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Here's a haunting description of what it's like to be out in a field, wounded by a land mine:
Y bueno, yo aguanté hasta cierta parte, y de ahí ya no pude, el dolor me dominó.
And well, I could take it until a certain point, and from there on I couldn't anymore, the pain dominated me.
Captions 83-84, Tierra Envenenada - Desminando
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The verb aguantar is a synonym for soportar in this context. It means "to be able to endure," "to stand" or "to bear." You'll often see aguantar followed by hasta ("until") to set a limit for how much can be stood or endured. For example:
Hay que aguantar hasta mañana.
You [in an impersonal sense] have to put up with it until tomorrow.
You'll probably hear the verb aguantar used by students with heavy work loads and tough teachers, but the verb can describe truly horrific pain as well.
If you go back into the archives, you'll hear this verb used in the Disputas theme song, Me llamas, by José Luis Perales.
Me llamas... para decirme que te marchas que ya no aguantas más... que ya estás harta...
You call me... to tell me that you're leaving that you can't take it anymore... that you're fed up...
Captions 15-18, Disputas - La Extraña Dama
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This week, we've uploaded and subtitled the first installment of "Tierra Envenenada" ("Poisoned Land") -- a documentary describing the horrors of land mines in Central America.
Check out this short exchange between an unseen interviewer and a pedestrian (known in the business as an MOS, for "man on the street"):
Cuénteme, ¿usted sabe lo que es una mina?
Tell me, do you know what a mine is?
No, no sé... ¿Quién es?
No, I don't know... who is it?
Captions 30-31, Tierra Envenenada - Desminando
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"¿Quién es?" ("Who is it?")...
That off-the-cuff reply is kind of funny if you note that in some Latin American countries una mina is slang for "a girl" or "a woman," often with negative connotations. Regular subscribers to this service may remember that we wrote about the slang meaning of minas in Argentina back in this newsletter.
According to la Real Academia Española, the definitive Spanish-language authority, mina has many definitions. For one thing, it is a mine, as in a site where minerals are excavated. In a more military sense, it's a mine, as in an encased explosive set to detonate when disturbed. (The latter is the subject of our documentary today.) And the dictionary also acknowledges that mina is an informal synonym for una mujer in Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay. Some explosively bad puns could be made with this minefield of a word. (Sorry.)
But keep in mind that this video is introducing the very serious topic of minas antipersonales ("antipersonnel mines") and the process of desminando ("removing the mines") -- that la Organización de los Estados Americanos ("the Organization of American States") is undertaking. Listen and learn.
Say you're going to a Christmas party -- that is, una fiesta de Navidad. What are you going to bring? (¿Que vas a llevar?) Well, your host might suggest:
Tráiganos una botella de vino, nada más.
Bring us a bottle of wine, that's all.
And then you might respond:
Bueno. Voy a llevar vino tinto.
Ok. I'll bring red wine.
Did you notice we switched verbs there? Both llevar and traer can mean "to bring," but with a crucial difference in perspective. If you're the one doing the bringing to someone else, you use 'llevar' -which also means "to carry." If you're the one asking someone to bring something to you, you use 'traer.' Got that?
There are many definitions of the common verb 'llevar,' which is why we keep returning to it again and again in our weekly missives.
In this week's videos, you'll hear llevar used in a couple of different contexts -- in a song and in a classroom. First, let's look at the heartstring-tugging lyrics sung by Axel Fernando:
Muchas veces me pregunto por qué pasa todo esto,
Many times I wonder why all this happens
por qué tus mil "Te quiero" siempre se los lleva el viento
why your thousand "I love yous" are always carried away by the wind
Captions 1-2, Axel Fernando - ¿Qué estás buscando?
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Here, the reflexive llevarse means "to carry away" or "to take away." The online dictionary site, WordReference.com provides some examples along the same lines:
¡Llévatelo de aquí!
Take it away [from here]!
