I think the one expression in Spanish that caught me off guard the most as someone who learned formal grammar was learning yo que tú
In regular formal Spanish - which is still standard and I want to preface that this is totally normal - you usually say si yo fuera tú (or the more Spain version si yo fuese tú) for "if I were you"
And in general that's how you do that whole thing "if you were me", "if I were you", etc etc it's all the imperfect subjunctive [a contrary to fact statement], and then you usually follow it up with conditional ["then I would..."]
So like, si yo fuera tú, no lo haría "if I were you, I wouldn't do it"; imperfect subjunctive + conditional
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But colloquially if you didn't want to deal with the imperfect subjunctive, you will often see yo que tú which is literally "I that you"; but it's like "if I were in your place" or "if it were me"
Just colloquial
The conditional is still the same - yo que tú, no lo haría "if I were you, I wouldn't do it"
I've also seen people use yo de ti instead of yo que tú; that's really informal though and not always approved of for standard Spanish - yo de ti literally is "I of you", but it sort of comes out like "I, about you, + conditional"
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In other words, very standard use all your verbs is si yo fuera tú
Colloquial yo que tú... then a little more informal than that, yo de ti
in spanish class we’re starting to learn more complex skills & they explain it to us using technical grammatical terms but how am i supposed to learn spanish grammar if i don’t know these grammatical terms in ENGLISH
Hey! I know exactly how that feels. I remember being in Spanish class in high school thinking how am I ever going to make sense of this?
The best advice I can give to you is learn the definitions of the word and simply it down
For example, when I was struggling with direct objects and indirect objects, they seemed like the same thing to me basically according to the textbook. I could not make sense of it. It wasn't until my German teacher started teaching us direct and indirect objects that it began to make sense. She knew the textbooks sucked at explaining it to she explained direct objects to use like this:
It's what you smoke
It's what you eat
It's what you buy
It's what you touch
It's what you kiss
It's what you see
It's what you hear
It's what ignore
It's what you do essentially. It is THE THING your action is doing.
For example, If I'm drinking a beer, the beer is the direct object because it's what I'm drinking. If I am giving a beer to my dad, the beer is the direct object because it's what I am giving.
There's no one best way to get the hang of it but try to get the most basic simplified and dumbed down definition of the term and focus on what the formation looks like instead of the definition.
How would you express “fuck around and find out (FAFO)” in Spanish?
Okay, so there are a handful of ways to say it, most don't have the same vulgarity to it
There isn't much that has the same standardization or vulgarity but:
Sigue así, y verás qué pasa. = Keep it up and you'll see what happens.
El que busca encuentra. = "The one who looks will find."
And two others that are idiomatic expressions that can be sort of conjugated at will:
jugar con fuego = to play with fire. Often it's like si juegas con fuego, te quemas "if you play with fire you get burned"
sembrar vientos y recoger tempestades = "to sow wind and reap the whirlwind". Biblical, but it's "you reap what you sow" basically. Sometimes it's remolinos "whirlwinds" instead of tempestades "storms"
There are also some that you can just kind of put together. They're not idiomatic but they make sense. Like no jueges o te va a pesar which is "don't play or you'll regret it" as a command of jugar
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I also do want to point out the use of buscar here - while it isn't just "to look for", there are some places and contexts where it can be a little bit more.
