Deconstructing A Very Mexican Saying

Mexico is where two worlds have fused together to produce a version of Spanish that is far richer in culture than that of its European birthplace. This richness of the Mexican culture should, to a great extent, explain our bias toward their flavor of the Spanish language. A language this rich in cultural heritage often grows into an interesting stewpot of local refranes (sayings) and proverbs unique to its people. It is said, Mexicans are loaded with a saying for virtually any situation in life, which is what makes them such excellent communicators! The sentence being deconstructed in this article demonstrates just that.

These pearls of wisdom are not only meant to liven up your speech or make life more philosophical for you, they also add a new dimension to learning Spanish by offering you some priceless insight into the cultures and lifestyles of the native speakers! These sayings are laden with some of the most local aspects of the Mexican vocabulary and often hint at some really deeply-rooted facets of Mexico’s pre-Columbian cultures. These features make them excellent subjects for our deconstruction activities and accelerated learning. Here’s our subject for today:

Ponte los huaraches antes de meterte en la huizachera. (Put on the sandals before you enter the thorn-field.)

What the little saying above intends to advise is that you should always take all necessary precautions before you embark on any tricky journey or start a difficult task.

The nuts and bolts

As always, we will attempt to assimilate the Spanish in this sentence by breaking it down into small edibel morsels and then putting those pieces back together in order; more like reverse engineering. Let’s start:

Ponte – The Spanish verb, poner means “to put” in English. The same verb, when used as a reflexive (ponerse) takes on the sense of “putting oneself” or “putting on”. This reflexive verb, when conjugated for the familiar subject (tú), becomes ponte. Note the suffix signifying it’s association with tú. A more formal conjugation would be póngale which, obviously, takes usted as its subject. The little accent mark on póngale is just to ensure you pronounce it exactly the way it’s meant to be: With a stress on “o”. Note again, the -le ending that signifies it’s association with usted as against tú. Coming back to our ponte, the word in this context stands for “putting on” as in “wearing something”.

A breeze-friendly huarache
Photo credit: Wicker Paradise licensed CC BY 2.0

los huaraches – This word comes from the P’urhépecha word, kwarachi, which directly translates into English as “sandal”. This pre-Columbian footwear is made from traditionally hand-woven leather and is a well-known icon of Mexico’s cultural heritage.

Huaraches began to gain popularity in the United States in the 1950s and became known all over North and South America by the turn of this century. If you have ever had the chance to watch Ask The Dust, a Hollywood film set in the Los Angeles of the 1930s starring Salma Hayek and Colin Farrell, you would instantly recognize the rustic sandals worn by Hayek. Hayek is shown to be visibly annoyed when Farrell, perhaps mockingly, mispronounces the word. Most Mexicans would readily concur if you said that few things are more Mexican than a pair of leather huaraches. Want to buy yourself a pair? Head straight for one of those huaracheríos scattered throughout the Mexican countryside.

antes de – This one is easy; simply put, antes de translates into English as “before”. Why de, you ask? We don’t know. These are idiomatic phrases and it’s best to learn them as is without much logic. The antes can, however, be explained; it comes from the Latin word for “before”. The same Latin word has come to form the root of many English words today lending a sense of “before” or “pre”, such as “antebellum” (before the war).

meterte – Meter is a Spanish verb that means “to put in” or “to insert” in English. Used as a reflexive, it means “to put oneself into” or “to enter”. Despite the subtle differences, the context is usually enough to tell which meaning holds. Here, meterte means “you enter”; note the te ending.

A thorn-filled huizachera
Photo credit: Adapting to Scarcity licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

en – This one is a simple preposition which most often translates into English as “in”. In this context it gives a sense of “in” though while translating this sentence, this “in” is just implied and omitted in English.

la huizachera – Huizache is a very thorny legume found all over Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, and Venezuela. It is regarded as a highly invasive weedy species threatening pastures whose pods are sold in local Mexican markets. The name derives from the Nahuatl word, huitztli (thorn). A huizachera is a field full of this plant.

String’em together

Now let’s bring these small pieces together and see how they lend to the final meaning of the entire sentence. The phrase, Ponte los huaraches means “Put on the huaraches” in the following word-order: Verb (here, familiar imperative of “to put on”) - object (here, “the huaraches”).

The rest of the sentence, antes de meterte en la huizachera translates as “before you enter the huizachera with the following word-order: Preposition1 (here, “before”) - subject (here, omitted but implied to be “you” in the familiar form) - verb (here, “to enter” in the infinitive form) - preposition2 (here, “in” or “into”; not translated into English) - object (here, “the thorn-fields” or “the huizachera”) 

Do note here that the reflexive object is often omitted in English; not so in Spanish. Also, such objects are usually suffixed to the verb if it’s in its infinitive form as is the case here (meterte).

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How To Remember The Conjugations For Ir Using Mnemonics

It’s one thing to acquire Spanish vocabulary effortlessly using mnemonic devices and flashcards and quite another to memorize the conjugations for the myriad Spanish verbs vital to everyday conversation. Most newbies have had a mighty difficult time with the Spanish verb, ir (to go) and its conjugations that seem extremely unrelated from one conjugation to another! Come to think of it, who would expect voy (I go) and fui (I went) to be forms of the same verb in different tenses? Here, we will attempt to nail this conjugation using extremely easy and handy mnemonics. Like we always stress, Spanish is easier than it appears!

I go, you go

Maybe it is plain traditional or maybe it’s the way our learning process has been institutionalized over the years, but the very first tense we hit while learning Spanish conjugations often happens to be present indicative. This is the tense that most closely corresponds to the simple present tense of English and roughly describes habitual or repetitive actions and events, e.g., “I go”, “they eat”, etc.

Here’s how the verb, ir conjugates in this tense:

voy (I go)

vas (you go; familiar)

va (he/she/it goes; also, you go in the non-familiar sense)

vamos (we go)

van (they go, you all go)

Vamos a la escuela
Photo credit: Ratha Grimes licensed CC BY 2.0

Question is, however, how the heck did ir morph into voy? They appear anything but related in any form! Well, honestly we don’t know. What we do know, however, is that mnemonics can be employed to remember that voy means “I go” regardless of its origins.

Since you use this form with the first person singular, which is yo (I), you have a yo in voy although it’s in reverse (“oy”). The only thing this trick won’t help you with is remembering that all forms of ir in this tense start with the letter, “v”. Another visual aid is to imagine yourself as a small boy who goes to school everyday. Note that the words, voy and “boy” sound almost exactly the same.

Now that you are capable of recalling voy, it’s not difficult to recall the rest of the table if you realize that the endings in this tense are pretty much standard and follow the regular pattern, albeit, with the “v” root.

I went, you went

Here’s another tense where the entire conjugated set seems utterly unrelated to the root verb. For instance, the first person singular in this tense is fui (I went) which bears hardly any resemblance with the original verb, ir! Could a little bit of history help us here? Let’s see.

Latin has a word, fugere (to flee) which doesn’t exactly mean the same as the ir of Spanish. But given that both “flee” and “go” have the same innate sense of movement away from one’s original place, the correlation isn’t completely uncanny. It is this Latin verb that gave Spanish its fui. Before we start exploring the mnemonics, let’s first see how the verb conjugates in this tense which, by the way, is officially known as the preterite form:

fui (I went)

fuiste (you went; familiar)

fue (he/she/it went; also, you went in the non-familiar sense)

fuimos (we went)

fueron (they went, you all went)

Now, the question is, how to retain all of this. Let’s start with fui. We have already seen how etymology hints a correlation with the English verb, “to flee” via Latin which should be good enough to explain the “f” root in the entire table. Another trick is to remember that because this form is used with the first person singular pronoun, the “I” form, fui ends in an “i”. Easy? Extend this word to form the plural conjugation as fuimos. We are, in all likelyhood, already familiar with -mos being a standard ending associated with the “we” form.

