Have you ever heard the word venga in Spanish? If you have been studying Spanish for a while or have ever been to Spain, you have probably heard someone say this word. But, do you really know the meaning of the Spanish word venga? In this lesson, we will teach you seven different ways to employ this very useful colloquial term.
But first, let's establish three important things. First, the word venga is the conjugation of the verb venir in the formal imperative (for the second person singular pronoun usted, which means "you"). Let's take a look at this very simple example of the traditional use of this word:
¡Estoy hablando con usted, señor! ¡Venga aquí, por favor!
I'm talking to you, sir! Come here, please!
Second, in addition to its formal use, as venga is a word that is used colloquially in multiple ways throughout Spain, if you are planning a visit to that country, we recommend familiarizing yourself with as many of these uses as possible.
And third, much of the time, the Spanish word venga is roughly translated with the English expression "Come on." That said, let's take a look at the following uses of the colloquial term venga.
One of the most common uses of the Spanish word venga is to motivate or encourage someone to do something. We can see this use in the following clips from our popular series Extr@: Extra en español:
Venga, cuéntamelo, Sam. No pasa nada.
Come on, tell me, Sam. It's no big deal.
Caption 50, Extr@: Extra en español Ep. 7: La gemela - Part 4
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Venga, díselo.
Come on, tell him.
Caption 5, Extr@: Extra en español Ep. 1 - La llegada de Sam - Part 6
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In this context, you might also use venga to dare someone to do something:
No vas a atreverte. ¿Cómo que no? Venga.
You won't dare. What do you mean I won't? Go ahead.
Captions 1-3, Cortometraje Flechazos
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Sometimes, in the context of giving orders, the word venga can be used in a more decisive manner:
¿Hay alguien? Conteste, venga.
Is anyone there? Answer, come on.
Captions 28-29, Extr@: Extra en español Ep. 2: Sam va de compras - Part 4
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In this context, the word venga is usually used as a call to action to do something specific:
¿Sí? ¡Venga va! Vamos a corregir.
Yes? Come on! Let's correct [this].
Caption 91, Escuela BCNLIP Clase con Javi: el futuro - Part 6
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Venga, vámonos.
Come on, let's go.
Caption 60, 75 minutos Gangas para ricos - Part 3
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Similar to the previous use, the word venga can be used to express agreement between two people. In this case, venga would be equivalent to saying "OK" in English. Let's see an example:
La semana que viene sin falta, a cenar a mi casa. Vale, te llamo. -Venga,
Next week no matter what, dinner at my house. OK, I'll call you. -OK,
Captions 95-96, Blanca y Mariona Vida en general
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You may notice that this use of venga very often comes up at the end of spoken conversations, especially on the telephone when one person indicates the end of the conversation with this word and the other person repeats it:
Venga. -Venga. Hasta luego.
OK. -OK. Bye.
People tend to repeat the word venga when they want to encourage someone to do something quickly. Let's see this use in action:
Venga, venga que es noche y... y las castañas sin coger.
Come on, come on, as it's getting late and... and the chestnuts haven't been picked.
Caption 63, 75 minutos Del campo a la mesa - Part 4
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Just like we use "come on" in English, we can use the word venga to ask someone to do something for us. Let's look:
Venga, Sam. Tienes que vestirte de basurero.
Come on, Sam. You have to dress as a garbage man.
Caption 37, Extr@: Extra en español Ep. 6: El día de la Primitiva - Part 5
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Just like the English expression "Come on," the Spanish word venga can additionally be used as an interjection to express astonishment, disbelief, or disapproval about something, as in the following example:
Pero venga, tío. Eso no tiene sentido.
But come on, man. That doesn't make sense.
That's all for today. We hope that this lesson has helped you to understand the many meanings of the Spanish word venga, and if you ever go to Spain, we encourage you to use it. And, ¡venga! Don't forget to send us your suggestions and comments.