I don't know if it's anywhere else but I've seen te lo buscaste for Spain. That is literally "you sought it out for yourself", so it comes off as "you got what you deserved" or simply "you deserved it"
You can often see buscar used that way
The basic buscar peligro "to look for danger" or buscar problemas "to look for trouble". I've also seen estás buscando una paliza "you're looking for a beating"
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I have also heard an expression that I think it's regional but it was like rifar una hostia which is "to raffle off a beatdown" in Spain. The full expression is something like se está rifando una hostia y tienes todas las papeletas
That literally means "they're raffling off a smackdown and you've got all the tickets"
garabatear = to scribble, to scrawl, to doodle
[sometimes it's garrapatear but in my experience it's usually garabatear]
avisar = to warn / to inform
borrar = to erase, to delete, to wipe away
yuxtaponer = to juxtapose
amenazar = to threaten
yacer = "to lie on" / to be located
[most often said of places or geography, like la ciudad yace en un cruce "the city lies on a crossroads", or it can be a fancy way of saying "lie down"... it generally tends to be a bit more literary but is like "rests upon" or "is situated on"]
cavar = to dig
excavar = to dig up [lit. "dig out"]
socavar = to undermine [lit. "dig under"]
gestionar = to manage, to arrange, to run (a business)
[la gestión is another word for "management" usually in a business sense]
acabar = to carry out, to finish
acabar(se) = for something to run out [like se acaba el tiempo "time is running out"]
acabar de (hacer algo) = to have (just) done something [in the sense of recently]
acabar con (algo/alguien) = to get rid of / to put an end to
[with people it usually implies "killing" like "to finish off"]
brotar = to break out, to arise / to sprout
[can be used as plants, but also un brote is "an outbreak" either of things like diseases or even pimples, or it could be when something "appears" or "happens" like an "appearance"]
jurar = to swear (an oath), to promise, to vow
unir = to join, to unite
unirse = to join together, to merge
reunir = to gather together, to gather up
reunirse = to meet up (people), to have a meeting
aumentar = to increase
disminuir = to decrease, to diminish
crecer = to grow, to rise, to expand / to wax (the moon)
crecer(se) = to grow up
menguar = to diminish, to wane [in general and also the moon], to ebb
cerrar = to close
cerrar con llave = to lock [lit. "to close with (a) key"]
cerrar a cal y canto = to block up, to seal completely
[a cal y canto sometimes a calicanto refers to something like brick and mortar; it's literally "lime(stone) and (brick) stone" for building materials but it means "to brick up" in a literal sense - in euphemisms it means "to seal off completely", calicanto usually refers to a brick wall or stonework]
desmoronar(se) = to collapse, to come crumbling down
eligir = to choose, to elect (someone)
desencadenar(se) = to unleash, to be unleashed
[lit. "to unchain"; can be used in the sense of "to be unleashed" the dramatic way... it also can literally mean "to take off someone's chains"]
trasnochar = to stay up late, to not sleep / "to stay out all night"
[sometimes "to pull an all-nighter"]
apretar = to squeeze
soplar = to blow air / for air or wind to blow
imprimir = to print
firmar = to sign
agitar = to shake / to agitate
[not in terms of shaking hands (which is usually darse la mano "to give each other one's hand) - this is "to shake" like shaking a drink]
temblar = to tremble, to shudder, to shake
[can also be "to shake" in the context of earthquakes]
encender = to light / to turn on (electronics)
apagar = to extinguish / to turn off (electronics)
hostigar = to plague, to annoy, to bother, to harass
enredar = to tangle, to entangle
derrotar = to defeat
rugir = to roar, to bellow, to boom
caducar = to expire, to no longer be valid
agregar = to add
añadir = to add
congelar = to freeze
descongelar = to unfreeze / to thaw
equivocarse = to be wrong, to be mistaken
salpicar = to splash
enterrar = to bury
desterrar = to banish, to exile
aterrizar = to land
[usually said of flying things, like birds, planes or helicopters since it is literally "to-earth" - can also be "to touch down (on the ground)"]
brillar = to shine
contar = to count / to recount, to tell a story
contar con algo/alguien = to trust in something/someone, to rely on
alquilar = to rent
sangrar(se) / desangrar(se) = to bleed / to bleed out / "to bleed dry"
blandir = to wield, to brandish
reproducir = to reproduce / to play back (audio)
derramar = to spill, to spill out / to hemorrhage
[you will also see derramar sangre which is "to shed/spill blood"]
quebrar = to break, to smash
torcer = to twist / to sprain (a body part)
retorcer(se) = to warp, to become twisted / to writhe
[as in wood becoming "warped" after rain etc, or for the truth to be "twisted"]
abrazar(se) = to hug
abrasar = to roast, to scorch, to raze
