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").
Venezuelan Patricia Martí tells us about her home town of Coro, compared to other parts of the world:
Así como en otros países, que hay muchas discotecas y reventones y fiestas...
The way [it is] in other countries, there are a lot of discotheques and big blowouts and parties...
Caption 4, Patricia Marti - Diversión y Ejercicio
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Look up reventones -- plural of reventón -- and you'll see it's "a flat tire" or "a blowout." As you can see, Patricia uses the word in a looser sense to mean a sort of big social event, which, in English, we might also call a blowout.
To further build up your vocab, note that reventón is a noun related to the verb reventar, which means "to burst." The verb form can also be used in formal and informal speech. For example, to be formal:
Reventó un caño.
A pipe burst.
And, in a looser, more figurative sense:
Su padre reventaba de orgullo.
Her father was bursting with pride.
How might a new airport affect the families living off the farming land of Atenco, Mexico? Listen to the interviews in this documentary for some strongly held opinions.
In the introduction, a listener might think they're hearing double:
A no nomás al estado de México.
And not only to the state of Mexico.
Caption 9, ¡Tierra, Sí! - Atenco - Part 1
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No nomás ("not only") is not to be confused with no, no más ("no, no more"). In Mexico and parts of Central America, nomás as a single word can mean solamente or sólo (in English: "only"). It's distinguished from the two words 'no más' by their context.
But note that 'no nomás' probably sounds a little odd to someone from Spain, who would say "No sólo el estado de México," instead. (Loyal readers may recall we previously discussed why sólo takes an accent mark when it means "only.")
Y ahí, bueno, pienso que con eso colaboro para mi país. Con eso... y ya.
And so, well, I think I'm helping my country like this. Like that... and that's it.
Captions 36-38, Patricia Marti - Perspectiva Política
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In Spanish, ya is an adverb that packs a lot of meanings. It most commonly means "already" and "now." In informal, everyday speech, it's best understood in the context. For example, in a busy café, a waiter might ask you and your friend:
¿Ya pidieron?
Did you all order already?
No, no tenemos la carta todavía
No, we don't have the menu yet
Ya se la traigo
I'll bring it to you now
Note that fellow adverb todavía means "yet" or "still". But getting back to ya, here are two phrases you're sure to come across often:
Ya es la hora = "It's time [already/now ]."
Ya está = "It's here [already/now]."
Our interview subject ends the interview with a shrug and a "y ya," which is her way of telling us "enough already," or "that's it."
In the music video A Casa by Javier Garcia, take a look at two lines of the catchy refrain:
Anoche fue muy fuerte...
Last night was very tough...
Caption 7, Javier García - A Casa
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La noche fue muy fuerte...
The night was very tough...
Caption 11, Javier García - A Casa
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Note that anoche means "last night." Some non-native Spanish speakers think they should say 'la noche pasada,' but that would be akin to saying "the day before today" when you mean simply "yesterday" in English. So listen closely to distinguish 'la noche' -meaning, more generically, "the night"- from 'anoche' -meaning "last night"- as in this week's featured song.
Here are some more useful Spanish terms for the past:
Dígame... Eh Padre, ¿se acuerda de esa chica que estábamos hablando ayer?
Tell me... Um, Father, do you remember that girl that we were talking about yesterday?
Caption 12, Muñeca Brava - 2 Venganza - Part 2
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Ayer = "Yesterday"
Anteayer = "The day before yesterday"
You'll note ante means "before," and so anteayer is really just a contraction of "[the day] before yesterday." Following the logic, can you guess what anteanoche means? Yup, "the night before last." (Isn't it convenient to have one Spanish word when in English we require four?)
Moving from days to weeks and years, the rules change a little. You see, there's no single word that means "last week." Instead, you have to say: 'la semana pasada.' And to say "last year," use el año pasado. But there is a word that means "yesteryear": It's antaño. Like "yesteryear" in English, antaño in Spanish refers to "times past"--not necessarily last year.
Meanwhile, in New York City, we catch up with Skampida's Gustavo and David on camera. They tell us what they've been up to:
Llevamos cuatro meses en New York City.
