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No se tenía porqué poner zapatos.
There was no need to wear shoes.
Caption 30, Federico Kauffman Doig - Arqueólogo
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In this space, just two weeks ago, we discussed que ("that") and ¿qué? ("what?"), porque ("because") and ¿por qué? ("why?"). In these instances, the accent over the é turned a conjunction into an interrogation.
This week, the affable archaeologist Federico Kauffman Doig reminds us of another porqué, which is a noun that means the reason, cause or motive for something. Because it's a noun, porqué has a gender – masculine – and is often preceded by a definite (el, los) or indefinite article (un, unos).
Related:
Nadie sabe [el] porqué de su abandono.
Nobody knows the reason for its abandonment.
Caption 39, Querido México - Teotihuacán
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Escuchar esta música en la voz de Alejandro nos hace recordar el porqué hacemos esto.
Listening to this music in Alejandro's voice makes us remember why (the reason) we do this.
Captions 12-13, Documental de Alejandro Fernandez - Viento A Favor
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Los porqués son...
The reasons are...
Un porqué de...
A reason for....
So, take this hint if you want to ace a Spanish spelling bee (un concurso de deletreo): If porqué is used as a noun, it's always one word and has an accent over its é.
Lo que pretendemos es sembrar en la gente la actitud de reducir...
What we seek is to instill in the people the attitude of reducing...
Caption 1, De consumidor a persona - Short Film
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It's easy enough to guess the meaning of some Spanish verbs. Take the environmentally helpful trio reducir, reutilizar and reciclar, for example. If you guessed the three verbs mean "to reduce," "to reutilize" and "to recycle," respectively, you're right on. Because Spanish and English share so many Latin language roots, many words sound similar–in other words, they are cognates. But watch out for false cognates, also known as false friends. Two examples are the verbs atender and asistir. In Spanish, atender does not mean "to attend," but "to serve." Meanwhile, asistir does not mean "to assist" but "to attend."
Which brings us back to the quote above. False friend pretender commonly means "to try," "to seek" or "to be after." So, the sentence above can be translated as: "What we seek is to instill [literally, "to sow"] in the people the attitude of reducing...."
While pretender and "pretend" have common Latin roots, the use of the word in English to mean "to seek" or "to undertake" fell out of use many moons ago. (Note the archaic definition still stands in some English dictionaries, like this one.)
El gobierno pretende proteger los derechos de los trabajadores.
The government seeks (or tries) to protect the rights of the workers.
Este decreto en el cual el gobierno de España pretende cobrarnos un impuesto injusto, no tiene validez.
This decree, in which the government of Spain is attempting to charge us an unfair tax, is invalid.
Captions 12-13, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 9
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No pretendo ser tu dueño.
I don't want (or aspire) to be your master.
Yo no pretendo tener ninguna relación con ningún hombre después de Tomás.
I don't intend to have any relationship with any man after Tomas.
Caption 31, Yago - 11 Prisión
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¿Y qué pretendes que haga yo? Como si pudiera cambiar algo.
And what do you want me to do? As if I could change a thing.
¿Pretendes que vaya hasta allá a buscarla desnuda?
Do you expect me to go over there and get it naked?
Caption 27, Yago - 1 La llegada
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Pensamos que el agua, que el aire, que el suelo es nuestro y podemos hacer lo que nos dé la gana. No es cierto.
We think that the water, the air, the land is all ours and we can make what we feel like. That's not true.
Captions 10-13, De consumidor a persona - Short Film - Part 2
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Gana, meaning "wish" or "will," is a noun that plays a key role to express wishes or desires in Spanish. The expression darle (a alguien) la gana means "to feel like" or "to want to."
lo que me dé la gana
what I feel like
lo que te dé la gana
what you feel like
...y te puedes venir aquí cuando te dé la gana, ¿yo te voy a perdonar?
...and you can come here whenever you feel like it, I am going to forgive you?
Caption 22, Yago - 11 Prisión
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lo que le dé la gana
what you feel like / what he-she feels like
¡Salte de alegría cuando le dé la gana!
Jump for joy whenever you feel like it!
