Colombian Spanish – Street Speech From Shakira’s Homeland

While the jury is still out on which Spanish is The Absolute, an overwhelming number of both native and non-native speakers hold the Colombian flavor in high regard. This ambiguous claim might, and often does, spawn a heated debate amongst Spanish speakers for every nationality has reasons to take their Spanish as “standard” Spanish. Nevertheless, if you have set your heart on the Colombian variant, it won’t hurt to learn about some of its most defining features and nuances. The Spanish spoken in Colombia differs from the others in more ways than a few and this article discusses some of the most salient ones of all.

Colombian Spanish is often seen as the most prestigious of all
Photo credit: Juan Carlos Jara Guzmán licensed CC BY 2.0

Well, before we start with the salient features of Colombian Spanish, it is important to note that this is not a single, homogenous dialect spoken uniformly throughout the country. Colombian Spanish is, instead, more of a blanket term applied to a diverse collection of disparate dialects spoken in various regions of this nation. At times, and naturally so, it is also a function of demographics in addition to geography.

On a broad level, the Spanish spoken in coastal Colombia carries an interesting resemblance to the Caribbean dialects owing to the close proximity between the regions. On the other hand, the highland speech tends to be more conservative. It is the educated, and generally conservative, speech of the capital city, Bogotá, that essentially enjoys the widespread respect accorded to Colombian Spanish throughout the New World. This is the Spanish you’re most likely to hear on the television and read in the newspapers.

Too formal?

Colombians use usted even with family and friends!
Photo credit: Edgar Zuniga Jr. licensed CC BY-ND 2.0

Usted is no alien to the Spanish speaking world but in Colombia, particularly Bogotá, it enjoys more currency than anyplace else. While the rest of the world would limit the usage of this word to only formal settings, Colombians use it all the time. Here, usted is used wherever non Colombians would typically use tú or vos, such as with friends and family. Voseo, which is the hallmark of Latin American Spanish, is practically alien to most parts of Colombia.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rules since Colombian Spanish is not a single dialect but a rather inconsistent continuum of almost unrelated dialects. One such exception is the prevalence of voseo in areas like Valle del Cauca and the Paisa region.

It’s not that Colombians never use tú. It’s just that the usage is very minimal and carries a radically different connotation in Colombian societies. When a man uses tú with a woman, it’s seen as flirtatious. And between two men, it’s taboo! Between two men it’s instantly taken as a sign of homosexuality or, leastwise, effeminate behavior. Just stick to usted all along and you’ll do just fine in all situations in this country. Might seem pretty awkward at first but it’s easy to get accustomed to.

Colombian pronunciation

They say the Bogotá accent is the clearest of all and consequently the easiest to understand from a non-native speaker’s standpoint. This meme, along with the fact that this is the Spanish our gorgeous Shakira speaks, should sufficiently incentivize your decision of choosing Colombian Spanish as your target accent!

Though not too many, there still exist some pronunciation features that are more definitive of Colombian speech than any other. One of them is the way they pronounce their j’s as in the word, jardín. While elsewhere it would be rendered with a guttural similar to the one heard at the end of loch in Irish, Colombians prefer the rather simpler sounding “h” of English. So, jardín sounds like “har-deen” in this country and not like “xar-deen” as it does elsewhere. Colombian Spanish shares this feature with some other dialects such as those of Canary Islands, Southern Spain, the Caribbean, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

There’s also a distinct way they pronounce the letters, b, d, and g, in Colombian Spanish. While these letters carry a much softer sound in most cases in other dialects, they are uttered exactly as they are in English by the Colombians. For the linguistic nerds out there, this can be summed up as the “plosive” pronunciation where parts of your mouth enact a sort of explosion. Imagine your lips mildly exploding when you pronounce “b” in English, or your tongue causing a similar explosion with your alveolar ridge when pronouncing “d”. All you need to remember is that he softer sounds for these letters, prominent in Spanish, is more or less absent in Colombian Spanish. The only exception could be the Nariño region where the softer variants do exist.

Gatito or gatico?

Gatito o gatico?
Photo credit: Fluckr You licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Diminutives are one of the most defining features of Latin American Spanish and words like ahorita and poquito are commonplace in that part of the world. That these little suffixes (such as the -ito in poquito) mildly or radically alter the meaning of the word in question is well-known. Although the degree and direction of this change in meaning largely depends on the dialect, culture, and context, they abound. And Colombian Spanish is no exception.

What’s salient about Colombian Spanish, though, is the suffix itself. Here, -ito is more commonly replaced by a more ubiquitous -ico in words where the last syllable has a “t” in it. In all other cases, -ito prevails. So, the Mexican gatito becomes gatico in Colombia. Colombians share this practice with the Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Costa Ricans, and the Venezuelans.

Another salient feature of this dialect is that it allows for usage of diminutives not only with nouns and adjectives like elsewhere, but also with verbs! Just as with nouns and adjectives, verbs can also take on these suffixes to intensify the action, particularly in the continuous form represented by the -iendo ending (equivalent of the -ing form in English). Thus, while corriendo is “running,” one can turn it into corriendito to imply “scurrying.”

Even prepositions can take on these suffixes in Colombian speech with a similar intensifying effect. So, while junto a is “next to,” juntico a turns it into “right next to.” Double diminutives are also common as in Mexico giving innovations, like, ahoritica (right at this moment) and buenecitico (perfect or top-shelf). As obvious, two diminutives make it sound more intensive than just one and are, hence, typical of more loaded conversations.