We've been in New York City for four months.
Caption 7, Skampida - Gustavo y David
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Bueno la... la banda ha estado... llevamos ocho años tocando y...
Well the... the band has been... we've been playing for eight years and...
Caption 12, Skampida - Gustavo y David
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You probaby know that the verb llevar means "to carry." But it has many other shades of meaning, one of which indicates the passage of time. Here are a couple more examples of llevar in this context:
¿Cuánto tiempo llevas aquí?
How long have you been here?
Llevo seis horas esperando.
I've been waiting six hours.
Note that you could substitute "haber estado," as in "to have been," to arrive at approximately the same meaning as llevar.
El niño se daba cuenta que por haber estado agachado tanto tiempo.
The boy realized that as the result of having been bent over for so long.
Caption 36, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 8 - Part 1
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In the new music video posted this week, the diction is very clear, but the meaning...? Well, Mexican pop band Molotov tends towards the surreal in this song about turning into a Martian (marciano). Once you listen carefully, and realize the lyrics are as goofy as the dance moves on your screen, you'll learn some very useful Spanish vocabulary.
For starters, take a look at the third line of the song:
No es el cuerpo marrano que solía tener...
It's not the fat body I used to have...
Caption 5, Molotov - Marciano
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Solía is from the verb soler, which means, in the present infinitive, "to usually do" or "to be accustomed to." But in the past tense -as in the caption above- it has a simpler English translation: "used to."
Here's the trick: Soler in the present or past tense is always followed by another verb in the infinitive. Compare these two similar sentences:
En verano, suelo ir a la playa.
In summer, I usually go to the beach.
Or: In summer, I tend to go to the beach.
Cuando era niño, solía ir a la playa (tense = past)
When I was a boy, I used to go to the beach.
And what about in the future or in the conditional tenses? Well, soler doesn't have a future or a conditional tense. That puts the word in a category of verbs that are not fully conjugated, known as "defective verbs." Other examples of defective verbs in Spanish include llover--"to rain"--and amanecer--"to dawn." (Click here for more.)
No acato límites.
I don't obey limits.
Caption 33, Babasónicos - Carismático
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The verb acatar means "to respect," "to observe," "to comply with" or "to defer to." For the lyrics quoted above, we translate: "I don't obey limits."
Here are some other examples of the verb in context:
Deben acatar la ley.
They ought to follow the law.
El gobierno acata la decision final.
The government respects the final decision.
Acatar is conjugated the same way as hablar. In other words, it follows the rules (acata las reglas) of a regular -ar verb.
In this week's new videos, Argentine movie and TV star, Pablo Echarri, tells us about when he was a kid:
Y yo me recuerdo que de pendejo en la escuela me llamaban continuamente.
And I remember when I was a kid in school I was called constantly.
Captions 17-18, Biografía - Pablo Echarri - Part 4
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Here is another example. This time from the Argentinian telenovela Verano Eterno.
Mirá pendejo, no me jodas porque estoy de mal humor.
Look jerk, don't piss me off because I'm in a bad mood.
Captions 3-4, Verano Eterno - Fiesta Grande - Part 8
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A word of warning here: In Argentina and Uruguay, the word pendejo is a benign, if slangy, synonym for muchacho meaning "kid, youth or teen." But you couldn't use pendejo in the same way in Mexico or parts of Central America and get away with it. There, pendejo is a crude profanity that you should read about in Wikipedia's write-up under Spanish profanity or this etymology discussion.
Solo and sólo... Are you still confused about when to write this word with or without a graphic accent? If you still don't know how to go about it, we have some good news for you: the word solo doesn't need an accent... ever! Although the rule has already been in place for quite a few years, there are many people who are not aware of it.
Before the Real Academia Española (RAE) decided that the word solo didn't need a graphic accent, the old rule used to work like this:
Sólo is an adverb meaning "only," "solely" or "just" — the same as solamente. In fact, sólo and solamente can be used interchangeably. A speaker (or singer) can decide which sounds better in any given sentence.
