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Have you ever heard someone use the expression, o sea? Chances are you have because this is a very popular and useful expression in both Spain and Latin America. Let's see how to use it.
The expression, o sea, is generally used to introduce an explanation or consequence of something one has already said. If you think about it, the meaning is quite literal: The phrase is made up of the disjunctive conjunction, o ("or"), and the word, sea ("would be"), the third person present subjunctive form of the verb, ser ("to be"). Let's look at some examples.
Porque Barcelona no aburre nunca.
Because Barcelona is never boring.
O sea, siempre hay actividades,
I mean, there are always activities,
Captions 41-42, Escuela BCNLIP - Presentación de la directora
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Nos lo hemos pasado muy bien,
We had a great time,
muy bien. -Qué bien, o sea que buenísimas vacaciones.
great. -How nice, I mean, an amazing vacation.
Captions 48-49, El Aula Azul - Conversación: Vacaciones recientes
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You can also think of o sea as an equivalent of the English expression, "in other words":
O sea que ¿el tipo de hoy era Wilson Ríos?
In other words, the guy from today was Wilson Rios?
Caption 33, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 1
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Sometimes, the word, que ("that"), is added after o sea without altering its meaning:
Sé surfear, ¿no? O sea que tengo una profesión ahora.
I can surf, right? I mean, I have a profession now.
Caption 43, Costa Azul Surf Shop - Hablando con los Empleados Del Surf
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Be careful, however: The combination "o + sea" can sometimes have a totally different meaning, so always pay close attention to the context:
...sea bueno o sea malo.
...whether it's good or whether it's bad.
Caption 34, Club de las ideas - Intuición
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In Latin America, there is another use of o sea that is very popular among upper/middle-class youngsters, some of whom are considered snobby and superficial. In this case, o sea is used as a sarcastic remark that can be translated as "obviously," "duh," "come on," "give me a break," or "I mean," depending on the context. Let's observe that use in action:
¡Ay pues, obvio que va a querer!
Oh well, [it's] obvious that he is going to want to!
¡Porque nadie le dice que no a una chica popular, o sea!
Because no one says no to a popular girl, duh!
Captions 21-22, NPS No puede ser - 1 - El concurso
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You may also notice that in colloquial speech, o sea is sometimes used incessantly among certain groups or individuals as a filler word in the same way that certain English-speakers (e.g. Valley girls, etc.) constantly use the word, “like.”
Finally, keep in mind that the expression, o sea, is written as two words, and it is incorrect to write it as a single word (osea means "bony"!). Furthermore, it is sometimes used as an alternative for the expression o séase, which should be also avoided.
That's all for today. We invite you to incorporate this useful expression into your vocabulary, and don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions.
Have you ever wanted to tell someone in Spanish that you just did something — as in, moments ago? There's a very elegant and commonly used construction for that: acabar de + infinitive. In this lesson, we'll break down how it works, look at some real examples, and cover a handy bonus tip about object pronouns.
Acabar de combines the verb acabar (to finish) with the preposition de to express the idea of having just completed an action in the very recent past. Think of it as the Spanish equivalent of "to have just done something." The formula is simple:
📌 acabar (conjugated) + de + verb in the infinitive
The key is that acabar must always be conjugated to match the subject, while the second verb stays in the infinitive form. Let's look at some examples:
Acabo de dormir una siesta.
I just took a nap.
Toño acaba de salir a la tienda.
Toño just left to the store.
No se vayan tan pronto. ¡Acaban de llegar!
Don't leave so soon. You guys just arrived!
Let's hear how native speakers use acabar de in real conversations:
Esta empresa acaba de inventar un teléfono con un montón de nuevas funciones
This company just invented a phone with a ton of new features
Caption 7, Negocios La solicitud de empleo - Part 1
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Acabo de salir de la entrevista de trabajo. ¡Me fue más bien!
I just got out of a work interview. It went really well for me!
Caption 69, Confidencial: Broma pesada Capítulo 5 - Part 11
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¿Cómo se llama el baile que acabas de ver?
What is the name of the dance that you just saw?
Caption 44, Tu Música La trivia del ritmo - Part 3
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Acabar de is just one of the many ways this versatile verb is used in Spanish. If you'd like to explore all its other meanings — from "to end up" to "to break up with someone" to "¡Se acabó!" — check out our full lesson: The Many Meanings of the Spanish Verb Acabar.
