Last week we published the last part in the Nicaraguan series Cuentas claras about how to survive the so-called cuesta de enero (Literally, "January's hill") in Spanish, and "hard January" or "post-holiday budget crunch” in English. Let's review some financial vocabulary that you can learn by watching this series.
The expression cuesta de enero is widely used in Spain, Mexico and many other Latin American countries. There are other expressions that are synonyms, for example, resaca de navidad (Christmas hangover) and resaca de Reyes (King's Day hangover). In Part 1 of the series, the guest of Cuentas claras says:
...una dolencia después cuando comienza enero
...an ailment afterwards when January starts
porque estoy endeudado.
because I am in debt.
La resaca financiera.
The financial hangover.
Captions 65-66, Cuentas claras - Sobreviviendo enero - Part 1
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The show also shares different antidotes to cure a financial hangover. Making a budget is a key one:
Entonces, eh... siempre tu arma,
So, um... always your weapon,
tu aliado número uno, va a ser un presupuesto.
your number one ally, is going to be a budget.
Caption 34, Cuentas claras - Sobreviviendo enero - Part 1
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Making a budget helps people save money and get out of debt:
y en el lado financiero, quiero salir de deudas,
and on the financial side, I want to get out of debt,
quiero comenzar a ahorrar,
I want to start to save,
Caption 25, Cuentas claras - Sobreviviendo enero - Part 1
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The expressions estoy gastado and estoy endeudado are great additions to your vocabulary when trying to avoid excesos financieros (financial excesses):
Primero porque terminás bien gastado
First because you end up quite spent
y bien endeudado de diciembre.
and quite in debt from December.
Caption 31, Cuentas claras - Sobreviviendo enero - Part 1
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A little bit more dramatic is estar quebrado or estar en la quiebra (to be in bankruptcy):
...y encima llevo a la quiebra a la empresa.
...and on top of that bankrupt the company.
Caption 49, Muñeca Brava - 33 El partido
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If you are planning a visit to Mexico, maybe you can use something more colorful like ando bien bruja (“I'm broke,” I'm spent,” but literally means "to go by like a witch"!). Colombians use estoy vaciado (literally, "I'm empty"), and Argentinians no tengo ni un mango (literally, "I don't have a single mango").
No, tomá, tomá...
No, take it, take it...
guardá esto que no quiero que te quedes sin un mango.
put this away since I don't want you to end up penniless.
Caption 34, Yago - 5 La ciudad
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The word for “installment payment” in Spanish is abono. There's also a verb: abonar (to make installment payments). Note that abono is also a synonym of fertilizante (fertilizer).
¿...porque tenés que hacer abonos mensuales a todas las deudas?
...because you have to make monthly payments for all the debts?
Caption 7, Cuentas claras - Sobreviviendo enero - Part 2
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If you don't pay your debts on time you are una persona morosa (a delinquent payer, a slow payer), which comes from the noun mora (delay). Note that mora is also the name given in Spanish to different types of berries.
...manchás como dice la gente popularmente,
...you stain as people say popularly,
tu record crediticio, caes en mora.
your credit record, you become delinquent.
Caption 24, Cuentas claras - Sobreviviendo enero - Part 2
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It's not ideal, but if you can't pay your debts maybe it's time for another préstamo (loan):
...en el caso de los préstamos personales
...in the case of personal loans
o lo del extrafinanciamiento.
or extra financing.
Caption 17, Cuentas claras - Sobreviviendo enero - Part 2
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However, it's best to always have some ahorros (savings) to cover for unpredicted expenses:
...y básicamente
...and basically
consiste en ahorrar un dólar incremental cada semana del año.
it consists of saving an incremental dollar every week of the year.
Captions 6-7, Cuentas claras - Sobreviviendo enero - Part 4
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Finally, a curious Spanish expression that is not used in the show but you may still want to add to your lexicon. Spanish uses the phrases vacas gordas (fat cows) and vacas flacas (skinny cows) to refer to periods of material wealth and poverty respectively. It's a very common expression inspired by a famous biblical story. English also uses similar phrases that are probably inspired by the same source (“lean times”). Here's an example of how to use the Spanish expression:
Tenemos que ahorrar algo de dinero para tiempos de vacas flacas.