Caption 4, Kikirikí - Animales
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lo que les dé la gana
what you [pl.] feel like / what they feel like
¿Hasta cuándo van a seguir haciendo lo que les dé la gana?
Until when are you guys going to keep doing whatever you [pl.] feel like?
Caption 42, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 3
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Even more common is the pairing of the verb tener ("to have") with the plural ganas, as in:
Tenía ganas de hacer algo, con eso y...
I wanted to do something, with it and...
Caption 68, Biografía - Natalia Oreiro
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Natalia is saying: "I wanted to do something with this." The word-for-word translation might have you thinking she had the will to do it, but common understanding is simply that she felt like it, or wanted to do it.
Tengo muchas ganas de aprender español.
I really want to learn Spanish.
A mí... yo tengo muchas ganas.
I... I really want to.
Caption 21, Amaya - Teatro romano
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No tengo ganas de parar ahora.
I don't want to stop now.
Gracias, Merycita, pero no tengo ganas de jugar.
Thank you, Merycita, but I don't feel like playing.
Caption 58, Club 10 - Capítulo 1
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Porque a mí me encanta la música francés y árabe, y yo no entiendo ni papa...
Because I love French [more correct: "música francesa"] and Arabic music, and I don't understand a word...
Captions 58-59, Si*Sé - EPK
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When Carol C. of Si*Sé says with a shrug, yo no entiendo ni papa, it's easy enough for us to understand by the context that she doesn't understand a word. She could also have said no entiendo nada, which means "I don't understand anything." [Remember: you use the word nada ("nothing") instead of algo ("anything") after no in negative expressions in Spanish.]
But here singer C.C. chooses a common Spanish phrase for emphasis -ni papa. Ni means "not even" or "nor." That much is straightforward. But papa is one of those words with an almost comic array of meanings -from "Pope," as in más papista que el papa ("more papist than the Pope"), to "potato," as in papas fritas ("french fries"). Well, one of the many meanings of papa comes from the Latin "pappa" and it means "baby food," "mush," or "pulp." And that's the meaning most commonly associated with the phrase ni papa (literally: "not even mush").
No puedo ver ni papa.
I can't see a thing.
Él no sabe ni papa.
He doesn't know a thing.
Related:
Es una papa.
It's a piece of cake. [It's easily done/easily accomplished.]
No te preocupes por el examen, es una papa.
Don´t worry about the exam, it´s a piece of cake.
Y sembrar sus cositas por ahí... lo que da cebolla, tomate, al pimentón, el ají y otras cosas pues, por ahí.
And planting their little things around here... producing onion, tomato, red pepper, chili and other stuff, around here.
Captions 29-31, José Rodríguez - La Finca
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Have you noticed that the verb dar, which we usually take to mean "to give" seems to be used a lot in reference to the growing of fruits and vegetables. Well it turns out that what is doing the "giving," and sometimes it is implied, sometimes more explicit, is la tierra, "the land." Here we find José Rodríguez talking about people in the area "planting their little things around here... producing onion, tomato, red pepper, chili peppers, and other things, around here."
It's not the first time we find dar used in this way. If we check back with our friend Rafael discussing Guatemala:
La tierra... la tierra de las verduras... porque ahí hay'... da buenas... verduras, como repollo, zanahoria, cebolla... tomate...
The land... the land of vegetables... because there are'... it [the land] produces good... vegetables, like cabbage, carrot, onion... tomato...
Captions 14-16, Rafael T. - Guatemala Hermosa
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Digamos en la costa, también da buenas frutas como la naranja, la sandía, la papaya, el melón... el coco.
Let's say in the coast, it also produces good fruit like oranges, watermelon, papaya, melon... coconut.
Captions 18-20, Rafael T. - Guatemala Hermosa
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Another example:
Este año, mis tierras no han dado una buena cosecha.
This year, my lands didn't produce a good harvest.
In all of the examples above, dar takes a direct object ("cabbage", "oranges", etc.). However, the reflexive darse can be used as well, with no direct object, and the meaning is "to grow," or "to come up." (This "reflexive" usage, as per the examples below, is somewhat more common in Spain than Latin America.)