On the other hand, solo without an accent mark is an adjective meaning "alone," "on one's own" or "sole." Solo describes a lone man or a masculine object--for example, un café solo is "a black coffee". For a woman, the adjective is sola. "¿Estás sola?" (are you alone?) is a simple, direct pick-up line.
Whether you are using solo as an adjective or as an adverb, the word solo doesn't need the graphic accent.
Muy raro que un agente, solo... solo, le caiga a un carro con placas diplomáticas.
Really weird that an agent, alone... alone, drops on a car with diplomatic plates.
Captions 33-34, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 3 - Part 2
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Solo yo sé lo que sufrí
Only I know what I suffered
Caption 2, Alejandra Guzmán - Porque no estás aquí
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That's it for this lesson. Keep in mind this "update" and don’t forget to send us your feedback and suggestions.
Porque sabíamos que teníamos que ganar la batalla con la gente y tengo la satisfacción de que logramos cambiar la opinión.
Because we knew we had to win the battle along with people and I've got the satisfaction that we succeeded to change opinion.
Captions 31-32, Felipe Calderón - Publicidad - Part 3
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Did you have the feeling that former energy minister and presidential rival Felipe Calderón has accomplished a lot by watching this video? It might be the repetition of the verb lograr that left that impression. In this week's video from Calderón's publicity campaign, there are six--or is that seven?--appearances of the verb lograr--which means "to achieve," "to obtain" or "to succeed in."
In the quote sited above, we translate: "I've got the satisfaction that we succeeded to changing opinion..."
Here's another one:
Esa pasión por México tiene que sacarnos adelante, nos va a sacar adelante si logramos canalizarla bien.
That passion for Mexico has to make us prosper, it will make us prosper if we can channel it correctly.
Captions 82-83, Felipe Calderón - Publicidad - Part 3
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We'll know soon if Calderón succeeds in overcoming his biggest challenge yet.
¡Ahora nos toca a nosotros!
Now it's our turn!
Caption 12, Andrés Manuel López Obrador - Publicidad de TV
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The campaign ads running on Mexican TV reflect the candidates' different styles. In one ad supporting Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City, a group of Mexicans say in unison: ¡Ahora nos toca a nosotros! ("Now it's our turn!").
The verb tocar means many things in Spanish. "To touch" and "to achieve by chance/fortune" are two definitions we discussed a few weeks ago. But here the verb has a different meaning. Tocar a alguien can mean "it's somebody's turn" or "it's up to somebody." So, me toca means "it's my turn" and nos toca means "it's our turn." And, for added emphasis and clarity, nos toca a nosotros also means "it's our turn".
Here's another example that's always appropriate for an election:
A ti te toca decidir.
It's up to you to decide.
The fact is: There are many more uses of the verb tocar than there are candidates in this hotly contested campaign. The authoritative dictionary from the Real Academia Española contains more than 30 entries for tocar. It's one of the few words that can fit any political purpose.
Vota por la opción que más te gusta, o por la menos culei.
Vote for the option you like the most, or for the least bad.
Captions 14-15, Tu Rock es Votar - Comercial de TV
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Tu Rock es Votar speaks directly to Mexico's youth in the language they understand. Problem is, Spanish dictionaries don't contain every example of youthful Mexican street slang. Case in point: culei. To understand this word, a native speaker from México is going to be more helpful than your average dictionary. So we asked our friends on the ground to translate, and we learned that culei is a Mexican variation of the slang word culero, which has many, colorful meanings--basically, malo ("bad") or gacho (Mexican for "nasty" or "ugly"). Trolling around the web, we also found culei linked to the brand name Kool-Aid -as in the Technicolored, artificial fruit beverage. Their pronunciations are almost identical--save the final "d." Without sweating the details of the origins of the slang too much, we bring you the translation:
"Vote for the option that you like most, or for the least bad."
Sounds like the U.S.'s last "Rock the Vote" campaign, which acknowledged the youth vote's antipathy or even disgust with available election candidates.
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
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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
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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).
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