaneous past actions. Socorrito wants to know how Mili "looked" (using the imperfect veía) as (at the same point in time) she was going down the stairs.
With her usual enthusiasm, Mariposa definitely puts them in the moment when she answers:
Socorrito, ¡no sabe lo que era! Parecía una princesa.
Socorrito, you can't imagine! She looked like a princess.
Caption 2, Muñeca Brava - 41 La Fiesta
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There is yet another well-documented use of the imperfect that we can cite here: its use to "set the scene" or provide background information, especially at the beginning of a larger story. She uses the imperfect era (from ser, to be) when she says ¡no sabe lo que era! which literally translates to "you don't know how it was!" And she employs parecía (she looked like), which is an imperfect conjugation of parecer (to appear as/to look like/to seem like). Mariposa is setting the stage for the fairy tale taking place in the ballroom, and doing so in much the same way one would recite an actual fairy tale (which is no surprise if you remember that Muñeca Brava is a retelling of the Cinderella story).
The start of your average ghost tale or mystery story makes a good illustration of using the imperfect to paint a background picture:
Era una noche oscura y tormentosa, llovía y unos pájaros cantaban a lo lejos.
It was a dark and stormy night. It was raining and a few birds were singing from a distance.
[Note that in Spanish one can also use the past continuous tense, for example estaba lloviendo (it was raining) or estaban cantando (they were singing)—but it would not likely be used by native speakers when setting a scene or providing a backdrop. We'll look at the past continuous, aka past progressive, in a different lesson.]
More well-known to the average student of Spanish is the use of the imperfect to refer to a habitual or repeated action in the past. We saw an example of this in an earlier episode of Muñeca Brava when Milena says to Louise:
Sí, antes nos veíamos siempre.
Yes, we always used to see each other.
Caption 68, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta
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Y muchas veces la gente se confundía.
And several times people would get confused.
Caption 40, David Bisbal - Haciendo Premonición Live
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The other simple past tense in Spanish (called "simple" because its conjugations are only one word long) is known as preterite and is used for past actions that are completed and non-habitual. We find an example in a recent music video from The Krayolas:
Cuando yo la vi por primera vez me enamoré en un dos por tres
When I saw her for the first time I fell in love with her instantly
Captions 1-2, The Krayolas - Little Fox
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The singer uses the preterite vi (saw) instead of the imperfect veía (was seeing/used to see) because he is talking about a specific, completed instance of laying eyes on someone.
Read more interesting things about the imperfect on the 123TeachMe site and be sure to visit Spaleon to master the imperfect conjugation of all verbs.
¿Hombres? Pero mirá que sos cínica, Martita, ¿eh?
Men? But you're quite shameless Martita, aren't you?
Captions 15-16, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta
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Pero no lo hace de mala, eh.
But she doesn't do it because she's mean.
De bruta que es, lo hace.
She does it because she's just stupid.
Captions 22-23, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta
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Mili is having it out with her fellow domestica, Marta, in La Muñeca brava, La apuesta, part 12. Mili calls Marta cínica and bruta. But Marta doesn’t look like a "brute" and we really don’t know her philosophical affiliations. So, what gives?
The words bruto and cínico share Latin roots with their English cousins “brute” and “cynical,” but they don’t mean exactly the same thing. As a matter of fact, they usually mean something else when used in Spanish. If you look at how we translated these words, you will find “stupid” for bruta, and “shameless” for cínica.
Both are adjectives that, when applied to human beings, can also be nouns. No seas bruta or bruto translates into English as “Don’t be stupid” or “[…] dense,” the idea being “as stupid or dense as an animal, a ‘brute.’ ” In Spanish, on the other hand, if you want to call someone a “brute,” you’d say he's an animal (“animal”) or bestia (“beast”): Ese animal quiso propasarse con mi prima. (“That brute tried to go too far with my cousin.”)