He plantado aquí tomates, pero no se dan.
I planted tomatoes here, but they aren't growing (or "aren't coming up").
Las palmeras no se dan en Noruega.
Palm trees don't grow in Norway.
Estas papayas no se dan en todo lado.
These papayas don't occur everywhere.
Caption 10, Otavalo - Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia
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Pero no te quedes ahí dándole vueltas a la cabeza, que tanto pensar no es bueno.
But don't stay there making your head spin, because thinking so much is not good.
Captions 31-32, De consumidor a persona - Short Film
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Que most often means "that." Slap an accent on the final e and we have qué, used to ask the question "what?" -- add por before qué and you have ¿por qué?, which asks the question "why?" ¿Por qué? is two words, but if we push the two together, without the accent on the e, we have porque, which is one word, and it means "because."
You may just know all that. What you might not have known is that que can also mean "because," or "as," and that's the meaning it takes in the line above.
Other examples:
No comas más, que no es bueno antes de ir a la cama.
Don't eat more, as it's not good before going to bed.
Obedéceme, que si no lo haces, te vas a arrepentir.
Obey me, because if you don't, you are going to regret it.
No corras, que el piso está mojado.
Don't run, because the floor is wet.
Mi papá fue maestro de escuela, director de las escuelas de las compañías petroleras Shell, en aquel entonces.
My dad was a school teacher, head of the schools of the Shell oil companies, in those days.
Captions 6-9, Emiro - La Historia de Emiro
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On the beach in Eastern Venezuela, Pimienta Café proprietor Emiro tells us about his family history. To tell us about life "back then," Emiro uses the phrase en aquel entonces, which might seem to mean "In that then," if taken literally. But this common expression of time is better understood as "in those times" or "in those days."
Note the use of demonstrative adjective aquel here. Remember that in Spanish there are three demonstrative adjectives to say "this" and "that": este, ese AND aquel. The last of this demonstrative trio is sometimes translated as "that...way over there," implying more distance than a simple ese (or, "that"). So you should get a sense that Emiro is talking about what happened "way back when."
In the Columbian television series Los Años Maravillosos we hear the narrator speak of a simpler, more innocent time from his childhood.
Esa tarde salí a dar un paseo.
That afternoon I went out to take a walk.
En aquel entonces los niños todavía podían salir solos sin terminar en manos de un atracador.
Back then children could still go out alone without ending up in the hands of a thief.
Captions 1-3, Los Años Maravillosos - Capítulo 1
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Faithful readers might remember that we recently discussed a similar construction of time. You see, Hoy en día means "nowadays" even though it may appear to mean something like "today in day" if taken literally (and awkwardly). Back in Venezuela we have an example of Emiro using the phase while talking about his wife.
Luego aquí en Adícora conocí a una muchacha de aquí del pueblo, se llama Lizbeth, mi esposa ahora, hoy en día.
Then here in Adícora I met a girl from here in this town, named Lizbeth, my wife now, these days.
Captions 28-30, Emiro - La Historia de Emiro
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¡Ay, pero por Dios, me va a ver! ¡Yo de ésta no puedo zafar!
Ay for God's sake, he's gonna see me! I can't dodge this one!
Caption 76, Provócame - Piloto
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Later, in the same scene, our heroine Ana has another breathless exclamation worthy of a closer look. In it, she uses the verb zafar, which can mean "to escape," "to free" or "to untie," according to the authoritative Spanish dictionary from the La Real Academia Española. Along these lines, a current popular song by the Uruguayan band La Vela Puerca is titled Zafar, in the sense of "To escape." The song discusses the fumes and smells of the city and is punctuated by the refrain: ...estoy zafando del olor ("...I am escaping from the smell").
In neighboring, Argentina, you hear the verb zafar all the time on the city streets, with a more modern, slangy meaning: "to get by." For example, if you ask an Argentine how he's doing, he may answer, estoy zafando, meaning "I'm hanging in there."
¡Te vieron la cara! ¡Dame!
They took you for a fool! Give me that!
