Learn the many uses of the Spanish preposition de
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola, hola a todos, ¿cómo están? |
| Carlos: What’s going on? My name is Carlos. “Spanish for positions. Whose positions are we packing?” Dylan, what are we looking at today? |
| Dylan: Well, in this lesson, you will learn about the preposition “de”. |
| Carlos: Keeping up the list. |
| Dylan: That’s right. And it looks like Sofía and Gabriel are still moving. |
| Carlos: Still? |
| Dylan: Yes, but they are in the sad phase of packing and reminiscing. |
| Carlos: Oh I’ve been there although I don’t really get nostalgic in the places I live. |
| Dylan: No? |
| Carlos: No. When I am out, I am out, but we also know that Sofía and Gabriel are related or familiar. So the conversation we know is informal. |
| Dylan: Now let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| SOFIA: ¡Qué hermosos son los bordados de la abuela! |
| GABRIEL: Tienen como trescientos años... ¿tenemos que llevarlos? |
| SOFIA: ¡¡Obvio!! Usted lleva esos posters de Thundercats que son viejísimos igual. |
| GABRIEL: Me recuerdan de una época feliz de mi vida, así que cállese usted y bote esos bordados. |
| SOFIA: ¡Ni muerta! |
| GABRIEL: Hagamos un trato. Usted lleva los bordados y yo llevo los posters. |
| SOFIA: Dicho y hecho. |
| And now, slowly. |
| Una vez más, esta vez lentamente. |
| SOFIA: ¡Qué hermosos son los bordados de la abuela! |
| GABRIEL: Tienen como trescientos años... ¿tenemos que llevarlos? |
| SOFIA: ¡¡Obvio!! Usted lleva esos posters de Thundercats que son viejísimos igual. |
| GABRIEL: Me recuerdan de una época feliz de mi vida, así que cállese usted y bote esos bordados. |
| SOFIA: ¡Ni muerta! |
| GABRIEL: Hagamos un trato. Usted lleva los bordados y yo llevo los posters. |
| SOFIA: Dicho y hecho. |
| And now, with the translation. |
| Ahora, incluimos la traducción. |
| SOFIA: ¡Qué hermosos son los bordados de la abuela! |
| SOFIA: Grandma's embroidery is so beautiful! |
| GABRIEL: Tienen como trescientos años... ¿tenemos que llevarlos? |
| GABRIEL: They're like three hundred years old...do we have to take them? |
| SOFIA: ¡¡Obvio!! Usted lleva esos posters de Thundercats que son viejísimos igual. |
| SOFIA: Obviously!! You're taking those Thundercats posters that are just as ancient! |
| GABRIEL: Me recuerdan de una época feliz de mi vida, así que cállese usted y bote esos bordados. |
| GABRIEL: They remind me of a happy period of my life, so you shut up and throw out that embroidery. |
| SOFIA: ¡Ni muerta! |
| SOFIA: Over my dead body! |
| GABRIEL: Hagamos un trato. Usted lleva los bordados y yo llevo los posters. |
| GABRIEL: Let's make a deal. You take the embroidery, and I'll take the posters. |
| SOFIA: Dicho y hecho. |
| SOFIA: Said and done. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: Hey Dylan, you know I grew up in the early 80s and I remember that cartoons in that point were just awesome. I mean I don’t like cartoons today. They make something like an old man but man, He-Man, Thundercats and all those. Now you grew up in Costa Rica. What was it like down here? |
| Dylan: We watched all of that. He-Man, Thundercats, oh the Super Friends, Super Amigos. |
| Carlos: Super Amigos. You know I remember when I went to Puerto Rico when I was 6 years old and I never forget this. I sat down, I got all excited to watch Woody Woodpecker and I couldn’t understand a word he said and I was like “why is Woody Woodpecker speaking Spanish? Since when does he speak Spanish?” |
| Dylan: Since he moved to Puerto Rico. |
| Carlos: I guess so. We don’t have any woodpeckers there. I was confused. |
| Dylan: Oh, you poor kid. |
| Carlos: I know. It traumatized me. That’s why I didn’t learn Spanish for years. All right. |
| Dylan: Yeah, that’s why. Well now you got spanishpod101.com, so. |
| Carlos: That’s right. |