In English, “cynical” usually refers to a person who believes in nothing or is generally distrustful of people. “That critic is a real cynic. He never likes anything!” But for this critic to be cínico in Spanish, he would have another quality entirely: Ese critico es un verdadero cínico. Escribió una buena reseña de la obra sólo porque la actriz principal es su amante. “That critic has no shame. He wrote a good review of the play only because the leading lady is his lover.”
There is a Yiddish word, frequently used in English, that nails cínico right on the head: chutzpah. In Spanish it only has the negative sense, though, which according to Leo Rosten is “gall, brazen nerve, effrontery”. That’s the Spanish cínico in a nutshell. “Talk about chutzpah, the nerve of that guy!” ¡Qué cínico!
Notes:
Bruto and "brute" both have a shared root in the Latin "brutus" ("heavy, dull, stupid," later came to mean "associated with lower animals/beasts"). The English "brute" tends to associate more with the physicality aspect (strong yet not graceful) while the Spanish bruto tends to associate more with the mentality aspect (simple minded, ignorant, stupid), but there does exist some crossover in both languages.
Similarly, the Spanish cínico does at times take on a meaning very similar to the meaning we usually ascribe to "cynical" in English, and the reverse is also true. Their shared ancestry goes even deeper than the Latin "cynic," all the way back to the Greek "Kunikas."
For further reading on cínico:
An excellent and very interesting deeper look at cínico and cynical:
https://life-in-translation.blogspot.com/2004/12/cynical-about-dictionaries.html
An expat in Chile discovers the cínico / cynical difference the hard way:
https://cachandochile.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/cynical-or-cinico/
Sí, pero mi poeta interno está completamente agotado.
Yes, but my internal poet is completely exhausted.
Caption 34, Romeo y Julieta - Episodio 59
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Romeo's school chum Dante has an acute problem with his inner poet. Listen to what he says: Sí, pero mi poeta interno está completamente agotado. “Yes, but my inner poet is all used up.” If you check the English subtitle, it says “exhausted,” which means the same thing, although it is a bit more literary.
Agotado ("used up," "tired out," "exhausted," or even “out of print,” when referring to a book) is the past participle of the verb agotar, which you may recall we discussed when Belinda "ran out of" hope in her song "Bella Traición." Agotar, literally, means “to extract all the liquid contained in a recipient,” or, in other words, "to squeeze to the very last drop."
The root of agotar is the noun gota, which means “drop,” as in una gota de agua (a drop of water). Perhaps you remember our friend David, a.k.a. Doctor Guacuco, when he prepared fresh clams for us?
Le echamos una gota de limón. Una gota de picante...
We add a drop of lemon. A drop of hot sauce...
Captions 11-12, Doctor Guacuco - Uno
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Agotar, the verb, when not discussing things like lemons and limes, is commonly employed in a figurative way, like when a mother scolds her child:
No me agotes la paciencia.
Don’t try my patience. [Don't make my patience run out.]
Or when something is no longer available:
Se agotaron las existencias de Tamiflu.
The supplies of Tamiflu ran out.
Los boletos para el concierto de Luis Miguel se agotaron en menos de una hora.
The tickets to the Luis Miguel concert sold out in less than an hour.
Ese libro está agotado.
That book is out of print.
Or when there are no more ideas:
Hemos agotado todas las posibilidades.
We have exhausted all the possibilities.
Or even when a person has run out of energy:
¡Estoy agotado!
“I’m exhausted!” in the sense of “I’m bushed” or “I’m tired out.”
So Dante's inner poet is exhausted, it's all used up: se agotó. Too bad. The good thing is that what can be emptied can always be refilled. For that, he needs only inspiración, and from the looks of the young ladies that he surrounds himself with, that won’t be hard to get: No se le agotarán las oportunidades. (“His opportunities will never dry up.”)
Dime por favor quién me mandó quererte.
Tell me, please, who told me to love you [why should I love you?].