We hope this was helpful! Got questions or something you'd like us to cover? We'd love to hear from you — write to us with your comments and questions. ¡Hasta la próxima!
We all have routines and actions that we "usually" carry out. We met a young lady at the El Aula Azul Language School in San Sebastian, Spain, who typically does the same things every day.
Yo normalmente me levanto a las siete de la mañana.
I normally get up at seven in the morning.
Caption 1, El Aula Azul - Actividades Diarias
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Silvia "normally" gets up at seven, expressed in Spanish much the same as we would in English.
However, where we English speakers tend to use the adverb "usually," Spanish speakers opt for the present tense of soler—a verb that means "to be accustomed to."
Silvia tells us:
Suelo ducharme con agua caliente.
I usually take a hot shower.
Caption 2, El Aula Azul - Actividades Diarias
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She "is accustomed to" showering with hot water; it is what she usually does.
Después, suelo lavarme los dientes en el baño,
After that, I usually brush my teeth in the bathroom,
y después desayuno.
and then have breakfast.
Captions 3-4, El Aula Azul - Actividades Diarias
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Then, she usually brushes her teeth in the bathroom, it's what she is accustomed to doing. Notice that in Spanish people "wash" (lavarse) their teeth. It's possible to use cepillarse (to brush), which is closer to the English, but lavarse is the more common way to express this activity.
This is also a good time to remind ourselves that Spanish tends not to use possessive pronouns when talking about body parts. Notice that Silvia says that she brushes "los dientes," not "mis dientes." We discussed this before in the lesson "Ojo - Keep an Eye on This Lesson."
Speaking of past lessons, we also took a look at soler before, but focusing on the imperfect tense, solía—which indicates that someone "was accustomed to" doing something, typically expressed in English as "used to."
Pura palabra... pura palabra...
Merely words... merely words...
nos divertimos a puras cosas de puro hablar.
we have fun with the simple act of talking.
Caption 27, La Banda Chilanguense - El habla de México - Part 2
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Have you checked out the construction workers from Mexico City that we are calling La Banda Chilanguese? These guys really do have a lot of fun just chewing the fat!
One of the ways they and other Mexicans spice up their conversation is through the use of refranes. A refrán is a popular saying or expression.
We see an example when aluminum worker Antonio says:
Voy a ir a darle porque es Mole de olla.
I'm going to get down to it because it is "Mole de olla".
Caption 32, La Banda Chilanguense - El habla de México - Part 1
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This is from the refrán “A darle que es mole de olla” which means “Get down to it [the task] because it’s hard and arduous.” Why this analogy to mole de olla? Because preparing mole de olla (literally “mole in a pot,” a type of beef stew) is hard work and time-consuming. (For those of you far from the gastronomic border, we are talking about “mo-lay,” a genre of Mexican sauces—not the funny-looking mammal known in Spanish as topo).
The Mexican Institute of Sound also makes use of a popular saying:
Si te queda el saco, póntelo pa' bailar
If the jacket fits, wear it to dance
Caption 5, Mexican Institute of Sound - Alocatel
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This is a play on another popular refrán, Si te queda el saco, póntelo which literally means “if the jacket suits you, wear it.” In English we have a similar expression which expresses the same thing, “If the shoe fits, wear it.” It means, “if you are worried that we are talking about you, it is because you think it applies to you, so accept it and don’t complain.”
Here are two more refranes that you might hear when visiting Mexico:
Entre menos burros, más olotes
The fewer the donkeys, the more cobs of corn
When would you say this? When some members of a party have to leave... the consolation is that there is more food and drink left for those who stay.
But what if more guests arrive than expected, and rations run low?
A falta de pan, tortillas
When there’s no bread, tortillas will do
This expression is used to express that we must make do with what we have.
Aside: It’s interesting to note that the well-known English expression “the more, the merrier,” as it was first recorded in 1520, contained a corollary that echoes the same sentiment as “entre menos burros...” The complete expression was this: "The more, the merrier; the fewer, the better fare" (meaning "with fewer there would be more to eat").