Likewise, because both “he” and “she” (the third person singular pronouns) end in “e”, the word to be used with them also ends in an “e”, i.e., fue. And it is this word that extends to form the plural in the third person, fueron. We are already familiar with -on as a standard ending in the “they” form, aren’t we?

Finally, the -te ending in fuiste should give you enough hint of its usage in the familiar second person form, the tu form.

We used to go

Grammar calls this the imperfect tense. To us, this is the way we should conjugate a Spanish verb when we are talking about repetitive, habitual, or continuous event in the past. We have also reviewed a Mexican song to help you easily grasp the past tense; it discusses the imperfect a little more at length.

Here’s how we conjugate ir in the imperfect tense:

iba (I used to go)

ibas (you used to go; familiar form)

iba (he/she/it used to go; also you used to go in the non-familiar sense)

íbamos (we used to go)

iban (they used to go)

If you look closely enough, you’d soon realize that these conjugations follow more or less a familiar pattern. the endings in ibas, íbamos, and iban are all well known to us if we have seen regular verbs conjugating in the present tense. The only two things you need to memorize here are the ib- root and the fact that the forms for the first person singular and the third person singular are exactly the same, iba.

The mnemonic I used while learning the root is a stupid visualization that I used to be a good boy who used to go to school everyday without fail. As for the third person singular form being the same as the first person singular one, it’s just one fewer thing to remember and shouldn’t call for any mnemonic innovation in order to stay in your memory.

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Tame The Stubborn Subjunctives With This Song Of Separation

Not sure if it’s crazy or just plain ignorance but most of us have found nothing as unfamiliar and alien as the subjunctives while learning Spanish. We’ve discussed the grammar behind this “mood” at length in two previous articles; while one story discusses a subjunctive-laden song by Juanes, the other focuses on Ojalá, a terribly important keyword of Latin American Spanish relevant to the subjunctive mood. This article introduces you to yet another wonderful song that helps further reinforce all the subjunctive you might have acquired thus far. Hopefully you should end this read feeling more at ease with the subjunctives.

Conjugating the subjunctive mood

Learning Spanish subjunctive in the bathroom!
Photo credit: Academia IF licensed CC BY 2.0

For most verbs, there is a very easily identifiable pattern of endings when it comes to conjugating them in the subjunctive form. You essentially start with the singular first person form off the present indicative conjugation (e.g., tengo for tener and vivo for vivir) and then drop the -o ending (so, teng from tengo and viv from vivo). This is the root for the next step.

The last step in subjunctive conjugation is adding the appropriate ending to the root depending on whether the original verb ends in -ar. If it’s an -ar verb, the endings are added as:

First person singular (-e)

Second person singular (-es)

Third person singular (-e)

First person plural (-emos)

Second person plural (-éis)

Third person plural (-en)

If it’s not an -ar verb, we append these endings to the root in order to conjugate in the subjunctive mood:

First person singular (-a)

Second person singular (-as)

Third person singular (-a)

First person plural (-amos)

Second person plural (-áis)

Third person plural (-an)

Well, knowing how to conjugate is no big deal. It’s all about endings and roots. The big deal is remembering these conjugated forms during active speech. You cannot conjugate in the background while speaking and expect to become fluent. When natives speak, they son’t conjugate. They just have the appropriate forms on the tip of their tongue and that’s the reason why they are able to speak Spanish with such superhuman fluency.

One easy way to be able to retain these endings and recall them real-time is by listening to music. Lyrics that are heavy with conjugated verbs in this mood. This way, every time you hum the catchy tunes, you drive these conjugations deeper into you and eventually they become ingrained in your most active memory.

Fanny Lú and Lágrimas Cálidas

Fanny Lucía Martínez Buenaventura is a Colombian singer and songwriter from Santiago de Cali specializing in Latin pop and tropipop, a genre born in Colombia in the early 2000s as a fusion of traditional musical forms of the Caribbean Colombia (mainly Vallenato) with genres like Salsa, Merengue, and pop. At this stage, it is important to note, as a cultural trivia, that tropipop and Reggaeton are the most popular music genres in today’s Colombia.

As a child, Fanny attended Colegio Bolivar and later moved to France to finish her elementary education. Having received a degree in industrial engineering from the University of the Andes and having worked as an actress in the Colombian telenovela, Perro Amor, Fanny has an interestingly non-musical background.

Her musical career began in 2006 when she signed up with Universal Music Latino and launched Lágrimas Cálidas (Warm Tears) under the stage name, Fanny Lú. Lágrimas Cálidas, with two singles that topped Latin charts, made Fanny a household name in Colombia and brought her recognition in all of Latin America. Upon release, this album spent a good 5 weeks on top of the charts in Colombia, a rare feat for a debut album. Two years later she released another chartbuster, Dos (Two) which consolidated her musical career and established her as a recognized name on the Colombian music scene.

No Te Pido Flores

No Te Pido Flores (I Don’t Ask For Flowers) is Fanny’s debut song and the lead single from her first studio album, Lágrimas Cálidas. Having spent 7 weeks on top of the Hot 100 Billboard Charts in Latin America, this is by far one of Fanny’s most successful singles. In the US, this single made #16 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs and topped the Billboard Tropical Songs chart. Vouching for its quality, this song also received a Latin Grammy nomination for the “Best Tropical Song” and a Billboard Music Latin nomination for “Tropical Airplay of the Year”.

What makes this song so special for those learning Spanish is the overwhelming concentration of the Spanish subjunctives in its loaded lyrics. The best part is that even the chorus is rich in subjunctives and by virtue of their repetitive placement, help you absorb this mood much more efficiently as compared to mindless cram-sessions. As always, here’s a portion of the complete lyrics with a rough English translation for your review. Be sure to listen to the song plenty of times and get comfortable with it before you actually start with translated lyrics.

Si se fue yo no se bien (Whether he’s gone, I’m still not sure)
Aún me resigno a no entender (I’m resigned to not understanding)
Que pasan noches ya sin él (How nights go by without him)
Como antes de que fuera mío. (Just like before he was mine.)

Definitivo yo no sé (I definitely don’t know)
Una semana y será un mes (One week and it will be a month)
Que pasa un día sin que muera (That days go by, without me dying)
Suspirando en el vacío. (Sighing in the emptiness.)
Y ya no quiero ser (I don’t want to stay like this)
Tan debil como el viento (Weak like the wind)
Cuando la tormenta se ha ido (When the storm is gone)
Que ya no sopla y esta frío (It’s died down and now it’s cold)
Sin tu calor. (Without your warmth.)

Coro: (Chorus:)
No te pido que traigas flores (I don’t ask that you bring flowers)
Tampoco que me des bombones (Or that you give me chocolates)
Yo sólo quiero una caricia (I only want your touch)
Que me digas que tú me quieres (To hear you say you love me)
No te pido que te confieses (I don’t ask for declarations)
Ni que prometas ni que reces (Or for promises or pleas)
Yo sólo quiero que me digas (I only want that you tell me)
Que no hay mujer que más admiras (That I’m the woman you admire the most.)

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A Mexican Song For The Spanish Past Tense

If you have been diligently following the 22 things a smart-ass would do learning Spanish that we discussed a little while ago, you are probably keen on getting even with the Spanish past tense before any other. Once again, don’t ask why or how this order matters but if you are lazy enough, you don’t care anyways. So, can anything make it easier for us to grasp and recall the infamous past tense conjugations in Spanish? Well, there’s always a song for anything you want to learn and digest in Spanish, really! This time, we call upon this sensational and prodigious Latin pop group from Mexico, officially known as Camila.

A little more about the past

There are several ways of discussing the past in Spanish and of those, two are of particular significance not only for their ubiquity but also for the difficulty rookies face understanding them! If you really care for names, they are called, the imperfect and the preterite forms.