Caption 1, Romeo y Julieta - Episodio 59
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Romeo wants to know who in the world asked him to love Julieta: Dime, por favor, quién me mandó quererte. "Tell me, please, who told me to love you." It's a rhetorical question. Nobody asked him to love her, so why should he?
Perhaps you are familiar with the verb mandar, meaning "to send." Many Spanish learners (and even many native speakers) are likely to be tempted to translate quién me mandó quererte as "who sent me to love you." But there is another meaning of mandar, which is "to order" or "to tell" (someone to do something), and this is the meaning that Spanish grammarians inform us comes into play when the construction is mandar + infinitive.
A Pedro lo mandé traer un litro de leche.
I told Pedro to bring a liter of milk.
If Romeo had wanted to say "Tell me who sent me to love you," he would have had to put an a before the infinitive, Dime quién me mandó a quererte. The construction mandar a + infinitive means "to send" (someone to do something).
A Pedro lo mandé a traer un litro de leche.
I sent Pedro to bring [back] a liter of milk.
Since the meanings are so close, it is only natural that in many parts of the Spanish-speaking world people use mandar and mandar + a indistinctly. In other words, they no longer differentiate between the two. Something similar is happening with deber and deber + de, remember? But it is a good idea to learn the rule while understanding that it doesn't always hold up. Like many other things having to do with rules and life!
Aleks Syntek has a real problem. He sings:
Yo no sé qué sucedió
I don't know what happened
Caption 1, Aleks Syntek - Intocable
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There are various words and phrases one can use in Spanish to say that something “happens.” The most common verb is pasar. Aleks could have sung Yo no sé qué pasó, and nobody would have blinked. If you saw a friend’s dog lying motionless with his tongue hanging out, you would probably ask:
¿Qué le pasó a tu perro?
What happened to your dog?
If you said:
¿Qué le sucedió a tu perro?, it would mean the same thing but it would sound a tad literary. They are both great words, but it’s always a good idea to use the most common word first (pasar) and save the less-used word as a synonym (suceder).
Be careful, though. Suceder does not only mean “to happen.” The same goes for pasar. Take this sentence, for example:
Benedicto sucedió a Juan Pablo en el trono papal.
Benedicto succeeded John Paul on the papal throne.
Here sucedió means “succeeded” in the sense of “to come next after” or “to replace”. But it does not mean “to be successful”. To say this in Spanish, you would use the phrase tener éxito:
¡Yo nunca tengo éxito!
I never succeed.
Remember that éxito has nothing to do with an "exit." “Exit” is salida.
Pasar can mean several things as well. In the imperative, it means “Go ahead!”
¡Pase por aquí, por favor!
Come [or Go] this way, please!
And when you can’t tolerate or put up with something or someone, when you can’t “suffer” him or her, the verb pasar is also a good choice:
A ese tonto no lo paso.
I don't stand that fool.
The verb pasar has dozens of meanings but let’s wrap this up: it can also mean “to swallow.” In this sense one usually uses it reflexively. If a child procrastinates at the table, with food in his mouth, his mother might raise her voice, saying:
¡Ya pásatelo!
Swallow it already!
Without the reflexive particle te, it would mean “Pass it over!” or “Pass it on!”, which is not the same thing.
So, now you know what happened, lo que pasó or lo que sucedió. But Aleks Syntek is still out of the loop… Poor guy!
When it’s over, it’s over. It’s like in Aleks Syntek’s song "Intocable" (Untouchable), where the poor guy was dumped and ends up consoling himself by singing:
Si en el juego del amor
If in the game of love
ahora soy el perdedor
now I'm the loser
debo salir adelante
I must move on
Captions 4-6, Aleks Syntek - Intocable
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In Spanish, when we want to express an obligation or a responsibility, we use the verb deber, properly conjugated of course, followed by the infinitive of the verb denoting the action that we must carry out.
Debo hacer mi tarea.
