Since its straightforward translation is "to arrive," you might wonder if the Spanish verb llegar is worth a whole lesson. However, this is language, and we always find new meanings, uses, and/or idiomatic expressions. That said, let's take a few minutes to analyze this verb and see a qué conclusión podemos llegar ("what conclusion we can draw" or "come to").
When we refer to a place, llegar means "to arrive."
Soñé que llegaba al colegio y estaba sin ropa.
I dreamed that I arrived at school and I was [there] with no clothes.
Caption 27, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 1
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Llegar can additonally mean to reach someone, either physically or emotionally. If someone shuts you out, no hay forma de llegar a esa persona (there's no way to reach that person). On the other hand, in the example below, the team at Biopark had not been able to physically reach the leopards.
No había forma de... de llegar a ellos.
There wasn't any way to... to get close to them.
Caption 27, Animales en familia - Un día en Bioparc: Cachorro de leopardo
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Again with this idea of reaching, llegar can also be used with an amount or specific point in space as we see in the following examples:
Supongo que si están un poquito más chaparritos,
I guess if you're a little bit shorter,
les ha de llegar al pecho.
it should come up to your chest.
Caption 24, Alan x el mundo - Mi playa favorita de México!
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Podremos estar llegando
We could be reaching
a los ochocientos mil euros aproximadamente.
eight hundred thousand euros approximately.
Caption 32, Los Reporteros - Crecen los robos en tiendas
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And speaking of money, there is a Spanish idiom that includes this verb: llegar a fin de mes (literally "to make it to the end of the month"), which is the Spanish equivalent of "making ends meet."
Llegar can be used with seasons, months, or times of day as well to indicate their beginning or arrival. In this context, it often translates as "to come": Cuando llega la noche / "When night comes" or "falls."
...y lo tuvo con ella hasta que llegó la primavera.
...and had him with her until spring came.
Caption 41, Cleer - El patito feo
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Another meaning of llegar is "to achieve." It is actually a verb that collocates with éxito (success), so if you become succesful, has llegado al éxito (you've achieved success).
De las etapas por las que pasan los conjuntos
Of the stages that groups go through
en su desarrollo y a lo que pueden llegar.
in their development and what they can become.
Captions 74-75, Arturo Vega - Entrevista
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Another possible translation of llegar is "to manage to" since when you llegas a hacer algo, you've succedeed in doing it after some effort.
...de lo que yo quería como llegar a expresar, ¿sí?
...to what I wanted to, like, manage to express, right?
Caption 13, Bogotá - Fotógrafo José Segundo Quinche Pérez
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Sometimes, when llegar follows si to introduce a condition, it makes that condition a bit more remote since si llego a enterarme de algo is closer to if I happen to/manage to hear anything.
Si llega a saber cualquier cosa que suceda
If you come to find out anything that happens
entre Milagros y su hermano, hágamela saber.
between Milagros and her brother, let me know about it.
Captions 21-22, Muñeca Brava - 33 El partido
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Si llega a pillarlos, me avisa y consigo la cámara.
If you manage to catch them, let me know and I'll get the camera.
Caption 72, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 4
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As you may notice, many of the meanings of the verb llegar are comparable to those of the English verb "to get" (e.g "to reach," "to arrive," "to manage," etc.).
We hope this lesson has been clear, but si llegan a tener dudas (if you happen to have any questions), don't forget to send us your questions, comments, and suggestions. ¡Hasta la próxima!
Let's talk about pronouns. In English, when we talk with someone we use the second person singular pronoun ‘you’. In Spanish, we have three different options for that same pronoun: tú, usted and vos. Which one we use depends on things like the relationship that we have with the person we are talking to or the place where we are. Generally speaking, we use usted when we want to talk in a more respectful way with someone:
¿Usted qué... qué me recomienda, doctor?
What do you... what do you recommend to me, Doctor?