Aléjate de mí pues tú ya sabes que no te merezco
Get away from me since you already know that I do not deserve you
Caption 18, Camila - Aléjate de mi
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Es contigo, mi vida, con quien puedo sentir... Que merece la pena vivir
It's with you, my honey, with whom I can feel... That life is worth living
Captions 7-8, Julieta Venegas - El Presente
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A few more examples:
Al igual que pues que tiene sus pros y sus contras y... pues aun así vale la pena. ¿OK?
At the same time it has it pros and cons and... well, even so it's still worth it. OK?
Captions 47-49, Amigos D.F. - Te presento...
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If you've ever been to Spain, you know that ¿Vale? (OK?) or Vale. (OK.) is slang that is thrown around a lot amongst Spaniards. ¿Vale?
In addition to Dutch, Papiamento, and English, most Arubans can also speak perfect Spanish, as Landa Henríquez attests to by singing it with ease. The island has deep seated and ongoing ties with Venezuela, only fourteen miles to the south, and neighboring Colombia. So it should be of little surprise that Landa peppers her song with a common Colombian expression.
Ya sabes, te vas de Barranquilla y te pierdes tu silla
You know, you leave Barranquilla and you lose your chair
Caption 48, Landa Henríquez - Mujer Cuarenta
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The expression is actually a take on a popular saying from Spain which goes Él que se va a Sevilla, pierde su silla ("He who leaves Sevilla, loses his chair"). Either way, the meaning is the same: if you're not vigilent, you'll lose what is yours.
There is another way to express the same sentiment, and we hear it in a cumbia song playing at that disco that Milagros and Gloria have snuck out of the orphanage to visit in Muñeca Brava.
Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente.
The shrimp that sleeps is taken away by the current. ["You snooze, you lose."]
Caption 29, Muñeca Brava - 1 Piloto - Part 6
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American English also expresses this idea with an analogy to sleep: "You snooze, you lose."
In the Argentine drama Provócame, we hear an ugly exchange between Mariano and his mamá. First, she calls her son an imbecile and then, a little later, Mariano spits:
¡Estoy harto de que te metas en mis cosas, mamá!
I'm sick of you sticking your nose in my business, mom!
Estoy harto de vos.
I'm sick of you.
Captions 34-35, Provócame - Capítulo Seis
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Yes, he's had it up to here, as we might say in English. Hearing these lines, we were reminded of the theme song for another drama in our library: Disputas. The song goes like this:
Me llamas para decirme que te marchas...
You call me to tell me that you're leaving...
que ya no aguantas más...
that you can't take it anymore...
que ya estás harta de verle cada día...
that you're fed up of seeing him each day...
de compartir su cama...
of sharing his bed...
Captions 15-20, Disputas La Extraña Dama - Part 2
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Did you notice it's "harta" instead of "harto" in the song? The "you" is obviously female. You see, "harto(a)" is an adjective that on its own means "full." It agrees with the person who's, well, had it.
In this song, a similar sentiment is expressed with "ya no aguantas más" ("you can't take it anymore"). We wrote about the verb "aguantar" ("to endure, to bear, to stand, to put up with, to tolerate") before, in this lesson. As it happens, we also hear the word uttered in the newest installment of Provócame by young Julieta who claims to be running a very high fever (40º C = 104º F!). She says:
No parece porque me aguanto.
It doesn't look like it because I tolerate it.
Caption 47, Provócame - Capítulo Seis
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You see, Julieta is enduring her illness in a way someone who's fed up with sickness might not. In a sense, you can tolerate (aguantarse) something until you are sick of it (estar harto).
If you didn't know a word of Spanish, but you knew how to pronounce it, the following would instantly make sense to you:
De chiquitos, nos metíamos en esa barra, y ¡guau! ¡Ese órgano!
As kids, we would get into that bar, and wow! That organ!
Captions 37-38, Carli Muñoz - Niñez - Part 1
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En esa tienda de música, en la vitrina había un piano, un piano de cola. Guau... Una cosa extraordinaria.
At that music store, in the window there was piano, a grand piano. Wow... An extraordinary thing.
Captions 59-61, Carli Muñoz - Niñez - Part 1
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Listen to our interview with musician Carli Muñoz and you'll hear him wowed. Yes, he says: "¡Guau!" (pronounced as the English "Wow") twice in our four-minute segment. The spelling of "guau" is good to keep in mind when pronouncing other Spanish words that start with "Gua...." Two famous ones are geographic locations: the oft-sung Guantanamera (click here for a popular performance) and the infamous Guantánamo. If you're like many North Americans you may pronounce the latter "Gwan-TAN-a-mo," with the initial "G" audible (or you may just use the nickname "Gitmo"). But if you listen to native Spanish speakers, that initial "G" is so soft it all but disappears and the "W" sound is much clearer.