I must do my homework.
Debiste haberme avisado.You should have warned me OR you should have told me in advance.
"Deber + infinitive" tends to imply a sense of *internal* obligation, whereas "tener que + infinitive," which is extremely common and very close in meaning, tends to convey a sense of *external* obligation.
Emilio debe levantar su ropa sucia.
Emilio should pick up his dirty clothes. (For his own good and that of the household.)
Emilio tiene que levantar su ropa sucia.
Emilio must/has to pick up his dirty clothes. (Or his mother will ground him.)
So any time you want to express a sense of responsibility or obligation, especially one that stems of an internal sense of duty, just conjugate the verb deber and then add the infinitive of the action verb.
Sé que no será fácil pero debo confesarle la verdad.
I know it won't be easy but I must confess the truth.
But hold on there for a minute! A little later in the song, Syntek changes the syntax around considerably by singing:
Debes confundida estar
You must be confused
Caption 13, Aleks Syntek - Intocable
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Actually two things are happening simultaneously, so you should be patient and bear with us! (¡Debes ser paciente y aguantarnos!)
First of all, the syntax. Normally, one would say, sing or write:
Debes estar confundida.
You must be confused.
He turned the sentence on its head so this line Debes confundida estar would rhyme with the next one:
Terminar por terminar
To break up for the sake of breaking up
The second thing here is a finer point of Spanish grammar. When one wants to give the listener or reader the idea of probability, one also uses the verb deber, but before the infinitive, one should also include the preposition de. Technically, this is what Aleks Syntek should have sung:
Confundida debes de estar.
You must be [probably are] confused.
Denisse Guerrero makes the opposite error (adding "de" where she should have left it out) when she sings "Lo siento, niño, debo de partir" (I'm sorry, boy, I must leave) in line 27 of the Belanova video "Niño":
Lo siento, niño, debo de partir
I'm sorry, boy, I must leave
Caption 27, Belanova - Niño
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Strictly speaking, she should have simply sung "debo partir" (I must leave). But we are not out to pick on pop stars*!
Many native speakers, both in Spain and Latin America, are not consciously aware of this difference and tend to sweep it under the rug, which is unfortunate because there is a huge difference between responsibility or obligation, and probability.
Check out these two sentences, which mean two different things:
Aleks Syntek debió de entender la diferencia.
Aleks Syntek probably understood the difference. (That is the most likely scenario.)
Aleks Syntek debió entender la diferencia.
Aleks Syntek should have understood the difference. (Because it was his obligation or responsibility.)
See what we mean? Let’s chalk it up to the poor girl’s unfortunate decision to leave him, when debió quedarse con él (“she should have stayed with him”). But there’s no accounting for taste.
*At least one pop diva wasn't daydreaming during her grammar lessons. Natalia Oreiro, as eloquent as she is lovely, correctly uses "deber de + infinitive" when she says:
Más que sentirme mal yo,
More than feeling badly myself,
imagínate cómo se deben de sentir ellos.
imagine how they must feel.
Captions 40-41, Biografía - Natalia Oreiro
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That's it for today. We hope you find this lesson useful and we invite you to send us your comments and suggestions.
Aléjate de mí pues tú ya sabes que no te merezco
Get away from me since you already know that I do not deserve you
Caption 18, Camila - Aléjate de mi
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Es contigo, mi vida, con quien puedo sentir... Que merece la pena vivir
It's with you, my honey, with whom I can feel... That life is worth living
Captions 7-8, Julieta Venegas - El Presente
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A few more examples:
Al igual que pues que tiene sus pros y sus contras y... pues aun así vale la pena. ¿OK?
At the same time it has it pros and cons and... well, even so it's still worth it. OK?
Captions 47-49, Amigos D.F. - Te presento...
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If you've ever been to Spain, you know that ¿Vale? (OK?) or Vale. (OK.) is slang that is thrown around a lot amongst Spaniards. ¿Vale?
