Monday, January 30, 2012

Encontramos de nuevo nos

Write this date down, because today I'm going to do something I promised I would never do on this blog - talk about grammar.   But bear with me, I think you'll find this to be one of the most enjoyable grammar lessons you'll ever have.  And quite possibly the only one you'll get on this blog.

Encontramos de nuevo nos

I'm sure many of you already know this sentence makes no sense.  But mistakes like this are common for beginners, because those Spanish pronouns can be pesky when you're first starting to learn Spanish.

Do they go at the beginning of the sentence, or at the end? To make matters worse, sometimes they can go either at the beginning or the end.  For someone new to the Spanish language, learning the do's and dont's can be a nightmare.

But don't worry, today I'm going to share a video with you that will help you out by giving you some advice about where these pesky pronouns go.

The video is in Spanish, so get those Spanish ears of yours ready.  It does have English subtitles, so don't worry too much. 

Today we'll be visiting with our friends the Huevo Cartoones.  You may remember I first introduced you to them with Huevo Santa.  This episode is a parody of Star Trek, or as it was titled in Spanish "Viaje a las Estrellas". 


 In case you weren't able to catch all of that, let's do a recap of the more relevant parts.

Despite being in some serious danger, our star ship captain finds it necessary to correct the grammar of his nemesis. 

The Evil Captain:
Encontramos de nuevo nos
We meet again
   (Said incorrectly)

Starship Captain:
Quieres decir que "nos encontramos de nuevo"
You mean we meet again
 
The Evil Captain:
 Eso dije
That's what I said.

Starship Captain:
No, es que pusiste el nos al final de la frase y debería ir al prinicipio
No, you put nos at the end of the sentence and it should go at the beginning

The Evil Captain:
Tus escudos estan a punto de fallar y te mos destruire!!!!
Your shields are about to fail and we're going to destroy you!
   (Also said incorrectly)

Starship Captain:
te destruiremos

The Evil Captain:
¿Que no va al principio de la frase?
What, it doesn't go at the beginning?

Starship Captain:
No, en este caso no

After our heroes come up with a plan to save themselves from being destroyed, we find ourselves back aboard the enemy vessel...

Evil Crew Members:
Pueden destruirnos
They can destroy us

The Evil Captain, now thinking he has an excellent grasp on those pesky pronouns decides to try and correct his crew members about their pronoun usage....

The Evil Captain:
Nos pueden destruir. El nos va al principio de la frase
They can destroy us.  The nos goes at the beginning of the sentence.

Evil Crew Members:
En este caso es igual el principo o el final
In this case is the same at the beginning or the end

The Evil Captain:
No, pues asi no puedo hablar este idioma a veces si , a veces no
I can't speak this language, sometimes yes, sometimes no

Evil Crew Members:
¿Que hacemos con las minas?
What do we do about the mines?

The Evil Captain:
No se si se dice nosotros o otros nos
I don't know if you say nosotros or some other nos

That's all of the dialog pertinent to us today, and sadly, despite being a grammar guru, things didn't work out so well for our star ship Captain. 

Personally, I got a real kick out of that video.  I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did, although I have to admit it loses something in translation.

¡Hasta la próxima!

1 comment:

  1. That was really funny and quite enjoyable. Thanks for the post.

    ReplyDelete