¡Guau! -Y éste ahora mismo está en dos kilos.
Wow! -And this one right now is at two kilograms.
Caption 96, Animales en familia - Un día en Bioparc: Coatís
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Before we move on, here are two more lines to decipher based on your knowledge of Spanish pronunciation:
www.vuenosairez.com
¡Ja ja ja!
Stumped? The first was an events-listing website in Buenos Aires, which makes sense when you remember that "V" often sounds like "B" throughout the Spanish-speaking world and "Z" sounds like "S" in Latin America.
The second line is laughing, pronounced "Ha ha ha!," but with a more guttural "H" than we typically use in English. Remember, in Spanish, "H" is always silent, while "J" sounds closest to the "ch" of Scotland, Wales or Germany (as in Achtung, baby.) But a good memory aid is that "J"s approximate the "H" of English, and so "je je" sounds like "heh heh" and "ji ji" sounds like "hee hee."
Le debés quiniento' mango' a tu amiguito, quiniento' mango' a tu amig'... ¿Y querés saber otra cosa? A mí también me debés quinientos mangos...
You owe your little buddy five hundred bucks, five hundred bucks to your li'l... And you want to know something else? You owe me five hundred bucks too...
Captions 10-12, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta
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In our latest episode of Muñeca Brava, Mili is clearly looking for revenge. So why is she mumbling about mangos and gansos? Milagros is always shouting clever and poignant argentinismos, that’s why we have to head far south to figure out what she is saying.
Milagros asks Ivo for quinientos mangos (500 mangos) and later on for quinientos pesos (500 pesos), pesos
That was easy to figure out, but then Mili says:
No te olvides de esto. Los quiero ahora. Poniendo estaba la gansa... ¡vamos!
Don't forget about this. I want them now. Pay up... come on!
Captions 28-30, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta
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Un ganso is a male goose (also known in English as a "gander"). As we learned previously, ser ganso means "being a fool." Gansa, however, is a female goose (known in English as a "goose"), and one of the meanings of poner is "to lay" (as in "laying an egg"), so poniendo estaba la gansa literally means "laying was the goose."
However, another meaning of poner is to "to contribute" or "shell out" or "pay up." Here are some examples:
¿Van a poner para el regalo de María?
"Are you going to chip in/contribute for María´s present?"
No te preocupes, si no podés poner $50, poné menos.
"Don´t worry, if you can´t put in $50, put in less."
Mi tío se puso con $1000 para el viaje de egresados.
"My uncle shelled out $1000 for my graduation trip."
Si te casás, tu papá va a tener que ponerse.
"If you get married, your father will have to shell out/cough up [the money]."
Poniendo estaba la gansa plays on these two possible meanings of poner ("to lay" and "to pay"). Some sources report that the complete phrase is poniendo estaba la gansa, que era gorda y estaba mansa ("laying eggs was the goose, who was fat and was tame") and that it comes from an old children's game. In actuality, we can't find an Argentine who's ever played the game (and some doubt that such a game ever existed). All agree that this expression is considered rather vulgar and low-class, which is no less than what we would expect from Milagros.
No voy a pagar porque a alguien se le ocurra decir 'poniendo estaba la gansa'.
"I'm not going to pay just because someone says 'poniendo estaba la gansa'."
-Sergio Dalla Lasta
We also have a new segment from the Argentine telenovela, Verano Eterno posted for your edification. Amid the rapid banter, we heard:
Yo hoy me voy a dormir a mi casa, tranquilito, pero vos mañana salís conmigo. -Ni loca.
Today I'm going to go home to sleep, laying low, but tomorrow you go out with me. -No way.
Captions 67-69, Verano Eterno - Fiesta Grande - Part 13
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"Ni loco" or "Ni loca" (for a female speaker) is basically a short-hand way to say "Not even if I were crazy," "No way" or "Not on your life."
Here are a few more short but colorful "ni" expressions that mean essentially the same thing:
Ni en broma diga una cosa así.
Not even jokingly should you say such a thing.