| Dylan: No excuses. |
| Carlos: None. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Carlos: First up we have an adjective. |
| Dylan: “Hermoso”, “hermosa”. |
| Carlos: “Beautiful”, “lovely.” |
| Dylan: “Her-mo-so”, “her-mo-sa”, “hermoso”, “hermosa”. |
| Carlos: And then we have a verb. |
| Dylan: “Llevar”. |
| Carlos: “To carry”, “to bring.” |
| Dylan: “Lle-var”, “llevar”. |
| Carlos: Feminine noun. |
| Dylan: “É-po-ca”. |
| Carlos: “Epic”, “time”, “age”, “period.” |
| Dylan: “É-po-ca”, “época”. |
| Carlos: And then we have an adjective. |
| Dylan: “Bordado”. |
| Carlos: “Embroidered.” |
| Dylan: “Bor-da-do”, “bordado”. |
| Carlos: And then we have a masculine noun. |
| Dylan: “Trato”. |
| Carlos: “Agreement.” |
| Dylan: “Tra-to”, “trato”. |
| Carlos: Last but not least, a masculine and feminine noun. |
| Dylan: “Abuelo”, “abuela”. |
| Carlos: “Grandfather”, “grandmother.” |
| Dylan: “A-bue-lo”, “a-bue-la”, “abuelo”, “abuela”. |
| Carlos: Okay. Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Dylan: The first word we will look at is “hermoso”, “hermosa”. |
| Carlos: “Hermoso”, “hermosa”. You know this is a very common adjective which means... |
| Dylan: “Beautiful”, “lovely.” |
| Carlos: Dylan, under a range of compliments calling a female beautiful, where does this land on the scale? |
| Dylan: That lands at the top of the scale, Carlos. You cannot do better than this. |
| Carlos: Really? |
| Dylan: Yeah, call a woman beautiful and she will just melt. |
| Carlos: So wait a minute. So if I call a girl “hermosa” see that’s like putting her up like top pedestal like.. |
| Dylan: Yes, it’s like when you say “estás hermosa”, “you look beautiful.” |
| Carlos: Okay. Well, taking a mental note on that but in our conversation today, Sofía uses it to describe an object. |
| Dylan: Well, “hermoso” or “hermosa” can definitely be used that way. “¡Qué hermosos son los bordados de la abuela!” |
| Carlos: “Grandma’s embroidery is so beautiful.” |
| Dylan: But we could also say “mi hija es hermosa”. |
| Carlos: “Your daughter is quite lovely.” I have to agree with that. That – she always just bugs out in smile. She is the most smiley baby I’ve ever seen in my life but there are some other adjectives that describe beauty, you know. |
| Dylan: “Bello”, “bella”. Also means “beautiful”, the classic “bonito” or “bonita” but also if you want to say “a beauty”, we have the noun “la hermosura”. |
| Carlos: Well, that’s a lot of beauty. |
| Dylan: Beauty is all over the place, Carlos. |
| Carlos: That’s a good philosophy. Is our next word beautiful? |
| Dylan: It’s a verb actually, “llevar”. |
| Carlos: “Llevar”, “to carry”, “wear”, “to take with you.” |
| Dylan: Right in our conversation, we heard “¿tenemos que llevarlos?” |
| Carlos: “Do we have to take them?” |
| Dylan: So in this sense, it’s talking about taking an object. Think of a sentence with the same use. |
| Carlos: “¿Puedo llevar un libro para el bus?”, “Can I take the book on the bus?” |
| Dylan: Can you read on a bus? I can’t read while I am driving or while I am on a bus. It’s dizzy. |
| Carlos: I can. |
| Dylan: Wow! Well, you know, I heard it’s bad for your eyes. |
| Carlos: Well, I’ve been doing this since I am like 10 years old. So I am kind of skeptical on that. |
| Dylan: Well, you know, we will have to wait for the studies to come out. Now since “llevar” is a verb, what’s “llevar” in the gerund? |
| Carlos: That will be “llevando”, “carrying.” |
| Dylan: All right. Well, let’s carry on to the next word, “época”. |
| Carlos: “Época”, “age”, “season”, “time” and also a popular club in New York City during the 70s. |
| Dylan: What? |
| Carlos: Nothing. Just went to my mom’s favorite horns in the glory days of Héctor Lavoe and Willie Colón. |
| Dylan: Okay. Now this feminine noun can be figured out by looking at it. What English word is it very similar to? |