The imperfect form essentially discusses actions as either habitual, repetitive, or incomplete. Most often, such actions are rendered in English using the phrase, “used to.” This form also covers descriptions of state or being in the past. Note the following scenarios that are covered by this form in Spanish:

I used to write to him (repetitive)

Life was good (state)

You were very naughty when you were a kid (state)

You would often come home with a broken nose or torn clothes (habitual)

It was midnight (state)

I was 29 years old (state)

When the action being discussed took place once in the past and concluded with a well-defined end, you use the preterite. Note these scenarios that illustrate the usage:

I wrote you a letter

She read that book twice (repetitive yet with a well-defined end)

He got cold

He turned 20 last year

The storm was over by evening

Pages after pages can be written about how these two tenses should be used but we guess the above illustrations have done enough to help you understand the differences between them. However, if you are like most of us, you would still face a real big challenge remembering and recalling the associated conjugations while speaking Spanish. Let’s see if something can help!

Camila

Camila: Samuel “Samo” Parra, Pablo Hurtado, and and Mario Domm
Photo credit: kindofadraag licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Camila is a Latin pop and soft rock group from Mexico City which took not only Mexico but all of Latin America by storm right since inception. The group was founded by Mario Domm, who is the group’s composer and producer and one of the two vocalists, in 2005. The other two members are guitarist Pablo Hurtado and vocalist Samuel Parra, better known as “Samo.”

Domm studied singing, music theory, piano, harmony, and counterpoint at the Escuela Nacional de Música where he entered at the age of 17. He was born in Torreón, Coahuilca and started his singing career in 2001 when he signed up with Sony Music to release his first and only solo album, Mexi-Funky-Music. Samo was born in Veracruz and started his career in 1995 when he participated in the successful Festival Valores Juveniles. The third member, Hurtado is from San Luis Potosí and he studied Audio Engineering and Music Production at the Academy of Music Fermatta. He began his career at the age of 5!

The word, Camila, apparently means “close to God” and was initially suggested as the group’s name by a friend when the trio was pondering over what to call themselves. As you can easily guess, the name stuck.

Todo Cambió

Todo Cambió (Everything Changed) is the lead single from the first album (of the same name) that was released by Camila and was released in 2006. This album, which includes a blend of Latin pop and rock, was certified three-times platinum in Mexico after it hit 300,000 units in sales.

This single swept away several awards and nominations between 2007 and 2008 including one at the 2007 Latin Billboard Music Awards. Todo Cambió is a touching ballad of love that essays the state of mind of a starry-eyed lover right after falling falling in love. If you have ever fallen in love, you will find this song extremely easy to identify with and that’s what makes it ideal for anyone hoping to use it as a learning tool. The verses are rich in verbs in their past tense conjugation, both preterite and imperfect. For those who are still at odds with the infamous subjunctive, this song offers a hint of that mood too! Here’s a portion of its lyrics for your review but be sure to listen to the actual song several times before you even touch the lyrics.

Todo cambió cuando te vi (Everything changed when I saw you)
De blanco y negro a color me convertí (I turned from black and white to color)
Y fue tan fácil (And it was so easy)
Quererte tanto (To love you so much)

Algo que no imaginaba (Something I didn’t imagine)
Fue entregarte mi amor (Was to give you my love)
Con una mirada (With only one look)

Todo temblo (Everything shook)
Dentro de mi (Inside of me)
El universo escribío que fueras para mi (The universe wrote that you be for me)

Y fue tan fácil (And it was so easy)
Quererte tanto (To love you so much)
Algo que no imaginaba (Something I didn’t imagine)
Fue perderme en tu amor (It was to lose myself in your love)
Simplemente paso (It simply happened)
Y todo tuyo ya soy (Now I’m all yours)

Antes que pase más tiempo contigo, amor (Before I spend more time with you, my love)
Tengo que decir que eres el amor de mi vida (I need to tell you you are the love of my life)
Antes que te ame más (Before I love you more)
Escucha por favor (Please listen)
Déjame decir que todo te di (Let me just say I gave you everything)
Y no hay como explicar (And there's no way to explain)
Pero menos dudar (But much less to doubt)
Simplemente así lo senti (That’s simply how I felt)
Cuando te vi (When I saw you)

We will leave it to you to do some guesswork and tell me what the rest of the song means. If you listen to it enough number of times, interpreting this song is not as hard as it seems.

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Spanish Subjunctive With An Arabic Twist

You say, “May God make me an instant billionnaire,” when your wish calls for some divine intervention. Arabs say, “Oh Allah,” for the same effect and the world being a small place, this Semitic phrase ended up in Spanish as, “¡Ojalá!” It’s not hard to draw parallels between the two expressions given their almost identical pronunciations. Thank them Moors for this useful element of Spanish which is strangely more common in Latin America than in Spain these days. Though it doesn’t have an exact literal equivalent in English, ojalá can be roughly translated as, “May God ensure that...” or even, “I really, really hope that...”

A little more about the subjunctive

Needless to say, ojalá takes a subjunctive clause because it’s just a wish; we have already discussed the subjunctive form of Spanish verbs extensively in the past. Though a tad uncommon in modern English, this mood is much too ubiquitous in Spanish to ignore. In a nutshell, you use the subjunctives every time you imagine, wish, expect, desire, or want something to happen. As an illustration, check out the following English sentence:

I expect you to help me.

In the above sentence, there are two actions being performed by two persons: “I am expecting” and “you are helping me.” There is nothing extraordinary about the two activities except that I am expecting in real while you are helping me only in my wishes, i.e., the second action is not real. Now, as the example sentence illustrates, we expressed an unreal action without invoking the subjunctive because this mood is less prevalent in modern English.

However, the same sentence can be written using the subjunctive as well:

I expect that you help me.

Here, the verb for the second action, “help” is being used in its subjunctive form (though it doesn’t look or feel much different spelling-wise). This is the usage you are more likely to find but in legal and liturgical documents and serious literary works in medieval English. When it comes to Spanish, this is the only appropriate usage for the situation in question:

Espero que me ayudes. (I expect that you help me.)

May God will that I learn Spanish quickly!
Photo credit: Alpha licensed CCC BY-SA 2.0

In the above sentence, note the subjunctive usage, ayudes instead of the otherwise regular (read indicative) form, ayudas. Coming back to our new friend, ojalá, we have already seen how the word has Arabic origins. What must be noted at this stage, however, is that this word is no longer used in modern Spanish with any intention to invoke God’s attention. Today, ojalá has acquired the meaning of expressing simple longing or desire and has little to do with God. Note the syntax here:

Ojalá + <present subjunctive> = “I wish...”

Ojalá + <past subjunctive> = “If only...”

The slight complication assiciated with ojalá notwithstanding, someone in Mexico has worked real hard to help reinforce your learning when it comes to this word. It’s a Norteño band from Monterrey called Grupo Pesado (Heavy Group) whose 2008 album, Sólo Contigo (Only With You) has this single that seems to have been produced solely for the purpose of teaching us the subjunctive!

Grupo Pesado and Ojalá

Grupo Pesado was born in 1993 in Monterrey, Nuevo León when Beto Zapata and Pepe Elizondo decided to promote their love for the traditional music of their homeland, the Norteño. As a result, the traditional sounds of the accordion have always characterized their work. In each of their albums, the quintet includes some innovative elements of Monterrey such as fusion of Norteño with Latin rhythms, accordion, bajo sexto, and drums. These sounds have perfectly combined with their magical voice achieving a result that is modern, fresh, and very Norteño.

With several musical productions and countless gold and platinum records to its credit since 1993, the group has often been placed in the top charts in Mexico, more so in the northern areas, with hits like No Tengas Miedo De Llorar, Quiero, Llegó El Amor, Ayúdame, Te Lo Pido Por Favor, ¿Cómo Le Hago?, and Pídeme. The last two belong to their album, “Mil Historias” and helped establish them as one of the most representative groups of the Norteño genre in pretty much all of America.

Ojalá

This song came out with the group’s 2008 release, Sólo Contigo and is a classic for anyone trying to absorb some Spanish subjunctive effortlessly. The essence of this number is a revengeful wish, more like, “You wronged me so now may God punish you for it!”

