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Requerir, Carecer: Meaning Needed, Meaning Lacking

We begin this cortometraje ("short film") about the dangers of unventilated cooking in Peru with the basic needs of man.

 

Desde que el hombre apareció como tal sobre la faz de la Tierra... ha requerido, y por cierto, aún requiere, de diversas fuentes de energía que le sirvan de combustible.

Since man appeared as such on the surface of the Earth... he has required, and in fact, still requires, diverse sources of energy to be used as fuel.

Captions 1-5, Cocinas Peruanas - Short Film

 Play Caption

 

BANNER PLACEHOLDER


Above, the verb requerir ("to require" or "to need") is followed by the preposition de. This is common only in Latin America, notes HarperCollins' Spanish Unabridged Dictionary. Meanwhile, the Spanish spoken in Spain for the most part uses requerir as a transitive verb followed by a direct object, meaning no preposition is requerido ("required"). For example, in Spain you'd likely hear:

Esto requiere cierto cuidado.
This requires some care.


A little later in the short film, we encounter a verb that's always followed by de and then an indirect object: 

 

...en especial la rural, los utiliza para cocinar en sus viviendas, las mismas que, en su mayoría, carecen de ventilación.

...especially rural population, use them to cook in their houses, houses which mostly lack ventilation.

Captions 11-12, Cocinas Peruanas - Short Film

 Play Caption

 

Carecer [de algo] means "to lack [something]." Above, the narrator is speaking of "their houses... which mostly lack ventilation." The use of the preposition de is required here, regardless of which continent the speaker is standing on. If it were missing, you would have to say the sentence lacks something (la frase carece de algo).

Vocabulary

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