| Carlos: “Epic.” |
| Dylan: Right and listen to the use in the conversation. “Me recuerdan de una época feliz de mi vida”. |
| Carlos: “They remind me of a happy period of my life.” So really “época” can be thought of a duration of time hah! |
| Dylan: Yes, for example, “me encanta estudiar la época de los romanos”. |
| Carlos: I’d love to study the Roman period. |
| Dylan: Perfect and now you can see the related words in the same sense, “el período”, “the period”, which is a noun, and “la era”. |
| Carlos: “The age”? |
| Dylan: You got it. |
| Carlos: Excellent. Let’ keep the good times going. What’s our next word? |
| Dylan: The next word is a very popular hobby for older ladies. |
| Carlos: And what’s that? |
| Dylan: “Bordado”, “embroidery.” You know Carlos, coincidentally, “mi abuela me enseñó a hacer bordados”. |
| Carlos: I am sorry, your grandmother told you had to do embroidery. See I rest my case. What is the attraction? |
| Dylan: What do you mean? |
| Carlos: I am just saying like you never see like old dudes like embroidering things. |
| Dylan: Yeah. Well, you never see old dudes with really cool handbags and you know, “bufandas”. |
| Carlos: Okay. Point taken. Wait, we’ve already seen the example for this word in the conversation. “¡Qué hermosos son los bordados de la abuela!” |
| Dylan: “Grandma’s embroidery is so beautiful.” |
| Carlos: So we have some related words, right? I mean I assume so. |
| Dylan: Well, there is a related verb “bordar” which means “to embroider.” |
| Carlos: “Bordar”, “to embroider”, and “bordado”, “embroidery.” |
| Dylan: Got it? |
| Carlos: Got it. |
| Dylan: Good. Next up, “trato”. |
| Carlos: “Trato”, “deal.” |
| Dylan: Yes, among its meanings, here the masculine noun “trato” means “deal.” |
| Carlos: And how do we know? |
| Dylan: Listen to the conversation where Gabriel says “Hagamos un trato”. |
| Carlos: “We have a deal.” You know that’s a good phrase to learn. |
| Dylan: Are you good at negotiating, Carlos? |
| Carlos: You know I am getting better but I want to be the one that hears “Hagamos un trato”. |
| Dylan: Why? |
| Carlos: Because that means that my latest terms are the terms that were accepted. |
| Dylan: Yes, too, but remember, “nunca hagas tratos con los mentirosos”. |
| Carlos: I am not trying to remember that, Dylan. I mean, I never want to make a deal with liars. It’s just hard to tell sometimes. |
| Dylan: That’s it. Can you think of any related words? |
| Carlos: A noun “el acuerdo”, “the agreement”, or “la negociación”, “the deal.” |
| Dylan: Huh you have some experience with this hah! |
| Carlos: Yeah, I bought a car remember? |
| Dylan: Yeah, well let’s not get into your car. You always have problems with it. |
| Carlos: Yes, I do. Let’s move on. |
| Dylan: Okay. Last but not least we have a masculine and feminine noun. |
| Carlos: What’s that? |
| Dylan: “Abuelo”, “abuela”. |
| Carlos: The basics. “Grandfather”, “grandmother”. You know, growing up I called my aunts and uncles “tía” and “tío” but I always called my grandparents “grandma” and “grandpa.” I always wondered about that. |
| Dylan: Okay, Carlos, but we’ve heard the example with this word twice. We might as well go for the third time. |
| Carlos: “¡Qué hermosos son los bordados de la abuela!” |
| Dylan: “Grandmother’s embroidery is so beautiful.” |
| Carlos: My grandmothers are both alive but “mi abuelo se murió”. |
| Dylan: How old are you when he died? |
| Carlos: I was 13, my God that was 15 years ago already. It’s crazy how time flies. |
| Dylan: I agree but since “abuelo” or “abuela” is a term for someone in your family, what are the names of the other members? |
| Carlos: “Padres”, “parents”, “tíos”, “tías”, “uncles” and “aunts”, “bisabuelos”, “bisabuelas”, “great grandparents.” You know that Costa Rica has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. |