It’s a beautiful song that most of us can easily identify with. It’s the anguish of a man dumped by his beloved who tells him that she never really had any feelings for him and that all her love and affection for him was just a prank. Now, the jilted lover is wishing for her to get the punishment appropriate for her evil ways. Here, we am giving out an excerpt from the second half of the song which is where the singer is actually wishing all his curses and hence using the subjunctive liberally.

Ojalá, que la vida te cobre con creces el daño que me haces, (I hope that life pays you back with interest the pain that you have given me,)
Que no encuentres amor, (That don’t find love,)
Y si un día lo encuentras, fracases. (And that if one day you do, you fail.)

Que a quien llames amor, se convierta en tu peor enemigo, (That the one you call your love, turns into your worst enemy,)
Y se burle de ti, (And makes fun of you,)
Como lo haces conmigo. (Like you are doing with me.)

Que las noches se vuelvan eternas llorando en tu cama, (That the nights turn eternal as you cry in your bed,)
Que te abrace una pena, Y que sientas un frio en el alma. (That a pain embraces you, and that you feel a chill in your soul.)

Ojalá que algun día tu camino se llene de espinas, (I hope that some day your path fills with thorns,)
Y sientas lo mucho que duele una herida. (And you feel how much it hurts to be wounded.)

Y al perder de ese amor mi recuerdo se clave en tu mente, (And that in losing that love my memories stick to your mind,)
Y que sientas el mismo rencor que yo siento al perderte. (And that you feel the same bitterness that I feel in losing you.)

Ojalá que alguien te haga sufrir y de tanto dolor, (I hope that someone makes you suffer and with so much pain,)
Ya no quieras vivir, (That you don’t wish to live anymore,)

Que desees la muerte. (That you wish you were dead.)


Listen to this song in endless loop and rest assured you will never forget this little Arabic twist to your Spanish.

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One sentence, Three Learnings

We have often used sentences, phrases, and expressions from real-life Spanish conversations to learn and teach some of the most annoying and hard-to-grasp aspects of the Spanish grammar and drive home new vocabulary in the process. The philosophy behind this methodology is that you’re more likely (and strongly urged) to use these sentences in your own day-to-day conversations and help yourself get comfortably fluent in the Spanish language without actively memorizing any grammar rules. For this purpose, it’s reasonably important that you include these sentences in your flashcard decks and review them thoroughly and often.

Today’s sentence will help us understand and absorb a new slang word from Mexico, the annoyingly memory-resistant preterit form of an irregular verb, and the word-order for a typical exclamatory sentence in Spanish. All of this and more in a single sentence! This one is definitely going into your flashcard deck if you are any bit serious about learning Spanish! So, here’s the sentence:

¡Qué bajón!
Photo credit: Shawn Carpenter licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

¡Qué bajón que todos tuvimos gripa durante las vacaciones! (It was such a bummer that we all had the flu during our vacation!)

Do remember that the translation provided is not necessarily a word-for-word literal translation.

The nuts and bolts

As always, we will start by breaking down the entire string of words and expressions into individual, more manageable components and analyze what color they add to the overall meaning.

Qué – Word for word, qué means “what” in English. Because of the accent mark, this word would normally take on an interrogative or, as in this context, an exclamatory sense. Here, the word means “what” as in, “What a bad day!”

bajón – This is a common Mexican slang that roughly translates into “bummer” in English. Other principal translations also include “fall”, “sharp drop”, “slump”, or “depression”. The word probably draws from the Spanish adjective, bajo which means “low”. Interestingly, bajo comes from the Latin word with the same meaning, bassus which, in turn, morphed into “base” in English. And we all know that a base is the lowest portion of any structure.

que – Without any accent mark, this word just acts as a conjunction, something that connects two clauses of a bigger sentence. And in this sense, it translates into “that” in English as in, “I have always known that life is vulnerable.”

todos – This word, simply put, means “all”. Now, the correlation is an easy one because it comes from the Latin word, tōtus, which gave English its “total”. There is, however, a slight difference between its singular and plural forms. While the plural form, as in this case, includes all things in a collection of several countable things, the singular form carries the sense of entirety while talking about a single object, thing, or entity. So, todos los días means “all days” or roughly “every day” while todo el día means “all day” involving a single day in its entirety.

tuvimos – This is the preterite form of the verb, tener (to have), to be used with the first person plural, the nosotros form. Now, don’t worry about memorizing the meaning of the term, preterite. Instead, just remember that you use this form when you are talking about something that occurred once and for all in the past. In English, “I had,” can often be interpreted as “I used to have” or “I was having” or even “I had once”. Only the context dictates the best interpretation here. But in Spanish, you have different conjugations to tell which one you meant. If you “were having” or “used to have” something, you use teníamos. Otherwise, tuvimos. By the way, tuvimos reduces to tuve if its used with the singular first person, i.e., yo. Since the third person plural pronoun is implied (but omitted) here, the phrase, todos tuvimos comes to stand for “we all had”.

gripa – Gripe is the usual Spanish for “flu” and the word has Germanic origins and is thus related with the Old English word, “gripe” that means “complaint” or “problem”. And this gripe becomes gripa in the streets of Colombia and Mexico.

durante – This translates into “during” in English.

las vacaciones – Without a fuss, this one means, “the vacation” or “the holidays”. Just note that while “vacation” is a singular noun, its Spanish counterpart is almost always used in plural.

String’em all together

The sentence literally translates into, “What a pity that we all had the flu during the vacation!” The word-order followed is simple but first lets break this sentence into its clauses. The first clause is Que bajón que... (What a bummer that...) following an extremely simple word-order: Exclamatory (here, “what”) - noun or adjective of quality (here, a noun, “bummer”) - conjunction (here, “that”).

The first clause introduces the next clause that goes, ...todos tuvimos gripa durante las vacaciones (...all of us got the flu during the vacation). This piece follows this pattern: Subject (here, “all of us”) - verb (here, preterite conjugation of “to have” in the plural third person) - preposition (here, “during”) - object (here, “the vacation”).

As you would have noticed, this sentence doesn’t deviate from the regular word order followed in Spanish, i.e., Subject-verb-object. Most of us would be familiar with this pattern as this is what English follows more often than not.

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34 Words You Must Recognize In A Hispanic Marketplace

This article is yet another demonstration of just how easy Spanish vocabulary can be despite its difficult and memory-resistant first impression. If you ever get a chance to visit a Latino mercado (marketplace), you will not take too long to notice that the sign on almost every tienda (store) reads something that ends in -ería. This should at least be enough to tell you that this suffix refers to some sort of place where something is either made or sold. While you are learning Spanish, needless to say, it is quite important that you learn the names by which some of the most common stores are referred to in this language.

The Latin connection

A rural Latin American tienda
Photo credit: Los viajes del Cangrejo licensed CC BY 2.0

Since Spanish derives from Latin, it helps to understand the Latin angle whenever we wish to learn a new Spanish word. Latin had a suffix, ārius, which was often used to, among other things, form nouns denoting an agent of use, for example a dealer or artisan, from other nouns. So, argentum (silver, money) gave them argentārius (banker) and avicula (little bird) gave them aviculārius (bird keeper).

This Latin suffix came into English in the form of “-ary” and gave us words like “apothecary” (a pharmacist in medieval English), “monetary”, “imaginary”, “library”, and many more. The English suffix, however, takes on a wider range of meanings than its Latin ancestor and has the effect of turning the word into a noun as well as an adjective, depending on the context.

It is this Latin suffix that exists in modern Spanish as -ería with a more or less similar effect. So, a store that sells zapatos (shoes) becomes a zapatería (shoe-store) and another selling joyas (jewelry), a joyería (jewelry store). In this article, we will explore how some of the most common stores are named in Spanish; if you ever wish to travel to a Spanish-speaking country, you want to know them like your alphabet!