We have to save some money for leaner times.
Let's go back to the subjunctive just a little. Did you know that one characteristic that sets apart the subjunctive mood from the indicative, conditional, and the imperative is the fact that the subjunctive is found primarily in dependent clauses? (Of course, the other moods can occur there as well.) Let's illustrate this with an example from one of our videos:
¿Que estás queriendo que se muera más rápido?
What are you wanting for him to die faster?
Caption 12, Yago - 9 Recuperación
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This is a classic example of subjunctive, right? It's being used to talk about a wish, a hypothetical situation. We have highlighted the subjunctive muera in bold and underlined the indicative queriendo to clearly show you the way the subjunctive is used as part of compound sentences: the indicative queriendo plays the main role as the independent clause (the action of wanting), while the subjunctive muera refers to the action that depends on it (the action of dying). This is the way the subjunctive is used most of the time.
But the subjunctive is sometimes used in independent clauses. One of the most interesting cases is when the imperfect subjunctive is used to replace the conditional forms of the verbs poder (to be able), querer (to want), and deber (must) as part of what in Spanish is called el subjuntivo de cortesía (the courtesy subjunctive). As its name indicates, this construction is used to make a request or a suggestion in a more gentle, polite, or deferential way. This type of subjunctive is very, very common, so it's a good idea to memorize the corresponding conjugation for each verb. you can find full conjugations of these verbs on this page.
You might also want to explore the following examples. Note that the use of this subjunctive is usually combined with another verb in infinitive:
Quisiera saber si los perros tienen cosquillas.
I would like to know if dogs are ticklish.
Caption 102, Animales en familia - Señales de calma y cosquillas en los perros
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¿Pudieras pasarme la leche?
Could you pass me the milk?
Angélica debiera bajar a comer.
Angelica should come down to eat.
Caption 15, Muñeca Brava - 36 La pesquisa
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All these expressions would still be correct if you used the conditional forms (querría instead of quisiera, podrías instead of pudieras, debería instead of debiera); the use of subjunctive just makes them more polite, refined. It's a subtle difference, really. Think of it this way: using the conditional podrías pasarme la leche could mean, in theory, that the speaker is actually doubting whether the other person is able to pass the milk or not, instead of just asking for a favor. The use of the subjunctive leaves no room for doubts that you are making a polite request.
We can't stress enough how common this substitution of conditional with subjunctive is. But make no mistake, this is no conditional, and it only uses these three verbs. You may bump into similar constructions that are just incomplete compound sentences, for example incomplete si (if) clauses:
Si yo supiera...
If I only knew...
Caption 72, Muñeca Brava - 33 El partido
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The subjunctive is not used as an independent clause here. Grammatically speaking, this expression is just missing its main clause, in this case a conditional. If we add it, for example: si yo supiera te lo diría (if I only knew I would tell you), we have a classic case of conditional plus subjunctive, as seen in one of our previous lessons on the subject.
The same happens with the following example. It's a tricky one, because even though it uses the verb poder (to be able), this is not a case of courtesy subjunctive. To prove it, we have completed the sentence with a conditional in brackets:
Si pudiera bajarte una estrella del cielo [me amarías]
If I could lower down to you a star from the sky [you would love me]
Caption 5, Enrique Iglesias - Cuando me enamoro
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Another interesting use of the subjunctive used as an independent sentence happens when it's used with words that mean “perhaps,” like tal vez and quizá.
Tal vez cure el tiempo las heridas.
Perhaps time may heal the wounds.
Caption 20, Reik - No desaparecerá
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Of course, it's also possible to simply use the indicative here and say: tal vez cura el tiempo las heridas (perhaps time heals the wounds). The use of subjunctive just stresses the idea that the action is improbable or doubtful, it's also more poetic. However—and this is just an exercise of the mind—another way of understanding these type of expressions is to recall that the words tal vez and quizá mean es posible (it's possible) and thus play the role of the main clause in a classic example of indicative plus subjunctive, where the subjunctive que cure... is the subordinate clause. Just saying.
Es posible que cure el tiempo las heridas.
It's possible that time will heal the wounds.
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