Caption 14, Los médicos explican - El tratamiento de las fracturas
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However, if you are following the Colombian series Los Años Maravillosos, you have probably noticed that people usually use usted even when talking with family members or close friends. Why? That’s just how people speak in Bogota, Colombia:
¿Y a usted qué le pasa, mi hijito?
And what's going on with you, my little boy?
Caption 35, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 1
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Regardless of its use, there is something quite unique about using usted: we conjugate usted as we would conjugate él (he) or ella (she):
Él trabaja entre las nueve de la mañana
He works between nine in the morning
Caption 48, La casa - De Chus
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¿Dónde trabaja usted?
Where do you work?
Caption 9, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos
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As you can see in the captions above, the conjugation of the verb trabajar (to work) with él (he) and usted (you) is exactly the same (trabaja), something that doesn’t occur with tú and vos:
Tú trabajas | You work
Vos trabajás | You work
Él/Ella/Usted Trabaja | He/She/You work
To wrap things up, we use usted as a second person singular pronoun. However, we conjugate it as a third person singular pronoun!
And don’t forget that this also occurs with the plural form ustedes (you all), which we conjugate as the third person plural pronoun ellos/ellas (they). Notice how ustedes and ellos share the same conjugation of the verb saber (to know) in the following captions:
Toda la vida he estado en el PAN, como ustedes saben, y he estado muy contento.
All my life I have been in PAN, as you know, and I have been very happy.
Caption 37, Felipe Calderón - Publicidad
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Ellos saben de los sitios que son hábitat de reproducción,
They know about the places that are reproduction habitats,
Caption 31, Instinto de conservación - Parque Tayrona
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That's it for now. If you want to learn more things about the use of tú, usted, and vos, make sure to check out our series about Tuteo, Ustedeo y Voseo. And don’t forget to send us your feedback and suggestions.
Although the verb volver is most often translated as "to return," it can actually take on a variety of meanings. Let's take a look at some of the many ways native Spanish speakers might use it in real-life situations.
Typically, the verb volver means "to return" or "come back." Like other Spanish verbs, it is very commonly used in its infinitive form in combination with such verbs as querer (to want) or ir (to go). Learning how to use the infinitive form of verbs within such phrases is actually very useful— particuarly if you haven't yet mastered the conjugation of such irregular verbs. Let's first take a look at volver in the infinitive:
No quiero volver al hotel y
I don't want to go back to the hotel, and
el apartamento me gusta.
I like the apartment.
Captions 18-19, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 3
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Nada... voy a volver a última hora de la tarde, nada más.
None... I'm going to come back late in the afternoon, that's all.
Caption 54, Muñeca Brava - 9 Engaños
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The verb volver can also be combined with other Spanish verbs to indicate the English concepts of "over" or "again."
Pues espero volver a verte pronto
Well, I hope to see you again soon
Caption 93, Blanca y Mariona - Vida en general
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The infinitive, volver, with the preposition a (literally "to," "at," etc.) can be linked with other Spanish verbs in phrases such as volver a vernos (to see each other again), volver a empezar (to start over), volver a entrar (to reenter), etc. Let's take a look at such examples of the formula, volver + a + infinitive, where volver has been conjugated:
Pero bueno, cuando pueda,
But well, when I can,
me vuelvo a inscribir en otro gimnasio y me meto.
I'll sign up at another gym again, and I'll go.
Caption 29, Patricia Marti - Diversión y Ejercicio
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Doblamos un pliego de papel china naranja a la mitad
We fold a sheet of orange tissue paper in half
y volvemos a doblar a la mitad.
and we fold it in half again.
Captions 65-66, Manos a la obra - Papel picado para Día de muertos
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The verb, volver, also has a pronominal form: volverse, which can take on such diverse meanings as "to turn around," "to become," "to turn upside down," "to turn inside out," and "to go back," among others. Let's look at a few examples where volverse means "to become":
Porque nunca ha estudiado con niñas
Because he has never studied with girls
y como el colegio se volvió mixto, está temblando.
and since the school became mixed, he is shaking.
