Monday, March 26, 2012

Tricky Spanish things

  • Pronouns come before verbs. If this happened in English, it would be something like, "To her it Johnny threw". It's taking a bit of getting used to. Especially since they do sometimes come after verbs, but stuck to them, as one big word.
  • There are two ways to say "I am, you are, he is (etc)". It matters which one you chose.
  • There are two ways of saying "I was walking (etc)". I'm yet to understand how much this matters.
  • There's way more saying "that which" or even "for the which, to the whom". In English this would be something like, "The exam for the which I'm preparing is very difficult" (El examen para el que me estoy preparando es muy difícil).
  • There's way more use of "the". When people are referring to me in conversation, I'm called "the Fiona".
  • Some expressions and words don't match up. For example, you never say "another lolly" - it's always "the other lolly". And "molestar" means "to annoy".

3 comentarios:

Alex&Fran said...

Me encanta leer tu blog! me gusta the way that you write and your observations. Have you realised that we sometimes say to other people we want to encourage:ánimo!. Nunca he sabido cómo decir el equivalente en inglés. Si lo descubres, can you let me know please? Y animoooo para ti! un abrazo!

fional said...

I'm so glad you like it Fran :). And thanks for your encouragement. I haven't noticed that yet, but hopefully I will now. I can't think of a good English equivalent - except perhaps for a phrase like "Keep up the good work". chau amiga!

Kate (Pablo's mum) said...

Funny. Alex has a Madeline book out of the library at the moment. In the story, the Spanish Ambassador moves in next door with his young son, who always finds ways to annoy Madeline and her peers. At one point, Madeline says 'please don't molest us'. I realise the meaning is innocent, and that it's a valid use of the word, but I always feel funny reading it aloud. (And I can't *not* read it out, because it would mess with the rhyme.)