The Language Chronicles: El Choro Lingüístico 💬

[Para español, ver abajo.] Say More with Less: The Power of Aspectual Se and Dative of Interest in Spanish This article explores two grammatical concepts in Spanish— aspectual   se and dative of interest —both of which use optional particles that add  nuance and make you sound more like a native Spanish speaker! Aspectual SE            "Aspectual se" involves using reflexive pronouns ( me, te, SE, nos, os ) with verbs that aren't typically reflexive to convey completion, emphasis, or subjectivity. "Mi hermana come pizza" (My sister eats pizza) describes a habitual action . "Mi hermana se come la pizza" (My sister is eating up the pizza) implies she eats all of it, adding emphasis and a sense of completion . The sister could have said in first person after finishing up the pizza: " Me comí la piza porque se iba a enfriar" (I ate the pizza because it was going to get cold). The "se" will change according to the person. Note that aspe

[For English, see below] ¿Sabías que en español existe un artículo femenino especial para palabras que comienzan con el sonido /a/ tónico como “ el agua ” “ el hacha ”, y “ el águila "? Aunque hoy es un vestigio del pasado, en castellano medieval era una práctica común llamada  elisión . Un ejemplo similar en francés es  " l'orthographe " en vez de "la* orthographe", para evitar la unión de sonidos vocálicos. En español moderno, esta elisión se conserva en  contracciones como " del " (de + el) y " al " (a + el), aunque sin apóstrofo. Fuera de estas contracciones, la elisión no se refleja formalmente en la escritura moderna. Contrario a lo que se cree, combinaciones como  “la* agua” “la* hacha” y “la* águila" no se evitan por cacofonía, definida por la RAE como el "efecto desagradable producido por la repetición de sonidos" - ejemplos de cacofonía . Historia del artículo "el" El artículo el que parece masculino

[Para español, ver abajo.] In Old Spanish , indirect object pronoun "le" (to him, her, you plural), when put together with direct object pronouns lo(s)/la(s) in the combination lelo/lela , evolved phonetically and naturally, first to diphthong lie(lo) > lle(lo)> gelo (g was pronounced like French j or s in measure), and finally to present day se lo or -selo . Note that this se only looks like reflexive se as in Mi mejor amigo se levanta a las 5 de la mañana , but its function is completely different. That's why, nowadays, we say se lo doy (I give it to him, her, you singular, you plural or them) or dáselo (give it to him, her, you, you all, them). Old Spanish: gelo do (se lo doy). If the context is not sufficient, people specify by adding on: descríbeselo a él, a ella, a ustedes, a ellas, a mi amigo, al profesor, etc. If you speak Italian, you'll notice a similar evolution happened to arrive at " glielo do " (se lo doy). -----------------------

[Défiler vers le bas pour la version en français] In Latin, a "feather" was known by two names: penna and pluma .  Spanish quickly decided to stick with pluma , the meaning of which was extended to include the concept of a writing utensil, and practically discarded penna . This is still the case in several Spanish-speaking countries, especially Mexico and Central America - but it's not the only word used for pen . Old French used penne and plume as synonyms, later broadening the meaning to the writing instrument. Although "penne" died off in French, it had already passed the word "pen" down to English. Although "plume" is no longer used for pen in modern French (today it's un stylo), it is still fossilized in some expressions like nom de plume (pen name), prendre la plume (to begin writing), avoir une belle plume (to have great writing style or nice handwriting), among others. As many of you know, "pluma" for pen may not

Note : If you are looking for a thorough review of how to tell time in Spanish, click  here . Why do we say "es la una"  (singular) and  "son las dos" (plural) in Spanish, but say "it's one" ,  "it's two" (only singular) in English? I love questions like these because they get us to question why we say things the way we do in both the language we're learning, but as important, at least to me as a linguist, in our own language. The answer to this question is quite simple in Spanish. Number-gender agreement : es la una (hora implied - feminine singular), son las dos (horas implied - feminine plural). In the past tense, era la una or eran las dos. Question solved! More than likely, though, that didn't really solve the question. We're really wondering why Spanish respects number agreement  with the verb to be , but English doesn't, at least in this case. The real issue, then, is to be found, not in Spanish, but in English!