Caption 91, Muñeca Brava - 41 La Fiesta - Part 6
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Ni en pedo vuelvo a esa casa ¿sabe?
Not even drunk will I go back to that house, you know?
Caption 30, Muñeca Brava - 7 El poema - Part 8
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Ni en broma
Not even as a joke / No way
Ni en pedo
Not even drunk / No way
Finally, there are some other phrases we thought of where "ni" + "que" means something like "como si" in Spanish. "Ni que" might be translated into English as "it's as if" or (with a negative slant) "it's not like." Here are three examples:
Ni que fuera el diablo en persona.
It's not like he is the devil incarnate.
Caption 35, El Ausente - Acto 3 - Part 3
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¿Por qué me gritas? ¡Ni que fuera sordo!
Why do you yell at me? It's as if (you think) I'm deaf!
Ni que fuera adivino, para saber lo que piensas.
It's not like I'm a fortune teller who knows what you're thinking about.
Pues, no tan bien que se diga, pero más o menos me defiende un poco.
Well, not so good exactly but it more or less helps me a bit.
Caption 9, Doña Coco - La Vida De Una Cocinera
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Doña Coco is not earning enough money que se diga, which literally translates to something like "it might be said." However, que se diga (commonly expressed as que digamos) is in fact a colloquial expression which has approximately the same meaning as precisamente ("precisely" or "exactly"), and is often used to mitigate negative statements, as we see here.
No me siento muy bien que se diga.
I don't exactly feel good.
El pollo no está muy rico que digamos.
The chicken isn't exactly very tasty.
Note that if we add "ni" we get the expression "ni que se diga," which is the Spanish equivalent to "Let's not even go there."
Los alumnos de cuarto grado son ruidosos. Los de quinto, ni que se diga!
The fourth grade students are noisy. As for the fifth graders, let's not even go there!
In Mexico City, our Amigos D.F. return to tell us something about arquitectura (architecture) in el D.F. (in Mexico City, that is). Indicating a nearby building, we hear:
O sea, abajo es una zona comercial, todo lo que vendría a ser la planta baja... y arriba, allá, son este... departamentos residenciales.
I mean, below it's a commercial area, everything that would be the ground level... and above, there, are umm... residential apartments.
Captions 29-31, Amigos D.F. - Arquitectura
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Despite the rambling nature of this unscripted dialogue, it's easy enough to understand that there are commercial businesses on the ground floor of this building and residential apartments above. If the building has an elevator, pressing the p.b. (planta baja) button will take you to street level.
Push "1" in the same elevator and you'll end up on what's referred to as the "second floor" in New York or Miami. You see, in Spain and in Latin America, "el primer piso" is "the first floor *above* the ground level."
¿Dónde está ubicado el restaurante? -En el primer piso.
Where is the restaurant located? -On the first floor.
Captions 71-72, Cleer y Lida - Recepción de hotel
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So, let's take this language lesson up a step. Say you want to visit your Mexican friend in his apartment up on "2." That's el segundo piso ("the second floor"). You see, you rarely hear la segunda planta or la primera planta outside of architectural drawings. In everyday speech, you'll usually hear pisos instead of plantas describe floors 1 through, well, the sky's the limit.
¿Ves ese edificio que esta ahí al frente? En el segundo piso, de ahí subís y ahí es tu salón.
Do you see that building that's over there in front? On the second floor, you go up there and there's your classroom.
Captions 48-49, La Sucursal del Cielo - Capítulo 1
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A final note on arquitectura: Departamento is the word of choice for Latin American apartments. Meanwhile, over in Spain, you'll typically hear apartamento.
On the Venezuelan shore, Francisco expresses his deep appreciation for the wild, natural beauty of his surroundings. In front of the camera, Francisco hesitates a few times, but it's not from lack of conviction. He's simply buying time to find the right word. For example:
Los arrecifes... la... la... el fondo marino en... en sí que es demasiado increíble.
The reefs... the... the... the ocean floor it'... itself is too incredible.
Captions 7-8, Playa Adícora - Francisco - Part 4
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One might take pause upon hearing en sí because those two words separately can mean "in" and "yes." But sí with an accent over the i is not just an affirmation; it's also a reflexive personal pronoun (short for sí mismo / sí misma) meaning himself, herself, itself, oneself, yourself (as in the formal usted), yourselves (ustedes) or themselves -- depending on the context.
