Are you familiar with the Spanish preposition entre? While the preposition entre in Spanish is most often a direct equivalent for the many uses of the English words "among" and "between," it can occasionally be utilized in slightly different ways and with different translations than its English counterparts. Today's lesson will explore many of its nuances.

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1. State Between Two Things 

According to the Dictionary of the Spanish language, the Spanish preposition entre "denotes the situation or state in between two or more things." Let's break up this definition into a few subcategories:

Relationships:

The Spanish preposition entre might describe the nature of a relationship "between" entities, whether talking about bloodlines or quality. Let's see an example of each:

La relación entre José y yo. ¿José es mi...? -Hermano.

The relationship between Jose and me. Jose is my...? -Brother.

Captions 19-20, Curso de español Vamos a hablar de la familia

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La relación entre mi papá y mi abuela era tan amistosa como la que tenía Rusia con Estados Unidos.

The relationship between my dad and my grandma was as friendly as the one Russia had with the United States.

Captions 8-9, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 13 - Part 2

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State:

Now, let's look at an example where entre describes the "state" between two things:

encontréis ese equilibrio entre cuerpo y mente.

you find that balance between body and mind.

Caption 60, Ana Teresa 5 principios del yoga

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Comparison:

And finally, like the English word "between," the Spanish preposition entre can be employed to compare things:

¿Y sabéis cuál es la diferencia entre la lava y el magma? 

And do you know what the difference between lava and magma is?

Caption 24, Aprendiendo con Silvia Los volcanes

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2. "Within" or "In"

The preposition entre in Spanish also comes up in some situations in which an English speaker might use the word "in" or "within." Examining two different captions from the same video, note that while the first has been translated with the more literal "among," it could be substituted with the English word "in," while "in" is probably the only suitable choice in the second example.

3. An Intermediate State

Another use of the Spanish preposition entre is to refer to an intermediate state between two or more things:

This Spanish preposition can furthermore depict an intermediate physical location:

4. "As One of"

The word entre in Spanish can likewise entail the idea of inclusion, as in the following two examples, where it could be replaced by the English phrase "as one of":

No gané el concurso, pero quedé entre los finalistas

I didn't win the contest, but I placed among the finalists,

Captions 46-47, Aprendiendo con Carlos El microrrelato - Part 3

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Entre ellos, tenemos estos burros de peluche que a la gente le gusta mucho.

Among them, we have these stuffed donkeys that people like a lot.

Captions 14-15, Santuario para burros Tienda solidaria

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5. Entailing Cooperation

As we see in the following examples, the Spanish preposition entre might also evoke the idea of collaborative effort:

Si podemos imaginarlo, entre todos podemos lograrlo.

If we can imagine it, among all of us, we can achieve it.

Caption 9, Con ánimo de lucro Cortometraje - Part 1

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El plato se llama "La Deli" y entre los tres le vamos a dar forma y la decoración.

The dish is called "The Deli," and between the three of us, we're going to give it shape and decorate it.

Caption 24, Misión Chef 2 - Pruebas - Part 7

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6. "According to the Custom of"

If you wish to speak about what is done customarily "among" particular groups, the Spanish preposition entre could additionally come in handy:

"Hermano" es una palabra que se usa mucho entre amigos 

"Brother" is a word that is used a lot among friends

Caption 35, Carlos comenta Confidencial - Jerga típica colombiana

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una serie argentina que es muy popular entre nuestros usuarios.

an Argentine series that is very popular among our users.

Captions 3-4, Carlos y Cyndy Comentario sobre Muñeca Brava

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7. Reciprocity

And finally, the preposition entre in Spanish can suggest reciprocity, in which case it might be translated with the English "each other."

y cómo se apoyaban entre ellos.

and how they supported each other.

Caption 19, Aprendiendo con Silvia Nacionalidades y adjetivos - Part 2

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se juntaban las españolas de ese pueblo para hablar entre ellas.

the Spanish women from that town would get together to talk to each other.

Captions 49-50, Soledad Amistades

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We hope that this lesson has helped you to better understand the many uses of the Spanish preposition entre, especially those that are slightly different than the manners in which its English equivalents "among" and "between" are employed. Feel free to write us with your questions and suggestions.

