Che boluda... ¿qué te pasa? Estás como loca hoy.
Hey silly [potentially insulting, not amongst close friends]... what's up? Today you're like crazy.
Caption 3, Cuatro Amigas - Piloto - Part 3
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Our third installment of Cuatro Amigas – a very Sex and the City-like Argentine drama – opens in the ladies' bathroom, where we get a chihuahua's eye view of Elena and Rita's taste in intimate apparel. They are chatting intimately, addressing each other with che in caption 3 (cited above) and again in caption 14. In Argentina, che means "hey" between friends, or even "yo." Basically, it's a familiar, informal attention getter... che, got that?
If you watched 2004's Motorcycle Diaries, chronicling the cross-continent journeys that raised the consciousness of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, you know how Che got his famous nickname. For the rest of you: The Chileans were simply making fun of young Ernesto's Argentine habit of saying che all the time. (For more lore about the Marxist revolutionary, look for the two-part 2008 biopic called Che, with Benicio del Toro as a very convincing Che.)
Back to the quote cited above, which is translated as, "Hey silly, what's going on with you?" But we put a special note next to our translation of "silly" because that's not the whole story. Boludo or boluda is a slang word in Argentina that roughly means something more like "jerk." Use it with caution in the streets of Buenos Aires because it can be quite an insult, depending on the context. But between girlfriends, it's almost another way to say "hey... you."
...y que trae algo a la mesa de lo que es hoy en día es la música en general, ... trae algo diferente, algo novedoso, algo fresco.
...and brings something to the table that nowadays, the music generally, ... it brings something different, something new, something fresh.
Captions 43-46, Javier García - EPK - Part 2
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More generalizations. This time, we're hearing about music "nowadays" from Javier García's producer Gustavo Santaolalla -who won an Oscar for best original score for "Brokeback Mountain" (marketed as Secreto en la Montaña in Spanish). Yes, hoy en día is how you say "nowadays" in Spanish, which you will make note of if you ever want to be as fluent in both languages as Santaolalla is. In his Oscar acceptance speech LA-resident Santaolalla dedicated his Oscar to "todos los latinos." He said both "gracias" and "thank you," which played very well in Latin American newspapers. (To save you time, the article linked describes some Latino papers' reactions--from Miami to Mexico, Brazil to Chile.)
En un principio esta fuente cumplió su función de abastecimiento de agua a los ciudadanos de Madrid.
At first this fountain acomplished its function of supplying water to the citizens of Madrid.
Pero hoy en día su función es totalmente decorativa.
But nowadays its function is totally decorative.
Captions 15-18, Marisa en Madrid - Monumentos de Madrid
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In this example of the use of the phrase, Marisa shows us a beautiful, neoclassical fountain in Madrid called Fuente de Cibeles (The Fountain of Cybele).
Cuando las minas te piden tiempo en realidad lo que quieren decir es que no seas más ganso... y que vayas directamente a los bifes.
When chicks ask you for time what they really mean is that you should stop being a fool... and go straight into action.
Captions 4-6, Verano Eterno - Fiesta Grande - Part 7
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¿Que quieren decir? Ok, here's a generalization about men: Whenever you hear men make generalizations about women, be very skeptical! In this installment of Verano Eterno, unemployed Juan offers his unsolicited advice about minas (that is, "women" in Argentine slang) to his lovestruck buddy Mani. According to the wisdom of Juan (captions 4-6, as quoted above): "When chicks ask you for [more] time, what they really mean is stop being a fool and go for it."
Of course, Juan is young and speaks casually to his friend, so there's some slang to decipher to get his precise meaning. Ganso, which literally means "goose," is easy enough to understand in context. But it may help to know that hacer el ganso generally means "to play the fool," and so, naturally, ser un ganso, is "to be a fool." But what about the end of the statement? ir a los bifes In a way, it too follows its literal meaning: "To go to the meat" -er, more or less. Checking in with native speakers, the phrase vayas a los bifes more commonly means "go for it".
While there are many words that are identical in Spanish and English (e.g. original, horror, etc.), other words play different tricks on us. This short lesson is about one of those "false friends," or words that are written the same as or similar to words in another language but have very different meanings.
An age-old mistake among English speakers is to use the verb realizar as a means of conveying "to come to know" or "realize." Of course, most of you know by now that this is a false cognate as realizar usually means "to achieve," "bring to fruition," etc.
In fact, the correct way to say "to realize" is darse cuenta. Let's take a look at a couple of clips in order to see that verb in action:
Eh, darse cuenta que... que hay mucha gente, muchos chavales, que han podido perder una familia en'... a sus padres, se pueden quedar huérfanos.
Um, realizing that... that there many people, many young people, who have managed to lose an [entire] family... their parents; they can end up orphans.
Captions 12-13, Iker Casillas - apoya el trabajo de Plan
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Y de pronto te das cuenta de que... de que no quieres estar con nadie más.
And suddenly you realize that... that you don't want to be with anyone else.
Captions 29-30, Cortometraje - Flechazos
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And now, let's see how the Spanish verb realizar is used throughout this El Aula Azul video:
Entonces voy a coger los datos para realizar la inscripción.
Then I'm going to take down the information to carry out the registration.
Caption 1, El Aula Azul - Conversación: Los cursos de español
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Y ahí tendrá toda la información para realizar el pago.
And there he'll have all of the information to make the payment.
Caption 31, El Aula Azul - Conversación: Los cursos de español
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Y toda la información que pueda necesitar para... para realizar su curso.