Who’s the daddy?

The lower class Colombians speak a very strange Spanish
Photo credit: I. D. R. J. licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

A curious trait of Colombian Spanish is the way family members address each other. No, this is not about usted or tú. This is something even more awkward for a newcomer. What do you think that Latina wife of yours would address you as? Mi amor? Mi esposo? Mi marido? Well, if she is from Colombia, she is most likely to call you – hold your breath – mijo (a colloquial portmanteau for mi hijo or “my son” elsewhere)! Yes, Colombian couples address each other as mijo and mija. Don’t ask why; this is what it is. Just get used to it.

And it doesn’t end here. While your Colombian wife addresses you like a son, think of how she addresses your kids. Well, parents in this country usually call their sons papito (daddy) and daughters, mamita (mommy)! So, who’s the daddy after all? But don’t worry, this kind of awkward usage is not educated Colombian Spanish. You’re more likely to hear them in lower and lower-middle class families.

Another peculiarity of Colombian street-speech is the usage of que in irrelevant contexts. Practically any sentence can be made to start with this word without affecting the meaning. Just another Colombian habit. You are quite likely to hear sentences like these in this country:

Que sale mañana (They’re leaving tomorrow)

Que gracias (Thanks)

This usage is, again, associated with uneducated, lower socio-economic strata of the Colombian society.

There are far more peculiarities in any dialect of any language, let alone Colombian Spanish, to be justifiably covered in a single article. Books have been written discussing these idiosyncrasies and anyone crazy enough about this dialect ought to conduct further research. But no amount of reading and researching can ever rival the value-add of having a native speaker from Colombia as friend. Interacting with them in real is the best way to understand all aspects of their language.

If you have any experience with the Colombians, feel free to share it with the rest of us in your comments. We’d love to learn more about this fascinating dialect through your experiences!

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The 4 Keywords Of Argentinean Spanish Other Than Che

The Argentineans could practically go on for hours at a stretch with anyone who’d care to listen! And, naturally, this overdose of spoken Spanish is bound to spawn an entire jargon of local slang and idiosyncrasies that could catch even a master of Spanish off-guard. Even someone who can’t say, “My name is Bill,” in Spanish would know that che is what the Argentineans live and breathe. What many don’t know, however, is that Argentinean life doesn’t start and end with just che. A dialect of Spanish as rich as Argentinean ought to do much better than that; here, we explore 4 words from Argentina that you just can’t do without.

Boludo

Unless you mean to insult, use boludo only with someone this close, if you must
Photo credit: Alberto licensed CC BY 2.0

Long, long ago in the days of yore when they used to fight with horses and cannons, it often made sense to have a “cannon-fodder.” This wretched mortal would be typically the one pushed into front line of the battle so as to take the hit from incoming shots and die first, thereby, saving the more precious manpower behind him. It was a brilliant, though cruel, strategy to waste the enemy’s cannonballs on insignificant soldiers and then score later in terms of ammunition.

Obviously, this wretch was popularly thought of as someone having a lot of guts to step into what’s practically a suicide mission. Lot of guts translated into big balls or, in Spanish, boludo. So, basically, the term would stand for someone brave and courageous and thus has “big balls.” But then, another school of thought noted them as utter fools as there was no bravery involved in certain death. Hence, with time, this word came to carry this connotation.

Although, in the streets of Argentina, a boludo would generally be an immature jackass or a moron, it might not always be as offending as it seems. Most teenagers are often heard using this word amongst themselves as casual appelative. It often combines with che in one of the most common street expressions, “¡Che boludo!” This could mean, “Hey moron!” or “Hey buddy!” depending on the context.

At any cost, stay away from using this word unless you are in extremely casual and friendly settings as you never know how it might come across. Especially if you’re older than, say 30, an overuse of boludo might be taken as an attempt to play up a certain image or even cultural or lexical poverty. And if you’re feeling even more adventurous, there’s pelotudo; same meaning but a much bigger punch.

By the way, this word refers to a wealthy person in El Salvador! So, be careful if you’re traveling to both the countries.

Quilombo

Slums of La Boca: ¡Qué quilombo!
Photo credit: Richie Diesterheft licensed CC BY 2.0

This one actually comes from Portuguese, blame it on the shared border with Brazil. Historically, quilombos used to be remote, inland ghettos settled by runaway slaves from the Brazilian sugar plantations. Needless to say, the living conditions in these slums, mostly concentrated along the southern frontiers of Brazil, were poor enough to be compared with Hell on Earth.

Due to the miserable state of affairs in these settlements, the word came to be colloquially used for the whorehouses of Buenos Aires – and sometimes also Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and rest of Argentina – which were equally wretched if not more. With time, though, it has further evolved and generalized to cover any similar situation. So, basically, a quilombo today is a mess or any messed-up situation regardless of the context.

How intense is the connotation? Let’s just say it’s a tad stronger than “mess” but a touch gentler than something like a “shit storm.” Anyway, cutting through all its interpretations, at heart, quilombo remains something raucous, miserable, and downright bad.

Needless to say, you’d be better off limiting this word’s usage to only the most casual of contexts as it’s not a terribly sophisticated expression. Typical usage would be:

¡Qué quilombo! (What a bloody mess!)

Se armo un quilombo (It was a freakin’ mess)

¡Tu casa es un quilombo! (Your house is such a mess!)

