Amelia: ¡Entonces vamos!
Amelia: Then let's go!
Gala: ¿Ahora?
Gala: Now?
Amelia: Sí, sí, sí.
Amelia: Yes, yes, yes.
Caption 33, Disputas - La Extraña Dama
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A viewer wrote to ask if we could look at ahora and ya.
If we take the example above, which comes from the latest installment of the La Extraña Dama episode of Disputas, Gala could have replaced ¿Ahora? with ¿Ya? and the meaning would have been the same: "Now?"
In some parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Gala might have used the colloquial diminutive ahorita, especially to emphasize immediacy, "right now." Another way to stress immediacy is to place the word mismo after either ahora or ya. Ya mismo might be considered slightly stronger, but it also largely depends on the speaker's intonation and the context in which it is said.
Venga para acá ahora mismo.
Come here right now.
Venga para acá ya mismo.
Come here right now.
Cuando era chico quería ser como Superman
When I was little, I wanted to be like Superman
pero ahora ya quiero ser diputado del PAN
but now I want to be a representative of the PAN
Captions 1-2, Molotov - Hit Me
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In the music video Hit Me, Molotov combines both ahora and ya, most likely for emphasis, to indicate "now" in the sense of "these days" or "currently." In the same vein, it's not at all unusual to find ahora (without ya) where we might have expected to see hoy día (hoy en día), "nowadays."
En los años '20, las comunicaciones eran precarias. Ahora todo es diferente, la telefonia e internet se han vuelto de uso comun en casi todos los hogares.
In the twenties, communication was precarious. Now (nowadays) it's different, the telephone and internet have come into common use in almost all homes.
The combination of ya and ahora together in Hit Me comes across to some native speakers as very colloquial and a bit unusual, though of course popular music is always fertile ground for innovative, regional and less common usage. There are instances when the combination ahora and ya does sound natural to most native speakers; one is the case when ya is used to indicate "already."
Ahora, ya nos conocemos mejor.
Now, we already know each other better. (action completed)
Marisol: Tendrías que preguntarle a los peones.
Marisol: You should ask the farmhands.
Pedro: Uy, ya lo hice.
Pedro: Uy, I already did so.
Captions 12-13, Provócame - Piloto
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We find ya used to indicate action completed in this Provócome example. Pedro has "already" done what Marisol suggests.
In the case of a negative statement, where in English we would expect to see "yet," we do not use ya but rather todavía. This is a convention, like many "rules," that non-natives quite often pick up subconciously, through exposure.
¿Ya llamaste al médico?
Did you already call the doctor?
No, todavía no he llamado.
No, I haven't yet.
Sometimes ya can take on a meaning that encompasses both "now" and "already" ("finally"). This and some other important ya concepts que todavía no discutimos ("that we didn't discuss yet") can be found here: https://www.thelearninglight.com/ya.htm
A few more examples of interest:
Entonces ganaba más que ahora.
I was earning more then than (I am) now.
¡Ahora me lo dices!
Now you tell me!
Ahora que lo pienso...
Now that I come to think of it...
Another suggested quick read:
https://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=now
El problema es que no están a su alcance.
The problem is that they are out of her reach.
Caption 38, Provócame - Piloto
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You may remember in Disputas, La Extraña Dama, part 5, when Santiago asks ¿Alcanza con esto? ("Is this enough?") and Amelia replies Alcanza y nunca sobra ("Enough and never more than enough"). When talking about money or time, alcanzar refers to "having enough," but alcanzar is also "to achieve" or "to reach" and the related noun is alcance. So when Marisol says El problema es que no están a su alcance she is saying "The problem is that they (horses) are out of her reach."
Telenovelas no alcanzaron los altos ratings de los partidos de fútbol.
Soap operas didn't reach the high ratings of soccer matches.
Desafortunadamente, dos no alcanzaron a llegar.
Unfortunately, two did not manage to make it.
Caption 23, Misión Chef - 2 - Pruebas
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Ponemos el potencial tecnológico a tu alcance.
We put technological potential within your reach.
El interior presenta una decoración de estilo francés
The interior has French-style decor
y la cúpula alcanza los cuarenta metros.
and the dome reaches forty meters.
Captions 24-25, Viajando con Carlos - Popayán - Colombia
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El tiempo nunca nos alcanza.
We never have enough time.
El dinero de La Yuca sólo nos alcanza para comprar comida y nada más.
Money from La Yuca is only enough to buy food and nothing else.
Caption 3, La Cocaleros - Personas y políticas
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A mí me alcanza y sobra con que la flor se abra.