Despite the old saying that "Las comparaciones son odiosas" (Comparisons are odious), the truth is that they are often necessary. Whether you need to decide on a vacation destination, select a present for a loved one, or weigh the pros and cons of any situation, comparisons will be a part of your decision-making process. That said, let's learn some useful language for that purpose.
Unlike English, Spanish does not modify adjectives with the addition of suffixes (e.g. the English -er and -est) for comparative purposes. Instead, adjectives are accompanied by comparative structures to indicate equality, inequality, or difference in degree between one or more people, ideas, or things. Since there is plenty to learn on this topic, this lesson will deal with inequality, while part two will cover comparisons of equality and superlatives.
For comparisons of inequality, the word that specifies what the comparison is about will be preceded by más (more) or menos (less). One might compare qualities (adjectives), ways of doing something (adverbs), or even nouns as in the sentence: La canasta roja tiene más manzanas que la verde (The red basket has more apples than the green one). Let's take a look at some common comparative structures involving adjectives, adverbs, and nouns, and some examples of each:
La vida a esta altitud se hace más difícil que en el frondoso pinsapar.
Life at this altitude becomes more difficult than in the dense Spanish fir forest.
Caption 64, Tecnópolis - Sierra de las nieves
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Este libro es menos interesante que el otro.
This book is less interesting than the other one.
Caption 72, Karla e Isabel - Comparativos
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As you may have inferred from these examples, the comparative particle que is the equivalent of than in English. In addition, the video in our second example above introduces several comparative structures with examples and is thus worth viewing in conjunction with this lesson.
Les inyectaba hormonas para que crecieran más rápido.
She would inject them with hormones so that they would grow faster.
Caption 45, Kikirikí - Animales
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Note that, in this case, the comparative particle que is not present since the second term of the comparison is not mentioned. In addition, remember that, although the adverb rápidamente does exist, we often use rápido as an adverb as well as an adjective in the same way as the English word fast, depending upon whether it modifies a noun or a verb in a sentence.
As we saw in the introduction, this structure can also be used with nouns. In this case, it is worth mentioning that while, according to traditional English usage rules, "fewer" should be used for countable objects while "less" should be employed with singular mass nouns (i.e. salt), this distinction does not exist in Spanish. That said, menos will be used for both countable and uncountable nouns in Spanish.
Ten en cuenta que los productos en tamaño familiar,
Take into account that family-sized products,
sean de lo que sean,
whatever they are,
generan menos residuos por unidad de producto.
generate less waste per product unit.
Captions 51-53, 3R - Campaña de reciclaje
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Since the Spanish verb tener años (literally "to have years") is used to express the idea of someone being a certain age, the expression Tengo más años que mi hermana (literally "I have more years than my sister") is equivalent to saying "I am older than my sister." The following example is similar:
Yo tengo un año menos que tú.
I am a year younger than you.
Caption 12, Clara y Cristina - Saludar
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Although the position of the noun in these examples is different, they demonstrate the additional point that prepositional object pronouns like mí and ti cannot be used in comparatives as the second object of comparison (immediately after que). For example, while in English, one can say either "My sister is younger than I am" or "My sister is younger than me," Mi hermana es más joven que mí is unacceptable in Spanish, while Mi hermana es más joven que yo is the correct way to express this.
Sometimes, the difference between the objects, people, or ideas being compared is so big or so small that formulas that include intensifiers such as mucho/muchísimo/tanto + más/menos or mitigators like un poco/poquito + más/menos can help to express this.
Y eso también lo habéis comprado más barato de lo normal.
And that also you have bought cheaper than what's normal.
Pero muchísimo más barato, ochenta por ciento más barato, una cosa así.
But way cheaper, eighty percent cheaper, something like that.
Captions 14-15, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos
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No es tanto más grande que yo.
She's not that much older than me.
Caption 31, Muñeca Brava - 7 El poema
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De Los Cabos sí queda un poquito más lejitos,
From Los Cabos, it's a little bit further,
un poquito más de dos horas.
a little bit over two hours.
Captions 73-74, Alan x el mundo - Mi playa favorita de México!