Onda

Everything nice is buena onda!
Photo credit: Claudia_midori licensed CC BY 2.0

Onda is also quite prevalent in Mexico as a colloquial term for “vibes.” Literally speaking, this word means “wave” which is similar in connotation to “vibe.” This is the reason why microwave ovens are translated to hornos microondas in Spanish. Pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

Using la onda in isolation simply means cool or good – a tad stronger than bueno. Although there are many phrases using this word, it’s not uncommon to hear it being used on its own in an expression. One example is, ¿Qué onda?

Well, this is quite a handy word due to its versatility and ubiquity, at least in Mexican and Rioplatense dialects of Spanish. The most common expression using this word is ¿Qué onda? which means, “What’s up?” Here, the question essentially meant to be asked is more like, “What’s making waves?” or “What’s going on?”

Other than the extremely common expression mentioned above, the word finds usage in quite a few other contexts as well. Some of the most common expressions use onda along with buena or mala, in the phrases, buena onda (good intention/faith/mood) or mala onda (bad faith/intention/mood). Whether onda indicates nature, mood or intention, depends on the preposition attached to it:

en buena/mala onda (with or in a good/bad intention)

de buena/mala onda (in a good/bad mood)

buena/mala onda (cool/mean or a good/bad thing or situation)

Let’s review some examples:

Mi jefe es muy buena onda (My boss is pretty cool)

La música de esa banda es la onda (This band’s music is the best)

Lupe es mala onda (Lupe is quite mean)

Ahora, estoy de mala onda (I’m in a bad mood right now)

Las mujeres hablan en mala onda de Juan (The women talk harshly about Juan)

Pedo

These Argentineans are definitely en pedo
Photo credit: Leonardo Daniel licensed CC BY 2.0

Going by the dictionary, this word means just a “fart,” but in the streets of Argentina, they are used in contexts that have little to do with this unpleasant Biology. One most common expression you can hear everywhere you go in Buenos Aires is en pedo which means drunk. So, if you ask me if I’d ever try eating reptiles and I answer, “¡Ni en pedo!” I essentially mean that I won’t eat them even if I were drunk.

Another interesting phrase involving pedo is vivir en nube de pedos. If you abide by the literal translation, this would conjure up a rather disgusting image of someone living in a cloud made of farts. But in colloquial speech, this simply refers to someone living in a dream-world, totally detached from reality. Interesting?

The play with words doesn’t stop here. Ever seen a scuba diver slowly ascending back to the surface after a long session? It’s no mean feat to push through the immense pressure of all the water on top of your head, especially when you have gone too deep. Now imagine that diver letting out a fart so strong that it propels him to the surface in one loud jet! There’s an expression for this vision in Spanish – Subir como pedo de buzo – which literally means, “to climb like a scuba diver’s fart.” Well, the image might not be pleasant but the expression is quite handy in a lot of contexts. Essentially it relates to someone “rapidly climbing up the social ladder.”

Of course, these are not the only words that define Argentinean Spanish and you’ll discover many more as you start conversing with the locals. But, these are by far the most prevalent expressions you are likely to encounter on a stroll down the alleys and streets of this country. Just try avoiding their usage in formal settings and you should be just fine. And if, by any chance, you’ve been there and done that, please feel free to share your experiences. Any words or expressions you feel should make the list of Argentinean slang keywords? Share them!

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32 Spanish Verbs In Your Kitchen In Under 10 Minutes

However eccentric one’s tastes, the allure of good food can hardly be denied. How about adding a little gastronomical twist to our mundane Spanish learning regimen then? Even if you don’t particularly enjoy cooking, the ability to talk about the goings on in your kitchen in fluent Spanish will go a long way winning you the heart of that Latina who is famous for her yummy mole! This article is going to help you learn and remember for ever, some of the most frequently used Spanish verbs related to cooking with a special focus on clearing the air on two very similar sounding verbs (and thus quite confusing), cocer and cocinar.

The cocer-cocinar dilemma

Broadly speaking, both words mean “to cook” in English but scratch the surface and you will discover that there is quite a subtle yet well-defined difference between them. To understand this difference, we need to first understand what cooking generally involves. Now regardless of whether you can cook, you know what goes on in your kitchen.

Cocinar or cocer?
Photo credit: Neeta Lind licensed CC BY 2.0

The food you see on the table, is prepared in many stages, each a process in itself. Chopping, peeling, mixing, marinating, boiling, baking, frying, steaming, and so on. In English, the whole shebang is collectively referred to as “cooking.” In this sense, the word in Spanish is cocinar. This is an excellent example of how nouns and verbs give rise to each other in many languages. This happens all the time. And it happens in English too. That’s how you have the verb, “tutor” deriving from the noun, “tutor” (my English tutor tutors my cousins). It’s just a natural phenomenon. In Spanish, we have the noun, cocina (kitchen) giving us the verb, cocinar which essentially stands for all actions that are performed inside a kitchen. Thus, it covers everything from chopping to frying (of course, having sex in the kitchen doesn’t count).

However, cooking in English also stands for something more specific. The act of processing a food over heat, e.g., boiling, frying, roasting, etc. This set of activities have a slightly different representation in Spanish – cocer. You can see cocer as a subset of cocinar. Look at it this way: Cocinar is the whole gamut. All activities involved in it can be categorized under preparar (preparing the food, e.g., chopping, marinating, peeling, etc.) and cocer (cooking over fire, e.g., boiling, steaming, frying, baking, etc.).

Interestingly, etymology ensures you never forget these words ever again. Turns out, these words are related to the English “cook” sharing a common Latin ancestor, coquō. Never mind how the /k/ sound morphed into /s/; some evolutionary forces at work here.