The stores in Spanish

Here’s a list of names for some of the most ubiquitous stores you are going to find in a typical Spanish-speaking marketplace. The list is far from complete but assimilating these words would enable you to read and interpret correctly almost any sign you see in a Hispanic bazaar. The list below will not only give the English translations of these names but also etymological cues to help you retain them longer.

cafetería — coffee shop, snack bar (note the word, cafe that stands for “coffee”)


carnicería — butcher shop (carne is the Spanish for “meat” and shares a common origin with the prefix, “carni-” in the English word for a meat-eater, “carnivore”)


cervecería — brewery, bar (cerveza is the Spanish for “beer”)


confitería — candy store (it is possible that the Spanish for “candy,” confite is connected in some way with the English word, “confectionary”)


A ferretería
Photo credit: Nicolas Nova licensed CC BY 2.0

dentistería — dentist’s office


droguería — drugstore, variety store


ebanistería — cabinet shop, place where cabinets are made (ebano is the Spanish for “ebony,” a type of wood; and perhaps this is the wood most often used for making cabinets)


ferretería — hardware store (this could have possibly come from ferrum, the Latin for “iron” and the fact that traditionally hardware stores have been selling most stuff made in iron, e.g., nails, tools, wires, rods, etc.; incidentally, a Spanish word for “iron” is fierro that obviously comes from ferrum)


floristería — flower shop


frutería — fruit shop


heladería — ice-cream parlor (helado is the Spanish for “ice” and possibly shares its etymology with the English word, “hail” that is also a form of ice)


herrería — blacksmith's shop (this comes from hierro, the Spanish for “iron”; interestingly, “iron” has two words in Spanish, hierro and fierro, the latter being preferred in Latin America)


juguetería — toy shop (the Latin word, iocor gave English its “joke”, “jest”, and “play” and came to be adopted by Spanish as jugar meaning “to play”)


lavandería — laundry (the Spanish verb, lavar, which means “to wash”, gave birth to this word for “laundry”)


lechería — dairy (English has a prefix, “lacto-” which means “milk-related”; this prefix comes from the Latin word for “milk”, lactis, which became leche in Spanish)


lencería — linen shop, lingerie shop (an easier way to remember this word is to imagine using binoculars powerful lenses to secretly watch your sexy neighbor change her lingerie!)


librería — bookstore (the English word, “library” sounds similar but doesn’t mean the same, be careful!)


A panadería
Photo credit: Daniel Lobo licensed CC BY 2.0

mueblería — furniture store (the Spanish for “furniture” is muebles, which comes from the Latin word, mōbilis, indicating their movable or portable nature)


panadería — bakery (imagine toasting a piece of bread in a pan because your toaster is not working; this visualization should help you remember that pan is the Spanish for “bread”)


papelería — stationery store (the Spanish word, papel means “paper” in English and the two words share a common Latin origin)


pastelería — pastry shop (pastel is the Spanish for “pastry”)


peluquería — hairdresser's shop, beauty shop, barbershop (peluca, the root for this word, is the Spanish for “wig” and derives from the Spanish word for “hair”, pelo)


pescadería — seafood store (pez is the Spanish for fish)


perfumería — fragrance shop, perfume store


pizzería — pizzeria, pizza parlor


sastrería — tailor's shop (the Spanish for “tailor” is sastre, so his shop is naturally a sastrería)


sombrerería — hat shop, hat factory (this one comes from the word, sombrero which means “hat”)


tapicería — upholstery shop, furniture store (tapiz of Spanish and “tapestry” of English share a common origin and mean the same thing)


tintotería — dry-cleaner's (since, traditionally dry-cleaners have also been dyers in the Spanish society, the word for dyers has stuck till today; tinto is the Spanish for “dye” among other things)


verdulería — produce store, greengrocer's, vegetable market (verde means “green” and, by extension, “verdura” means “green vegetables” which is what a verdulería sells)

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13 Kitchen Words In Spanish In Less Than 4 Minutes

The Latin word, furnus became “furnace” in English and forno in Old Spanish, which later morphed into horno in modern Spanish. Armed with this little piece of history, you should find it a piece of cake to remember and recall that the Spanish for “oven” is horno! Similarly, Latin had unda (wave) which made the English verb, “undulate” also meaning “to wave”. This Latin unda later evolved into the onda of modern Spanish. No points for guessing that onda means “wave” and, by extension, microondas means “microwave”. So, horno microondas is easily your “microwave oven”! See how easy Spanish vocabulary can be with a little help?

Use etymology to your advantage

Most Spanish and English words share a common Latin origin
Photo credit: Beinecke Library licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

We have already appreciated the role visual association plays in helping us remember Spanish words effortlessly and also recall them instantly. It is, however, not always easy to come up with the most appropriate visualization for every word there is. Some words seem impossible with no apparent connection with their English counterpart. That’s where etymology steps in.

Every word has a history regardless of its language. We all know that Spanish comes from a rich family of Romance tongues all of which have a common ancestor in Latin. Similarly, English draws from a family of Germanic languages and has closer affinities with fellow Germanic lingos such as German, Dutch, Swedish, Gaelic, etc. However, English is a unique language because it also acts as a bridge between the two language families! Over the centuries, countless words from Latin have crept into the English lexicon either directly or via French, Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese.

And this is the good news for all those who are learning Spanish. Most Spanish words either bear some sort of similarity with their English meanings, or share a common ancestor in Latin. This is why, at times when no direct visual link between a Spanish word and its English counterpart seems possible, it often helps to scratch the surface and dig into its history to see if Latin could provide any missing links.

The kitchen lexicon

La cocina
Photo credit: Rowena licensed CC BY-ND 2.0

bol (bowl) – This one should be a no-brainer as the words sound too similar to warrant any visual tool or imagination. Just understand that the difference in spelling is because of the fact that in Spanish you spelle exactly as you pronounce, more often than not.

cafetera (coffee pot / coffeemaker) – This is a classic case of what we call “false cognates” or “false friends”. Be aware that not always do similar sounding words have similar meanings in both Spanish and English. Though cafetera sounds too close to the English word, “cafeteria,” they have absolutely unrelated meanings. While “cafeteria” means a place where you sit down to eat, usually at work or school, cafetera is the Spanish for a “coffeemaker” or a “coffee pot.” The word, cafe should help you build the necessary visual linkage if required at all.

trapo (cloth/rag) – One of the easiest ways to remember this word is to imagine the dirt that gets trapped in the fine pores of that rag when you use it to wipe the kitchen surface clean.

lavaplatos (dishwasher) – Imagine a superhero who is immune to heat or fire. Why? Well, maybe because he was born in a volcano! So heat can’t hurt him no matter what and that’s why he conveniently uses red hot lava from his volcano to wash himself whenever he needs a bath. This ensures all germs and bacteria on his body are killed by the heat of the lava and he stays impeccably clean and germ-free at all times! Now this bizzare vision should help you remember that the Spanish verb, lavar means “to clean or wash” in English. Armed with this knowledge, you should find it easy to also remember that a lavaplatos is something that washes your plates or, in other words, a “dishwasher”.

nevera (refrigerator) – Before attempting this word, learn the Spanish for “snow”. The word is nieve and the simplest way to remember this is to picture the snow-capped peaks of Sierra Nevada. Now if you remember nieve, it should be no pain to understand and remember that a device that makes it is nevera in Spanish.

batidora (mixer/blender) – If you know how they use a blender to make any kind of batter, you can easily remember why the device is called batidora in Spanish.

tetera (teapot) – A tetera holds té (tea) in the same way as a nevera holds nieve (snow or frost).

cuchara (spoon) – Before you learn the visual cue for this word, have fun knowing that cuchara is a vulgar slang for a “vagina” ( more in the sense of “cunt”) in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Venezuela. Now let’s use some etymology to remember the word. the Spanish word comes from the Latin cochleare (spoon) which, in turn, derives from another Latin word, cochlea which means a “snail or its shell.” Now, imagine using a dead snail’s shell as a make-shift spoon to scrape out fruit-pulp while eating on a hiking trip across the Amazonian jungles. Sounds gross but will stick to your memory for the very same reason!

hornilla (burner) – An oven is the hottest thing you have in your kitchen and if you need something not as hot, you have a burner (either gas or oil). Since you have already learned that an “oven” is horno in Spanish, its younger cousin should easily be an hornilla. The -illo/-illa suffix has a dimunitive effect in Spanish, reducing the effect of the main word.

sartén (skillet) – Think of the utensil you use for sautéing (a low-fat cooking over relatively high heat) some delicious potatoes and bacon! Most of us use a skillet for this purpose. What about you?

fregadero (sink) – The English word “friction” carries a sense of two surfaces rubbing against each other, kind of what happens when you scrub something like a dirty utensil; now, that’s no secret. What’s little known is the fact that this word comes from the Latin verb, fricare (to rub or chafe) which also gave Spanish its fregar, carrying the same meaning. And from this verb comes fregadero the Spanish word for “sink”, a place where you scrub your dishes clean. This relationship should help commit the word to memory easily.