Caption 65, Provócame - Piloto
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A literal translation of Te vieron la cara would seem to mean "They saw your face." However, there is an expression in many Latin American countries that goes me/te/se/nos vieron la cara de idiota, which translates literally to something like "they saw my/your/his/her/our face as the face of an idiot" but which is best taken as "They took me/you/him/her for a fool." The ending de idiota is often dropped and merely implied, so when Ana declares ¡Te vieron la cara! she means "They took you for a fool!" (By the way, while this expression is found from Mexico City to Buenos Aires, you are not bound to hear it in Spain.)
Depending on the context of the situation, the phrase can also mean they took you for something else besides a fool. For example, if you are charged a hefty sum for a street taco in downtown Tijuana, you might suspect "They took me for a tourist," Me vieron la cara de turista.
Monte de Piedad
Mount of Mercy
Caption 3, Control Machete - El Apostador
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Monte de Piedad translates literally to "Mount of Mercy," which sounds like a religiously inspired exclamation use to punctuate this tale of gaming overindulgence; it is in fact the name of Mexico's facinating chain of state-run and state-controlled pawn shops. These exist throughout the country and are actively used by a surprisingly large percentage of the Mexican population on a fairly regular basis.
An excellent write-up including a modern account and full history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nacional_Monte_de_Piedad
Also worth reading:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1280276,00.html
Che boluda... ¿qué te pasa? Estás como loca hoy.
Hey silly [potentially insulting, not amongst close friends]... what's up? Today you're like crazy.
Caption 3, Cuatro Amigas - Piloto - Part 3
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Our third installment of Cuatro Amigas – a very Sex and the City-like Argentine drama – opens in the ladies' bathroom, where we get a chihuahua's eye view of Elena and Rita's taste in intimate apparel. They are chatting intimately, addressing each other with che in caption 3 (cited above) and again in caption 14. In Argentina, che means "hey" between friends, or even "yo." Basically, it's a familiar, informal attention getter... che, got that?
If you watched 2004's Motorcycle Diaries, chronicling the cross-continent journeys that raised the consciousness of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, you know how Che got his famous nickname. For the rest of you: The Chileans were simply making fun of young Ernesto's Argentine habit of saying che all the time. (For more lore about the Marxist revolutionary, look for the two-part 2008 biopic called Che, with Benicio del Toro as a very convincing Che.)
Back to the quote cited above, which is translated as, "Hey silly, what's going on with you?" But we put a special note next to our translation of "silly" because that's not the whole story. Boludo or boluda is a slang word in Argentina that roughly means something more like "jerk." Use it with caution in the streets of Buenos Aires because it can be quite an insult, depending on the context. But between girlfriends, it's almost another way to say "hey... you."
Bueno... está bien, Tere.
All right... Tere, OK.
Caption 30, Verano Eterno - Fiesta Grande
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Bien, usually meaning "well" or "OK," has a plethora of uses that can change slightly in meaning depending on the context. Here, Tere's mother tells her that "it's OK" for her to take piano lessons with Juan. "OK" is a fairly typical translation for bien.
Es ahora bien buena madre con los hijos adoptivos
Now she is such a good mother with the adopted children
Captions 42-43, José Luís Acacio - Simón Bolívar
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The word bien, when placed before an adjective, tends to emphasize the meaning of that adjective. Here, that emphasis is perhaps best translated as "very" or "such a" to give us "Now, she's a very good mother" (or "such a good mother").
Note that when it's not used to describe your mother, bien buena, on it's own, most often means "really hot" or "really fine," (in the colloquial sense) and is used referring to some sexy thing.
¡Mamacita, estas bien buena!
Girl, you are damn fine!
Entonces que nosotros, pues, tenemos una... tenemos un dialecto que es bien bonito.
So it's that we, well, have a... we have a dialect that is quite beautiful.
Captions 47-48, Rafael T. - La Cultura Maya
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Sometimes that emphasis that the word bien gives to the adjective it precedes seems to be best translated as "quite," which in this case gives us: "We have a dialect that is quite beautiful."