derrumbar = to knock down, to destroy
derrumbarse = (for something/someone) to collapse or break down
masticar = to chew
saludar = to greet / to salute
[also understood as "waving at someone", but still technically "greeting"]
despedir = to fire (someone from a job)
[it's also another word for "to give off" or "emit", but you're usually seeing this in a job setting as "to fire" or "to sack"]
despedirse (de) = to stay goodbye to, to bid farewell
arrojar = to throw, to toss
lanzar = to launch
[in the sense of projectiles like launching rockets or missiles, and also "to launch (a program)" both in marketing and in TV]
podar = to trim, to prune (trees/vegetation)
[usually vegetation but some people use it figuratively as "to get rid of" or "to trim off"]
amortiguar = to muffle / to cushion, "to soften the blow"
rezar = to pray
espantar = to frighten, to scare / "to scare away"
[as in el espantapájaros is "scarecrow" - or lit. "scares-birds", espantar can be used in this way to mean "to ward off" in some cases]
ahuyentar = to ward off, to chase off
huir = to flee, to run away
cosechar = to harvest, to reap
velar = to stay up, to stay awake / to keep vigil / to watch over, to keep vigil over
velar(se) = to shroud / to wear a veil
[two separate etymologies here deriving from la vela - the first one is la vela that comes from "vigil" so it can be both to stay awake or to guard, this version is also related to la vela that means "candle", and because of that la vela can also be "sleepless" or "wakefulness", and duermevela means "fitful sleep" or "light sleep", meaning "a wakeful sleep".......... the second vela is related to "sail of a ship" or "vellum" material, where it meant cloth or a piece of fabric; that's where you get el velo "veil" and el velorio "shroud"
I'm not sure how common this word is, but there's this word bisoño/a is another word for "newbie" or "rookie"
The most general word for this in Spanish is el novato or la novata [meaning "newbie", while there's also principiante meaning "beginner"]
But bisoño/a carries the meaning of "inexperienced"
If anyone knows Italian you probably caught that this word comes from bisogno in Italian meaning "necessity", and it's part of the expression in Italian for "I need"
[similar to Spanish, Italian has multiple expressions with their verb for "to have" that can be used with other words for certain expressions - like in Spanish, tengo hambre is "I am hungry" but literally "I have hunger"... in Italian one of the ways to say "I need" is literally "I have need of"]
Supposedly the story behind this is that during 1490s/1500s, Spain - specifically Castille and Aragon - also had control of parts of Italy, being the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily
At the time, the French were also trying to gain control of large parts of Italy, so there were wars in Italy over this
And when the new or inexperienced troops from the Spanish Crown went over to Italy, they didn't always know how to take care of themselves or figure things out so they were always trying to say ho bisogno di meaning "I need (something)"...
so it became this running joke of "here come these newbies, they're so needy" and that's why it's bisoño/a
Since beber means "to drink," but tomar can also be used for drinking (e.g. tomar café), in which circumstances are either more common? or are they more or less interchangeable?
Yes and no
beber comes across as more formal or textbook correct than tomar in some cases but it's more about the vibes
People will use tomar in place of beber a lot of times for "to drink", but both are acceptable
The vibes part can be difficult to explain because this is when your intention is changing what verb you use
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Also I'll explain at the bottom, but tomar has other meanings that apply outside of drinks; and not just that it's the verb "to take"
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Please note that in regular Spanish no one minds if you use beber or tomar for "to drink"
There is however a difference in some contexts with the vibes. And again, in general this is subtle, and both are fine. I think tomar is more common in a lot of contexts [minus health things like es importante beber agua "it's important to drink water" but even then]
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The vibes thing can be important though, and that's harder to translate. So please assume that for these examples that the vibes are different lol
The best way to explain it is this:
beber (el/un) café = to drink coffee
tomar (el/un) café = to have a cup of coffee
Does that make sense?
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But tomar is used with drinks particularly translated as "to have"
The verb beber is used to describe the mechanics of it, physically drinking... while tomar expresses the feeling of "for enjoyment/relaxation" or that it holds some kind of benefit emotionally or for the soul in some way?