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How do you say "you" in Spanish? In contrast to English, where "you" just say "you," there are a plethora of different ways to say this in Spanish, which we'll explore today. 

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Spanish Subject Pronouns for "You"

Subject pronouns in Spanish (e.g. yo (I), tú (you), él/ella (he/she), etc.) are the most basic way to say "you." While in English, "you" is the only second person subject pronoun, in Spanish, there are five different ones, and the one you choose will depend on such factors as whether you are addressing one or more than one person, if the situation is more or less formal, and what region you are in. Let's take a closer look. 

1. Tú

Simply put, tú means "you" for speaking to just one person in less formal situations, such as speaking to someone you already know. This is the most common familiar second person subject pronoun in most Spanish-speaking countries.

Tú hablas obviamente muy bien el español, pero

You obviously speak Spanish very well, but

Caption 10, Carlos y Xavi Part 4 Tradiciones y comida de Barcelona

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2. Vos

Vos is used in a similar fashion as tú in certain countries/regions. It is heard predominantly in Argentina and Uruguay but also in certain areas of Paraguay, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Mexico, and Venezuela. 

¿Y vos hablás de mí?

And you talk about me?

Caption 51, Muñeca Brava 18 - La Apuesta - Part 11

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3. Usted

Usted is used to address just one person in more formal situations. Examples might be when you don't know someone and wish to be polite or, perhaps, when addressing an elder. 

¿Usted habla del ganso ese? -Sí.

Are you talking about that goose? -Yes.

Caption 54, Muñeca Brava 1 Piloto - Part 10

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4. Vosotros/Vosotras

Vosotros and vosotras are employed to address more than one person informally and are thus the plural equivalent of tú. Vosotros is used for a group of all males or a mixed male-female group, while vosotras is used for more than one person when everyone is female. Vosotros and vosotras are only used in Spain. 

Vosotros habláis.

You [plural] speak.

Caption 11, Fundamentos del Español 7 - Ser y Estar

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5. Ustedes 

Ustedes is used in all Spanish-speaking countries except Spain as the only plural form of saying "you," regardless of formality. However, in Spain, it is used more formally as the plural equivalent of usted (to distinguish it with the less formal vosotros/as). 

Y es que hay muchas diferencias entre la forma en que ustedes hablan el español

And it's just that there are a lot of differences between the way in which you guys speak Spanish

Captions 44-45, Carlos y Xavi Part 2 Ustedes y Vosotros

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All of the aforementioned subject pronouns in these clips have been translated as "you" with the exception of the last one, which was translated with the informal "you guys" to emphasize that it is directed to more than one person. However, it would be perfectly acceptable to translate ustedes as merely "you" since English often employs this pronoun to address multiple people.

For an abundance of additional information on these five subject pronouns for "you" in Spanish, we recommend Carlos' five-part video series on the Tuteo, ustedeo y voseo. 

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Verb Conjugation 

As you may have noticed in the examples above, all of which contain the simple present form of the verb hablar (to speak), the form of "you" utilized affects the verb conjugation. Although this happens in every verb tense in Spanish, let's start by taking a look at the simple present tense conjugations of three common Spanish verbs with their various "you" forms highlighted. 

You will note that the verb conjugations for all of the five forms of "you" in Spanish differ from one another. Additionally, the conjugation for usted is the same as the conjugation for the third person singular él/ella (he/she) while the conjugation for ustedes is the same as the third person plural conjugation for ellos/ellas (they). Additionally, the conjugations for vos and vosotros/as are the same for -ir verbs.

Remember that in Spanish, you don't necessarily need to explicitly say the subject pronoun in order to know which one is in use because the verb tenses themselves make that clear. That said, let's examine a few examples with different forms of "you" and the verb saber (to know). 

¿Sabéis qué es un volcán?

Do you know what a volcano is?

Caption 18, Aprendiendo con Silvia Los volcanes

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Ay, ¿sabes qué?

Oh, you know what?

Caption 21, Club 10 Capítulo 1 - Part 1

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¿Sabe que no me parece suficiente?

Do you know that it doesn't seem like enough to me?