Se lo llevó la corriente
The current carried it away
Remember: At a restaurant, they might ask you '¿Para llevar?' ("To take out [with you]?"). In our next video -- in Spanish school room -- we get a handy lesson in verb forms to use to offer advice. At the same time, we see our featured verb take on another shade of its meaning. Sit in the back of the classroom and listen:
"Te aconsejo que lleves una chaqueta".
"I recommend that you bring a jacket."
Caption 28, Escuela Don Quijote - En el aula
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Llevaría una chaqueta. -Muy bien. Yo, que tú.
I would bring a jacket. -Very good. If I were you.
Caption 31, Escuela Don Quijote - En el aula
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Note that llevar could also mean "to wear," and that the phrases above could possibly be talking about the "wearing" of a jacket as well. One must distinguish the proper meaning from the greater context.
Bernardo, traeme otra caja de pastillas. ¿Bernardo?
Bernardo, bring me another box of pills. Bernardo?
Caption 57, Muñeca Brava - 7 El poema
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Hazme un favor: Tráeme mi chaqueta.
Do me a favor: Bring me my jacket.
¿Para qué?
Why?
Quiero llevarla a la fiesta de Navidad.
I want to wear it [or possibly: to bring it] to the Christmas party.
Spanish is the official language of Puerto Rico, yet a large portion of the population knows English, so bilingual puns play to a wide audience. Case in point, the lyrics to this cynical song by the band Polbo:
Yo era el as de las nenas Cuando tenía dinero
I was the ace of the girls When I had money
Ahora sigo siendo el as/ass En otro idioma, tú sabrás
Now I'm still the ace/ass [bilingual pun] In another language, you know
Captions 13-16, Polbo - Yo era tan cool
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Like its English equivalent "ace," the Spanish as is both a good poker card and "a whiz" at something. The pun on as / ass works in this song because the two words are pronounced essentially the same way, with a soft "s" (unlike the word "as" in English, which is pronounced "az").
One more note regarding the bilingual audience for Yo era tan cool. The word "cool" is obviously borrowed from English. But one could argue that cool is going the way of "OK" / "okay" or "ciao" / "chau" / "chao" as a word that crosses linguistic barriers. We googled "es cool" (in Spanish) and more than 1,000,000 web pages came up. Cool, ¿no?
Cheating! Bitter tears! Broken hearts!... There's a lot of action in this week's featured song by Jeremías -Uno y uno igual a tres ("One and One, the Same As Three") -- which is why the singer uses a lot of verbs (except in the song title).
By and large, the verbs sprinkled throughout these lyrics are standards found in classic reference texts, like 501 Spanish Verbs and The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs. But they may not follow the first definitions found on the top of the page. Let's take a closer look at some lyrics.
Pero ya las lágrimas se echaban a correr
But the tears were starting to fall
Caption 8, Jeremías - Uno y uno igual a tres
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The first definition students usually learn for echar is usually "to throw" -as in, ¡Echa la pelota! ("Throw the ball!"). But in this construction -echarse a + infinitive- the more faithful translation is "to begin to [do something]." For example:
De repente, se echó a reír
Suddenly, he began to laugh
Or...
Suddenly, he burst out laughing
So, in the song lyric cited above, a student of Spanish who only knew the first definition of echar might try to translate the sentence as "But the tears had already thrown themselves to running." Well, almost... familiarity with the construction echarse a + infinitive will help you quickly realize that the tears had started to run (or, in English, it's more common to say tears "fall").
Joselo's song titled Sobriedad ("sobriety") is dripping with references to booze. We counted seven kinds of alcoholic beverages in the lyrics: pisco sour, champaña, vino blanco, whiskey, vodka, gin and tonic, and vino tinto. Most of these drinks need no translation to English speakers, but we have a few tips for reading bar menus.
Ok. Now whiskey, vodka and gin and tonic are just what you think they are. Incidentally, "whiskey" (pronounced 'wee-skee') is often what you say when someone takes your photo, in order to smile as wide in Spanish as you do in English when you say "cheese."