Maybe better expressed as beber té "to drink tea" vs tomar té "to have a cup of tea" or "to have a cuppa" if that makes sense
You may command someone to "drink water" because it keeps them hydrated and use beber, but if someone is anxious or on edge you could instead use tomar as "have a glass of water"
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beber as a verb is super common and is directly related to la bebida "drink" or "beverage" [the word "beverage" is literally "drink-age/ness]
It can be used as "to drink" used in a very neutral way, or to describe "drinking" as in alcohol - so you might see beber/bebida used when discussing alcoholism or drunkenness
beber is also primarily used with liquids
And beber is directly related to embeber(se) which is "to imbibe" or "to soak in", which is generally a bit more formal but it's like "to saturate" or "to become saturated"; if it's just "to drink" then it's beber
English has this thing where a lot of the standard words tend to be Germanic [drink from trinken in German], while the fancier words tend to be Latin by way of French [imbibe from bibere in Latin]
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tomar is a bit of a special case because it means "to take"
Otherwise it comes across as "to have" or "to take in" - and with this context it can also come across as "to ingest"; so you see it with liquids, medicine (even just pills), and other things so I'll explain:
tomar agua = to drink/have water
tomar café = to drink/have coffee
tomar un café / tomar un cafecito = "to have a cup of coffee"
tomar té = to drink/have tea
tomar medicina = to have/ingest medicine
tomar un descanso = to take a break, to have a rest
tomar un recreo = to take a break
tomar un respiro = to take a breath / to take a break
tomarse un respiro = "to catch one's breath", "to have a rest"
tomar el aire = "to get some fresh air"
[lit. "to take (in) the air"; English uses "fresh air" for this or "to get some air", like going outside or leaving a situation temporarily; sometimes idiomatically people use it as "to clear one's head"; some countries use coger instead so in Spain you might see coger el aire as "to get some air"... a lot of countries don't use coger because it would be vulgar; it would be like "to fuck the air"... so bit of regionalisms there]
tomar el sol = to sunbathe
[you also see lagartear which is literally "to lizard" but it means "to bask in the sun"; tomar el sol is just the universal way to say "to sunbathe", literally "to take in the sun"]
You also use tomar with reflexives sometimes, particularly with commands as in "to take (for one's self)" or "to have (for one's own good)"
Tómate tu tiempo. = Take your time.
Tómate un respiro. = Take a breath. / Catch your breath.
Tómate un cafecito. = "Have yourself a nice cup of coffee."
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With drinks though, largely interchangeable; beber is the standard and more limited, sometimes more clinical word "to drink"... and tomar the one that requires extra paragraphs to explain lol
Do you have a definitive list of verbs that use the indirect object in place of the subject (verbs like gustar, e.g.)? Thanks in advance
It's not a definitive list - and I will also say that there are sometimes when the verbs could go either way but I'll include the ones I know that usually take indirect objects
I also did want to quickly correct something in your explanation - it's not that the indirect object takes the place of the subject; it's that the subject is the object of the sentence, which affects someone else - thus it's an indirect object
In other words; me gusta la película is translated as "I like the movie" but the literal translation is "the movie pleases me"... the subject is actually la película, but the yo is the one who is the object, so it's me
Please again keep in mind that this list is specifically in reference to indirect objects:
gustar = to like
encantar = to really like
doler = to hurt [body parts or your soul etc; your own personal body usually - hurting someone else is lastimar and it uses direct objects]
molestar = to annoy
importar = to be important to, to matter
preocupar = to worry
fascinar = to be intrigued by / to be obsessed with / "to really like"
quedar = to remain / to be left
quedar = to fit [as in no me queda bien "it doesn't fit well" when talking about clothing, or "it doesn't suit me"... the verb caber is "to fit" as in physical spaces, related to "capacity"]
costar = to be difficult
faltar = to not have enough, to be lacking
hacer falta = to not have enough, to be lacking
sobrar = to have too much, to have left over
bastar = to be enough, to have enough
convenir = to be in someone's interest, to be convenient, to suit someone, "to feel like" [as in si me conviene "if I feel like it" or "if it suits me"]
caer bien = to get along with, to have a good feeling about
caer mal = to not get along with, to have a bad feeling about
interesar = to be interested in/by
divertir = to amuse
dar miedo = to be scary, to scare
dar asco = to disgust, to gross someone out
dar vergüenza = to be ashamed [the other verb is avergonzar "to shame"]
dar rabia = to anger, to piss off
enojar = to anger
enfadar / enfurecer = to anger (someone)
entristecer = to sadden (someone)
hacer feliz = to be happy / to be glad
alegrar = to delight (someone), to make someone happy
inspirar = to inspire
impactar = to impact, to have an impact
impresionar = to impress
inquietar = to make uneasy, to worry
asustar = to scare, to make someone jump
dar un susto = to give someone a fright
apetecer = to appeal to, to feel like
decepcionar = to disappoint
hacer reír = to make someone laugh
ofender = to offend
sugerir = to suggest (to)
recomendar = to recommend (to)
jurar = to swear (to)
prometer = to promise (to)
mentir = to lie (to)
sorprender = to surprise / to come as a shock
recordar = to remind
sonar = "to ring a bell"
parecer = to seem
aburrir = to bore
fastidiar = to annoy, to get in the way
picar = to itch [usually body parts; can also be "to burn" in the sense of a rash or a bug bite]
incordiar = to annoy, to bother
halagar = to flatter
entusiasmar = to be very interested in, to be enthused by
tocar(le) = to be someone's turn [specifically only if tocar uses indirect objects that's what it means]
cabrear = to piss off [somewhat vulgar in translation]
joder = to fuck with, to annoy [vulgar]
echar de menos = to miss (someone) [Spain]
extrañar = to miss (someone) [Latin America]
Again, this is in reference to indirect objects only. There are times when verbs can take direct objects and/or indirect objects, or sometimes even reflexives
For an example; and probably the easiest one to understand the difference between direct objects and indirect objects - jurar or prometer
jurar algo = to swear something [like an oath]
jurarle a alguien = to swear to someone
You can also see indirect and direct objects together - te lo juro "I swear (it) to you", or te lo prometo "I promise it to you"
These also apply to verbs of speech; decir "to say", mencionar "to mention", sugerir "to suggest", recomendar "to recommend", gritar "to scream", susurrar "to whisper" etc.