Eh... y bueno, ahora estamos con Karla, con quien iremos a caminar y a pasear un rato.
Eh... and well, now we're with Karla, with whom we're going to stroll and walk around for a while.
Captions 20-21, Sevilla, España - Porteñas paseando
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Once again, quien is clearly acting as a relative pronoun, referring to "your cousin,"
and so is written with no accent over the e.
So what about cases where the sentence contains no noun or pronoun to which quien refers?
Quite often, this is a sign that an accent is needed. The most common case is when quién takes on the role of "interrogative pronoun," which, as the name implies, involves a question, as when the powerful and beautiful Julieta Venegas ponders:
¿Quién nos dice que la vida nos dará el tiempo necesario?
Who says that life will give us the necessary time?
Caption 3, Julieta Venegas - El Presente
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And quién is utilized in indirect questions as well, as Juliana, back in Sevilla, demonstrates for us:
No sé quién irá a ver este video...
I don't know who will watch this video...
Caption 13, Sevilla, España - Porteñas paseando
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How would we treat quién if Julia were to have made her statement positive?
As it turns out, an accent is still required, even though most English speakers would not consider this an indirect question. You might look at this as a case where an indirect question is present, but it is being answered. The highly respected María Moliner dictionary calls this type of usage aclaratoria (explanatory). Note that there is still no noun or pronoun present to which quién is referring, so it is not behaving as a relative pronoun.
Like other interrogative pronouns, quién also retains the tilde when used in exclamatory way. (You will notice that these "quién" exclamations don't translate to English literally.)
¡Quién pudiera tener tus ojos!
If I only had your eyes!
¡Quién te escuchara todas las bobadas que estás diciendo!
If only the rest of the world could hear all the stupid things you are saying!
So, are there cases where quien doesn't relate to a nearby noun or pronoun, but still doesn't take an accent? Yes, when the "who" refers to some non-specific person, and so is taking on the role of "indefinite pronoun."
Quien mucho habla, no tiene nada que decir.
The person/a person who speaks a lot has nothing to say.
In this same vein, the phrase como quien means "like a person who" or "like someone who," sometimes best translated into English with "as if he/she [were someone he/she is not]":
Él contestó el interrogatorio como quien nunca hubiera conocido a la víctima.
He answered the interrogation like someone who (as if he [was someone who]) never had met the victim.
And, in another "indefinite" role, quien can also be used in place of nadie que (nobody that / nobody who) in phrases like this one:
No hay quien me detenga.
There is not anybody who can stop me. / There is nobody who can stop me.
[In English we can't have the double negative]
Poor Mili! She's caught between scheming Ivo and his grandmother, who have cooked up a plan to turn her from un desastre into a more refined woman. When Mili protests to the grandmother, she takes Ivo's side:
Mi nieto tiene razón. Vos sos una muchacha en estado... digamos... casi salvaje.
My grandson is right. You're a girl in a state that is... let's say... almost savage.
Captions 76-77, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta - Part 6
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Por primera vez, la mariposa tiene razón.
For the first time, the butterfly is right.
Caption 12, Muñeca Brava - 9 - Engaños - Part 5
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While tiene razón literally means "has reason," it is best translated as "is right."
Here's another example of tener + razón
Juan tenía razón, necesitábamos mejores atacantes.
Juan was right, we needed better forwards [soccer].
Sometimes you will see tener + la razón. The meaning is the same: "to be right."
En lo que respecta a mi casa, mi esposa cree que siempre tiene la razón.
As far as my house goes, my wife believes that she is always right.
But what if you literally want to say "he has reason," as in this example?
He has reason to believe Annie will get an A.
(perhaps she is smart, she got an A last semester, the teacher likes her, etc.)
In this case we want to employ either the phrase "tener razones para" or "tener motivos para":
Él tiene razones para creer que Annie va a sacar un A.
He has reason to believe that Annie is going to get an A.