¡Oye! ("Hey!") -from the verb oír ("to hear")- and ¡Escúchame! ("Listen to me!") -from the verb escuchar ("to listen")- mean approximately the same thing. Kind of like the modern "Listen up!"and the old fashioned "Hear ye! Hear ye!" in English. And now that we've got your attention, let's look more closely at the two auditory verbs.
Escuchar generally means "to listen" in the sense of paying attention to what's heard. In contrast, oír means "to hear" in the sense of using your ears. Escuchar is a deliberate act, while oír can be passive. So, note that escuchar música usually means "to listen to music" while oír música is "to hear music." In other words, you might hear a band's latest album without really listening to the lyrics. Got that?
So, have you heard or listened to Antes que ver el sol by Coti? The refrain goes like this:
Antes que ver el sol... prefiero escuchar tu voz
Before seeing the sun... I prefer to listen to your voice
Caption 9, Coti - Antes que ver el sol
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In our video's subtitles, we translate escuchar the traditional way, as "listen to". But because the lyrics in this song are a little, um, opaque -as rock lyrics so often are- one could also argue that escuchar could be translated as "hear" here. You see, in popular usage, the dictionary definitions of escuchar and oír can be blurred, especially in various Latin American countries.
Case in point: In our video clip, Coti urges his vocal audience to sing louder by saying:
¡No se escucha!
I can't hear you!
Caption 24, Coti - Antes que ver el sol
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So are escuchar and oír losing their distinctive definitions? Native Spanish speakers and observant English speakers argue the point on various message boards. See, for example:
WordReference.com > Escuchar / Oír
Tomísimo.org > Oír vs. Escuchar
But the authoritative Real Academia Española upholds the difference in its Diccionario de la Lengua Española and we think Spanish students should listen to that.
As a final note, the instrument that does all of our listening and hearing can also be confusing for non-native speakers of Spanish. You see, "ear" is translated into Spanish as oído, which specifically means "the inner ear," -i.e., the part used for hearing. Meanwhile, "the outer ear" -i.e., the body part Vincent Van Gogh famously chopped off- is translated as oreja.
Remember The Smurfs? Los Pitufos -as they are known in Spanish- are referenced among the trippy Liquits lyrics in this featured music video now on Yabla Spanish:
Pastel de pitufresa mezclado con peyote natural y mora
Smurfberry pie mixed with natural peyote and blackberry
Caption 10, Liquits - Jardín
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Huh?, you might ask. What's a pitufresa? Well, fresa translates as "strawberry." Adding the made-up prefix pitu[f]- in front of the word for this sweet, red fruit is akin to manipulating the English word "strawberry" to create the fictional food "smurfberry." (Remember this red-fruited cereal spun off from the cartoon?)
Like "Smurf," Pitufo is a made-up word in Spanish. But in both English and Spanish, the Smurf world -that is, Pitufolandia- follows some basic language rules that can be illuminating for students to note. For example:
"Smurf" + the suffix "-ette" = "Smurfette"
Pitufo + the suffix -ina = Pitufina
In both cases, the made-up root word is paired with a real-world suffix to name the cute, female character in the cartoon.
So, the Liquits' loopy reference to fictional pitufresas can help shed light on other pop culture references. Bonus points for anyone who can figure out how to say "Smurftastic!" en español....
For more, see:
Wikipedia > The Smurfs in other languages
How do you say "love" in Spanish? Let us count the ways...
Did you note in our examples above that the verb encantar (like gustar) agrees with the object of affection (la cuidad / los pantalones), instead of the speaker? The construction, if expressed in English, might be "Those pants enchant me."
In the newest video content currently featured on Yabla Spanish, we interview Jesús Baz, the director of studies at the don Quijote Spanish-language school in Salamanca.
Be assured, long-time teacher Jesús knows his Spanish -- and he loves his hometown of Salamanca, Spain. Here's how he expresses his affection:
Yo soy salmantino, y me encanta mi ciudad porque me parece una de las ciudades más bonitas del mundo.
I am from Salamanca, and I love my city because I think it's one of the nicest cities in the world.