For me it is more than enough if the flower unclose.
(D. H. Lawrence, Rose of All the World, last line)
In this lesson, we would like to talk about a very simple formula that native Spanish speakers use when they wish to express their intention or inclination to do something. Let's take a look at it:
The verb estar (to be) + the preposition por + infinitive verb
Now, let's take a look at the following clip to see how that formula works:
Tu hija se está por casar con un buen hombre.
Your daughter's about to get married to a good man.
Caption 17, Provócame - Piloto
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When Patricia says to Ignacio, "Tu hija se está por casar con un buen hombre," she is saying: "Your daughter is about to get married to a good man." That said, the meaning of estar por hacer algo is: "to be about to do something," or have the intention to carry out the action of the infinitive verb. Note that the reflexive pronoun se in Patricia's sentence is part of the reflexive verb casarse (rather than having any association with estar). That said, she could have just as well have said: "Tu hija está por casarse."
Let's look at another example:
Ya estoy por pensar que Urrutia sí es quien dice ser.
I'm about to think that Urrutia really is who he says he is.
Caption 24, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 4
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In this example, we can see that Rubio is "about to think" something. In this context, our formula expresses that Rubio "feels tempted" or "is inclined" to think that what Urrutia says is true.
Note that in some Spanish-speaking areas, estar por + infinitive would more likely be used to indicate that one is in the mood to do something or has the intention to, while in other regions, estar para + infinitive is the more common way to say that some action will soon take place.
Finally, keep in mind that in some parts of Latin America, people might use estar por + infinitive as an alternative way of saying estar a punto de (hacer algo). Let's look at an example of how this same idea of being "about to" do something can be expressed with different words:
Está por llover (It's about to rain).
Está a punto de llover (It's about to rain).
That's all for this lesson. We hope you've learned something new today, and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments. ¡Hasta la próxima!
¿En qué anda ahora ella?
What's she up to now?
Caption 22, Disputas - La Extraña Dama
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If you recall back to Part 1 of La Extraña Dama, Nacha Guevara (Latin America's answer to Cher) asks in Caption 22 ¿En qué anda ahora ella? We might be tempted to translate this as: "In what does she walk now?" but clearly that won't cut it. Checking any dictionary, we find that andar has more meanings than just "to walk." For example, you are no doubt familar with ¿Cómo andas? (How's it going?). The question Melina wants to convey is What is she up to now?
Ando sin plata...
I don't have any money...
Caption 10, Disputas - La Extraña Dama
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This week in Part 4 of the series andar pops up again when our young protagonist states Ando sin plata. He means not so much "I walk without money," but rather, "I've got no money."
Speaking of Nacha, imagine our surprise when we recently noticed her -the distinctive voice, face, and, well, just about everything else- before us en bolas, which is to say totalmente desnuda, playing Mrs. Robinson in El Graduado. Our lovely theater companion, who somewhere along the line lost the wild rebellious streak we once knew her for, was shocked and outraged beyond her tender years by the wanton display of flesh (this despite Ms. Guevera's seemingly supernatural ability to cut a statuesque nude that would do proud any 36-year-old, which is the age Anne Bancroft was when she played the same role in 1967, never mind a 63-year-old, which is what Nacha is today).
The dictionary states that en bolas is itself considered vulgar by some. We don't remember where we first came across the phrase, but for some reason it stuck with us, as colorful phrases often do. Could it be because certain speech operates on a whole other neurological plane that quite literally bridges logic and emotion?
While this week's Disputas video does not offer an absence of apparel, it is rife with some fairly salty language. We don't think it would make a sailor blush, but we've got the Viewer Discretion Advised light on as fair warning to anyone who might find the dialog unsettling.
Y te has pintado la sonrisa de carmín
And you've painted on a lipstick smile
Caption 34, Disputas - La Extraña Dama
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In the above clip you'll note that José Luis Perales sings "Y te has pintado la sonrisa de carmín". In this case carmín refers to lipstick, so the phrase translates as "And you've painted on a lipstick smile". Carmín can also refer to the color crimson (aka carmine), and sometimes to a type of wild rose. Lipstick, aside from carmín de labios, is also known as lápiz de labios. Bear it in mind next time you find some on the collar, yours or otherwise.
(Did you know that collar, in Spanish, is the same word as for neck: cuello?)
Here is another use of carmín in a song by the Argentine rock band Babsónicos.
Algo en tus labios color carmín
Something in your carmine lips
Sugiere que vayamos al grano
Suggests we get to the point
Captions 16-17, Babasónicos - Risa
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