Él tiene motivos para creer Annie va a sacar un A.
He has reason to believe that Annie is going to get an A.
Also, as we touched upon in a previous lesson, "tener por qué" also means "to have reason," but you will find it used mostly in the negative sense:
Él no tiene por qué creer que Annie va a sacar un A.
He has no reason to believe that Annie is going to get an A.
No tengo por qué quejarme.
I have no reason to complain.
No tengo por qué contarte mis secretos.
I have no reason to tell you my secrets.
No tienes por qué preocuparte.
You have no reason to worry.
On rare occasions, you will come across "tener por qué" used in the positive sense:
Ellos tienen por qué luchar.
They have reason to struggle.
To tell the tale of Speedy, A.B. Quintanilla starts, "Érase una vez" -- which means "Once upon a time." Hearing these words, listeners instantly know we are entering fairy-tale territory. "Érase una vez" or "érase que se era" or "había una vez" are all ways to set up a fictional tale in Spanish, just like "once upon a time" in English. It's a fairy-tale convention.
Érase una vez, en un "little tiny" pueblito,
Once upon a time, in a little tiny town,
Caption 2, A. B. Quintanilla - Speedy Gonzalez
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Another convention we're all familiar with is the ending "And they lived happily ever after." In Spanish, you may hear: "Vivieron felices y comieron perdices" -- which a more literal translation would render "they lived happily and ate partridges." You see, partridges (perdices) are considered delicacies, so eating them signifies the good life. Plus, it rhymes.
Let's end on another rhyming note:
"Colorín, colorado... este cuento se ha acabado".
"Snip, snap, snout... this tale's told out" [Literally: Red, red-colored... this tale has ended"].
Caption 62, Cleer - El patito feo
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So to sign off this lesson, let's just say:
Y colorín colorado
esta lección se ha acabado.
"¡Órale, arriba, epa, epa, arriba, ándale!"
Sound familiar? Yes, it's the fastest mouse in all Mexico -- Speedy Gonzales! -- and he stars in A.B. Quintanilla's music video. But instead of racing around rescuing people, Speedy is tending to a broken heart in this fun video. Listen in:
Él nunca le teme a nada pero esta vez sí lloró
He is never afraid of anything but this time he did cry
Captions 12-13, A. B. Quintanilla - Speedy Gonzalez
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Poor Speedy! It takes a lot to make this brave mouse cry. In fact, Speedy's fans might not believe their fearless hero would actually shed tears, so the song adds an emphatic "sí" to get the point across. With "sí" placed in front of the verb "lloró", the sentence means "...he DID cry" (with the stress on the verb) or "... he did indeed cry." Believe it or not: He did.
As you know, "sí" with an accent over the "i" means "yes," as in the affirmative answer to a question. But "sí" is also widely used in Spanish to add emphasis to an assertion. In English, we make affirmations with "indeed," the auxiliary verb "do" and/or by stressing the verb.
Let's look at some examples to clarify.
Yo sí estoy trabajando en el proyecto final.
I AM working on the final project.
Carlos sí puede tocar la armónica.
Carlos can indeed play the harmonica.
A Nancy sí le gusta Miguel.
Nancy DOES like Miguel.
Note that the emphatic "sí" appears just before the verb in these affirmative statements in Spanish. In the English equivalents, we might stress the verb -- as indicated in all caps above.
For more examples of the emphatic sí at work, we turn to our friends in Mexico City. Yes, Amigos D.F. are back, talking about kidnappings. Listen in:
.. pues sí ha habido mucha inseguridad...
... well, there HAS been a lot of insecurity...
...O sea, como que sí hay interés de parte de las autoridades
... I mean, it's like there IS interest from the authorities
Yo sí tengo la esperanza que se reduzc'... se reduzcan este tipo de eventos, ¿no?
I DO have the hope that these kinds of events will be red'... will be reduced, right?
