{"id":11480,"date":"2018-07-05T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=11480"},"modified":"2018-07-04T03:32:46","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T07:32:46","slug":"redundancy-in-spanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/redundancy-in-spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"Redundancy in Spanish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many Spanish speakers (native and non-native) are victims of redundancy. Some of these mistakes are simply because we are speaking in translation while others go much deeper in language use. Below is a list of the most common\u00a0pleonasmos<\/em> or redundancies\/repetitions in Spanish.<\/p>\n

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Photo taken by Niels Heidenreich found on Flickr.com with license CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

Subir arriba\/ bajar abajo<\/h3>\n

This is perhaps the most common\u00a0pleonasmo\u00a0<\/em>in Spanish, and it has a very logical reason for some if not most Spanish-learners. In English, we are used to saying\u00a0I am going upstairs\/downstairs<\/em>. This can make some of us make the mistake of saying\u00a0voy a subir arriba\u00a0a….<\/em> or\u00a0voy a bajar abajo,\u00a0<\/em>but this is redundant. By saying\u00a0voy a subir<\/em>, people can understand this will be upstairs.<\/p>\n

Meter adentro\/sacar afuera<\/h3>\n

Just like the example above, this one is adding words that are not doing anything for the meaning.\u00a0Meter<\/em> already implies inside and\u00a0sacar<\/em> implies outside so the use of the second word is redundant. This can also be attributed to a translation from English assuming\u00a0meter\/sacar<\/em> is the same as to put.<\/p>\n

Persona humana<\/h3>\n

This mistake is not due to translation, but poor understanding of the words. A\u00a0persona<\/em> is automatically a human and vice versa. We do not have\u00a0animales humanos<\/em> or\u00a0personas felinas,\u00a0<\/em>and yet many of us make this mistake. What I’ve sometimes observed is that the speaker wants to say a person was humane which is not necessarily the same as a human.<\/p>\n

Me parece a m\u00ed que…<\/h3>\n

One of the differences between Spanish (and most Romance languages) and English is a subtle integration of the subject. Instead of saying\u00a0yo te quiero,\u00a0<\/em>a simple\u00a0te quiero<\/em> already has both the subject I and object you. Something similar happens when you say\u00a0me parece que.\u00a0<\/em>The\u00a0me<\/em> is already referencing the subject making\u00a0a m\u00ed<\/em>\u00a0unnecessary.<\/p>\n

Volver a repetir<\/h3>\n

This\u00a0pleonasmo\u00a0<\/em>is also very common for Spanish speakers. In English, it would also be redundant to say\u00a0Repeat it again<\/em> because repeating already implies the again. The correct way would be to just say lo vuelvo a explicar<\/em> or\u00a0lo repito<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a1Or\u00edllate a la orilla!<\/h3>\n

This\u00a0pleonasmo<\/em> is the most common way to mock traffic police in Mexico. There have been numerous occasions when cops have been filmed saying\u00a0Or\u00edllese a la orilla\u00a0<\/em>to drivers when they want to issue a fine. The verb\u00a0orillarse\u00a0<\/em>already implies that this is done to the side.<\/p>\n

El mas mejor<\/h3>\n

El mas mejor<\/em> is perhaps my favorite of this list. In English saying\u00a0the best bestest<\/em> is just as silly as in Spanish saying\u00a0el mas mejor<\/em>. If someone is the best, you can say\u00a0el mejor<\/em>, and if you just want to accentuate someone’s quality in something you can say\u00a0el mejor\u00a0cantante, el mejor\u00a0comediante, el mejor candidato, la mejor\u00a0actriz, etc.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The following video covers other redundant redundancies!<\/p>\n