Caption 62, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 3 - Part 3

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Despite the absence of subject pronouns, you can tell from the verbs' conjugation that the first example refers to vosotros, the second example refers to tú, and the third example refers to usted, and for this reason, all three have been translated with "you know." While the third example could technically refer to él or ella as well since the conjugations for all three are the same, the context (one person speaking directly to another rather than talking about anyone else) alerts you that the speaker is addressing the other person as usted. 

Alternative "You" Pronouns in Spanish

Subject pronouns are not the only way to represent the word "you" in Spanish. Other types of Spanish pronouns (direct object, indirect object, and prepositional) also mean "you." Let's see which of each of these types of pronouns correspond with which "you" subject pronouns:

While we won't delve too deeply into these topics, we will provide a brief summary of each of them and give you some examples.

Direct Object Pronouns

Direct object pronouns take the place of the direct object (the recipient of an action) in a sentence and answer the question of "what" or "who." Let's see a couple of examples:

Vale, no... no os veo... no os veo con mucha...

OK, I don't... I don't see you... I don't see you with a lot...

Caption 39, Escuela BCNLIP Clase con Javi: el futuro - Part 3

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Los veo en el próximo video.

See you in the next video.

Caption 44, Manos a la obra Postres de Minecraft

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In both examples, the translation of the direct object pronoun is "you." In the first, os takes the place of vosotros, and in the second, los takes the place of ustedes. 

Indirect Object Pronouns

Indirect object pronouns answer the question "to who/whom" or "for who/whom" an action is carried out. Let's take a look:

De verdad, yo le doy la plata que tengo ahí;

Seriously, I'll give you the money I have there;

Caption 25, Confidencial: Asesino al Volante Capítulo 1 - Part 1

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Otra recomendación que les puedo hacer es que traigan zapatos para el agua,

Another recommendation that I can give you is to bring water shoes,

Captions 35-36, Alan x el mundo Mi playa favorita de México! - Part 2

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In the first example, le lets you know that the speaker will give the money "to" usted, while in the second, the recommendation is being given "to" ustedes. While the indirect object pronouns in these two captions have been translated with simply "you," the translator might also have opted for "I'll give the money I have there to you" and/or "Another recommendation that I can give to you is to bring water shoes."

To learn more about indirect and direct object pronouns, check out this two-part lesson on How to Use Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns.

Prepositional Pronouns

Prepositional pronouns are pronouns that follow a preposition (words like para (for), de (of, about), en (in, about), etc.) in a sentence. 

Este libro es para ti. Este libro es para vos.

This book is for you. This book is for you.

Captions 47-48, Carlos y Cyndy Uso del Voseo en Argentina

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y hoy, he preparado para ustedes estos objetos

and today, I've prepared these objects for you

Caption 3, Ana Carolina El uso correcto de los adjetivos

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Interestingly, ti is the only prepositional pronoun meaning "you" that differs in form from its corresponding subject pronoun.

We hope that this lesson has made clear the many different ways that Spanish expresses the concept of "you." That's all for today... and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments. 

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Recently, one of our subscribers wrote into us, alarmed by the following translation:

Parece mentira

It's unbelievable

Caption 7, Café Tacuba - Mediodía

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As the literal meaning of "Parece mentira" is "It seems like a lie," he didn't understand how the translators at Yabla could have so terribly missed the mark. Long story short, translation is not always literal, and there are many occasions on which the same word, expression, or text could be translated in more than one fashion. There are many factors that come into play at the moment of translating, including idiomatic speech, differences in dialects, the format or genre of the translation, and even the audience for which it is intended.

Since much of the art of translation involves making actual choices, rather than simply translating each word literally, the audience for a translation and its intended purpose come into play. For example, someone might hire a translator to translate a legally binding contract into layperson's language if the purpose of the translation is simply for that client to be able to understand what is being said in everyday terms. On the other hand, were that same contract to be presented by a lawyer at a trial in a Spanish-speaking country, the translation would need to match the high register of the original document and contain exact equivalents of its complex legal terminology. This is further complicated by the fact that sometimes the laws of one country are so different from another's that there simply is no equivalent terminology. 

