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Frequently Asked Questions

They might not be "frequently asked" per se, but the following are issues that tend to pop-up from time to time in the study of Spanish.

• What's the deal with "se"?
• How do I say something like "I have been studying for hours"?
• What's the deal with Puerto Rico?
• Is Spanish the same the world over?
• What is the deal with the "vos"?
• What's the deal with "haber"?

What's the deal with "se"?

The word "se" can mean so many different things in Spanish it can be very difficult to know how to translate it. Here's a list of possibilities.

First of all remember that "sé" (with the accent) is the irregular, yo-form conjugation of saber:

Yo sé dibujar bien.
I know how to draw well.

It's pretty likely that if you see a "se," it's a part of a reflexive verb (and may or may have an English translation):

Él se banó y comió la cena.
He took a bath and ate dinner. / He bathed himself and ate dinner.

Sometimes reflexive verbs convey the idea of "becoming" or "getting."

Ella se enojó y salió.
She became angry and left. / She got angry and left.

And sometimes "se" is a reciprocal reflexive and gets translated as "each other."

Se abrazaron.
They hugged. / They hugged each other.

"Se" can be used to replace the indirect object pronouns "le" or "les" in a sentence which also has a direct object pronoun. In that case it could be translated as "to/for him," "to/for her," "to/for it," "to/for you," or "to/for them." Context should make it clear.

¿Recibió ella los libros? Si, Diego se los mandó.
Did she receive the books? Yes, Diego sent them to her.

"Se" is also used in impersonal expressions where the subject is omitted.

Se venden refrescos.
Beverages for sale. / Beverages are sold (here).

No se sabe.
It isn't known. / One doesn't know.

Lastly, se can also be used in a "no fault" construction that doesn't really have an English equivalent.

Se me perdieron las llaves.
I lost the keys. / The keys got lost.
(Literally: The keys lost themselves on me.)

How do I say "I have been studying for hours"?

A present perfect continuous conjugation like, "I have been studying for hours," or, "We have been driving for days," is a good example of why you shouldn't try to translate certain Spanish expressions one word at a time. If you did, you'd end up with something like "Yo he estado estudiando por horas." While you would probably be understood, there is a better way to say it in Spanish. You're going to say something a lot more like "It makes hours that I study." The formula is this:

"hace" + time period + "que" + present tense

Examples:

Hace días que conducimos.
We have been driving for days.

Hace semanas que yo espero.
I have been waiting for weeks.

We can also write sentences like this in the past tense. In English the "have" becomes a "had." In Spanish we simply change both of our verbs from the present tense to the imperfect tense. Now you're saying something more like "It made hours that I studied," and the formula is this:

"hacía" + time period + "que" + imperfect tense

Examples:

Hacía días que conducíamos.
We had been driving for days.

Hacía semanas que yo esperaba.
I had been waiting for weeks.

What's the deal with Puerto Rico?

Puerto Rico, an island in the Caribbean, has a unique, complicated, and often misunderstood relationship with the United States. When Columbus set foot on Puerto Rico in 1943 the island became a part of the Spanish empire. The Spanish conquistadores quickly enslaved the indigenous population who were nearly decimated by disease and brutal working conditions. There were various attempts to gain independence from Spain over the next 400 years, but in 1898, as an outcome of the Spanish American war, Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States (along with Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines). It became a U.S. territory. Since that time the U.S. has granted more and more authority back to the islanders themselves through a series of laws and acts (most notable the Jones-Shafroth Act in 1917). And as it stands now, Puerto Rico is "commonwealth" of the United States. The Spanish term is for this is "Estado Libre Asociado" which translates, "Free Associated State."

Here's where it gets complicated. Puerto Rico is not a U.S. territory or U.S. state, but Puerto Ricans are all U.S. citizens. (They don't need passports to travel to and from the U.S.) Puerto Ricans can be drafted into in the U.S. military, but they do not have to pay Federal taxes and cannot vote in Federal elections.