Captions 42-45, Escuela Don Quijote - Jesús Baz
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So, feel confident about following Jesús's example and describing the love you feel for your own favorite place in the world with the verb encantar.
For further discussions on "love," see:
ThoughtCo. > Te quiero vs. te amo
WordReference.com > Encantar / amar
WordReference.com > Querer / amar
Tú... -Nada, entonces nada. -tantos para allí para la sota.
You... -Nothing, then nothing. -points for the jack.
Caption 28, Jugando a la Brisca - En la calle
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Spanish learners quickly pick up the word tanto in its widely used sense of "so much" or "so many." In this meaning the word is used both as an adjective, tanto dinero (so much money), and adverb, no deberías apostar tanto (you shouldn't gamble so much).
However un tanto is also "a point," and tantos can mean "points," as in points in a game or a competition. In our video example the speaker is referring to points in a card game.
El jugador marcó dos tantos y su equipo ganó el partido.
The player scored two points and his team won the match.
Este equipo tiene dos tantos a su favor.
This team is up by two points.
¿Y se animará Sebastián Estebanez a comer cucarachas?
Will Sebastian Estebanez dare to eat cockroaches?
Caption 1, Factor Fobia - Cucarachas - Part 2
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In Argentina, the reflexive verb animarse is frequently used to mean "to dare," as we see throughout our Factor Fobia series.
¿Se animará o no se animará Sebastián Estebanez en el Factor Fobia?
Will Sebastian Estebanez dare or not dare in Fear Factor?
Caption 26, Factor Fobia - Cucarachas - Part 2
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Animarse a más
Dare for more (Pepsi slogan)
¿Te animás a saltar desde el puente?
Do you dare jump from the bridge?
Some parts of the Spanish speaking world are less likely to use animarse when they want to speak of "daring", but would more likely be using another reflexive verb, atreverse.
For example Marley could have equally well have said:
¿Se atreverá Sebastián Estebanez a comer cucarachas?
Will Sebastian Estebanez dare to eat cockroaches?
Here's an interesting headline we found:
¿Se atreverá alguien a comprar Youtube?
Will someone dare to buy Youtube?
(The answer to that is now clear.)
Another use of animarse found throughout most of the the Spanish-speaking world is in the sense of infusing oneself with ánimo (spirit, life, energy). This can mean cheering oneself up or gaining courage/motivation.
¡Animate! Vamos a la fiesta.
Cheer up! Let's go to the party.
Al final me animé a lanzarme al agua helada.
In the end I got up the courage to jump into the freezing water.
Ambos lo deseábamos, pero alguien tenía que animarse y decirlo.
We both wanted it, but someone had to have the guts and say it.
Captions 35-36, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 2 - Part 7
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Tengo un trato, lo mío pa' mi saco...
I have a deal, what's mine is mine...
Caption 3, La Mala Rodriguez - Entrevista
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In her rap, María Rodríguez tells us Tengo un trato, "I have a deal," and lo mío pa' mi saco, which literally means "mine for my bag," but which is a figurative way to say "what's mine is mine."
Por eso te quiero ofrecer un trato.
That's why I want to offer you a deal.
Caption 31, Muñeca Brava - 43 La reunión - Part 5
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¡Es un trato hecho! Te paso a buscar a las ocho.
It´s a done deal! I'll pick you up at eight.
Hagamos un trato: tú vas a la reunión y yo cuido a los chicos.
Let´s make a deal: you'll go to the meeting and I'll look after the children.
As in English, a deal, un trato, is related to but not exactly the same as un contrato, a contract, which usually implies a more formal, legal agreement, usually written.
We can informally make a deal, un trato, but whenever we are talking about more serious and legal matters, we´ll use contrato, contract.
Algunos clientes bajo contrato, le pre-maduramos la fruta para que llegue apta para comer.
[For] some customers under contract, we pre-ripen the fruit so that it arrives ready to eat.
Captions 99-100, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa - Part 18
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El abogado está redactando el contrato de mantenimiento.
The lawyer is drawing up the maintenance contract.