On the other hand, literary translation can be quite complicated with genres like poetry or children's stories that employ rhyme. The translator is then faced with the choice between translating the literal meaning of the poem and completely losing this literary element or employing rhyme while inevitably altering the meaning (as little as possible, of course!). Again, either one of these translation styles could be legitimate, depending upon the audience for the translation and/or what the translator considers more important in terms of maintaining the essence of the original literature. 

In the case of Yabla, our audience consists of language learners. As our goal is to translate in a way that facilitates language learning, we are basically left with two choices in our aforementioned example: to literally translate the phrase "Parece mentira" as "It seems like a lie," which sounds a bit awkward in English, or to translate the actual meaning of this idiomatic expression, which is indeed utilized to convey the idea that something is "unbelievable," "incredible," or "hard to believe." Over time, Yabla has transitioned from more literal translation to a style that expresses actual meaning and/or the way in which a native speaker would express him or herself whenever possible. 

To illustrate a very simple example, the concept of "black and white" (movies, for example) in Spanish is expressed in reverse order as blanco y negro. While in the past, Yabla may have opted to translate this as “white and black” in order not to confuse learners (perhaps leading them to believe that Yabla's translators need to brush up on their colors!), these days, we would most likely go with the more common manner of expressing this in English. This can be seen in the following clip. 

Son los vari blanco y negro.

They are the black and white ruffed lemurs.

Caption 34, Animales en familia - Un día en Bioparc: Lémures

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Of course, as this is also a proper name, the translator should always choose the real name by which something is known in the target language (in our case, English) rather than the source language (Spanish), even when the literal translation would be completely different:

Bueno, en las costa se pueden, bueno, observar pingüinos, lobos marinos.

Well, at the shore you can see penguins, sea lions (literally "sea wolves").

Caption 49, Buenos Aires - Heladería Cumelen

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Interestingly, the very same animal, the sea lion, is literally referred to as a "sea wolf" in Spanish. However, translating it in this matter would only serve to confuse English speakers, perhaps causing them to wonder whether the speaker could be referring to some alternative species (or maybe a fantastical creature!). Whenever possible, Yabla also employs brackets to indicate the literal translation in such cases. 

To further demonstrate the complex nature of translation, let's examine a few additional examples:

¿Qué te parece San Sebastián, Matías?

What do you think of San Sebastian (literally, "How does San Sebastian seem to you"), Matias?

Caption 29, Clase Aula Azul - El verbo parecer

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The literal translation of ¿Qué te parece San Sebastián? is "How does San Sebastian seem to you?" However, although there is nothing grammatically incorrect about that English sentence, the translator must again put him or herself in the shoes of a speaker who, for example, is inquiring about the visitor to a particular city's opinion of it. In this case, "What do you think of San Sebastian?" would be a much more common utterance. Once again, since the intention of this video is to teach Yabla students grammar, you will note that the literal translation has additionally been provided in brackets. 

Let's now take a look at an example in which two completely different idioms are used to express the same idea in Spanish vs. English:

El arreglo, un ojo de la cara.

The repair, an arm and a leg (literally "an eye off my face").

Caption 19, Confidencial: Asesino al Volante - Capítulo 1

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Amusingly, to say something costs "an eye off my face" has the same meaning as the English expression, "to cost an arm and a leg," and the translator should thus choose the equivalent idiomatic expression in the target language. 

Let's look at one last example:

Sí, gorda, ya lo sé.

Yes, honey, I know that already.

Caption 32, Muñeca Brava - 45 El secreto

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As gorda literally means "fatty," the translation "honey" might initially seem off. However, terms such as gordo/a ("fatty"), flaco/a ("skinny'), and negro/negra ("blackie") are frequently employed in many Spanish-speaking countries (regardless of whether the person actually has these physical characteristics!) as terms of endearment equivalent to such English words as "dear," "honey," or "sweetie." This additionally demonstrates how a term deemed perfectly acceptable in one country could, in another, be misunderstood at best and offensive at worst. This becomes extremely important when translating, for example, advertisements targeted at specific audiences. 

That's all for today. We hope that these examples have shed some light on a few of the countless challenges and choices that translators face regularly, and don't forget to leave us your comments and suggestions!