In caption 8 of his electric press kit, Spanish artist Javier García uses the common Spanish verb dejar with the meaning "to leave":
Tú me quieres dejar, y yo no quiero sufrir
You want to leave me, and I don't want to suffer
Caption 8, Javier García - EPK
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However, twelve captions later, we find the imperative form of the very same verb being sung to a different tune:
Deja de correr, tranquila
Stop running, take it easy
Caption 20, Javier García - EPK
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How can the same verb mean such different things? Why, context, of course! Let's explore the many meanings and uses of the Spanish verb dejar.
One of the most common translations for the Spanish verb dejar is "to leave." However, just like the English verb "to leave," the Spanish verb dejar can describe many different types of "leaving." Let's take a look at several (ten, to be exact!) of the English meanings of the verb "to leave" and learn how to express these same ideas with dejar in Spanish.
The verb dejar in Spanish can mean "to abandon" or "give up" something. Let's take a look:
Si yo dejé mi departamento... -Ni se te ocurra.
If I left my apartment... -Don't even think about it.
Caption 14, Muñeca Brava 45 El secreto - Part 6
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Another meaning of the Spanish verb dejar is "to leave" something or someone in a particular state, for example, in the sentence La pelicula me dejó sin palabras (The movie left me speechless). Let's see another example:
Esta rumba, yo te digo, que te deja por el suelo
This rumba, I'm telling you, leaves you on the floor
Captions 1-2, Javier García - La Rumba
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The verb dejar can additionally mean "to leave" in the sense of putting or placing something somewhere:
He dejado la bolsa enfrente a un niño.
I have left the bag in front of a little boy.
Caption 52, María Marí Su pasión por su arte - Part 1
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However, since we may not have "put" or "placed" that something in that particular place on purpose, the Spanish verb dejar is often used to say we "forgot" something:
¿Dónde dejé mi billetera? -No se preocupe.
Where did I leave my wallet? -Don't worry about it.
Caption 19, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 3 - Part 5
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In English, we can "leave something" in a particular state or location, whether permanently or temporarily, and the Spanish verb dejar expresses this same idea. You might say, Yo voy a dejar mi pelo así (I'm going to leave my hair like this) or the following, both of which could be replaced with "to allow to remain":
Deja los garbanzos en el agua hirviendo aproximadamente media hora.
Leave the chickpeas in the boiling water for approximately half an hour.
Captions 65-66, El Aula Azul Receta de garbanzos
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Dejar in Spanish can also mean to "leave" someone or something somewhere in the sense of "dropping off" that person or thing:
¿Pero si me acabas de dejar, no?
But you just dropped me off, right?
Caption 38, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 2 - Part 7
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Yet another meaning of the verb dejar in Spanish is "to leave" as in "bequeathing" someone to someone.
tú tenías como algún tipo de auxilio, ¿un... un tipo de pensión que tus padres te dejaron?
you had like some kind of help, a... a kind of pension that your parents left you?
Captions 40-41, Tu Voz Estéreo Laura - Part 4
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On its own or within idioms, the verb dejar in Spanish can mean "to leave alone." Let's start with an example with just the verb dejar:
Déjelo, ¿o le gustaría que le hiciera lo mismo?
Leave him alone, or would you like me to do the same thing to you?
Caption 48, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 1 - Part 2
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A couple of idioms that also mean to "leave alone" are dejar en paz (literally "leave in peace") or the more literal dejar solo. Let's hear them in context:
¿Por qué no me dejás en paz?
Why don't you leave me alone?
Caption 58, Muñeca Brava 8 Trampas - Part 12
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Dejame solo, tía. Por favor.
Leave me alone, Auntie. Please.
Caption 24, Muñeca Brava 2 Venganza - Part 5
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The Spanish verb dejar can also mean "to leave" in the sense of "breaking up with," or "walking out on" someone. Let's take a look:
¿Qué pasa si la dejo a Andrea?
What if I leave Andrea?
Caption 104, Muñeca Brava 47 Esperanzas - Part 10
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And finally (in this section!), you might notice that on the phone, Spanish speakers often say, "Bueno, te dejo" or something similar, which corresponds to the English, "I'll let you go." You might also notice this in many videos from our Yabla Spanish library:
de momento aquí os dejo.
for now, I'll leave you here.
Caption 54, Amaya La historia de Lukas
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In addition to the plethora of nuanced ways in which the Spanish verb dejar can be used to talk about "leaving," it can also have several additional translations. Let's explore some!
If you wish to give someone permission to do something, you might use the Spanish verb dejar, which can also mean "to let," "permit" or "allow."
Siempre me dejaban hacer lo que quise.
They always allowed me to do whatever I wanted.
Caption 8, Biografía Natalia Oreiro - Part 3
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Esperá, no me dejaste terminar.
Wait, you didn't let me finish.
Caption 37, Muñeca Brava 46 Recuperación - Part 7
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Dejar can additionally describe ceasing to do something temporarily or permanently, and the formula for using it in this context is dejar + de + infinitive. This gives us the equivalent of "stopping" or "quitting" an action depicted by the gerund, or "-ing," form in English. Let's take a look.