El contrato que firmé me obliga a trabajar dos sábados al mes.
The contract that I signed requires me to work two saturdays a month.
Y tras la pausa, vamos a ver si se anima Sebastián Estebanez...
And after the break, we'll see if Sebastian Estebanez dares...
Caption 56, Factor Fobia - Cucarachas
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Tras la guerra con Napoleón, el Rey Fernando Séptimo inició su reconstrucción.
After the war with Napoleon, King Ferdinand the Seventh began his reconstruction.
Captions 64-65, Marisa en Madrid - Parque de El Retiro
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The word tras can be used to mean "after" in terms of the timing of a sequence of events.
Tras hablar con su padre, Ana dijo que no volvería a la casa.
After speaking with her father, Ana said she would never return home.
Note that tras can also operate as a preposition used to indicate "behind."
La azafata acabó de salir del hotel y Zárate va tras ella.
The flight attendant has just left the hotel and Zarate is behind her.
Caption 21, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 4
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Tu hermano está tras la puerta.
Your brother is behind the door.
In the program Factor Fobia, Marley uses two words that are very similar sounding, atrás and tras.
Tuve un... hace unos meses atrás, me he ido a China.
I had a... some months ago, I've been to China.
Captions 28-29, Factor Fobia - Cucarachas
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As is evident, atrás can be used to indicate "ago," as in time past.
Yo empecé hace tres años atrás en el grupo Guamanique,
I started three years ago in the Guamanique group,
se llama Ballet Folklórico Guamanique, que es de Puerto Rico.
it's called the Guamanique Folk Ballet, which is from Puerto Rico.
Captions 3-4, Baile Folklórico de Puerto Rico - Los Bailarines
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Muchos años atrás, él fue general.
Many years ago, he was a general.
La última vez que nos vimos habrá sido unos seis años atrás.
Last time we met may have been some six years ago.
Of course, atrás is also commonly used to indicate "backwards" or "towards the back."
Si eso era un primer paso, había sido un paso atrás.
If that was a first move, it had been a move backwards.
Caption 24, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 2
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Ella fue atrás.
She went backwards.
Vaya hacia atrás, por favor.
Go backwards, please.
Llevo ocho años en Estados Unidos.
I've spent eight years in the United States.
Caption 18, Maestra en Madrid - Nuria y amigo
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As we've mentioned, the verb llevar is used not only for "to carry," but also to speak about a duration of time.
Llevar is often used to imply that an action continues (or will continue in the future). In this case, Nuria tells us that she has spent eight years living in the USA (and she will continue to do so).
We might be tempted to translate the present tense conjugation llevo by also using the present tense in English -- "I spend" or "I am spending" -- but, to retain the same meaning as the Spanish, we use the present perfect, "I have spent..."
Llevo cinco horas viendo la televisión.
I've spent five hours watching television.
(I've been watching television for five hours.)
Ana lleva cinco días estudiando español para su próximo examen.
Ana has spent five days studying spanish for her next exam (and she continues studying).
Shortly thereafter Nuria informs us:
Pero pasé casi diez años en Madrid haciendo mis estudios...
But I spent nearly ten years in Madrid doing my studies...
Caption 22, Maestra en Madrid - Nuria y amigo
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The verb pasar, like llevar, can take on the meaning "to spend (time)", but pasar gives us the impression that the action is completed and does not continue. Nuria spent nearly ten years in Madrid, but she is no longer living there full time.
Ana pasó cinco días estudiando español.
Ana spent five days studying spanish (and then she stopped).
Strolling down the historic streets of Burgos, Carlos and María Angeles (who goes by Angeles) tell us about their local nightspots. Pubs, they say, manage to circumvent local laws and keep customers through the night -- until about 8 AM -- by briefly closing and then opening again. Angeles explains:
Sí, son trucos, pequeños truquitos de la picaresca española.
Yes, they're tricks, little tricks of Spanish wiliness.