By the way, here’s a fun fact: In Dominican Republic, cocina is a slang for the back seats in a guagua (a local name for “bus” in DR).

Some more kitchen verbs

Homemade guacamole from a Mexican kitchen
Photo credit: Naotake Murayama licensed CC BY 2.0

Now that we are even with the 2 most basic culinary verbs, it’s time to explore some more. In this section, we’ll learn not only the Spanish for some of the most common kitchen-related action words, but also invoke etymology and visualization to ensure we never lose them from memory. Ready to get started? It shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes to learn them all and permanently commit them to memory without any repetitive cramming (a previous article had attempted to help you acquire 13 kitchen words in Spanish in a similar fashion). Here we go:

1. agregar (to add) – Does this not sound eerily similar to “aggregate”? Well, that’s because it is. They obviously share a common Latin ancestry. This word is used whenever you are adding an ingredient to your mess while preparing it for cooking.


2. ahumar (to smoke) – No, this is not about cigarettes. This is what you do to, say, salmons. Cooking with smoke. But you guessed it right, ahumar does come from the same source as fumar (to smoke, e.g., a cigarette) and the common ancestor here is fumō, again Latin. This word also gave us the English word, “fume.”


3. batir (to beat) – This one’s a no-brainer; the two words sound close enough to stay in your head without much trouble.


4. capear (to cover) – You can easily relate to this word when you realize that “to cap” also means “to cover” in English. But capear is not used in every context. This word specifically refers to covering something in, say, butter for the purpose of frying.


5. cubrir (to cover) – Now, this is the word you use when speaking of physically covering your food with an actual lid or cover. Also note how this word rings similar to its English counterpart, “cover,” and it should be a cakewalk to recall.


6. napar (to cover) – Again! How many words do they have for covering in Spanish! Don’t worry, it’s all about the context. In this case, we are completely bathing a dish in a sauce or something similar so that the latter completely covers not just the dish but also the plate! Drooling already? Think of a black forest pastry completely drowned in hot chocolate and that’s what napar implies. So, while capear is while cooking, napar is while serving. Not sure where this word comes from but you can visualize the hot chocolate cover as having no parallel to help yourself remember and recall it effortlessly.


7. cortar (to cut up) – Again, the reason cortar sounds so similar to “cut” is their common Latin ancestry. Think of it as an action that renders something shorter or smaller.


8. trocear (to cut up) – This one doesn’t seem to be any different from cortar except that it obviously has a different etymology.


9. desvenar (to remove the veins as in from chillies) – Another no-brainer. The prefix, des-, lends the meaning of removing something while venar comes from véna which, in turn, comes from the Latin vēna that gave us the English “vein.” Think of desvenar as “de-vein.”


10. enharinar (to coat/sprinkle with a thin layer of flour) – In English, when you coat something with a balm-like thingy, it’s embalming. Similarly, in Spanish, when you coat something with harina (flour), it’s enharinar.



Flamear or quemar?
Photo credit: Jenene Chesbrough licensed CC BY 2.0



11. quemar (to burn) – This one has an interesting history. Quemar is a direct descendant of the Latin word for burn, cremō. And, it is this Latin word that gave us “cremate” in English. For those of you who don’t know, cremation is the traditional burning up of a dead body at funeral in some cultures.


12. flamear (to burn) – This word doesn’t exactly burn your food unless you are reckless enough. Here, you use flame as a show-off by smothering the hot dish in a liquor, such as brandy, and then igniting it to create what’s typically known as, flambé. The flame in this process is used more for its visual effects than to actually burn the food.


13. llenar (to fill) – Imagine you are being served mezcal at a Mexican restaurant and the absent-minded server continues to pour to the point where it’s about to spill. What would you do? You’d obviously say, “no,” once you see your cup’s full. Use this imagination to remember that lleno is the Spanish for “full.” It is this word that gives us the verb, llenar.



Papa rellena
Photo credit: Robert Luna licensed CC BY 2.0



14. rellenar (to stuff) – The prefix, re-, is often added to many Spanish verbs to accentuate the action, giving it a sense of being kind of overdone. It has the same etymology as the similarly-spelled prefix in English but with a slight difference, e.g., frijoles refritos is “well-fried beans” and not “refried beans” as most assume. Similarly, adding the prefix to llenar gives it a sense of “over-filling” or, simply put, “stuffing.” Drool over papas rellenas (stuffed potatoes) if that helps.


15. freir (to fry) – Well this one sounds like its English counterpart given their shared origins.


16. derretir (to melt, thaw, or liquify) – Imagine yourself as an action-packed, hot-headed bag of testosterone while you’re still young and active. But then you’re going to lose much of this youthful vigor and thaw down as you grow older and retire. This visual mnemonic should be enough to affix this word to your head for a lifetime.


17. guisar (to stew) – Though this word has Proto-Germanic roots, just as English does, it would probably be easier to rely on visualization in this case as its etymology is kind of complicated. Think of yourself guised as your favorite superhero, say Spiderman, busy stewing something in the kitchen.


18. hervir (to boil) – This one comes from the Latin fervere which gave English the word, “fever.” Heat is the lowest common denominator here.


19. sancochar (to parboil) – Though this word means almost the same as hervir, there’s a slight difference. You use hervir when you are actually boiling some liquid, such as water. However, it’s sancochar when you boil some food stuff in that liquid.


