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Speak English in three words Posted by on Oct 3, 2012 in Spanish Culture

Un tipo que no sabe nada de inglés está preocupado porque pronto viaja a Nueva York y no sabe ni cómo pedir algo para comer. Le cuenta el problema a un compañero de trabajo.

– No se preocupe uste’… Lo único que uste’ tiene que hacer es decir bien rapidingo, “Usted, ¿quién es?”, y el gringo le va a entender steak and eggs, y eso es carne con nuevos.

– Pero si eso es facilingo, dice el hombre contento.

Estando ya en “Gringolandia”, decide poner en práctica sus conocimientos del idioma y entra en un restaurante. El camarero se le acerca y le pregunta, “How can I help you?” Y el tipo contesta rápidamente:

– Y vos, ¿quién sos?

  • tipo – guy, fellow
  • pronto – soon
  • compañero de trabajo – co-worker
  • rapidingo – very fast
  • facilingo – very easy
  • se le acerca – comes up to him

Did you get the joke?

The punchline here is that the guy who goes to New York uses the form vos, instead of usted, and it doesn’t produce the desired pun. Vos is used instead of by all social classes in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, most of Central America. In the present tense the endings are -ás, -és and ís.

Tú hablas
Vos hablás

Tú bebes
Vos bebés

Tú partes
Vos partís

Here are the imperative forms:

¡Hablá!

¡Bebé!

¡Partí!

Nos vemos prontito.

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About the Author: Adir

English / Spanish teacher and translator for over 20 years. I have been blogging since 2007 and I am also a professional singer in my spare time.


Comments:

  1. Abraham Royer:

    I think it’s the anonymity factor. A regular reader feels like a part of a community, and therefore, even if they disagree, they’d be more inclined to do so civilly.