And all the information that he might need to... to take his course.
Caption 32, El Aula Azul - Conversación: Los cursos de español
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As you can see, the verb realizar can be used in many different ways, just not in the way in which a native English speaker might initially expect!
That's all for today. We hope this lesson helps you to avoid making this common mistake. And don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions.
Se tiró todo el ropero encima....
She threw everything in the closet on her...
Caption 37, Provócame - Piloto
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The scene is a high society wedding. Two women are talking conspiratorially. A third woman walks by, they say "Hi" but then quickly comment and giggle to each other. You know they just said something catty, but what was it? Here's the replay: "¿Está Loca? Se tiró todo el ropero encima." ("Is she crazy? She threw on her whole wardrobe.") In all likelihood the victim of this verbal assault was not wearing everything she owned. However, with her estola ("stole"), joyas de oro ("gold jewelry") and vestido sin tirantes ("strapless dress"), the gossips want to say that she is overdressed.
Vení, haceme pata con la amiguita.
Come, cover her little friend for me.
Caption 28, Muñeca Brava - 1 Piloto
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Pata can signify "paw" or "leg," but in this case hacer pata is an expression that means "to support someone" or "to cover for someone." So when Facundo Arana says haceme pata con la amiguita, his friend "covers" (diverts) the other girl while he tries to make his move on Natalia Oreiro. Note that the diminutive of amiga is not amigita, but rather amiguita, just as the diminutive of hormiga is hormiguita.
Haceme la pata con el jefe, porque hoy no puedo ir a trabajar.
Cover for me with the boss, because I can't go to work today.
Haceme pata con Juan, ¡él es perfecto para mí!
Put in a good word for me with Juan, he is perfect for me!
Note: Because the video discussed is Argentine, these examples contain the "voseo" form of the affirmative imperative conjugation of the verb hacer.
In this lesson, we would like to talk about a very simple formula that native Spanish speakers use when they wish to express their intention or inclination to do something. Let's take a look at it:
The verb estar (to be) + the preposition por + infinitive verb
Now, let's take a look at the following clip to see how that formula works:
Tu hija se está por casar con un buen hombre.
Your daughter's about to get married to a good man.
Caption 17, Provócame - Piloto
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When Patricia says to Ignacio, "Tu hija se está por casar con un buen hombre," she is saying: "Your daughter is about to get married to a good man." That said, the meaning of estar por hacer algo is: "to be about to do something," or have the intention to carry out the action of the infinitive verb. Note that the reflexive pronoun se in Patricia's sentence is part of the reflexive verb casarse (rather than having any association with estar). That said, she could have just as well have said: "Tu hija está por casarse."
Let's look at another example:
Ya estoy por pensar que Urrutia sí es quien dice ser.
I'm about to think that Urrutia really is who he says he is.
Caption 24, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 4
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In this example, we can see that Rubio is "about to think" something. In this context, our formula expresses that Rubio "feels tempted" or "is inclined" to think that what Urrutia says is true.
Note that in some Spanish-speaking areas, estar por + infinitive would more likely be used to indicate that one is in the mood to do something or has the intention to, while in other regions, estar para + infinitive is the more common way to say that some action will soon take place.
Finally, keep in mind that in some parts of Latin America, people might use estar por + infinitive as an alternative way of saying estar a punto de (hacer algo). Let's look at an example of how this same idea of being "about to" do something can be expressed with different words:
Está por llover (It's about to rain).
Está a punto de llover (It's about to rain).
That's all for this lesson. We hope you've learned something new today, and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments. ¡Hasta la próxima!
Pero cómo no va a haber...
Of course there is...
Caption 21, Disputas - La Extraña Dama
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Most of us catch on quickly that hay means "there is/are" but are less likely to pick up on related forms such as va a haber, which by itself means "there is going to be." But when Amelia suggests to Santiago Ritchie that he can get what he wants si hay dinero suficiente... ("if there is enough money") and he replies Pero cómo no va a haber, the best translation is "Of course there is" (not "Of course there's going to be"). Santiago instinctively uses va a haber instead of hay after cómo no because pero cómo no hay is likely to be misinterpreted as "since there isn't any (money)." Because of the consecutive and adjacent "ah" sounds, non-natives often find va a haber slightly awkward to say and native speakers themselves often barely pronounce the middle a, or don't pronounce it at all.
Here is a similar example:
Novia: ¿Me quieres?
Novio: ¡Cómo no te voy a querer!
Girlfriend: Do you love me?
Boyfriend: Of course I love you!
If the boyfriend had followed cómo no with te quiero, his girlfriend might have understood it to mean "since I don't love you."
Yo me saqué un nueve.
I got a nine.
Caption 21, Disputas - La Extraña Dama - Part 3
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You'll note that sacarse una nota is a common expression meaning "getting a grade" in school. Hence in part 3 of Disputas, La Extraña Dama, we hear Gloria's son proclaim yo me saqué un nueve, "I got a nine." A few other interesting uses of sacarse are:
Sacarse un premio.
To win a prize.
Sacarse un peso de encima.
To get rid of a burden.
Tiene que sacarse a esa chica de la cabeza, señor.
You have to get that girl out of your head, sir.
Caption 30, Muñeca Brava - 30 Revelaciones
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Sacarse la garra.
To taunt/insult, To "rag on" someone. [Mexico]
Sacarse la careta.
Literally: To rid yourself of the mask; to stop pretending, to be yourself.
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