20. hornear (to bake in an oven) – From the Latin furnus comes the English “furnace” and the Spanish horno. So, naturally whatever you do in an horno (i.e., bake) is hornear.



Machacar en un molcajete
Photo credit: ccharmon licensed CC BY-ND 2.0



21. machacar (to crush, pulverize, pound, or grind) – Think of a burly macho dude crushing a fistful of walnuts in one effortless twist. Can you relate?


22. pelar (to peel) – Both have a common root and hence the similar ring.


23. remover (to stir) – If mover is “to move,” adding the prefix, re-, would add a certain overkill to this action; thus, remover means, “to move thoroughly” or, “to stir.”


24. mezclar (to mix) – Again, the words sound too similar to warrant any special memory cue.


25. salar (to add salt) – Sal is Spanish for “salt,” so, salar naturally becomes the Spanish for adding salt to your food.


26. sazonar (to season or garnish) – Again, they sound fairly similar.


27. helar (to freeze) – Hielo is the Spanish for “ice” hence the derived verb.


28. congelar (to deep-freeze) – This one comes from gelu, the Latin for “ice.” Incidentally, gelu gave us the English word, “congeal,” which means, “to solidify or coagulate by cooling.”


29. nevar (to froth egg-white) – Generally, this word means, “to snow,” but in the kitchen it refers to frothing of egg-white given the visual similarity between the latter and the physical snow.


30. untar (to spread) – What happens if you untie a polyethylene bag of yoghurt? It spreads all over. rings a bell?

That should be enough for now. These were some of the most commonly verbs used in the kitchen and should have you covered for most culinary situations. The same word-association tricks that we used here can also be used in acquiring other words, such as these 13 Spanish names of kitchen objects.

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Should You Really Learn The Spanish Future Tense?

The future tense is vanishing from the Spanish language; perhaps more rapidly than in the case of English, French, or German. Native Spanish speakers are often heard using the present tense while talking about future actions. This brings us to the question almost every learner starting out with Spanish faces at one point or the other: Should one really learn the Spanish future tense? The answer is almost a “no” if your aim is to just be conversant with the natives. Really? Does it mean we can just do away with the future tense conjugations and happily use the present tense instead in all situations? Well, let’s find out.

Future tense vanishing from English?

Well, yes, English does have a well defined future tense that continues to be prescribed by the grammar nazis throughout the world with no relaxation whatsoever. However, if you notice its usage in regular conversations, perhaps you’d understand that this tense is slowly and steadily vanishing from the scene. Really? Well, actually, English doesn’t even have a true future tense, per se!

The very first hint in this direction is the fact that there exists no verb form for the future tense in English. We rely, instead, on the word, “will,” which is just a modal prop used in combination with the present tense forms to describe future actions. There are, in fact, eight ways to express a future event in English:

• Prediction – She will sleep
• Prediction – She will have slept
• Prediction – She will be sleeping
• Prediction – She will have been sleeping
• Factual assertion – She sleeps tomorrow
• Plan – She is going to sleep tomorrow
• Plan – She is sleeping soon
• Resolution – She shall sleep

If you study the above eight sentences closely, you’d easily notice that none of them uses any future tense verb form despite being future tense sentences themselves. They only at most use the modal props, “will” and “shall.” Some even go to the extent of completely doing away with these props and using the present tense alone to describe future actions.

The future of Spanish

The same evolutionary disappearance of the future verb forms that we observed in English above is also at work in Spanish, albeit, at a much larger scale. In Spanish this tense has all but vanished from day-to-day conversations – almost. So, at least for rookie learners, it won’t be much of a problem if they just shelve covering this tense until a later stage in their Spanish language program. But, can one completely do away with this tense? Not really. So, how does one know where it can be dispensed with and where it can’t?

Well, here’s the deal. You use the present tense in Spanish whenever discussing future plans or facts. Whenever you describe an event seen as obvious or factual, you would do well with the present tense. Often, when you are discussing a plan for future, you’d roll up your verb in a small ball with the equivalent of “going to” stuck to the present tense. We often do this in English too but the only difference is that it’s way more prevalent, and the norm, in Spanish. Here is an illustration:

Mañana se va (tomorrow, she leaves)

We often do this in English but we also use the “will” (tomorrow she will leave) form quite frequently. But in Spanish, this is the only form used if you are reasonably sure of the fact that she’ll leave tomorrow. If, however, you do use the future tense in Spanish, it won’t hurt but will alter the meaning in a very subtle way:

Mañana irá (she will leave tomorrow)

To your English ears, this sentence might ring no different from the one before. But to a native Spanish speaker, the last sentence sounds more like an assumption or a supposition that she might leave. Here, you are stating a fact that will hopefully turn out true if your assumptions are right. Though this difference in meaning is too subtle to be easily appreciated, it’s not really alien to English either. Imagine how you’d answer if I asked you what your friend was doing. Here too, there are two ways you could answer even in English. If you’re fairly sure, you could say something like, “He is sleeping.” You’re stating a fact here. But if you are not really sure but assuming that he must be asleep, you can say, “He will be sleeping.” Note that both these sentences are indicating an action in the present tense but in the second one, “will” slightly alters the certainty of the stated fact. This is what happens with Spanish. You use the present tense whenever you are stating a fact with conviction but the future tense wherever a supposition is being made.