Pues que este señor dejó de trabajar.
Well, this gentleman stopped working.
Caption 17, Málaga Lourdes y la espartería en Mijas Pueblo
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Y tú, deja de sonreír, ¡que también es culpa tuya!
And you, quit smiling because it's your fault too!
Caption 37, Extr@: Extra en español Ep. 6: El día de la Primitiva - Part 4
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Perhaps a lesser-known meaning of the verb dejar in Spanish is "to lend":
Lola, ¿puedes dejarme algo de ropa?
Lola, can you lend me some clothes?
Caption 9, Extr@: Extra en español Ep. 7: La gemela - Part 3
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And finally, the verb dejar in Spanish can also mean "to drop" as in a topic, as in the expression "Déjalo" (Drop it). This is sort of an intersection of dejar meaning "to stop" (talking about something) and "to leave" since "Dejémoslo ahí," for example, can sometimes be translated as "Let's leave it there," as in the following caption:
Dejémoslo ahí.
Let's leave it there.
Caption 62, Muñeca Brava 45 El secreto - Part 5
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Let's conclude our lesson on the many uses of the Spanish verb dejar by mentioning its reflexive form, dejarse. The reflexive verb dejarse is used in two main ways.
This not-very-flattering use of the Spanish verb dejar is used to describe someone who neglects their health or appearance.
Juan realmente se dejó después de casarse y ha subido más de cincuenta libras.
Juan really let himself go after getting married and has gained more than fifty pounds.
The reflexive verb dejarse + infinitive is used to describe something one "allows him or herself" to experience, which could be negative or positive and is usually translated with "to be" or "to get" plus an English verb in the past participle (typically ending in -ed or -en). Let's see a couple of examples:
no se dejó influenciar por intereses personales, ni por presiones mediáticas en las que se ha visto envuelta últimamente.
she didn't allow herself to be influenced by personal interests or the media pressure she's been embroiled in lately.
Captions 7-8, Confidencial: Asesino al Volante Capítulo 3 - Part 4
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Mm... Déjate llevar al paraíso.
Mm... Let yourself get carried away to paradise.
Caption 40, Extr@: Extra en español Ep. 5: Ha nacido una estrella - Part 2
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With all of that said, te dejamos por hoy (we'll leave you/say goodbye for today). We hope that this lesson te haya dejado (has left you) with a better understanding of the many meanings of the Spanish verb dejar, and for further explanation and examples, be sure to check out the videos Significados del verbo dejar (Meanings of the Verb Dejar)- Part 1 and Significados del verbo dejar- Part 2. And don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments.
Let's talk about the passive voice in Spanish!
Let's start by understanding the concept of voz (voice) in a sentence- in English or Spanish. This refers to the relationship between a sentence's subject and verb. A sentence's voice can be active or passive. But what's the difference?
In the active voice, the subject performs a verb's action onto an object and is thus considered the sentence's actor or agent (the person or thing that carries out the action). Let's see some examples:
Pedro come galletas.
"Pedro come galletas" [Pedro eats cookies].
Caption 21, Carlos explica La concordancia gramatical - Part 2
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In this caption, Pedro is the subject/agent who executes the action of "eating" the object (the cookies).
eh... pintábamos muchísimos fondos oscuros
um... we painted a ton of dark backgrounds
Caption 99, María Marí Su pasión por su arte - Part 1
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In this example, "we" is the subject/agent who carried out the action of "painting" the object, "a ton of dark backgrounds."
Gabriel García Márquez escribió muchos libros.
Gabriel García Márquez wrote a lot of books.
Caption 50, Carlos explica El pretérito Cap. 1: Perfecto simple o Indefinido
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And finally, here, Gabriel García Márquez is the subject, and agent, who performed the action of "writing" the object (a lot of books).
The Passive Voice
In the passive voice, on the other hand, what was previously the object in the active voice actually becomes the subject, but, this time, receives the action of the verb. At the same time, the previous subject becomes a "passive agent" who may or may not be mentioned at the end of the sentence. That said, before finding out how to convey sentences in the passive voice in Spanish, let's convert our previous English examples of the active voice to the passive voice:
Active: Pedro eats cookies
Passive: Cookies are eaten by Pedro
um... we painted a ton of dark backgrounds
um... a ton of dark backgrounds were painted by us
Active: Gabriel García Márquez wrote a lot of books.
Passive: A lot of books were written by Gabriel García Márquez.
Now that we have a better concept of the passive voice, how do we express it in Spanish? Let's learn two different formulas for doing so.
In this first formula, the verb ser (to be) is conjugated in accordance with the subject of the sentence and followed by a past participle (you may wish to consult this lesson that covers conjugating the past participle). In this construction, the participle (the equivalent of English words like "spoken," "eaten," "gone," etc.) must agree with the subject in terms of number and gender. Subsequently, por plus an agent may be optionally added to explain who or what completed the action. Let's take a look at some examples of this formula in Spanish:
y es escrito por mí personalmente.
and is personally written by me.