| Dylan: I’ve heard that. |
| Carlos: So do many people have “bisabuelos”? |
| Dylan: Absolutely, bis bis bisabuelos sometimes. |
| Carlos: Wow, that’s a lot. |
| Dylan: Okay Carlos, we are continuing our discussion on prepositions. |
| Carlos: I’ve been down this route before and I am not scared to go down again. |
| Dylan: Today, la preposición “de”. |
| Carlos: The preposition “de”. |
| Dylan: Do you remember what “de” is used to express? |
| Carlos: Sure, “de” is used to express possession and membership. |
| Dylan: Correct and we express possession by means of the name of the possessor preceded by the preposition “de”. |
| Carlos: Hah! |
| Dylan: For example one that you’ve seen before, “el libro de Martín”. |
| Carlos: Right, “Martin’s book”, but that also addresses the mistake that I find that many Spanish speakers make when they are learning English. |
| Dylan: Yeah, and what’s that? |
| Carlos: Well, they might say “the book of Martin.” |
| Dylan: That’s an obstacle to overcome on both sides. |
| Carlos: True. Now what about membership? |
| Dylan: Well, with membership, we do not refer to the relation between the possessor and the thing possessed. Instead we refer to the attributor objects contained in a person or thing. |
| Carlos: Once again, hah! |
| Dylan: So that’s to say we convey the qualities, nature, condition or character of something or someone. |
| Carlos: Oh well Dylan, when you put it that way? |
| Dylan: For example, “Es un día de sol”, “it’s a sunny day.” |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Dylan: Now along these same lines, we use the preposition “de” to express the material of which something is made. |
| Carlos: Okay, okay, finally that’s clear enough like “la falda de algodón”, “the cotton skirt.” |
| Dylan: Exactly, but this usage has extended to signify the matter or issue of something. For example, “El discurso trata de la economía”, “the lecture is about economics.” |
| Carlos: And what about the fact that prepositions are invariable? |
| Dylan: Well, since they are invariable “de” will never undergo any form change like we see in verbs, nouns or adjectives, for example. |
| Carlos: But there is something special about “de”, no? |
| Dylan: You can expect to see this preposition used as a prefix at the beginnings of words sometimes. |
| Carlos: Are we going to cover that now? |
| Dylan: No, I think that’s something better to save for another time. |
| Carlos: So we have possession and membership. Some examples. |
| Dylan: So for possession, “esa casa es de Pedro y Ana”. |
| Carlos: “This is Pedro and Ana’s house.” |
| Dylan: “¿De quién es la pluma?” |
| Carlos: “Whose pen is this?”, but look at the possible way a Spanish speaker would see this. “Whose is pen?” |
| Dylan: Membership, “Mi tarjeta de crédito es de Citibank”. |
| Carlos: “My credit card is from Citibank.” |
| Dylan: “Esta universidad es de Matemáticas”. |
| Carlos: “This is a Math university.” I’ve never heard of that before. |
| Dylan: Makes sense. You were an English major, weren’t you? |
| Carlos: Hah, true. |
| Dylan: Now take note of how one simple little preposition can be utilized to convey such a wide variety of meanings. |
| Carlos: You ain’t lying about that. |
| Dylan: That’s why I may take some time to learn all of the different ways “de” can be used. |
| Carlos: But if you listen to this lesson again and again and again, it will happen a lot faster. |
| Dylan: You are right about that. Like other prepositions, “de” is often used in adverbial phrases like to do something, “de improviso”, unawareness, or for something to happen “de un momento al otro”. |
| Carlos: “For one moment to the next”. |
| Dylan: And from one moment to the next. |
Outro |
|---|
| Carlos: That just about does it for today. ¡Nos vemos! |
| Dylan: ¡Chao! |
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