Bien is used for emphasis in a variety of sayings that are common among younger speakers often prone to exaggeration:
Cantas bien mal.
You sing really badly.
Keep your eyes open for many more interesting uses of bien!
Yo no me acuerdo pero bien pudo ser.
I don't remember but it well could have been (or, easily may have been).
Y después de amamantarlos tanto a unos como otros
And after nursing them each one like the other
Captions 45-46, José Luís Acacio - Simón Bolívar
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José's patriotic tune personifies Venezuela as a mother and in so doing introduces us to some great words for motherly attention.
Amamantar means "to nurse" or even more literally "to breast feed" (coming from the root for mammary glands, mama), and so here we have "And later to nurse them...". This really reinforces the notion of amor carnal ("bodily love") that Madre Venezuela shows her people.
Con ese amor tan carnal meciéndolos en su hamaca
With such a carnal love rocking them in her swing
Captions 47-48, José Luís Acacio - Simón Bolívar
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Mecer means "to cradle," "to swing," or "to sway." So here he sings of Madre Venezuela cradling or swinging her children "in their hammock."
Los dormía y arrullaba con nuestro himno nacional
She put them to sleep and lulled them with our national anthem
Captions 49-50, José Luís Acacio - Simón Bolívar
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Arrullar means "to lull" or "to coo" (refering to the noise made by pigeons and that made by mothers to lull their babies). Therefore, "She put them to sleep and lulled them."
So a late afternoon routine for a mother might go like this:
En la tarde, la madre amamanta el bebe si tiene hambre. Después para que sea quieto, le arrulla en sus brazos. Entonces, cuando ya está más quieto, ella pone el bebe en la cuna ("cradle") y le mece hasta que entra el sueño.
In the afternoon, the mother breastfeeds the baby if he is hungry. Then for him to be still, she cradles him in her arms. So, when he is more still, she puts the baby in her crib ("cradle") and rocks him until he falls asleep.
The verb gustar, or Spanish equivalent of "to like," tends to confuse English speakers because, in terms of the relationship between a sentence's subject and object, it functions in exactly the opposite way. To better understand this, let's define these two terms:
Generally speaking, the subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that performs an action.
The object of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that receives the action of the sentence's verb.
A very simple example of this concept would be: "I threw the ball," where "I" is the subject, or performer of the action, and "the ball" is the object, or recipient of the action.
That said, with the English verb "to like," it is the subject of the sentence that "does the liking." Let's look at a few simple examples:
She likes pizza ("She" is the subject who performs the action of liking onto the object, "pizza").
Anna and John like dogs ("Anna and John" is the subject; they perform the action of liking onto the object, "dogs").
We like you ("We" is the subject that performs the action of liking onto the object, "you").
In Spanish, on the other hand, the subject, or performer of the action, is the person, place, or thing that, in English, is "being liked." To see this in action, let's take a look at some captions from a Yabla video on this very topic:
Me gusta mucho este parque. A ti también te gusta ¿verdad? Sí, me gustan las plantas. Sí, a mí me gustan las plantas y las flores y los árboles.
I really like this park. You like it too, right? Yes, I like the plants. Yes, I like the plants and the flowers and the trees.
Captions 9-13, Conversaciones en el parque - Cap. 5: Me gusta mucho este parque.
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In Spanish, este parque (this park), las plantas (the plants), and las plantas y las flores y los árboles (the plants and the flowers and the trees) are the subjects of these sentences, as they are thought to "cause" the implied objects yo (I) and tú (you) to like them. In their English translations, on the other hand, "I" and "you" are the subjects of the sentences, whereas "this park," "it," "the plants," and "the plants and the flowers and the trees" are the objects that receive the action of liking.
While this difference in perception may confuse English speakers, it is useful to note that the English verb "to please" functions similarly to "gustar" in terms of the subject-object relationship. Therefore, it may be a good exercise to substitute this verb for "to like" when translating Spanish sentences with "gustar" or attempting to formulate new ones. Let's take a look at our previous example, this time translated with the verb "to please":
Me gusta mucho este parque. A ti también te gusta ¿verdad? Sí, me gustan las plantas. Sí, a mí me gustan las plantas y las flores y los árboles.