Caption 57, Amigos D.F. - El secuestrar
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When you listen to native Spanish speakers make affirmations -- like the ones above -- note that there's no stress placed on the verbs themselves. It's a rookie mistake for Spanish students to say something like "Yo sí TENGO la esperanza..." when native speakers would simply let the "sí" make the emphasis for them.
In addition to Dutch, Papiamento, and English, most Arubans can also speak perfect Spanish, as Landa Henríquez attests to by singing it with ease. The island has deep seated and ongoing ties with Venezuela, only fourteen miles to the south, and neighboring Colombia. So it should be of little surprise that Landa peppers her song with a common Colombian expression.
Ya sabes, te vas de Barranquilla y te pierdes tu silla
You know, you leave Barranquilla and you lose your chair
Caption 48, Landa Henríquez - Mujer Cuarenta
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The expression is actually a take on a popular saying from Spain which goes Él que se va a Sevilla, pierde su silla ("He who leaves Sevilla, loses his chair"). Either way, the meaning is the same: if you're not vigilent, you'll lose what is yours.
There is another way to express the same sentiment, and we hear it in a cumbia song playing at that disco that Milagros and Gloria have snuck out of the orphanage to visit in Muñeca Brava.
Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente.
The shrimp that sleeps is taken away by the current. ["You snooze, you lose."]
Caption 29, Muñeca Brava - 1 Piloto - Part 6
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American English also expresses this idea with an analogy to sleep: "You snooze, you lose."
Another interesting phrase to tumble from Landa Henríquez's lips is:
La mujer a los cuarenta, ya sabes está requete buena
A woman in her forties, you know she's very very hot
Caption 41, Landa Henríquez - Mujer Cuarenta
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"Estar buena" is "to be hot," as in sexually attractive. It's got little to do with the temperature on those sweltering Caribbean nights. (Meanwhile, the sand might be hot under foot, but you'd use "estar caliente" to describe that.) But what's "requete"? According to the authoritative Diccionario de la Lengua Española (by the Real Academia Española), "requete-," "rete-" or "re-" are prefixes that intensify the meaning of what follows -- like "very" in English, or "muy" in Spanish.
Celebrating women of a certain age, Mujer Cuarenta is an invitation to party, dance, fool around and enjoy life, Caribbean style. Listen in:
Baila y canta y vive sin pena, si te enamoras, en hora buena
Dance and sing and live without worries, if you fall in love, congratulations
Caption 11, Landa Henríquez - Mujer Cuarenta
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"En hora buena" literally means "at a good hour," but it's understood as a congratulations -- as in, "Good for you!" or "Congrats!" You hear this in Spain and throughout Latin America -- from the Caribbean coasts down to the Southern Cone.
When it's used as a noun, "enhorabuena" is usually written as one word. For example:
Todo el mundo quería darle la enhorabuena después del partido.
Everybody wanted to offer congratulations to him after the match.
But as an interjection, you'll see both "en hora buena" and "enhorabuena" (both are correct). Here are a few more examples:
Estamos, estamos... -Enhorabuena.
It's a deal, it's a deal... -Congratulations.
Caption 46, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos
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En hora buena, Elena, tu hija es hermosa.
Congratulations, Elena, your daughter is beautiful.
¡Llegaste! ¡Enhorabuena!
You arrived! Congratulations / At last!
Queremos que Julio venga enhorabuena, porque ya han pasado dos semanas.
We want Julio to finally come back, because it's already been two weeks.
Note that in the last example above, "enhorabuena" is an adverb, modifying the verb "venir." In this usage, "enhorabuena" comes closer to its literal meaning of "at a good hour."
Meanwhile, Spanish has two other congratulatory interjections: "Felicidades" and "Felicitaciones." There's some overlap between the three words, but "enhorabuena" and "felicitaciones" tend to congratulate accomplishments or achievements while "felicidades" might celebrate an occasion like a birthday.