Caption 38, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 1
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Entonces, el asunto se vuelve más complicado.
So, the issue becomes more complicated.
Caption 32, Cuentas claras - Sobreviviendo enero
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La diferencia de edad también se puede apreciar en el pico,
The age difference can also be seen in the beak,
que también se vuelve de color más rosáceo con la edad.
which also becomes more pinkish with age.
Captions 50-51, Rosa - Laguna Fuente de Piedra
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Finally, the expression volverse loco or loca is very often used when people want to say that someone went crazy:
¿Mi hija se volvió loca, Papá?
Did my daughter go crazy, Dad?
Caption 28, Yago - 6 Mentiras
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That's all for today. We hope you liked this lesson, and don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions.
Summer is almost over (well, if you live in the northern hemisphere) and after tanning under the sun, enjoying lazy afternoons, lots of oversleeping and all sorts of binging, it's time to get back to work. For many of us that means going back to school. Time to get up early, grab textbooks, check schedules, study for exams, and learn more Spanish.
So let's explore some school-related vocabulary that may not be that new to you, but that you may need to refresh a little, desempolvar tus conocimientos (literally "to dust off your knowledge") as the Spanish expression goes.
School supplies are first on the list:
Como presidente, López Obrador entregará
As president, López Obrador will provide
libros y útiles escolares gratuitos.
free books and school supplies.
Caption 3, Andrés Manuel López Obrador - Útiles
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Do you know what the first three levels of education are called in Spanish?
a todos los alumnos de preescolar, primaria y secundaria.
to all pre-school, elementary and high-school students.
Caption 4, Andrés Manuel López Obrador - Útiles
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Actually, things are are little bit more confusing than that. In some countries secundaria is called bachillerato, liceo, or educación media. High school, on the other hand, is called preparatoria or bachillerato in Mexico and educación secundaria or colegio in Spain, but in other Latin American countries, it could be secundaria, bachillerato, preparatoria, or educación media.
Me levanto y me llevo a los niños al colegio.
I get up and take the kids to school.
Caption 60, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa
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Colegio never means "college." In most Spanish-speaking countries colegio simply means "elementary school," and it's sometimes abbreviated as cole. In Mexico, colegio tends to be used for private elementary schools. The word for "college" in Spanish is universidad, a "college student" is a universitario or estudiante de universidad, and a "college degree" is called a título universitario:
El veinte por ciento de los universitarios...
Twenty percent of the college students...
Caption 3, Europa Abierta - Bruselas impulsa estudios en el extranjero
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If you want to know how school life is in Latin America, we strongly recommend you start watching our new series Los Años maravillosos. It's full of interesting situations and great vocabulary. Bet you don't know what a pupitre is:
...cuando compartiéramos el pupitre con niñas.
...when we shared the desk with girls.
Caption 12, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 1
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Pupitre (borrowed from Latin pulpitum) is only used for a special type of student's desk. In a school context, escritorios (desks) are usually for the teachers.
Anxieties about el primer día de escuela (the first day of school) seem to be universal:
Soñé que llegaba al colegio y estaba sin ropa.
I dreamed that I arrived at school and I was [there] with no clothes.
Caption 27, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 1
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You can learn many other school words by watching this series and other videos in our catalog. Some examples are mochila (backpack), cuaderno (notebook), calificaciones (grades), and the super fun sacapuntas (pencil sharpener, but literally "spike maker"). We'll leave you with an interesting example: tiza (chalk). Why is tiza so interesting? Because it comes from a Mexican language, the Nahuatl "tizatl" ("white clay"). Tiza is what everybody calls a piece of chalk in all the Spanish-speaking countries.... except for Mexico, where chalk is known as gis, a word that is closer to "gesso" and "gypsus." The word tiza in Mexico is only used to refer to "billiard chalk"!
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