Lo leyó para sí misma.
She read it to herself. [not out loud]
Cada uno debe hacerlo por sí mismo.
Each person has to do it himself or herself.
Solía pensar por sí mismo; no era influenciado por los tan llamados expertos.
He used to think for himself; he wasn't influenced by the so-called experts.
¡Venga y compruébelo por sí mismo!
Come and check it out for yourself!
Let's look back at our original example and home in on the idiom en sí, which means the same thing as en sí mismo (English translations: "in itself" or "in and of itself" or simply "itself").
El trabajo en sí no era interesante, pero le daba la posibilidad de viajar.
The job itself wasn't interesting, but it gave him the opportunity to travel.
Amor es bueno en sí naturalmente,
Love in itself is naturally good,
[from Juan Boscán's Sonnet, a sixteenth century poem]
You will also find it interesting to note that volver en sí, which we might be tempted to translate as "to come back to one's self," is an expression that means "to regain consciousness / to come to." It can also mean "to come around," as in "to realize the truth."
Si no vuelve en sí pronto, debemos llevarlo a un hospital.
If he doesn't come to soon, we must take him to a hospital.
Por suerte volvió en sí y se dió cuenta que era una locura.
Luckily he came around and realized it was a crazy idea.
This lesson has valor en sí misma, if you ask us!
Going to the private party where The Ramones were performing for the first time ever ended up changing the life of painter/artist Arturo Vega. Our featured video interview with Vega captures the story.
Entonces yo fui porque, pues, era una fiesta, ¿verdad? Y Dee Dee me caía bien.
So I went because, well, it was a party, right? And I liked Dee Dee.
Caption 52, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 3
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So, students following the subtitles of this interview may choose to click the Spanish words that they don't know for Yabla's handy dictionary definitions. It happens that if they clicked caía, the dictionary would reveal that it's a third-person past tense of the verb caer. And what does caer mean?:
All these definitions are true, but what about "liking someone" -- as the verb is used here? Turns out that in Spanish, to say you like someone, you basically say that someone, well, falls well for (or, to) you. That is to say, Me cae bien means "I like him/ her" or "He/she made a good impression on me."
Conversely, Me cae mal means "I don't like him/her."
You may be wondering if he might have used the verb gustar, which also can be used to indicate liking something or someone. However, when using gustar to refer to people, there can be romantic/sexual connotations. Using caer bien eliminates any potential misunderstanding, as it refers to a purely platonic attraction.
In your travels through the Spanish speaking world you will undoubtedly come across other interesting uses of caer.
Cualquier cosa te caigo más tarde, ¿vale?
Anyway, I might drop by later, OK?
Caption 34, Confidencial: Asesino al Volante - Capítulo 1
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No puedes caer así sin avisar. (slang)
You can't drop by like that without calling.
Siempre es igual, le cuentas un chiste y cae media hora más tarde.
It's always the same, tell him a joke and he gets it a half hour later.
Me puedes
You can get to me / I can't resist you
[song title, La Gusana Ciega - Me Puedes]
The song title for La Gusana Ciega's new video may at first sound like an incomplete phrase. After all, it's common to see the verb poder (to be able to) conjugated with a direct object -- as in, me puedes -- followed by another verb in the infinitive, such as Me puedes ayudar, (You can help me) -- or, with question marks, ¿Me puedes ayudar? (Can you help me?).
So, when encountering me puedes on its own, one may struggle to find sense in "you can me." (You can what me?) But the verb poder can also mean "to be stronger than," or "to have power over," which will give us "You are stronger than me / You have power over me" or, seen from another angle, "I can't resist you."
To investigate further, we went straight to the source, Daniel Gutierrez, lyricist/vocalist/guitarist of La Gusana Ciega. We asked him what he had in mind when he titled the song "Me puedes." Daniel, who speaks English quite well, replied and told us how the title ties into the song's refrain of me vas a ver llorar (you're going to see me cry):
It would be sort of a YOU GET TO ME referring to "you can make me cry" if you want.
¡Gracias, Daniel! If only we could always contact all our video stars directly. Alas, no podemos.
La curiosidad me pudo y fui a ver el combate de lucha.
Curiosity got to me [got the best of me] and I went to see the wrestling match.
Está bien, me puedes... vamos a ir al zoológico el domingo.
