Archive for the ‘LoMas Lessons’ Category
Muñeca Brava - 44 El encuentro Part 2 of 10
Yago - 2 El puma Part 7 of 9
We really hope that you never find yourself hanging upside down in a hunter's trap in the middle of the jungle. However, since a problem might aways be a la vuelta de la esquina (around the corner), words such as iayuda!, ¡auxilio! and ¡socorro! (all of them equivalent to “help!”) merit inclusion in every Spanish learner’s basic kit. With the appropriate intonation and volume, these words can make the difference for you in a difficult situation just like they did for Morena:
¡Socorro! ¡Socorro! ¡Sáquenme!
Help! Help! Get me out!
Caption 13, Yago: El puma - Part 7 of 9
By the way, note that the word Socorro is also used as a female name in Spanish:
¿Usted por qué me dijo que Socorro estaba embarazada? -Porque está embarazada.
Why did you tell me that Socorro was pregnant? -Because she is pregnant.
Caption 54, Muñeca Brava: El encuentro - Part 2 of 3
So, if you decide to use socorro to ask for help, just be sure to use the proper intonation… You don’t want people to believe that you are simply looking for your dear friend, Socorro.
El Ausente - Acto 1 Part 1 of 8
La Banda Chilanguense - El habla de México Part 2 of 3
Pura palabra... pura palabra... nos divertimos a puras cosas de puro hablar
Merely words... merely words... we have fun just by talking
caption 18, La Banda Chilanguese: El habla de México - Part 2 of 3
Have you checked out the construction workers from Mexico City that we are callingLa Banda Chilanguese? These guys really do have a lot of fun just chewing the fat!
One of the ways they and other Mexicans spice up their conversation is through the use of refranes. A refrán is a popular saying or expression.
We see an example when aluminum worker Antonio says:
Voy a ir a darle porque es mole de olla
I’m going to get down to it, because it’s “mole de olla”
caption 29, La Banda Chilanguese: El habla de México - Part 1 of 3
This is from the refrán “A darle que es mole de olla” which means “Get down to it [the task] because it’s hard and arduous.” Why this analogy to mole de olla? Because preparing mole de olla (literally “mole in a pot,” a type of beef stew) is hard work and time-consuming. (For those of you far from the gastronomic border, we are talking about “mo-lay,” a genre of Mexican sauces—not the funny-looking mammal known in Spanish as topo).
The Mexican Institute of Sound also makes use of a popular saying:
Si te cae el saco, póntelo pa´ bailar
If the jacket suits you, wear it to dance
caption 5, Mexican Institute of Sound: Alocatel
This is a play on another popular refrán, Si te queda el saco, póntelo which literally means “if the jacket suits you, wear it.” In English we have a similar expression which expresses the same thing, “If the shoe fits, wear it.” It means, “if you are worried that we are talking about you, it is because you think it applies to you, so accept it and don’t complain.”
Here are two more refranes that you might hear when visiting Mexico:
Entre menos burros, más olotes
The fewer the donkeys, the more cobs of corn
When would you say this? When some members of a party have to leave... the consolation is that there is more food and drink left for those who stay.
But what if more guests arrive than expected, and rations run low?
A falta de pan, tortillas
When there’s no bread, tortillas will do
This expression is used to express that we must make do with what we have.
Aside: It’s interesting to note that the well-known English expression “the more, the merrier,” as it was first recorded in 1520, contained a corollary that echoes the same sentiment as “entre menos burros...” The complete expression was this: "The more, the merrier; the fewer, the better fare" (meaning "with fewer there would be more to eat").
El Aula Azul - Actividades Diarias
Yo normalmente me levanto a las siete de la mañana.
I normally wake up at seven in the morning.
caption 1: El Aula Azul - Actividades Diarias
Silvia "normally" gets up at seven, expressed in Spanish much the same as we would in English.
However, where we English speakers tend to use the adverb "usually," Spanish speakers opt for the present tense of soler—a verb that means "to be accustomed to."
Suelo ducharme con agua caliente. I usually take a hot shower. caption 2: El Aula Azul - Actividades Diarias
She "is accustomed to" showering with hot water; it is what she usually does.
Después, suelo lavarme los dientes en el baño, y después desayuno.
After that, I usually brush my teeth in the bathroom, and then have breakfast.
Caption 3: El Aula Azul - Actividades Diarias
Then, she usually brushes her teeth in the bathroom, it's what she is accustomed to doing. Notice that in Spanish people "wash" (lavarse) their teeth. It's possible to use cepillarse (to brush), which is closer to the English, but lavarse is the more common way to express this activity.
This is also a good time to remind ourselves that Spanish tends not to use possessive pronouns when talking about body parts. Notice that Silvia says that she brushes "los dientes," not "mis dientes." We discussed this before in the lesson "Ojo - Keep an eye on this lesson."