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The parallel comparative structure, cuanto más + adjective/adverb, más/menos, is also useful in Spanish. The common English expression, "The sooner, the better," for example, translates as: Cuanto antes, mejor.
Cuanto más sucia, menos le[s] pagáis. -Claro.
The dirtier it is, the less you pay them. -Of course.
Caption 81, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa
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A few adjectives and adverbs have irregular comparative forms and don't fall into the typical patterns using más/menos + adjective/adverb + que:
Adjective: buen/a (good) Comparative: mejor (better)
Adjective: mal/a (bad) Comparative: peor (worse)
Es una buena cantante (She's a good singer).
Es mejor cantante que Mariana (She is a better singer than Mariana).
Es un mal alumno (He is a bad student).
Es peor alumno que Juan (He is a worse student than Juan).
Interestingly, when the adjectives mejor/peor describe how good or bad one is at something, their forms are irregular. However, when referring to good and evil, their regular comparative forms come into play:
Es más malo que el diablo.
He is more evil than the devil.
The following adverbs, however, have only an irregular comparative:
Adverb: bien (well) Comparative: mejor (better)
Adverb: mal (badly) Comparative: peor (worse)
María canta mejor que su hermana.
María sings better than her sister.
Let's conclude with some additional examples of regular and irregular comparatives from our Yabla video library:
Tres aspirinas. -Bueno, tomá algo más fuerte que te haga mejor.
Three aspirins. -Well, take something stronger that makes you better.
Caption 61, Muñeca Brava - 43 La reunión
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Mal. Peor que la semana pasada.
Bad. Worse than last week.
Caption 7, El Aula Azul - La Doctora Consejos: Subjuntivo y condicional
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That's all for this first part of our lesson on comparatives. We hope it has been clear, and don't forget to send us your questions, comments, and suggestions. ¡Hasta la próxima!
The keys to picking up a language quickly are constant exposure and practice. But practice is not always easy to obtain, either because you lack the opportunity or, more often, because you lack the confidence to engage in a conversation. So you lack learning because you lack practice, and you lack practice because you lack learning. How frustrating!
But there are always ways around this problem. One of them involves memorizing common phrases to be prepared for the next time you get the chance to engage in a conversation. For example, you can memorize entire phrases by topic; phrases to introduce yourself, to ask for directions, to order food, etc. Or you could memorize smaller, more specialized chunks of speech and use them as building blocks to create more complex ideas. For example, phrases like quiero que... (I want that), or no sé si (I don't know if). On this lesson we will focus on exploring one of these phrases: si fuera.
The phrase si fuera actually involves mastering an advanced skill in Spanish: the use of the verb ser (to be) in the subjunctive mood. But instead of learning rules and conjugation tables, you can memorize it as it is, and learn how speakers use it in everyday speech to build your own sentences.
Si fuera is usually combined with the preposition como (as) and followed by a noun phrase:
Así como si fuera una pinza.
Like this as if it were a clamp.
Caption 22, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa - Part 17
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Since fuera is used for both the first and third person singular, you can use the same expression to talk about yourself. You can add the pronoun yo (I) between si and fuera, or not:
¡Si fuera tu jefe te despediría!
If I were your boss, I'd have you fired!
Here's an example from our catalog:
Yo quiero amarte como si fuera tu único dueño.
I want to love you as if I were your only master.
Caption 63, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos - Part 3
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Look at this useful example that combines si fuera with a basic simple sentence like esto es(this is):
Esto es como si fuera el rastro de los móviles o el rastro de tu vida.
This is as if it were a cell phone trail or your life's trail.
Caption 31, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos - Part 4
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Si fuera can also be followed by a pronoun, it's used a lot in conditional sentences:
Bueno, si yo fuera tú, hablaría con él.
Well, if I were you, I would speak with him.
Caption 24, El Aula Azul - La Doctora Consejos: Subjuntivo y condicional
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And si fuera can also be followed by an adjective instead of a noun:
Si [yo] fuera rico me respetarías un poco - If I were rich you would respect me a little.
