Colloquial expressions

WHEN you learn a language there is always the danger of giving grammar more importance that just ‘how people say things’.

To learn a language well, grammar is vital as it gives you the ‘mechanics’ of the language, but when you are communicating in everyday life you often hear, or need to use, expressions that just are ‘how people say things’.

Here are a few such phrases that you may hear as you are out and about.

‘¿Me oyes?’ (Do you/Can you hear me?). This used to be used exclusively for telling off children who didn’t listen to their parents, but now you will hear it more often spoken by someone on a mobile phone when the connection is ‘breaking up’. ‘No te oigo’ (I can’t hear you) is the equivalent of our ‘you’re breaking up’. I think Spanish is clearer in this situation!

‘¡Muchísimas gracias!’ (Thank you ever so much). In the same situation you might also hear ‘Muy amable’ (very kind) and also ‘se lo agradezco’ (I appreciate it). The

Spanish do express gratitude, even though they often miss out the routine ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ that we think is so vital to any kind of co-existence.

‘Te invito a tomar algo’. (I’ll treat you/I invite you to a drink). These are really two expressions which belong to two specific situations and which don’t translate into English all that well.

‘Te invito’ really means ‘I’ll pay’ or ‘it’s on me’ and can be used after you’ve had the drink as well as before.

‘Tomar algo’, which literally means ‘to have/take something’ represents the basic Spanish habit of doing everything over a drink or a bite to eat at any time of day or night.

‘Me alegro’; ‘me alegro mucho’ (I’m glad, I’m really glad). We say this in response to someone else’s good news as a way of sharing their joy. If someone tells you that they’ve at last found a job you say ‘Me alegro mucho’. On the other hand, if they tell you they’ve just lost their job, you should say ‘lo siento’.

‘¿Yo qué sé?’ (What do I know! Or How should I know?) I often associate this phrase with adolescents, although it could be used by anyone, depending on the situation and attitude with which it is said.

Either way, it has to be accompanied with a big shrug of the shoulders.

‘No tengo ni idea’ (I have no idea!). This expresses the same emotion as ‘¿Yo qué sé?’ and the two things may be said together for extra emphasis.

‘No me di cuenta’ (I didn’t realize). This is an extremely useful phrase and one you should have in your emergency phrase collection for any moment you are caught out doing the wrong thing or without the relevant piece of paper. ‘¡Oh perdón. No me di cuenta!’