By the way, the Spanish for “kitchen” is cocina which comes from coquina in Latin from where English got its verb, “to cook”. Etymology to the rescue again! In fact, the same technique can be used for practically any word, including these 32 words of things you do in your kitchen.

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Let Juanes Help You Learn The Spanish Subjunctive

All too often, the Spanish subjunctive is made to appear way more intimidating to those learning the language than it needs to. Grammar books say it is not a tense but a mood. We’d rather choose to keep things simple and for the sake of staying away from unnecessarily complicated grammatical nomenclature, will call it a form of the verb. Quite simply put, this form is used for any verb in Spanish when we are not being objective or certain about the action being performed. Today, we’ll use a wonderful Spanish language chartbuster from a world-famous Colombian musician to reinforce this concept permanently and painlessly!

What the heck is subjunctive?

The only reason subjunctive appears so alien to us learners is that English rarely uses verbs in this form while Spanish does widely. Here’s an example of subjunctive being used in English to help you grasp the idea:

I recommend that she be there when her friends arrive.

The verb, “be” in the sentence above is actually in its subjunctive avatar. In Spanish, whenever you talk of actions that are either uncertain or subjective, you bring in the subjunctive form. Here’s an illustration:

El profe quiere que aprendamos el subjunctivo. (“The professor wants us to learn the subjunctive.” / “the professor wants that we learn the subjunctive.”)

Here, since the act of learning is just a wish and not being carried out in reality at the time of speech, the Spanish verb aprender (to study) has been conjugated to its subjunctive form. There are many websites and books dedicated to helping you learn the various rules of usage when it comes to subjunctives but like we always harp, there’s no better teacher than music! Today, we will be discussing one such song that can be immensely helpful in reinforcing this piece of grammar into your head and facilitate easy recall.

Juan Esteban Aristizábal Vásquez

Juanes must figure in every Spanish learner’s music collection
Photo credit: Julio Enriquez licensed CC BY 2.0

Better known by his stage name, Juanes, this Colombian solo artist must be familiar to most of you if you have ever heard La Camisa Negra (The Black Shirt). Like many of his kind, Juanes is a child prodigy who started playing guitar when he was just seven and floated his first band (heavy metal), Ekhymosis, when fifteen. His solo debut, Fíjate Bien brought him three Latin Grammies in 2000 and the next, Un Día Normal, went on to hit platinum in several countries in Latin America. This is the lead single from this album, A Dios Le Pido (I ask God), that will help us learn Spanish today.

As of today, Juanes has to his credit a rare and impressive collection of 19 Latin Grammy Awards, one Grammy Award, 9 MTV Awards, 2 NRJ Music Awards, 9 Our Land Awards, and a string of many more awards and recognitions from all over the world! Though a major name on the Latin pop scene today, his initial act, Ekhymosis was inspired by Metallica and was entirely into heavy metal, Juanes’ favorite genre back then. This band produced five studio albums in all and collaborated with legends like Alejandro Sanz and Ricky Martin, among others.

What makes Juanes every Spanish learner’s favorite act is his love for his mother tongue. He patronizes the language with exceptional passion and is an activist for this cause close to his heart. He has vowed to never sing in English and has often been heard that he will continue to work in Spanish because it is this language in which he could express himself best. What more can a Latino-lover ask for!

A Dios Le Pido

This is the track that earned Juanes his Best Rock Song Latin Grammy for 2002. The lead single from his much celebrated studio album, Un Día Normal, charted in top 5 in almost every European country and hit #1 in twelve countries across three continents.

The song is essentially an ode to God seeking blessings and protection for the singer’s loved ones. Due to its peace invoking lyrics, the song soon became an anthem for peace throughout Latin America and garnered immense popularity.

Accolades apart and coming back to our subjunctive, this song is lyrically rich and a great source of Spanish verbs in this form which is what makes it extremely useful for us learners who are struggling to remember the subjunctive conjugations and usage. Since the entire song is essentially in the form of a wish being relayed to God and wishes are expressed using the subjunctive in Spanish, potentially every line is an illustration of this otherwise difficult-to-grasp verb-form.

As always, we am giving out a portion of the lyrics here for your review along with a rough English translation. This should give you a good jump-start. We could give you dozens of example sentences illustrating how the subjunctive is used but we are sure you do realize that you’ll retain none of them as effectively as the lyrics to a tappy, hum-worthy song by your favorite artist!

Que mis ojos se despierten (That my eyes wake up)
Con la luz de tu mirada, (With the light of your sight,)
Yo a Dios le pido. (I ask of God.)
Que mi madre no se muera (That my mother doesn’t die)
Y que mi padre me recuerde, (And that my father remembers me,)
A Dios le pido. (I ask of God.)

Que te quedes a mi lado (That you stay by my side)
Y que más nunca te me vayas mi vida, (And that you never leave me, my love,)
A Dios le pido. (I ask of God.)
Que mi alma no descanse (That my soul does not rest)
Cuando de amarte se trate mi cielo, (When it concerns loving you, my love,)
A Dios le pido. (I ask of God.)

Por los días que me quedan (For the days that for me remain)
Y las noches que aun no llegan, (And the nights that yet haven’t come,)
Yo a Dios le pido. (I ask of God.)
Por los hijos de mis hijos (For the children of my children)
Y los hijos de tus hijos, (And the children of your children,)
A Dios le pido. (I ask of God.)

There is no easier way to tame the scary subjunctive verb-form than having this song on the tip of your tongue. And there is no easier way of having this song on the tip of your tongue than listening to it over and over again until you catch yourself humming away the lyrics in your bathroom subconsciously. Go on, we promise the music won’t disappoint you either.

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Learn To Recount Your Imagination In Spanish

They say, imagination is the cheapest luxury one can afford. What few realize is that it can also be one of the most effective tool for learning Spanish. Whenever we deconstruct a sentence, we essentially break down an overwhelming behemoth of a sentence into tiny, easily understandable fragments that our minds instantly assimilate. The sentence that we are going to break down here has nothing grand about it but would prove immensely helpful if you ever try relating an account of your dreams and ambitions which in turn would build your Spanish, bit by bit. You see, imagination is also often the cheapest language teacher!

Imagine buying this Jag and write about it in Spanish!
Photo credit: Martin Pettitt licensed CC BY 2.0

If asked to let our imagination run unchecked without an agenda, most of us are most likely to imagine being capable of achieving or having already achieved what would otherwise be incredibly difficult in prevailing reality. Today’s sentence (given below along with its meaning in English which is, obviously, not very literal) should enable you to at least start giving words to such day-dreams in Spanish.

Cuando gano la lotería voy a comprarme un Jaguar y contratar a un chafirete que me lleve por todos lados. (When I win the lottery I’m going to buy myself a Jaguar and hire a driver to take me all over the place.)