This park really pleases me. It also pleases you, right? Yes, the plants please me. Yes, the plants and the flowers and the trees please me.
To reiterate this concept, let's take a look at some additional examples where the verb gustar has been translated as "to like" while providing their alternative translations with "to please":
1.
Me gustan mucho las chaquetas de piel.
I really like leather jackets.
Caption 32, 75 minutos - Gangas para ricos - Part 14
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ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATION:
Me gustan mucho las chaquetas de piel.
Leather jackets really please me.
2.
Yo te quiero así y me gustas porque eres diferente
I love you like that, and I like you because you're different
Caption 12, Carlos Vives, Shakira - La Bicicleta
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ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATION:
Yo te quiero así y me gustas porque eres diferente
I love you like that, and you please me because you're different
3.
¿Te gusta trabajar aquí, te gusta? -No, no me gusta, no.
Do you like working here, do you like it? -No, I don't like it, no.
Caption 77, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa - Part 12
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ALTERNATIVE TRANSLATION:
¿Te gusta trabajar aquí, te gusta? -No, no me gusta, no.
Does working here please you, does it please you? -No, it doesn't please me, no.
Note that while the alternative translations are grammatically correct, their primary purpose here is to help us to understand how the Spanish verb "gustar" functions. As in everyday speech, it would be far less common to hear someone say "You please me" than "I like you," the translations with "to like" are preferable in most cases.
Now that we are familiar with the different manners in which the English and Spanish languages express the concept of "liking," it's time to learn how to conjugate the verb "gustar," which we'll cover in the next lesson. That's all for today, and don't forget to leave us your comments and suggestions.
¿No me digas que arrugaste?
Don't tell me you're backing out?
Caption 12, Verano Eterno - Fiesta Grande
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In the same scene, Benjamin rekindles the fire of the apuesta ("bet") to see whether Mauro has won the heart of Violeta. At one point, he asks Mauro if their bet is still on. To do so, he uses the verb arrugar, which means "to wrinkle" or "to crumble" in other contexts. But in the context of their bet, arrugar would mean crumble in a way, but a more straightforward translation is "to back out."
Keep your eyes open in the cosmetics section to find una arruga used as a noun meaning "a wrinkle," and often in the plural as arrugas.
When learning Spanish gets tough, ¡No arrugues!
¿No te parece un poquitito tarde para abrir?
Don't you think it's a bit late to open?
Caption 1, Verano Eterno - Fiesta Grande
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If un poco means "a little," and un poquito is the diminutive form (meaning "just a little bit"), what is un poquitito? Yup, it's the diminutive of the diminutive. It's kind of like saying: "Just a wee little bitty bit" for an exaggerated effect. In the opening line of this installment of Verano Eterno, Benjamin is giving Mauro a hard time. Using a diminutive of a diminutve helps him exaggerate his sarcastic comment for effect.
At a travel and tourism exposition in London, we meet Ángela who is from Tarija, Bolivia. She tells us a little bit about a favourite dish of hers from her hometown called "saice."
Es parecido al chili con carne, pero como les digo, es muchísimo más sabroso.
It's similar to "chili con carne," but as I tell you guys, it's way more tasty.
Se acompaña con arroz y un poquitito de ensaladita.
It comes with rice and a little bit of salad.
Captions 22-23, World Travel Market en Londres - Ángela de Bolivia
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There's one other diminutive of a diminutive that's commonly heard: Chico, as in "small" can be made "very very small" by saying chiquitito. (Note that in both cases, the "c" turns to a "qu" to retain that hard c/k sound before "i.")
O quizás una barba pequeñita en la barbilla que se llama perilla.
Or perhaps a tiny beard on the chin that's called a goatee.
Es la perilla, solamente aquí, chiquitito.
It's a goatee, only here, very small.
Captions 81-83, Marta de Madrid - El cuerpo - La cabeza
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Un segmento de una hora u hora y media.
A period of one hour or one hour and a half.