Si mi jefa fuera injusta conmigo yo renunciaría a mi trabajo - If my boss were unfair to me I would quit my job.
At this point you could also learn the expression como si fuera poco:
Y como si fuera poco, todo lo que hacen...
And, as if that weren't enough, everything that they do...
Caption 30, Salvando el planeta Palabra Llegada - Part 8
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Too Fast? Blame the Sinalefas - Part 1
In our two previous lessons we have studied the interesting role sinalefas play in the way Spanish is spoken. In this third and last part of the series we will analyze cases where it's not possible to form sinalefas. Click if you'd like a refresher on Part 1 or Part 2 of this series.
In Part 2, we talked about certain conditions that must occur for speakers to form sinalefas and thus pronounce two contiguous words as a single one. It follows that when those conditions aren't met, the sinalefas aren't possible and the two words in question must be pronounced clearly apart from each other.
So, for example, sinalefas aren't supposed to be formed by combining one less open vowel surrounded by two open ones—combinations such as aoa, aia, aie, eie, eio, oio, etc. Since the Spanish conjunctions y (and), o (or), and u (or) are less open vowels, it follows that these combinations where sinalefas are not formed usually occur with phrases such as espero y obedezco (I wait and I obey), blanca y amarilla (white and yellow), sedienta y hambrienta (thirsty and hungry), esta o aquella (this one or that one), cinco u ocho (five or eight), etc. These combinations may also happen with words that start with a silent h, for example: ya he hablado (I've already spoken), hecho de hielo (made out of ice), no usa hiato (doesn't use a hiatus), está hueco (it's hollowed), etc. In each of these cases they words are supposed to be pronounced separately.
At this point, it's important to note that when we say a sinalefa can or can't occur, we are talking from a normative point of view, because we know that in real life speakers may and do break the rules. Let's see some examples. We said that a sinalefa should not be formed with the vocalic sounds oia because the i is less open than a and o, thus Yago is not pronouncing frío y hambre as a single word here:
Y yo nada más tengo frío y hambre y no sé qué hacer.
And I'm just cold and I'm hungry and I don't know what to do.
Caption 23, Yago - 6 Mentiras
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Or is he? Actually, he is not. Even though he's speaking quite fast, he's pronouncing each word separately. It's still difficult to tell, isn't it? But you can train your ear, and immersion is perfect for that purpose.
Here's another example:
Ahí tienen un pequeño huerto ecológico.
There you have a small ecological orchard.
Caption 33, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos
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Is the speaker pronouncing pequeño huerto as a single word? In theory, he shouldn't be because sinalefas aren't supposed to be formed by combining one less open vowel (u) surrounded by two open ones (o,e). If he does, as it seems, he is engaging in what some experts call a sinalefa violenta (violent synalepha), which is phonetically possible but not "proper."
In fact, the proper use also prohibits the use of sinalefas that are phonetically possible since they involve the gradual combination of vowels that go from open to less open vowels such as aei, oei, and eei (we learned about this in Part 2 of this lesson) when the middle e corresponds to the conjunction e (used when the following word starts with the sound i). For example, it's not "correct" to pronounce phrases such as España e Inglaterra (Spain and England), ansioso e inquieto (anxious and unquiet), or anda e investiga (go and investigate) altogether as single words. You can make the sinalefa and pronounce the words together only if the middle e is not a conjunction, for example, aei in ella trae higos (she brings figs), oei in héroe insigne (illustrious hero), eei in cree Ifigenia (Ifigenia believes), etc.
The rule is observed by the speaker in the following example, who pronounces febrero e incluso separately:
Sobre todo en los meses de diciembre, enero, febrero e incluso en mayo.
Especially in the months of December, January, February and even in May.
Caption 27, Mercado de San Miguel - Misael
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But the reporter in this example? Not so much. He pronounces tangibleeintangible as a single word:
...y con elementos de un patrimonio tangible e intangible.
...and with elements of a tangible and intangible legacy.