The nuts and bolts

Let’s begin the dissection of this awefully long sentence:

Cuando – This is the Spanish word meaning “when” in a non-question sense. Place an accent-mark over the “a” and it becomes cuándo, a question.

gano – The Spanish verb, ganar means “to win” and when conjugated in the present indicative form for the singular first person, it turns into gano. So, this word essentially stands for “I win” (don’t forget that the subject pronoun is often omitted in Spanish and solely implied by the context). Not sure if ganar shares its etymology with the English word, “to gain” because other than sounding similar they are also quite close in their meanings. Anyways, the similarity should still be enough to help you remember the word and recall it painlessly.

la lotería – This one is a no-brainer. The English word, “lottery” becomes lotería in Spanish and the -a ending makes it a feminine noun which brings in the la.

voy a comprarme – Ir is the Spanish for “to go” and its singular first person conjugation in the present tense makes it voy. Thus, voy essentially stands for “I go” or “I am going”. The next word, Comprar is the Spanish for “to buy” and using the preposition, a (to) to link it with ir gives it the sense of someone “going to buy”. So, voy a comprar would mean “I am going to buy” just like vamos a comer would mean “we are going to eat”. So, what is the me doing attached to comprar? It is called a reflexive pronoun. Never mind the grammar; just remember that it gives comprar the sense of “buying for myself” just as comprarte would mean “to buy for yourself”. So, in short, voy a comprarme means “I am going to buy myself”.

un Jaguar – A Jag. Here we are talking about a ridiculously expensive brand of car. Dying to take one for a spin, aren’t you?

y – This is probably the simplest word of this sentence; it’s the Spanish for “and”.

contratar – The English verb, “to contract” can also be used in the sense of employing something or someone on contract or, in other words, “to hire”. Now, this verb shares its etymology with the Spanish word, contratar. This relationship should ensure you don’t forget the word easily.

a un chafirete – In Spanish, it’s a grammatical mandate to always introduce an object with an a if it happens to be a person or something personified, e.g., a pet, etc. So the word, a here introduces an object for the verb, contratar. But what, or rather who, is this object? Un chafirete is a Mexican slang for a driver. It should help to know that both chfirete of Spanish and chauffeur of French share a common origin.

que – Remember how we use the word, “that” to link clauses and ideas in English? We use que for the same purpose in Spanish though the usage is not exactly similar always. In this context, que stands for “to” in the same way it does when used after tener. So, just like tengo que ir means, “I have to go,” contratar que trabajar would mean “to hire to work.”

me lleve – So what is the verb que intends to introduce here? The Spanish verb, llevar means “to carry” in English. In this context, however, it is used in the sense of “taking someone around.” In Spanish, when you are not sure of an event’s certainty, you conjugate the verb in a slightly different fashion. The singular third person present indicative conjugation of llevar would normally be lleva. However, since we are only imagining and not sure of whether this is ever going to happen in reality, we conjugate it as lleve. Spanish grammar calls this the subjunctive form. And you must have already guessed that the word, me gives it a reflexive twist. So, me lleve would essentially mean, “he or she would carry me”; note the use of “would” in English to give it a sense of uncertainty.

por – Usually por would mean “at” or even “for” but avoid taking the meaning literally at all cost. Nothing can screw up your Spanish more. In this context, it carries the sense of “around” as in por aquí (around here).

todos lados – Lado is the Spanish for “side” but can also carry the sense of “place” depending on the context. In this context, it clearly means “place”. Todo means “all” and because lados is plural, todo becomes todos. So, todos lados stands for “all sides” or, figuratively, “all over the place”.

String’em together

Now let’s bring these pieces together. The phrase, Cuando gano la lotería means “When I win the lottery,” in the following sentence structure: Conditional word (“when”) - subject (omitted here) - verb (here, present indicative of “to win”) - object (here, “the lottery”)

The next portion, voy a comprarme un Jaguar means “I’m going to buy myself a Jaguar,” in the following order: subject (omitted here) - verb1 (here, present indicative of “to go”) - preposition (here, “to”) - verb2 (here, “to buy myself” in its infinitive, reflexive form) - object (here, “a Jaguar”)

The next piece, y contratar a un chafirete means “and hire a driver,” in the following structure: Conjunction (here, “and”) - verb (here, infinitive form of “to hire”) - object connector (here, a with no English equivalent) - object (here, “a driver”)

And the last phrase, que me lleve por todos lados means “to take me around all over the place,” in this order: Preposition (here, “to”) - object pronoun (here, “me”) - verb (here, subjunctive present indicative of “to carry”) - preposition (here, “around”) - object (here, “all sides” or “all over the place”)

Do note that unless the verb is in its raw infinitive form, any object pronoun must come before the verb (e.g., Me llamo Pedro); otherwise, it is just attached to the verb (e.g., Quiero verte).

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A Novel And A Movie To Teach You Mexican Spanish

Como agua para chocolate is a very commonly heard expression in some Spanish-speaking countries, particularly Mexico, and was the inspiration behind the title of a novel by the much-celebrated Mexican screenwriter, Laura Esquivel. Mexico is the birthplace of chocolate; in many Latin American countries (and of course, in Mexico as well) hot chocolate is a staple traditionally made by melting chocolate over a pot of boiling water and the phrase, como agua para chocolate alludes to this fact. It can be used as a metaphor for describing a state of intense feelings which could be anything from sexual arousal to maddening anger.

Como Agua Para Chocolate
Photo credit: colegiouniversitariodeperiodismo
licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

A rare success

The story’s title draws on Tita, the main character in the novel, who conveys her state of boiling fury with a statement, “Estoy como agua para chocolate.” The unusual success of this book in 1989 led to an even bigger success in the form of a movie in 1992 and when the film opened in the United States with English subtitles, it easily became one of the most popular foreign films in American history.

The film also garnered immense critical acclaim partly because it came out in the 90s when works of previously ignored minority female writers had just started attracting their due share of limelight due to the newly emerging ideas of multiculturalism in literature. As a testimony to its success, the film bagged each of the 11 Ariel Awards from the Mexican Academy of Motion Pictures and became highest grossing film to be ever released in the United States until then. There’s no denying the fact that this film is a masterpiece worth every connoisseur’s collection and the powerful storytelling transcends all language and cultural barriers.

A tragic tale of intense passion

Como Agua Para Chocolate is a very simple yet moving story of the strong family values and traditions that underscore Mexico’s cultural heritage. The story revolves around the life of Tita De La Garza, the protagonist, who is forbidden to marry because of a family tradition but is still involved with Pedro Muzquiz, her novio (boyfriend). A chain of comic events ensues after, one day, Pedro and his father visit with Tita’s family to discuss their marriage and her mom refuses and offers her elder daughter, Rosaura instead. Pedro, counting on being closer to Tita as a member of her family, accepts the liaison; this decision naturally devastates Tita who bakes her sister’s wedding cake with much crying and longing. Tita’s tears magically stir nostalgic emotions in all those who eat the cake. Later, Tita’s father dies after knowing that his wife had cheated on him some time in the past.

A year down the line, Tita prepares a meal of rose petals laced with her passion and feelings for her love in an attempt to win him back from her sister. However, instead of Pedro, it is Gertrudis who ends up having the meal and Tita’s heat and passion along with it. As an effect of the spell, she is overcome with lust while taking a shower and runs off naked in the arms of a revolutionary soldier. Rosaura is shown to have given birth to a baby boy who, for some reason, only Tita is able to nurse. Tita’s mom suspects Tita’s foulplay in this and sends Rosaura and Pedro away to San Antonio. In some time, the baby dies due to lack of Tita’s nursing and Tita becomes sick and catatonic.

At this stage, Tita is taken to Texas by one Dr. John Brown for treatment and recuperation. Eventually, Tita and Dr. Brown develop a relationship and decide to get married. Meanwhile back home, her mother is killed by the revolutionaries and Pedro and Rosaura return for the funeral. Soon after, Rosaura gives birth to a baby girl, Esperanza. Dr. Brown is called away and finally Tita and Pedro end up sleeping together.

