Episode 1: La llegada de Sam - The Arrival of Sam

Let's uncover some of the more unusual aspects of this super cheesey serial from 2004!

In this series of lessons I'm not planning to go through the episodes line by line but rather pull out the more interesting parts and talk about them. By thinking and considering, sometimes even being surprised by, the language and its roots it is so much easier to remember than just by attempting to memorise stuff.

So let's dive straight in:

Spanish	English
Esta es la historia de Lola y Ana	This is the story of Lola and Ana

Now you might have been taught that when you want to refer to something that happens in the past it is either:

Historia - history, something that actually happened.
Cuento - a story, fiction, a made up tale.

But there is a sort of gray area where if something is made to look as if it happened it can be referred to as 'historia'.

I'll also just share how I remember 'Cuento'. You know 'Lo siento' - "I'm sorry" - well I found a rap song which I've since lost but it had the line 'Lo siento que esta historia es como un ciento - "I'm sorry that this true story sounds like fiction". I always find rhyming things help me remember words and rap often has a great beat to reinforce that learning!

Spanish	English
Así están las cosas	That's how things are

I just love this phrase because its so useful when someone is moaning about how bad the world is. Its a simple and mega Spanish way of just having some vague way of commenting. Good for using on kids to when you can't be bothered to explain the 'why' of something because you probably don't know it either.

Spanish	English
Te lo dije anoche	I said it to you last night

With all these small words coming before the verb in Spanish its really important to remember what order they shoud come in. You can just remember this phrase and look back to it or you can use my "melody" rule:

'Me lo di' means "I gave it to myself" which is nice of you but also handy because it sounds like "Melody". So if you remember that coincidence you will always have the word order.

What about the negative? Well a good "melody" shouldn't be interrupted, in other words we never want to break up the 'Me lo di' which means the 'no' belongs before it - 'No me lo di' - "I didn't give it to myself.

Spanish	English
Se acabó	It finished

While 'acabó' is just the standard past tense for 'acabar' for he/she/it/you (formal) it is also one of these reflexive verbs that Spanish learners struggle with, I know I do.

Remembering 'acabar' is reflexive is just another one of those things you have to try and lodge in your brain but imagining a break up of a relationship happens to itself - "it finished itself" is strangely philososphical because most relationships do just run their course and end without it really being anyone's fault. The two people just find they don't get on as much as they thought they would.

Sure, we all like to blame the other person but given time we recognise the flaws of the relationship and it just wasn't right. In that sense we then realise that the relationship ended itself - it just needed one of the people in the relationship to say it out loud! We might even find ourselves being reflexive in English by saying "It ended itself".

Spanish	English
Venga Luis	Come on Luis

The word 'venga' is massively popular in everyday life so it surprised me to find most courses don't mention it until quite late on. But commonly used words can act as useful hooks.

'Venga' actually means far more than "Come on", it is used the same as in English for meaning "Do it", "Get on with it" and so on and that's why you'll hear it several times in this episode alone when you listen out for it.

Its also a really useful one for remembering the "mood tense" - how words change when we are applying some emotion to them such as an order. So lets follow the logic through:

'Venir' is "to come"
As an 'ir' verb if we were telling someone formally "to come" we would expect to say 'vene' - we don't though because its irrigular ... but hold that thought!
When we use the mood tense we change the 'e' for 'a' on 'ir' and 'er' verbs so theoretically we should end up with 'vena' but its slightly irregular and we get 'Venga.

So every time you hear 'Venga' its a great reminder of that mood tense in action and what the verb "to come" is.

Spanish	English
¿A que sí?	Isn't that right?

Spanish is full of phrases that, when you them down into individual words, make little sense! This one would be something like "To/for that yes?". You can just about make the jump from that to "Isn't that right?" I suppose.

But 'A que sí' is another very common phrase missing from many text books and courses but very popular in spoken Spanish. You need to know it because whoever says it to you is expecting a response ... to which you can now say 'Así están las cosas'!!!!