[This article has clickable sound files in blue.] Historically in Spanish, there is a difference between the sound for "y" as opposed to "ll" , which still exists in several pockets in the Andes highlands (most of Peru and Bolivia, parts of Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina) ,  Guaraní speaking areas like Paraguay , some parts of  northern and rural Spain , and the Philippines , usually among older Spanish speakers . In these places, "ll" is realized as /ʎ/ - calle, llamarse, valle . This is the minority sound in Spanish that is still current in standard Catalan (filla) , Portuguese (filha) , and Italian (figlia) . The consonant "y" in Spanish is pronounced in a variety of ways, with [ʝ̞] , which is similar to English [y] , being the most widespread sound outside the Southern Cone . For [ʝ̞] , the tip of the tongue doesn't rest almost relaxed behind the bottom teeth like in English  [y] . Instead, when the back of the tongue gets close

Hoy quiero compartir una conversación en Facebook donde mencioné que "veniste(s)" es tan común como la forma normativa "viniste". Un amigo bromeó diciendo que él usaba "vinites", pues sonaba más "elegante" y "vistosa. Esto me lleva a hablar sobre la metátesis, un proceso lingüístico donde los sonidos de una palabra cambian de lugar, algo sumamente común en la evolución de los idiomas. La metátesis a veces ocurre por confusión, dificultad en la pronunciación, influencia morfológica, o incluso con fines humorísticos. Ejemplos en inglés : "Ask" y "axe" (del inglés vernáculo afroamericano) "Pretty" y "purty" (forma no estándar) "Comfortable", pronunciado"comfterbal" (en inglés normativo actual) "Iron", pronunciado "i-urn" o incluso "arn" "Jewelry" y "jewlery" (como algunos pronuncian) "Asterisk" y "asterix" (forma no

[Contenido en portugués - Content in Portuguese] [Para español, ver abajo.] To learn more about the loss of intervocalic -n-, also a unique characteristic of Portuguese, please see  this entry . To see the most frequent mistakes when learning Portuguese, click here .  -------------------------------------   El enigma de la desaparecida L en portugués explicado Para aprender sobre la caida de la -n- intermedia , también una característica única del portugués, favor de ver  esta entrada . Para ver los errores más frecuentes al aprender portugués, hacer clic  aquí . 

For frequent mistakes in Spanish, click here . If you're on your browser, open the below image in a separate tab for best resolution. Another frequent mistake by Portuguese language learners is the formation of plurals with words ending in -l  - click the link for an explanation that will hopefully make it clear for you.  

[Bajar para español] Language is full of fascinating patterns that we often use without even realizing it. One such pattern is reduplication —the repetition of a word or part of a word to create emphasis , iteration , or even a playful tone . While reduplication is common in English with phrases like " willy-nilly ," " kitty-cat ," or " nitty-gritty ," it's also widespread in other languages.  In fact, the word Popocatépetl means "Smoking Mountain," from the Nahuatl poctli (smoke) and the reduplication popoca (to smoke) . In this post, we’ll explore how reduplication functions in Spanish, with a special focus on a structure in Mexican Spanish. Types of Reduplication Reduplication in Spanish can be classified into two main types: c omplete reduplication where the entire word is repeated, and partial reduplication where only a part of the word is repeated. Some examples of partial reduplication include:  "noticionón,"c hiquitito,&qu

[Bajar para español] To pave the way for a comparison between the shared simple past tense of “ir” and “ser”, let’s begin with the complex history of “ser”. Its origins combine Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti (to be) and *bʰuH- (to become or to grow) via Latin “esse.” Its simple past forms, “fui, fuiste, fue,” link to the *bʰuH- root, which also appears in English "be" and German "bist." Other forms like “es,” “eres”, and “soy” via archaic Latin esum from esse link to *h₁ésti. This phenomenon of filling in gaps in verb conjugations or alternating roots, is called suppletion. Another instance occurred with the Latin verb sedere (to sit) > se(d)ere > Old Spanish seer> “ser” replacing the Latin infinitive “esse”. Examining "ir," the Spanish verb "to go," reveals another case of suppletion. The Latin verb “ire” complemented its conjugations in early Romance or Old Spanish and Galician-Portuguese with other verb forms. In the present tense, speak

Why are there stem-changing verbs in Spanish? Short answer : Stem-changing verbs in Spanish arise due to the historical evolution from Latin, where distinctions between long and short vowels influenced how certain vowels transformed in stressed syllables. Long answer :  In Latin, long vowels were naturally tense, while short vowels were more relaxed. This difference required more muscle tension for long vowels, leading to changes as Latin evolved into modern Spanish. When Spanish reduced its vowels from 10 in Latin to 5, certain vowels like "o" and "e" developed open or closed qualities. This shift caused stem changes in Spanish verbs, where short "o" became "ue" and short "e" became "ie" in stressed syllables. For example, in the verb poder , the stem changes to puedo in the first-person singular, but remains unchanged in unstressed syllables, as in podemos . How did this happen in Spanish? As Latin transitioned to Spanish,