Universal facts, like the sunrise, are best expressed using the present tense
Photo credit: BY-YOUR-⌘ licensed CC BY 2.0

As further illustration, check out these sentences:

Mañana el sol sale por el este (tomorrow, the Sun rises in the East)

Mañana el sol saldrá por el este (tomorrow, the Sun will rise in the East)

While in English, either of the above constructs is colloquially sound. But, when it comes to Spanish, you’re more likely to hear the first. Why? Because it’s a fact and there’s no guesswork at play here! Whenever you talk about the Sun’s rising in the East, you talk with conviction. It’s a universal fact. The second sentence using the future tense conjugation makes it sound like your assumption. You don’t assume that the Sun will rise in the East; you just know it!

It’s all about certainty

So, facts take the present tense and assumptions, the future. What about plans? They are neither facts nor vague assumptions! Well, these are, again, best expressed using the present tense but with a twist. You stick a “going to” with the verb and you’re good:

Mañana voy a comer con ella (Tomorrow, I am going to eat with her)

You are fairly determined to eat with her and that’s why, a future tense shouldn’t be invoked to ruin your certainty. However, since your plan is still just in the pipeline, you’d be better off wrapping it with a “going to.” This step is not compulsory, though, and even the following sentence will do just fine:

Mañana como con ella (Tomorrow, I eat with her)

The last example, of course, does lend a greater degree of certainty to your plans and implies that you are quite determined to execute them. Which of the last two constructs you choose should ideally just be a function of your prerogative and circumstances.

so, what’s the moral of this story? It’s simple. Just use the present tense when discussing future events for all practical purposes unless you are even a wee bit doubtful of the event in question. And whether you use “going to” or just do with a simple present tense (also called, present indicative) construct, is absolutely up to you. Let’s summarize this for a quick reference:

Present indicative with “going to” – Quite certain (I am going to meet her tomorrow)

Present indicative without “going to” – Even more certain (I meet her tomorrow)

Future – Supposition or assumption; not quite certain (I will meet her tomorrow)

That’s the trick – No more cramming up on the future tense conjugations at least for the time being! Enjoy!

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The Spanish Object Pronouns – Leísmo, Laísmo, And Loísmo

The Spanish language has object pronouns just like its other Romance cousins. However, to us English speakers, they often seem alien because English doesn’t stress on them as much as Spanish does. Many rookie learners doing Spanish get thoroughly confused with the multitude of rules surrounding these pronouns and this article intends to clear the air once and for all. Actually, the only confusing bit happens to be the third person forms that seem deceptively simple – La, lo, and le. In keeping with the essence of simplicity that our articles feature, we will try to steer clear of grammatical nomenclature as far as possible.

The confusion around these pronouns is severely compounded by the fact that different parts of the Spanish speaking world have different ways of using them which are not necessarily consistent with what is acceptable as “correct” by prescription grammar.

The standard way

Before we continue into what the regional variations and colloquial “incorrect” usage are, it’s imperative that we first understand what the “correct” usage is. Well, even before that, let’s first brush up on what exactly these “objects” are.

In most languages, a typical sentence has 3 most basic components. Let’s understand this with an example sentence:

Escribe una carta (He writes a letter)

Referring to this example sentence, the three basic components would be:

1. The action – This is typically what we know as the “verb.” In our example sentence, the action word is escribe (writes).


2. The doer – The idea is that if something is being done, someone’s got to be doing it. This person, thing, or entity that performs the action in question is the “subject,” which in our example is él (he/she). Note that it’s often omitted in Spanish but implied inherently.


3. The recipient – This word or phrase signifies the entity at the receiving end of the said action, grammatically known as the “object.” Objects typically answer the “what,” “whom,” or “to whom” in the sentence. Drawing on this, the object in our sentence is the word that answers the question, “What is being written?” Yes, it’s una carta (a letter).

Now, this recipient of action can be stated as either a direct or an indirect object. The letter in our previous example is essentially a direct object. Direct objects usually answer the question, “what.”

However, if we extend our example to answer the question, “to whom,” we get what’s called an indirect object. Let’s try it out:

Le escribe una carta (He writes a letter to her)

So, what’s being done here? Writing. That’s your verb. Who is doing the writing? He; that’s your subject. What’s he writing? A letter, the direct object. And, to whom is he writing the letter? To her, the indirect object. Easy-peasy? Hope so.


Now, let’s have a look at the words used as the direct and indirect recipients of actions in Spanish – The direct and indirect pronouns:

The pronouns for the first and the second persons are fairly simple and easy to digest:

• me – First person singular for both direct and indirect pronouns; directly corresponds to the “me” in English. For example, me dio el libro (she gave the book to me; indirect), me vio (she saw me; direct).
• te – Second person singular for both direct and indirect pronouns; directly corresponds to “you” or “to you” in English. For example, te dio el libro, te vio.

It’s the third person where the heat is. Here, depending on the gender, you have several words that one must choose from. First the direct objects:

• lo – This one answers a “what” question when the recipient is a singular entity in the third person; e.g., lo vi (I saw him), lo tocó (you touched him).
• la – This one is lo’s girlfriend; e.g., la vi (I saw her), la tocó (you touched her).

This shouldn’t cause any grief as the endings should easily give away their meanings. Every Spanish learner worth their grain knows that “o” endings are guys and “a” endings are girls. Well, mostly if not always. So, lo is for the guys and la is for the girls and there’s no “in-between” in Spanish.

What did Lola eat today?
Photo credit: Raellyn & Melissa licensed CC BY-ND 2.0

Direct objects are even simpler. They don’t differentiate between the guys and the girls and just use a standard le for everyone; e.g., le dio el libro (she gave the book to him/her), le escribo una carta (I write him/her a letter). Do note that, as in the first example here, the indirect object doesn’t always have to take a “to” in English. So, “she gave him a book,” can also be expressed as, “she gave a book to him.” In Spanish, they are all the same.