Caption 46, Los Tiempos de Pablo Escobar Capítulo 1 - Part 7
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En el Siglo dieciocho, las costas de San José en Almería eran asaltadas frecuentemente por piratas
In the eighteenth century, the coasts of San José in Almería were assaulted frequently by pirates
Captions 32-33, Club de las ideas Batería de breves - Part 1
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Las tarjetas fueron usadas
The cards were used
Caption 32, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 3 - Part 12
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Note that in accordance with las tarjetas, the third person plural of ser, fueron, is used along with the feminine plural participle usadas. However, in contrast to the other two examples where por is used to identify the person or people who carried out the action, here, the agent is unknown and thus unmentioned. Let's move on to our second formula.
This construction is formed with se and a verb in third person singular or plural, depending upon whether what is being spoken about (the subject) is singular or plural. Let's see a few examples:
Este vino se hace con una de las uvas más populares
This wine is made with one of the most popular grapes
Caption 21, Amaya Cata de vinos
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las corridas se celebraban en la Plaza Mayor.
bullfights were held in the Plaza Mayor.
Caption 5, El Trip Madrid
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"Garr", no entiendo para qué se hicieron esos uniformes.
Garr, I don't understand why those uniforms were made.
Caption 53, Club 10 Capítulo 1 - Part 2
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In the first caption, the verb hacer is conjugated in the third person singular to agree with el vino, while celebrar and hacer in the second and third examples are plural in agreement with las corridas and los uniformes. Notice that there is no mention of the entity who performed the action in any of these sentences since this second formula rarely mentions the action's agent.
The passive voice is more commonly encountered in the media or literature or when the agent that carried out the action is unknown or considered less relevant. It can only be used with transitive verbs, or verbs that are capable of transmitting some action onto a direct object. In terms of tenses, you may have noticed that our examples have included the present, imperfect, and preterite. While the passive voice formulas contain particular grammatical specifications, there is no mention of any of the specific Spanish verb tenses because active Spanish sentences in any verb tense can be converted to the passive voice. With this in mind, let's conclude this lesson with a present perfect tense example of the verb descubrir (to discover) in the active as well as both formats of the passive voice:
Active:
Científicos han descubierto que cuando un abrazo dura más de veinte segundos se produce un efecto terapéutico
Scientists have discovered that when a hug lasts more than twenty seconds, a therapeutic effect is produced
Captions 5-7, Aprendiendo con Silvia El abrazo
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Passive 1:
Ya que ellos, pues, han sido descubiertos en Inglaterra
Since they, well, have been discovered in England
Caption 40, Hugo Rodríguez Duendes artesanales
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Passive 2:
porque se han descubierto muchas virtudes
because many virtues have been discovered
Caption 9, Cómetelo Crema de brócoli - Part 1
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That's all for today. For more information on the passive voice in Spanish, check out this four-part video series on La voz pasiva as well as this lesson on the passive vs. impersonal se constructions. And don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments.
Let's start this lesson with a little question. Let's take the following sentence:
Me gusta Caravaggio, porque bueno, estudié en Italia.
I like Caravaggio, because well, I studied in Italy.
Caption 88, María Marí - Su pasión por su arte
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In Spanish, what do you call the little diagonal line above the final "é" in the word estudié? Do you call it acento? Or, do you call it tilde? Do you know what is the difference between tilde and acento?
If you are an English speaker, the first thing to know is that the word tilde in English doesn't have the same exact meaning as the word tilde in Spanish. In fact, in English the definition is quite clear:
1 : a mark ˜ placed especially over the letter n (as in Spanish señor sir) to denote the sound \nʸ\ or over vowels (as in Portuguese irmã sister) to indicate nasality (Merriam-Webster).
However, the definition of tilde in Spanish is kind of ambiguous and creates a bit of confusion. According to the Diccionario de la lengua española, tilde can be referred to the following:
1. acento (accent) as in the sentence Raúl se escribe con tilde en la u (Raúl is written with accent on the "u").
2. sign in the shape of a line, sometimes wavy, that is part of some letters such as the letter "ñ".
If we take that definition, we can see that the term tilde in Spanish can be used for both the tilde over the ñ as well as accent marks over vowels:
Corazón (heart)
Mañana (tomorrow)
However, it is worth to say that the symbol over the letter "ñ" is also known as virgulilla.
As we previously saw, the Diccionario de la lengua española uses the term acento (accent) as the first definition for the word tilde. However, that brings even more ambiguity since the word acento has various meanings in Spanish. In fact, it can refer to the following:
1. The stress you put on the syllable of a given word
2. The graphic sign you put on some vowels
3. The diagonal line that you place on the vowels of stressed syllables in words such as cámara (camera) or útil (useful)
4. The way of speaking of certain people
As you can see, the definition of tilde and acento can be confusing. However, it is best to use the word acento when you are referring to the stress or emphasis you give to a particular syllable. On the other hand, if you want to refer to the graphic accent you put on top of some vowels, it is better to use the word tilde. Let's see some examples:
Ratón (mouse): Acento (in the last syllable 'tón'), tilde (on the 'ó' of the last syllable)
Amor (love): Acento (in the last syllable 'mor'), tilde (it doesn't have a tilde)
That's it for today. We hope you enjoy this lesson. If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to hear back from you.