Cienfue - Medio Alcohólico Melancólico
Se me ha olvidado quién soy yo
I have forgotten who I am
Caption 2: Cienfue - Medio Alcohólico Melancólico
As English speakers, we might be wondering why “I have forgotten,” in the caption above, isn’t using the first person (yo or "I") conjugation of haber, as in [yo] he olvidado...
In fact, Cienfue could have sung precisely that, which would be the most “English-like” way of expressing his thought:
[yo] he olvidado quién soy yo
I have forgotten who I am
Another alternative would be the pronominal (think “reflexive”) form, olvidarse:
[yo] me he olvidado de quién soy yo
I have forgotten who I am
Note that the pronominal option requires a “de” after olvidado. The reason for this is that olvidarse, like most pronominal verbs, does not take a direct object, while olvidar is “transitive”—meaning it does (and must) take a direct object. Native speakers often just “know” this instinctively.
Cienfue doesn’t opt for either of these, rather going with what, to English speakers, will be the most “foreign” (though commonplace in Spanish) construction, olvidársele. Olvidársele is what is known as the "impersonal" (or “terciopersonal,” third person) construction of olvidarse.
In contrast to what we are accustomed to in English, the subject of the sentence is the thing forgotten, while the person doing the forgetting is expressed as an indirect object (signified by the le appended to olvidarse). Something "gets forgotten" (passive voice) "by someone."
So, when Cienfue sings,
Se me ha olvidado quién soy yo
the subject of the sentence is “quién soy yo” (who I am) and the indirect object is “me” (me).
Cienfue is most literally saying:
“ ‘Who I am’ has been forgotten by me”
Most Spanish speakers, even if pressed, will find precious little (if any) difference in meaning amongst the three possible constructions. There are definitely regional as well as personal preferences.
It can also be argued that there are nuanced differences in emphasis. For example, the “impersonal” form places the least “blame” on the person doing the forgetting. This type of verb construction has even been called sin culpa (without blame), and it’s not the first time we’ve encountered it
in our discussions.
What if you want to simply say “I forgot.”? (e.g. in response to Por qué no fuiste a trabajar? Why didn’t you go to work?)
Olvidé. INCORRECT (requires a direct object.)
Lo olvidé. (I forgot.) (direct object pronoun lo refers to “work”)
Me olvidé. (I forgot)
Se me olvidó. (I forgot.)
Let’s cap this off with a few more examples of each possible olvidar constructions: transitive (the most “English-like”, and perhaps least common), pronominal (looks like “reflexive”) and impersonal:
You forget that I am the boss?
¿Olvidas que yo soy el jefe?
¿Te olvidas de que yo soy el jefe?
¿Se te olvida que yo soy el jefe?
Maria forgot to pick up her cat.
Maria olvidó recoger su gato.
Maria se olvidó de recoger su gato.
A Maria se le olvidó recoger su gato.
Jorge forgot his money.
Jorge olvidó el dinero.
Jorge se olvidó del dinero.
[In some cases, like this one, the pronominal form alters the meaning slightly. “Jorge forgot about the money,” or even “Jorge kissed the money goodbye.”]
A Jorge se le olvidó el dinero.
Now is a good time to catch up on (or review) these related lessons:
Accidental Grammar
Caer Bien: To Like It
Gustar: To Like, to Please, to Taste
“Le” in Verbs Like Gusta
LoMásTv viewer Donnie (dryanespanol) wrote and asked:
In "Fiesta en Miami," - Antonio pronounces the "h" when he says "hace." I have always been told this is a cardinal sin. Please explain.
That's a good question! Does the Canary Islander Antonio Polegre really pronounce the "h" in "hace"? Well, we took a listen and it SEEMS like he does! What is going on?
One of the first things we notice is that, in caption 21, when Antonio says hice mis amigos ("I made my friends"), we do NOT hear any "h" sound in hice. So why would Antonio pronounce hice correctly but not hace? We also notice that he didn't pronounce the final s in mis nor in amigos -- a common enough practice in many regions, and, oddly enough, perhaps a telling clue.
Antonio uses hace four times in the video (twice in caption 27 and twice in caption 29), each time as part the two word combination nos hace; and each time it really does sound like he is pronouncing the "h" in hace.
We did a little research to see if perhaps "Canarian" Spanish makes an exception to the "never pronounce the 'h'" rule. We don't find such an exception, but we do find another characteristic of Canarian Spanish echoed in a number of places, such as wikipedia:
/s/ debuccalization. As is the case with many varieties of Spanish, /s/ debuccalized to [h] in coda position.
Obviously not written for the layman! A little more research tells us that "debuccalization" is a linguistics term that describes a sound being "reduced" to an "h sound" (e.g. the "h" in "high"), and that the "coda" position is the final position in a syllable, after the vowel.