It can be "what you say" vs. "who you say it to"
And in that same vein there are verbs of "giving" I guess? - dar "to give" you can give a thing, or "give to" someone; dar "to give", lanzar "to throw", tirar "to throw", mandar "to send", enviar "to send", regalar "to give as a gift / to gift" ... things like that
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Others:
picar is sometimes the verb for "to cut (into smaller pieces)" but it's also the verb for insects to "bite" or "sting" - like bees and ants. Thus in an indirect object, it's "to itch" as if a bug had bitten or stung you
Or, encantar is literally "to enchant" so it can be "to cast a spell" or "enchant an object" in fantasy; but encantarle is "to really like" - it's kind of like "to be bewitched by" but similar to how fascinar is "to take great interest in" aka "I really like it"
Then there's sonar which is normally "to make a sound" or when electronics "ring"... but with indirect objects something like no me suena "I don't remember" or "it doesn't ring a bell"; and parecer "to look like" or parecerse "to resemble", then becomes parecerle "to seem like" as in no le parece bien "it doesn't seem like a good idea (to him/her)"
The other big one is extrañar which in some situations can be "to find strange"; no me extraña "it doesn't surprise me" or "I'm not surprised"... but it is also the verb for "to miss someone" in Latin America. The root word here is "estrange", so it can be "to be distant from" or "to find odd"
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Another is valer where normally valer is "to be worth", but valer(le) can be "to care about" or "to be worth", in some situations it can be "to suit someone" or "to be fine (for someone)"
...... then you have some more vulgar idiomatic expressions [as in me vale mierda "it's useless as shit (to me)", or just "it's not worth shit", or me vale verga is "it's worth dick to me" simply can be translated like "I don't give a fuck"]
...but then valerse (de) can often be "to take advantage of" - literally "to avail oneself of"
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Ones to be the most aware of are the ones that can change meaning:
costar = to cost
costarle = to be difficult
cuesta mucho "it costs a lot"... and then me cuesta "it is hard for me"
tocar = to touch / to play (an instrument)
tocar a alguien = to touch someone
tocarle (a alguien) = to be someone's turn
If you see something like me toca hablar it can be "it's my turn to speak" or "it's up to me to speak"; generally any time it doesn't seem like "touch
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Most verbs with emotion have an indirect object and a reflexive form; one where you can elicit the emotion in someone else, or have it come from you [reflexive - where subject and object are the same; so it's you doing it to yourself, or you feeling it yourself]
entristecer = to sadden (someone)
entristecerse / ponerse triste = to get sad, to be saddened
enojar = to anger (someone)
enojarse / ponerse enojado/a = to get angry, to be angered
preocupar = to worry (someone)
preocuparse (de) = to worry about
There are also some verbs that people debate whether they should be direct or indirect objects, and some regional variation - it's not usually a problem, but just something to keep in mind that there is a bit of leeway with some verbs
As in engañar "to deceive"; you can see it as engañar(le) "to deceive someone" or in passing you can see lo engañó or la engañó which can be "he/she cheated on them" or "he/she deceived them"
There's some debate over whether direct objects or indirect objects are better, depending on "agency" [the ability to act] of the object... the argument can also be related to personhood. In other words, a person had no agency in being tricked or cheated on so it could be direct object; but it is a person not a thing, so out of politeness you might use indirect object
It's a linguistic debate sometimes......... though I will say the majority of the verbs on that list need the indirect object rather than direct objects