To remember this easily, consider this sentence as a simple visualization or mnemonic device; these always make life a whole lot easier for lazy Spanish learners:

What did Lola eat today? (Imagine Lola to be a fat chick giving off loud farts after probably gorging on more than her fair share of bean burritos!)

This sentence should hint to the idea that anything that answers a “what,” takes a direct object pronoun, i.e., lo or la. The word, “today” rhymes well with “to-le,” hinting that anything that answers a “to what,” takes a le. What did you write? The letter (direct). To whom did you write? To her (indirect).

Forget Lola, try Leísmo

Leísmo is typical of Spanish from central Spain
Photo credit: Nick Richards licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

What the heck is this leísmo? The Spanish you hear in the streets often deviates from what the grammar authorities would prescribe in the classrooms and this one is a classic example.

Largely confined to certain areas of Spain, this colloquialism involves using le instead of lo. This colloquialism has caught on so well over the years that even RAE-prescribed grammar now considers it as an acceptable practice as long as it’s only referring to male persons and not inanimate entities. Some examples are in order here; let’s consider sentences describing someone seeing different things:

• Vio a un hombre / Lo vio (She saw a man / she saw him) – This is your standard Spanish, where lo replaces un hombre as the direct object. The same sentence when spoken casually in parts of Spain, becomes le vio, where le takes on the role of a direct object instead of lo when the entity in question is a male person, in our example, a man. This usage is now allowed by Spanish grammar.
• Vio un anillo / Lo vio (She saw a ring / she saw it) – Again, the masculine ring is referenced in the direct object form by the word, lo. However, despite being masculine, a ring is not a person and hence, cannot take a le as the man in our previous example did.

So, essentially, leísmo is just a colloquial practice allowing for le to be used as a direct object for male persons which would otherwise take a lo. It’s really that simple and if you are learning Latin American Spanish, don’t even bother with it.

Loísmo and Laísmo

This is, again, a colloquial phenomenon confined to parts of central Spain and is nothing but the stark opposite of leísmo. In such dialects, the pronouns, lo and la which are prescribed as direct object by standard Spanish grammar, get used as indirect objects instead of the more appropriate le. So, when it’s lo replacing the le, it is loísmo and when it’s la, it’s called laísmo. This practice, unlike leísmo is not endorsed by the Spanish grammar and is rarely used outside of casual street talks. Also note that laísmo is more prevalent than loísmo in such dialects.

Again, don’t bother yourself with these issues if the Spanish you’re gunning for is the Latin American flavor, because in those areas, there’s no leísmo, loísmo, or laísmo.

So, if you want to say that you gave your girlfriend a kiss, you’d translate it as:

• Standard Spanish: Le di un beso (I gave a kiss to her)
• Laísmo: La di un beso

See how la replaces le in the indirect object mode in a laísmo dialect?

Anyway, be careful while learning such colloquialism even if you are learning the laísmo/loísmo dialect of central Spain. You should know them only so you can understand when it’s being used. Why? Because it’s quite possible that your Spanish would come off as uneducated when you practice loísmo or laísmo.

That’s all there is when it comes to the third person direct and indirect objects in the Spanish language. As for the plurals, just add an “s” to the lo, la, or le and you’ll do pretty good.

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Mexican Spanish – Órale, Híjole, And Others

It’s almost impossible to spend some time in Mexico and yet never get to hear some of those exceptionally Mexican words that typically end in “-le” and sound alien even to a native Spanish speaker from outside of Mexico. Words such as órale, híjole, ándale, etc. are as authentically Mexican as mezcal, taco, or piñata and are yet absent from most Spanish language dictionaries. If you don’t understand these words, making sense of most street conversations in Mexico would be nothing short of a challenge as they are generously peppered all over the fabric of Mexican Spanish. This article tries to make sense of this jargon for you.

Órale

Well, órale actually means a whack of different things and in order to truly understand them in various contexts, you need to step out and take a walk down the streets of Chilangolandia.

Órale is as Mexican as taco, mezcal, or piñata
Photo credit: Phillip Pessar licensed CC BY 2.0

Before we actually get down to what it means, it’s important to understand where it comes from. The Mexican Language Academy pegs the word as a derivative of ahora (now) with its first letter somehow lost in transit. The suffix, “-le,” is just that – a meaningless suffix. How it came to be is neither widely known nor terribly important for your Spanish unless you are working on some linguistic research, but it’s there nonetheless.

So, what the heck does it mean anyway? Órale seems to have little to do with its origins in ahora at first glance. And that shouldn’t bother you either because certain things exist in every language for reasons best left unexplored. Moving on, this word has come to acquire several connotations in Mexican Spanish completely dependent on the context and even the speaker.

One of the ways it’s commonly used is to exhort some action – “let’s go,” “hurry up,” or “come on.”

It’s also often used as an interjection of surprise, excitement, or shock – “wow,” “oh my god.”

Yet another usage is as a term of affirmation or agreement – “yes,” “fine,” “ok,” etc. If you’ve seen the Mexican flick, Amores Perros, you’d have perhaps noticed how Jarocho often uses órale in this sense.

Lastly, it can also function as a standalone greeting, not different from “what’s up” in English. This one is pretty commonly used by the Mexican Americans in the phrase, Órale vato (What’s up, man). The vato in this phrase comes from the gitano lingo as a northern Mexican slang for man.