Caption 40, Rafael T. - La Cultura Maya
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Sooner or later we all notice cases where 'u' replaces 'o' ("or") or where 'e' replaces 'y' ("and"). These conjunctions change when the word following them starts with the same letter sound. Therefore in the example above, 'o' changes to 'u' because the beginning sound of the next word, hora, is [o] (note that the h is silent).
The rule of thumb is pretty simple: With the conjunctions o ("or") and y ("and"), the vowels change if they are followed by the same vowel sounds.
Here are some examples of the vowel change in action:
¿Vas a comprar siete cervezas u ocho?
Are you going to buy seven beers or eight?
¿Quieres cervezas o gaseosas?
Do you want beers or sodas?
and...
Julieta e Ignacio estudian la medicina.
Julieta and Ignacio study medicine.
Yasmil y Javier tocan a la guitarra.
Yasmil and Javier play the guitar.
Try speaking the sentence without changing the vowel and you should hear that it sounds funny to say the same vowel sound twice. That should help you remember this simple rule.
When learning how to talk about the future in Spanish, you don’t always need the traditional future tense. Instead, Spanish speakers frequently use the "ir + a + Infinitive" construction, which is known as the near future tense or "futuro próximo". This structure is one of the easiest and most common ways to express future actions in everyday conversation. In this lesson, we’ll explain how it works and give you plenty of examples to start using it naturally.
In Spanish, the verb ir (to go) can be combined with the preposition a and the infinitive form of another verb to indicate future actions. Here’s the formula:
This structure is similar to saying "going to" in English. For example:
así que seguramente voy a aprender muchas cosas,
so I'm surely going to learn a lot of things,
Caption 14, Amaya Cata de vinos
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los alumnos van a visitar una exposición de f'... sobre feminismos
the students are going to visit an exhibit about f'... about feminism
Caption 104, Escuela BCNLIP Presentación de la directora - Part 2
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While Spanish has a dedicated future tense, the "ir + a + infinitive" construction is often used in everyday speech because it’s simpler and more conversational. In fact, it’s one of the most common ways to talk about the future.
Somos dos, nunca sola vas a ir Y ahora voy, sonriendo junto a ti Somos dos, juntos vamos a vivir
We are two, you will never go alone And now I go, smiling along with you We are two, together we will live
Captions 17-19, Liquits Desde Que
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Instead of using the future tense forms irás or viviremos, the Mexican band Liquits uses "ir + a + infinitive," which gives the song a more immediate, conversational tone.
Here are more examples to help you get comfortable with this construction:
¡Ay, buena idea! Yo voy a buscar a ver si tengo el teléfono en la base de datos.
Oh, good idea! I'm going to look and see if I have the phone number in the database.
Captions 70-71, Confidencial: Broma pesada Capítulo 4 - Part 8
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ella va a hacer la ensalada y yo voy a hacer la carne.
she is going to make the salad, and I am going to make the meat.
Caption 12, Misión Chef 2 - Pruebas - Part 7
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Vamos a ver algunas preguntas para que puedan ver las diferentes opciones que se pueden utilizar en diversos contextos.
We're going to look at some questions so that you can see the different options that can be used in various contexts.
Captions 12-14, Carlos explica 20 formas de decir sí sin decir sí
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El próximo año, ellos van a vivir en otro país.
Next year, they are going to live in another country.
Caption 42, Clase Aula Azul Planes para el futuro - Part 2
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To use this structure correctly, you need to know how to conjugate the verb ir for each person:
Yo voy a (I am going to)
Tú/Vos vas a (You are going to)
Él/Ella | Usted va a (He/She is going to | You [formal] are going to)
Nosotros/Nosotras vamos a (We are going to)
Vosotros/Vosotras vais a (You all are going to)
Ellos/Ellas | Ustedes van a (They | You all are going to)
While both forms are correct, "ir + a + infinitive" is more commonly used in spoken Spanish. It’s simpler and feels more natural in everyday conversation. So, next time you want to talk about your future plans, try using this structure!
That’s it for today. Ready to start using the "ir + a + infinitive" structure in your Spanish conversations? Leave us a comment with your own example sentences, and don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
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