Unfortunately, we all have times when we feel tired (cansado) or angry (enojado). So, how can we describe these emotions in Spanish, beyond those basic terms? In this lesson, we will go over some more evocative expressions to explain how you feel, say, after a hard day at the office or when you are sick and tired of arguing with that certain someone once more.

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Feeling Tired

There are several adjectives and phrases to show that we have run out of energy, one of which is estar agotado/a (to be exhausted):

Yo también estoy agotada.

I am also exhausted.

Caption 27, NPS No puede ser - 1 - El concurso

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In addition, the girls on Muñeca Brava, who are always colorful in their vocabulary and ready to share their emotions, give us three expressions in a row!

Te juro, Mili, que estoy muerta.

I swear to you, Mili, that I'm dead tired.

No doy más. Knockout.

I'm exhausted. Knocked out.

Captions 2-3, Muñeca Brava - 43 La reunión

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Sometimes we are so tired that we tend to get irritable, and, in this kind of limbo before anger itself, you might feel agobio or fastidio. Unlike the previous examples, feeling agobiado or fastidioso cannot result from physical activity since these terms are related to your emotions. 

de un tipo que está agobiado.

of a guy who is overwhelmed.

Caption 60, Bersuit Vergarabat - EPK

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Feeling Angry

On those other days when we are just plain mad, vocabulary like cabreado (annoyed), harto (sick and tired), and arrecho (angry) might come in handy.

Bronca/rabia (annoyance)

It is worth mentioning that both bronca and rabia collocate, or tend to go along with, the same verbs: dar (in this case "to cause"), tener ("to be" or "feel" in these examples), and pasar (when that feeling has "passed," or "ended"):

Me da bronca/rabia.    It makes me angry/annoys me.

Tengo bronca/rabia.    I'm angry/furious.

Se me pasó la bronca/rabia.    I'm not angry anymore. 

me empezó a apretar y lo que más bronca me dio que me...

he started to squeeze me and what annoyed me the most [was] that...

Caption 14, Muñeca Brava - 2 Venganza

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que una forma de manejar la rabia

that a way to manage rage

es aceptar que tengo rabia y por qué,

is to accept that I feel rage and why,

Captions 51-52, Escribiendo un libro - Algunos consejos sobre cómo comenzar

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Other useful adjectives are podrido/a (informal, colloquial), which is common in Argentina, or encabronado/a, which is common in Spain:

Mira, mi madre y vos me tienen podrido.

Look, I'm sick and tired of you and my mother.

Caption 30, Muñeca Brava - 1 Piloto - Part 3

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Sacar de quicio/sacar de las casillas  (to make someone lose their temper)

On an episode of El Aula Azul's - La Doctora Consejos, we learn the expression sacar de quicio (to annoy someone) and recommend watching this video to hear several examples of this expression:

¿qué cosas te sacan de quicio?

what things do you find annoying?

Caption 65, El Aula Azul - La Doctora Consejos: Subjuntivo y sentimientos

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This same video contains another idiom with a similar meaning that also uses the verb sacar:

¡Eso sí que me saca de mis casillas!

That really drives me crazy!

Caption 77, El Aula Azul - La Doctora Consejos: Subjuntivo y sentimientos

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And when someone has lost his or her temper, you might hear others say "Está sacado/a" (He/she lost it).

Estar hasta la coronilla

This additional idiom can be useful if you feel you've had enough and are short of patience:

Muy bien, estaba hasta la coronilla.

Just great, I was fed up.

Caption 16, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 6

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Additional Verbs Meaning "to Make Someone Mad" (or Worse!)

Some other common verbs that can be used when something or someone "makes you angry" (or perhaps the less polite "pisses you off") include joder, reventar, sacar, embolar, and cabrear. In Spain, joder is also used as an extremely common exclamation (meaning anything on the spectrum of curse words from "Damn!" to worse), and in many countries, it can also mean "to party, "joke around with," or "kid" someone. 

Me revienta que me digas "te lo dije."

I hate it when you say "I told you so."

Caption 35, Muñeca Brava - 1 Piloto - Part 10

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Keep in mind that, as all these verbs are informal and could potentially be perceived as rude outside the company of friends, it is always safer to go with more neutral verbs like enojar, irritar, molestar, or enfadar to express the idea that something has "made you mad." In doing so, you will also avoid regionalisms that could cause confusion across different Spanish dialects. 

Context Is Always Key

Some words can mean either angry or, of all things, horny! As a misunderstanding in this realm could be embarrassing, always analyze the context. In Argentina, for instance, the very informal calentarse or estar caliente can have either meaning. 

Bueno, Llamita, pero eso tiene solución;

Well, Llamita, but that has a solution;

no te calentés.

don't get mad.

Captions 65-66, Yago - 14 La peruana

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The same thing happens across countries with the word arrecho. While arrecho means "angry" in Venezuela, in Colombia it can either mean "cool" or, once again, "horny." A bit confusing, right?

Yabla's video Curso de español - Expresiones de sentimientos elaborates on this and other expressions of emotion:

Entonces, "arrecho" en Venezuela significa enojado,

So, "arrecho" in Venezuela means mad,

pero en otros países significa otra cosa diferente

but in other countries it means different things

Captions 49-50, Curso de español - Expresiones de sentimientos

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The word arrecho is also used by the Colombian band ChocQuibTown, with its alternative meaning:

Y si sos chocoano, sos arrecho por cultura, ¡ey!