The fat and famous American stand-up comedian, Gabriel Iglesias loves highlighting his Mexican roots by frequently using órale during his performances. And for the voyeurs in you, there’s Óoorale!, the raunchy gossip magazine sold all over Mexico for ten pesos.

Must you memorize all these forms? Absolutely not! The closest coverall for this term in English would be “whoa.” Typically, wherever you use “whoa” in English, you can use órale in Spanish. Apart from that, it’s best to let the context guide you.

Let some examples illustrate its usage in various contexts:

• ¡Órale güey! (What’s up, dude?)
• Órale, nos vemos a las nueve. (Fine, let’s meet up at nine)
• ¡Órale que no tenemos todo el día! (Hurry up, we don’t have all day!)
• ¡Órale! Es un cuerpo! (Wow! She’s hot!)
• ¡Órale, órale! Dejala en paz, panzón! (Whoa, whoa! Leave her alone, you fatso!)
• Órale pues. (Yeah right / alright then)

As a cue to memory, if you are a wrestling fan, remember Conan, the Mexican wrestler from the days of nWo (New World Order)? Remember how he would pump up the crowd with his órale chants? He used to utter the word at least half a dozen times growing progressively louder, eliciting a public reaction like, “Get up!” or “C’mon!”

Speaking of órale pues, the phrase could also have a subtle sarcastic undertone (something like, “yeah right, whatever”) depending on the context and mood.

Ándale

Speedy Gonzales: The “fastest mouse in Mexico”
Photo credit: Bride of Frankenstein licensed CC BY 2.0

It won’t be wrong to assume most of us English speakers grew up on the never-ending antics of Tom ‘n’ Jerry, the evergreen MGM buddies. Well, our Mexican friends, too, happen to have their own cat-mouse entertainer in the form of Speedy Gonzales (the fastest mouse in Mexico) and Sylvester (the tuxedo cat) in Warner Brothers’ Looney Tunes. The word, ándale, features as one of the most prominent cheer throughout the show and the mice are often heard crying , “¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba¡…” The prominence is so strong that Speedy has invariably come to be associated with the word now.

Now, just as órale, ándale is a very versatile word. It can pull off a range of different meanings. Almost similar in usage to órale, this word can be used for encouragement, surprise, disappointment, affirmation, etc. depending on the speaker’s mood and tone of voice. We have already seen how it can be used as a shout of encouragement in Speedy’s case. So, basically, you can use ándale almost everywhere you use órale.

Also note that the sense of “hurry up” is conveyed by ándale more so than órale. On the other hand, surprised exclamations take órale better than ándale.

Used with pues, it takes the meaning of, “well, then,” or something similar, not any different from órale pues. Ándale pues or órale pues can be used, for instance, at the closure of an informal conversation as a sign of mutual agreement or understanding. Other than a conversation ender, ándale pues is also an phrase of strong approval, more like, “I totally agree,” or “that’s right.”

Let’s see if these examples illustrate all that ándale means:

• Ándale, vamos al cine. (Alright, let’s go to the movies.)
• ¡Ándale, necesitamos irnos! (Hurry up! We have to leave!)
• ¡Ándale, no eres gorda! (C’mon, you’re not fat!)

As far as ándale pues is concerned, it can also be used in the sense of, “I told you so!” For example, your mom is tired of asking you to study but you never listen and stay up watching TV all night; next day, you have a test which you obviously flunk and return home disappointed. That’s when your mom would say something like, “¿Ves? ¡Te lo dije!” And if she’s Mexican, she’d most likely yell, “¡Ándale! ¡Te lo dije!”

Híjole and others

Puerto Vallarte: Words like école, úchale, and újule are typical to central Mexico
Photo credit: Ann Larie Valentine licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Them mexicans are an innovative lot, at least when it comes to their Spanish. There are dozens of other such off-the-grid interjections that end in “le” and rarely found in any standard dictionary. Most of these words are non-standard but play an extremely important role in the streets of Mexico. These words help express a lot of such emotions and expressions which would otherwise be almost impossible for someone using the language prescribed by the purists. Some of them are:

• híjole – This one is similar to “geez,” “oh shit,” “damn,” or “wow” in English; often used to express extreme surprise, shock, exasperation, or desperation. Most often, it corresponds to the English words, “yikes” and “damn.”
• éjele – This is the word you use when you catch someone with their pants down, literally! So, let’s say, you were watching some skin flick and I caught you in the groove; that’s when I might say, “¡Éjele, ya te vi! (Whoa, I just say you!)”
• épale – This one also loosely corresponds to the English usage of “damn” or “wow.” As an imperative, it can also be used to forbid someone from doing something, more or less like the English interjection, “Stop!”
• école – This is a common expression of strong agreement; very similar to how you say, “exactly,” in English when you vehemently agree with what the speaker just mentioned. It sometimes also translates to, “of course!”
• quihúbole – This one comes from the phrase, ¿Qué hubo?, and loosely means, “what’s up?” Also rendered as quihubo, it’s generally used only with someone very familiar.
• újule – This word is used as an expression of disappointment or dismay; it usually introduces something like a bad news.
• úchale – Almost the same as újule, this word is usually an expression of displeasure or disgust.

It’s worth noting that most of these words with a few exceptions like órale, ándale, and híjole, are used in the deep interiors of central Mexico and might sound a tad funny elsewhere, and definitely alien outside of mexico!

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