Alright, I can't say no [to you]... we'll go to the zoo on Sunday.
Estoy a régimen, pero la torta de chocolate me puede.
I'm on a diet, but I can't resist chocolate cake.
¡Ese chico me puede!
I'm crazy for that boy! [can't resist him]
Esta niña me puede... no pude decirle que no.
I can't resist this girl [her charms]... I couldn't say no to her.
Cuando llegué estaba enojada, pero esa sonrisa me puede...
When I arrived I was angry, but I can't resist that smile...
NOTE: You might be wondering if it's therefore possible to say te puedo for "you can't resist me." But our translators inform us that native speakers don't do this, and probably wouldn't understand it if you attempted to convey this sentiment like that.
In our latest live concert footage of Belanova, lead singer Denisse Guererro turns to the audience and asks:
Este mundo gira y algún día ha de morir
This world spins and someday it shall die
pero contigo -¿Cómo dice, Guadalajara?
but with you -How does it go, Guadalajara?
Captions 28-29, Belanova - Tus ojos
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The crowd responds by singing along to the well known song. North of the border, concertgoers might hear the words "How does it go?" to provoke a similar sing-along.
But wait. Most of you know the verb decir most often means "to say" or "to tell." It's ir that typically means "to go." A literal-minded translation of ¿Cómo dice? might be something more like "What does [it / the song / the tune] say?"
When we asked around, we gathered some more examples of English phrases in which "go" is best expressed in Spanish with decir. Here they are:
As the song goes
Como dice la canción
As the saying goes
Como dice el refrán
So the story goes
Se dice
So the argument goes (reputedly)
Según se dice
Hearing "decir" used in this context, it becomes much easier to understand another new music video. In "Llora mi corazón," La Secta Allstar leads into their own refrain with:
Y dice...
And it [i.e., the song's refain] goes [like this:]...
Caption 6, La Secta - Llora mi corazón
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So, how does La Secta's refrain go?
Puerto Rican band Circo remind us that a suspicion is, by definition, not the same as a confirmed fact. Here's the refrain:
No es lo mismo una sospecha que saberlo de verdad
A suspicion isn't the same as knowing it for sure
No es saberlo de verdad lo mismo que una sospecha
Knowing it for sure isn't the same as a suspicion
Captions 7-8, Circo - La sospecha
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The repeated refrain is reminiscent of a series of jokes in Spanish that start "No es lo mismo [decir]..." ("It's not the same [to say]..."). For example:
No es lo mismo decir: "me río en el baño" que "me baño en el río."
And the English translation?
It's not the same to say: "I laugh in the bathroom" as "I bathe in the river."
And that's funny? Well, the little joke is hinged on the fact that the verbs "reirse" ("to laugh") and "bañarse" ("to bathe") have conjugations that sound just like the nouns "el río" ("the river") and "el baño" ("the bathroom"). And that's why flipping the words around is un chiste (a joke) only in Spanish. Just try translating a groan-worthy English "knock-knock" joke into another language...
You can find dozens more "no-es-lo-mismo" chistes online with a simple search.
Asked about his influences in the arts, Arturo Vega gives a long, thoughtful answer that includes one particular verb phrase over and over. Here are the excerpts:
Después de la actuación... me di cuenta que... mi talento o mi vocación... era mejor... lo visual.
After acting... I realized that... my gift or my vocation... was really good at... the visual.
Captions 10-13, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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Me he dado cuenta que mi manera de percibir y de valorizar...
I have found that my way of perceiving and appreciating...
Captions 14-15, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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Pero a mí... yo me di cuenta que no era nada más... cuestión de que yo estaba absorbiendo o que me gustaba...
But for me... I realized that it was not just... [a] question of me capturing or of me liking...
Captions 19-20, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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...sino que me di cuenta que podía hacer algo con la información visual.
...but that I realized that I could do something with visual information.
Caption 22, Arturo Vega -Entrevista - Part 2
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Y... y me da... me di cuenta del gusto...
And... and it gives me... I became aware of the pleasure...
Caption 24, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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Me di cuenta que no tienes que por qué [sic] saber dibujar ni pintar para...
I realized that you don't need to know how to draw or paint in order to...
Caption 31, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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Through repetition, you learn. Here our lesson is clear: Darse cuenta = "to realize". Yes, it's used often, you must realize.
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