Captions 78-79, Burgos - Caminando
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Trucos are "tricks." And, as we've explained before, the ending -ito is diminutive, so truquitos are "little tricks." Saying pequeños truquitos is merely repetitive, for effect. It emphasizes that we're talking about "little, harmless tricks." Also: note that truquitos is spelled here with a 'qu' to preserve the hard 'c' sound in Spanish (like 'k' in English).
Hace todo... es muy inteligente, hace todo lo que le pides, se sabe un montón de trucos.
He does everything... he's very smart, he does everything you ask him, he knows a ton of tricks.
Captions 55-56, Rosa - La perrita Mika
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Deberíamos decirle que nos enseñe unos truquitos.
We should tell him to teach us some little tricks.
Caption 5, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 4
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A related word in the first quote of this lesson is the adjective picaresca, which means "rascally" or "picaresque" in the literary sense. Remember, picaresque literature was founded in Spain, "flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe and continues to influence modern literature," according to Wikipedia's entry (in English) on the subject. The genre usually features the adventures of a roguish hero (un pícaro), living by his wits. You might note that Angeles -a Spanish history fan herself- utters the term picaresca with a giggle and a knowing appreciation of the form.
To introduce this popular song, singer Marciano Cantero of Argentina's Los Enanitos Verdes ("The Green Dwarfs") shares the story of an encounter in Denver:
Me acerqué, así como haciéndome el dolobu.
I came closer, pretending to be a fool.
Caption 12, Enanitos Verdes - Luz de día
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Here is another example, this time from the Argentinian telenovela Muñeca Brava.
Y tuvieron un hijo juntos pero después el señor Federico se hizo el dolobu.
And they had a son together but afterwards Mr. Federico played the fool.
Caption 66, Muñeca Brava - 36 La pesquisa
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¿Dolobu? Try to find that word in a formal dictionary. You can't. That's because dolobu is an inverted slang form of the slang word boludo -- which we wrote about some weeks back. For Argentines like Marciano and many of his fans, boludo ("jerk" or "fool") is such a popular taunt that they have little trouble recognizing dolobu as a scrambled version of it.
There's a term for this sort of scrambling slang in Spanish: Al vesre--which is al reves ("in reverse") in al vesre. Got that? Think of it as a form of Pig Latin.
As a general rule, scrambling syllables a la al vesre will shade a word with more negative connotations than its original meaning. For example, while boludo may be a friendly greeting between friends (as we noted in this space previously), dolobu is more often a straight-up insult. Here are some more examples:
Hotel ("hotel") becomes telo (with the silent "h" dropped to preserve its pronunciation) when it's a seedy, rent-by-the-hour, love motel.
A sifón ("siphon") becomes a fonsi to describe the sort of hooked nose reminiscent of a siphon.
The already vulgar verb cagar ("to defecate") becomes garcar (with an "r" added to keep it recognizably a verb in the infinitive), with roughly the same crude meaning.
There are countless other examples. For further discussions of al vesre slang, see these web pages:
Wikipedia > Vesre (in Spanish)
Wikilibros > Diccionario de Vesre (in Spanish)
When quizzed further on the subject of diversión ("having fun"), the highly educated Patricia uses more colloquial and informal terms, as appropriate. After reventones, another one that caught our eye was farandulera -- as in:
Y yo realmente soy muy poca así... farandulera.
And actually, I am not really that way... a party girl.
Caption 7, Patricia Marti - Diversión y Ejercicio
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According to our Yabla dictionary, a farandulera is formally "a trickster, a person who plays tricks" or "a rogue, crook, swindler or cheat." It comes from the noun farándula, which traditionally means "the theater world." But note that in common usage in Latin America, la farándula is more like a group of people who are always out late at night, dancing and having fun. Latino paparazzi may follow la farándula to supply photos for magazines such as ¡Hola! and Caras (roughly equivalent to the US's People or Us Weekly). Many LatAm newspapers and websites have sections devoted to farándula (such as MSN Latino).
So, Patricia tells our cameras not to bother following her like some paparazzi. She's not una farandulera ("a party girl").
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