Reference · module 33
What people actually say
Everything this module explains, on one page.
The everyday idioms
Understand phrases you cannot translate word for word.
- The commonest: merece la pena, dar igual, estar de acuerdo, tener ganas, hacer caso, echar una mano.
- Stronger ones: no tener ni idea, ponerse las pilas, estar hasta las narices, costar un ojo de la cara.
- The words inside them do not move. estar hasta la nariz, singular, is simply not the expression.
The mistake you are about to make
Merece pena.
Merece la pena.
The phrase feels like two words and the article drops. It is frozen whole: merece la pena.
The filler words
Recognise the words that carry no meaning.
- vale means fine, venga means come on or right then, hombre softens or protests and is said to women too.
- en plan introduces an example or a manner, roughly like: Fuimos en plan tranquilo. It is very much of the moment.
- These belong to Spain and to speech. Latin America says other things, and none of it belongs in writing.
The mistake you are about to make
Vale, en plan, le mando el informe.
De acuerdo, le envío el informe.
Casual words stick first and slip into an email to the boss. Vale and en plan belong to speech among friends.
Spain and Latin America
Know where the differences fall.
- Spain uses vosotros for a group of friends; Latin America uses ustedes for everybody. Learning vosotros is optional and understanding it is not.
- Everyday words differ: coche and carro, móvil and celular, ordenador and computadora, patata and papa.
- Latin America prefers the simple past where Spain uses the perfect: Ya comí against Ya he comido.
The mistake you are about to make
¿Vosotros queréis café? (в Мексике)
¿Ustedes quieren café?
Vosotros was learned from Spain. In Latin America a group is always ustedes.
Irony and understatement
Hear what is meant rather than what is said.
- Some phrases mean their opposite: ¡Qué bien! said flatly, Menos mal, Ya te digo, Como para no.
- Understatement is polite: No está mal for something very good, No me disgusta for I rather like it.
- Exaggeration is affectionate: Te lo he dicho mil veces. Me muero de hambre. Nobody takes either literally.
The mistake you are about to make
No está mal. (meaning: mediocre)
No está mal. (meaning: good)
The literal reading is lukewarm. No está mal is usually praise, said modestly.