So, if Antonio is "debuccalizing" the final "s" in nos, which produces an "h sound," then perhaps what we are hearing is not the "h" in hace but rather the "debuccalized /s/" (i.e. "h sound") at the end of "nos"! Could it be?
Let's look at caption 29:
y al final yo considero que todo nos une, todo nos hace... todo nos hace ser humanos
and, in the end, I consider that everything unites us, everything makes us... everything makes us human
caption 29 - Fiesta en Miami - Antonio
It's not as strong, but we think we can also MAYBE hear an "h sound" in nos une, almost coming out as 'no [h]une," and if that's true it supports the debuccalization theory.
Further, he does not pronounce the "h" in humanos (just as he doesn't the one in hice)-- so clearly it's not the case that he is in the habit of pronouncing every "h" that starts a Spanish word.
A Dominican friend of ours tells us that not only does Antonio's pronunciation of "nos hace" sound perfectly natural to him, but that he can think of many similar "debuccalization" examples in Dominican speech. In fact, he thought that Antonio's Spanish sounds more like that of the Caribbean than (what he considers) that of Spain. This makes sense, because linguists tells us that early Canarian settlers in the region had a great amount of influence in what we know now as "Caribbean Spanish."
No wonder Antonio feels right at home in Miami!
Spanish speakers in many regions are known for (in one way or another) reducing, softening, or "aspirating" their s's (or, as many frustrated learners would say, "dropping them" entirely). In fact, one of our resident experts, a guru of Spanish (though his students in Mexico City call him "professor"), told us that Antonio "is aspirating the s in nos, which could sound as if he were pronouncing the h in hace to someone who is not a native Spanish speaker."
We came across a "Voices en Español" podcast which discusses the "aspirated s," as well as some other Spanish consonant sounds that are a challenge to English speakers. Have a listen!
http://spanish-podcast.com/2008/04/04/spanish-consonants
Antonio Vargas - Artista - ilustración Part 2 of 2
Did you see the beautiful deck of playing cards drawn by Antonio Vargas, depicting the conquistadors as well as the three big historical tribes of Mexico (Maya, Olmec, and Aztec)? He explains to us that, although very scholarly, the Mayans were no slouches on the battlefield:
Y también se ponían sus buenos catorrazos, pero eran un pueblo de mucho conocimiento...
And they also gave good blows, but they were a people of much knowledge...
Caption 29, Antonio Vargas: Artista - Ilustración - Part 2
Have a look at one of our previous lessons, —azo: a painful suffix, and you will learn that the suffix "-azo" gives the meaning "a blow/hit from." For example un palazo is a hit with a stick (palo) or a shovel (pala), and a tortazo is what you receive when you get in the way of a moving torta (cake)!
So what about these catorrazos that Antonio refers to, and that we translated simply as "blows"? Sources tell us that the root word is cate, a rather obscure Spanish word synonymous with golpe, and which itself means "hit" or "blow,"—which would give us a "blow" by way of a "hit" (or a hit by way of a blow). Obviously a bit redundant!
Catorrazo is very colloquial, and is primarily heard in Mexico. In actuality, bilingual dictionaries define it as simply a "punch," a "blow," or even "a hit with a stick or billy club."
Here's an interesting tidbit: Since the word for "fist" is puño, we might be tempted to also try puñazo for "punch." However, the word you are most likely to hear (and what you will find in the dictionary) is slightly different, "puñetazo." However, puñazo is also seen occasionally, and, in Latin America, the word puño itself doubles for "punch" as well.
Biografía - Pablo Echarri Part 1 of 4
Arturo Vega - Entrevista Part 5 of 5
Shakira - Loba
Antonio Vargas - Artista - ilustración Part 1 of 2
...pasó apenas un año o una cosa así, y...
...hardly a year or so passed, and...
Caption 11, Biografía: Pablo Echarri - Part 1
Apenas can also mean "just," as in "only." You may have picked this up when watching Shakira's latest tantalizing video, "Loba."
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 10, Shakira: Loba
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 2, Antonio Vargas: Artista - Ilustración - Part 1
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.
Arturo Vega, the famous Ramones' lighting and logo designer, uses apenas this same way when he predicts the rise in popularity of Latin American rock bands.
Yo creo que apenas va a empezar.
I believe it's just about to start.
Caption 13, Arturo Vega: Entrevista - Part 5
Keep your eyes and ears open for still more interesting uses of apenas. We will, too, and bring them to you in future lessons.
Le encanta el poder y le atrapa la noche
She loves power and the night ensnares her
Caption 6, Chayanne—Lola
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:
http://spanish.about.com/library/weekly/aa081301a.htm
http://buscon.rae.es/dpdI/SrvltGUIBusDPD?lema=leísmo
Carambola: more than tricky pool
We already know Chayanne from 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
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.