Caption 24, Ciudades - Coro Colonial
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If speakers break the rules all the time, is there any point to learning about when a sinalefa can and can't be formed? The answer is yes, because these rules were actually modeled to reflect the phonetic composition of speech. Most of the time, the way people speak does conform to rules (it's just easier to notice when it doesn't). For example, the reason there's a rule against sinalefas that join two open vowels surrounding a less open one (like oia) is because articulating such sounds together is actually not easy for a Spanish speaker given the articulatory settings of the Spanish language. In other words, phonetic realities reflect how speech is actually performed by speakers most of the time and not vice versa. If you see the big picture, historically speech has modeled textbook rules and not the other way around.
We leave you with an interesting example of a speaker making what seems a weird ayhie (basically aiie or even aie) sinalefa by pronouncing naranjayhielo as a single word.
Naranja y hielo solamente.
Orange and ice alone.
Caption 23, Fruteria "Los Mangos" - Vendiendo Frutas
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In Spanish, many useful expressions are formed by combining two verbs. This type of expression is called a perífrasis verbal (verbal periphrasis) and is formed by combining a conjugated verb with a verb in the infinitive (or a gerund or participle), sometimes with a linking word between the two. A verbal periphrasis helps us to express subtle aspects of a verb's action, for example, its beginning, ending, duration, progression, etc. Let's review some examples:
In one of our videos, Leire, the lead singer of the Spanish pop band, La Oreja de Van Gogh, uses a periphrasis to express the ending of an action with the verb acabar (to finish), the preposition de, and the verb llegar (to arrive):
Acabamos de llegar al hotel.
We just arrived at the hotel.
Caption 3, La Oreja de Van Gogh - Recién llegados a México tras 12 horas de avión...
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Therefore, you can use acabar de + a wide variety of verbs to express the ending of an action. Some examples (for the first person singular) are acabo de comer (I just ate), acabo de salir (I just went out), acabo de decir (I just said), etc.
Similarly, you can combine the verb empezar (to begin), the preposition a, and a verb in the infinitive to express the beginning of an action:
Si nos comemos una seta de éstas,
If we eat one of these mushrooms,
empezamos a ver aquí pitufos de colores
we start to see colorful smurfs here
Captions 47-48, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa
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To express repetition, you can use the verb volver (to go back), the preposition a, and a verb in the infinitive:
Si no te resulta, vuelve a empezar.
If it doesn't work for you, start over.
Caption 37, Alex Sandunga - Déjala
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Ya después me pasé a otra banda en la que...
Later on, I changed to another band in which...
en la que volvimos a hacer covers.
in which we did covers again.
Captions 49-50, Willy - Entrevista
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To express intention, you can use querer (to want) and a verb in the infinitive:
Pero nosotros al decir en tu casa,
But we, in saying at your house,
nosotros queremos decir en la nuestra.
we mean at ours.
Caption 43, La Banda Chilanguense - El habla de México
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The verb estar (to be), the preposition para, and a verb in the infinitive can be used to express intention as well:
No estoy para perder todo el día, ¿me entendiste?
I'm not up for wasting the whole day, do you get it?
Captions 41-42, Yago - 6 Mentiras
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Pues claro, aquí estamos para ayudarte a encontrar
Well of course, we're here to help you find
lo que tú necesitas.
what you need.
Captions 11-12, Raquel y Marisa - Agente del concesionario
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In previous lessons, we explored the use of verbs like deber (to have to, must), tener (to have), and haber (to have) to express duty, necessity, or obligation. These are additional examples of verbal periphrases that sometimes employ prepositions or pronouns such as de or que as a link and other times stand on their own. Plenty more examples of verbal periphrases can be found in the lessons Deber / Deber De + Infinitive, Haber + De + Infinitive: Something You Should Learn, and Imperative Constructions.
To conclude, we'll leave you with one more example that utilizes the verb tener (to have), the preposition que, and the infinitive buscar (to look for):
Tenía que buscarme la vida, ¿sabes?
I had to make a living, you know?
Caption 56, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos
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That's all for today. Thank you for reading this lesson, and don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions.
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