Twenty years later, Rosaura is shown to have died of severe digestive problems and Pedro and Tita as reunited. Tragicaly, though, Pedro dies during an intense love-making session with his beloved and Tita too, burns to death along with the entire ranch. In the end, Esperanza returns to the site only to find Tita’s cookbook that told of her recipes and love for Pedro.

What’s it it for me?

For someone learning Spanish, this film offers every ingradient for immersive learning. Engaging beyond doubt, the story sucks you in regardless of which genre you like watching. It also helps to know that the film has reasonable helpings of Mexican colloquialism that will help you further your knowledge of this flavor of Spanish.

A glimpse of history also accompanies the experience and you get to see the Mexico during the Revolution. Personally I haven’t come across a better example of magical realism in any language till today. The characters in the film are set against the backdrop of the most powerful episode in Mexican history, the Mexican Revolution that ended in 1917.

The story develops at a peaceful yet interesting pace and you will find this movie relatively easier to understand even if you don’t necessarily catch every sentence being spoken. Besides, the visuals of Ciudad Acuna, Piedras Negras, and the Eagle Pass are simply priceless. The movie gets you up, close, and personal with the Mexican lifestyle in ways few storytellers do.

Maximize your benefits

As we keep harping all the time, you cannot watch a random movie once in a while and expect some miracle to bake Spanish in you. That’s not how it works. Absorbing a language takes persistence. And repititions. Yes, you must watch the movie so many times that most major dialogs, if not all, become nursery rhymes for you. You should be able to watch a scene and blurt out the line that the character is about to utter next. That is when you can claim to be saturated with all the Spanish the movie had to deliver. This might take a dozen reps or maybe even a hundred depending on your mental faculties. But saturate you will.

And no English subtitles please. You’ll kill the essence of the original lines because translations often don’t convey the original sense with the same conviction. You’ll not only miss out on the true emotions being conveyed by the original Spanish dialogs but will also delay your absorption of Spanish thus defeating the whole purpose you began with! If Mel Gibson could make Apocalypto in an extinct language and still manage success, we are sure language barrier cannot be a genuine excuse for falling back on English subtitles.

Another thing that can greatly help with novel-based movies like this one is reading the novel before the movie. You can read the novel in English if you wish but Spanish would obviously be a wiser choice. Don’t hesitate reading the book several times over before you watch the movie for the first time. This will only help further reinforce the Spanish you acquired while reading the novel.

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Some Costa Rican Words For Your Private Organs

Regardless of who you are and how you are learning Spanish, one of the first things that strike you as irresistibly interesting is the glossary of naughty words. There are known to be countless learners, quite unsurprisingly, who have researched and assimilated the vulgar and taboo vocabulary even before they learn how to say, “¡Buenos días!” in Spanish! Even some us might as well be one of them. And this is only human; anything forbidden charms us more. Going against the grain is human nature, more so when it comes to acquiring a language. And Spanish has on offer an extremely rich glossary when it comes to vulgarism!

A word of caution

Tiquísmo is as rich as any other form of Spanish
Photo credit: Luis Tamayo licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

While we hope we don’t wind up offending anyone, you are requested to understand that what follows is extremely crude lingo and certain words, if not all, can potentially make us sound extremely unsophisticated to you. We respect your taste and advise you to skip the rest of this article if such vulgar language offends your classy taste.

If you choose to proceed, we am hoping you read it all in the sportiest of spirits and take them as an essential aspect of street Spanish which you must be able to recognize even if you choose never to use them. Also, we strongly urge you to refrain from using them in your speech no matter how well-versed you become with Spanish. Just know them and recognize them when someone is using them. And have fun!

What follows is a list of words most prevalent in common tico (Costan Rican) speech for some of the most intimate parts of the human anatomy. While all of them might not be equally offensive or even offensive at all, it is best to discuss each of these words with a Costa Rican native and understand the gravity of its meaning before deciding on whether or not you should introduce it into your conversations. Even if a word is not particularly offensive, it can still potentially make you sound funny and even wreck your image if used incorrectly.

By the way, the word, tico, is a Costa Rican slang for anything Costa Rican and tiquísmo is the word for the colloquial tico speech or dialect. This article should also serve to illustrate that Spanish is a diverse language and has more dialects than just American and Peninsular.

Penis and testicles


Banano – Literally, this word stands for “banana”, the fruit and is not particularly vulgar


Chile – This one, again, is’t too vulgar and literally stands for “chili”


Chorizo – Literally, pork sausage; hope you can see the connotation


Cojones – A crude word for “balls” or “testicles”


Garrote – Literally, this word means “club” and figuratively stands for a “big penis”


Guaba – This one is quite vulgar


Huevos – Literally this is the Spanish for “eggs” and, by extension, also come to mean “testicles” in the vulgar lingo. For the same reason, tener huevos means, “to have balls or guts or courage” not different from the way it’s spoken in English


Leche – Again, officially this word means “milk” but can also stand for “semen” if used in a naughty way


Pene – This one is probably the only sophisticated way to refer to the organ in question as prescribed by Spanish dictionaries


Picha – This is another dirty word for the organ


Pinga – This one is quite vulgar and unsophisticated


Pistol – Officially, this word means the same in both English and Spanish but the Spanish version also refers to the private organ in honor of its shooting capabilities


Pito – This word literally means “whistle” in English and is not terribly offensive


Rosca –This one’s another vulgar term used in Costa Rica


Vena –This is yet another, equally vulgar word often heard in Costa Rican speech


Verga – Again, this one is also a vulgar term from Costa Rica

Vagina


Arepa – In colombia, this is the name of a local corn pancake but in Costa Rica, it can also mean you-know-what


Bicho – This would normally mean “insect” elsewhere except in Nicaragua where it has vulgar undertones


Cachimba – Used for the private female organ in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, this word is also often used as a colloquial interjection in the sense of “fantastic” or “terrific”


Concha – Officially, this is the Spanish for a “sea shell” but most locals prefer it to mean what-can’t-be-named-here


Endija – This one a particularly offensive Costa Rican slang


Mico – This is one more vulgar term often heard in Costa Rican speech


Panocha or panocho – This is yet another dirty word


Papaya – Now, this one’s not too offensive and can be used in regular speech as a mild insult which won’t be taken seriously (of course, not in formal speech!)


Rendija – If you follow the dictionary, this one stands for a narrow slit or opening, for instance, between planks in a wall; the resemblance it bears with the female organ is the reason why it’s also often used in a much dirtier sense


Zanja – Literally, this word means “ditch” but colloquially you know what it also means

Breasts

Busto – This one sounds too similar to the English word, “bust” to mean anything but that


Pechuga – Literally, this stands for the very delicious “chicken breast” and is not a great compliment for a woman

Senos – This is the only politically correct way to refer to them

Tenís – Literally, this one’s the Spanish for “tennis” or a “tennis ball” and is exceptionally vulgar when used as the word for breasts


Teresas – This is another vulgar slang heard everywhere in Costa Rica


Tetas – This is the official, dictionary-endorsed term for “tits”


Tetuda or tetona – These are not-too-vulgar words for “big breasts”

Butt


Ano – This one sounds too similar to the English word, “anus” and hence means the same


Anillo – Literally, this is the Spanish for “ring” but in Costa Rica it means something totally different


Chanchos – Officially, this one means “pigs” but is also a tico slang for “buttocks”


Culo – This is an unsophisticated term for the organ under discussion considered as vulgar in Costa Rica as it is elsewhere


Culantro – This is a Costa Rican play on the word, cilantro (coriander)


Gluteos – This is an unoffensive word for that organ


Hueco del culo – This one is a vulgar Costa Rican slang for one’s “ass”


Nalgas – This is the dictionary-prescribed Spanish for “buttocks”


Trasero – Literally, this one stands for the “rear end”

Tener buen culículum – This expression, a typical example of tiquísmo, is a play on the word, “curriculum” or “résumé”; it essentially means, “to have a good butt,” in reference to a woman’s shapely rear.

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