And if you are from Chocó, you are horny by culture, ay!

Caption 20, ChocQuibTown - Somos Pacifico

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That's all for now. We hope that you have found these alternative manners of talking about tiredness and anger useful (and that you don't need to use them too often)! And don't forget to send us your suggestions and comments. 

How to Use Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns - Part 2

Direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish are used to substitute indirect and direct objects. This lesson explores the proper way to do these substitutions using examples from our catalog of videos.

The direct and indirect object pronouns in Spanish are identical except for the third-person singular and plural (him, her, it, them)  and the second-person formal (you) forms:

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So, the pronoun me is used to substitute either the direct object, as in:

A Adícora me trajo el viento.

The wind brought me to Adícora.

Caption 7, Adícora, Venezuela - Darío y el Kitesurfing

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Or the indirect object, as in:

Mi papá había ido a Nueva York

My father had gone to New York

en un viaje de negocios y me trajo unos discos.

on a business trip and brought me some records.

Caption 1, Carli Muñoz - Niñez

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In the previous example, me is the indirect object, while unos discos (some records) is the direct object, which is a plural masculine noun that according to our table is substituted by los (them). So, to substitute both objects you must say: me los trajo (he brought them to me).

Now, the pronoun te is used to substitute either the direct object:

Y de este lado sólo te revuelca,

And from this side it only pushes you around,

pero del otro lado te come.

but from the other side it eats you.

Captions 37-38, Antonio Vargas - Artista - Comic

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or the indirect object:

Bueno y por eso te traje las aspirinas.

Well, and that's why I brought you the aspirins.

Caption 43, Muñeca Brava - 2 Venganza

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In the previous example, te is the indirect object, while las aspirinas (the aspirins) is the direct object, which is a plural feminine noun that according to our table is substituted by las (them). So, to substitute both objects you must say: te las traje (I brought them to you).

For the third person of singular (him, her, it & formal "you"), though, Spanish uses lo, la for direct object and le for indirect object. So, for a feminine noun as cicatriz (scar) in the direct object position we use la (in genderless English we use "it"):

Porque tiene una pequeña cicatriz en el brazo que sólo yo conozco

Because he has a small scar on his arm that only I know about

porque se la hizo jugando conmigo.

because he got it playing with me.

Captions 41-42, Yago - 10 Enfrentamientos

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For a masculine noun as pollo (chicken) in the direct object position we use lo (again, English uses "it"):

Ya tenemos listo aquí nuestro pollo.

We already have our chicken ready here.

Y lo decoramos con un poco de ajonjolí y cebollín.

And we decorate it with a bit of sesame seeds and chives.

Captions 17-18, [Bears in the Kitchen] Osos en la cocina - Pollo asiático

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Take note that lo and la are also used for usted (the formal you) in the direct object position. Lo is used for a noun in the direct object position that designates a male person (Morgan):

Morgan, la Señorita Victoria

Morgan, Miss Victoria

está enterada de su regreso y lo espera en el escritorio.

is aware of your return and awaits you in the study.

Caption 29, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta

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Or la for a noun in the direct object position that designates a female person (let's say Ms. Gonzalez):

Señora Gonzalez, el doctor la verá a las diez.
Ms. Gonzalez, the doctor will see you at ten.

On the other hand, the indirect object uses a different pronoun le (him, her, it & formal "you"). So, for a masculine noun like muchacho (boy) in the indirect object position we use le:

Otro muchacho que nunca escuchó

Another boy that never listened

Los consejos que su madre le dio

To the advice his mother gave him

Captions 40-41, La Secta - Consejo

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And we would also use le if we were talking about una muchacha (a girl):

Otra muchacha que nunca escuchó los consejos que su madre le dio
Another girl that never listened to the words of advice his mother gave her

Equally, we use le if we are addressing someone formally:

Usted que nunca escuchó los consejos que su madre le dio
You who never listened to the words of advice your mother gave you

Got it? Now a test. How do you substitute not only the indirect object (muchacho, muchacha, usted), but also the direct object los consejos (the words of advise) in the previous examples? This is how:

Otro muchacho que nunca escuchó los que su madre le dio
Another boy that never listened to the ones his mother gave him

Otra muchacha que nunca escuchó los que su madre le dio
Another boy that never listened to the ones his mother gave her

Usted que nunca escuchó los que su madre le dio
You who never listened to the ones your mother gave you

It's interesting to note how English can't use "them" to replace "the words of advise" in this particular construction because the wording is odd (it's somehow odd in Spanish as well). So let's simplify the example (the indirect object and indirect pronouns appear in bold):

Mamá dio unos consejos al muchacho / Mamá se los dio.
Mom gave the boy some words of advise / Mom gave them to him.

Mamá dio unos consejos a la muchacha / Mamá se los dio.
Mom gave the girl some words of advise / Mom gave them to her.

Mamá dio unos consejos a usted / Mamá se los dio. 
Mom gave you some words of advise / Mom gave them to you.

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As you can see, it was now possible to use "them" to replace "the words of advise" in English. But did you notice that Spanish used se instead of le to replace the indirect object this time! Why is that? Well, that's because in Spanish there's a special rule for combining pronouns: when le(s) and lo(s)/la(s) would end up next to each other in a sentence you must use se instead. So you can never say Mamá le los dio, you must say Mamá se los dio. We will learn more about this rule and continue with the plural forms of the direct and indirect pronouns in Part II of this lesson.