So how do Puerto Ricans feel about all of this? There is a group in favor of becoming completely independent from the U.S.; a group in favor of status quo; and there is a group in favor of becoming the 51st state of the Union. In 1998, 47% of Puerto Ricans voters were in favor of becoming a U.S. state.

The term "Puerto Rican" can also be a confusing one. "Puerto Rican" can refer to a permanent resident of the island of Puerto Rico as well as to someone who has emigrated from the island to the U.S. It can also be used to refer to anyone living anywhere who simply has Puerto Rican ancestry.

Is Spanish the same the world over?

No. Not even close. While it would be very nice to learn a language that was totally consistent from one country to the next, the truth is that you will experience some major differences traveling from one Spanish-speaking country to another. The biggest variations occur between Spain and Latin America. One prime example is the "vosotros" conjugation which is used almost exclusively in Spain while the rest of the Spanish-speaking world uses "Ustedes." There are also some key differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. For example, several regions in Spain pronounce "c" and "z" with a slight lisp (e.g. "Valencia" sounds more like "Valenthia"). A computer might be referred to as an "ordenador" in Spain whereas elsewhere it would be called a "computadora." But even Latin American countries can vary greatly from each other.

Central Americans have a tendency to drop the "-s" at the end (and sometimes even in the middle!) of words when speaking, and they also use a (rarely taught) "vos" conjugation when talking with close friends. Vocabulary is also an issue between Latin American countries. A "car" can be a "coche" on one side of the border and a "carro" on the other. And there is a seemingly endless supply of words for "pig," like "cerdo," "puerco," "chancho," "cochino," "marrano," etc. Much of this variety can be attributed to the history of each country. Some regions have close ties with Spain and Europe and are therefore influenced by languages like French and Portuguese. Countries with closer to the United States (like Mexico) have been influenced greatly by (American) English. Many countries in Latin America use words adopted from indigenous cultures. And every country has their own set of slang words and idiomatic expressions that won't make much sense elsewhere.

Most Spanish curriculums (as well as this website) try to present a "generic" or international version of Spanish which will be useful in a majority of places and situations. By the way, the country of Spain considers itself to be the official keeper of the Spanish language which is known as "Castellano" ("Castillian" in English).

If you find it upsetting that Spanish is so different from one place to the next, English is really no different. In London, a subway is a "tube," a flashlight is a "torch," an elevator is a "lift," and french fries are "chips." In fact, George Bernard Shaw once wrote that "England and America are two countries divided by a common language."

While we're on the subject…

What is the deal with the "vos"?

In some Spanish speaking countries (especially in Central America) there is second-person singular pronoun in addition to "tú" and "Usted." It's "vos." And this phenomenon is known as "voseo."

"Vos" is not just a shortening of "vosotros" or an object pronoun (like "nos"); it functions as a subject pronoun. "Vos" is used for informal situations such as between friends. Where the "vos" is used, "tú" is either replaced by "vos" or "tú" becomes more formal and "Usted" isn't used. Due to the fact that "v" and "b" are pronounced nearly identically in Spanish, "vos" can sound more like "bos" in conversation. The "vos" has its own set of rules for conjugations.

Generally speaking, "vos" conjugations sound like "tú" conjugations with the accent shifted to the last syllable. The rule you should follow is to remove the "-r" from the infinitive, replace it with an "-s" and add an accent to the preceeding vowel. Compare the "tú" form and "vos" conjugations:

As you can see from this small sample, stem changing verbs do not change in the "vos" form, some verbs are exactly the same in the "vos," and some verbs are completely irregular (of course).

To form a "vos" command, you will usually remove the final "-s" from the conjugation: comer → comé, decir → decí, hablar → hablá, etc.

What's the deal with "haber"?

Actually the word "haber" doesn't appear in Spanish all that often but its conjugations do, and they can cause some confusion. "Haber" is a strange verb that, when used by itself, doesn't really have an English translation; the closest we can get is "to be" in the sense of "to exist." It's easier to see what it means after we conjugate it. In the present tense, "haber" is conjugated "hay," which means, "there is" or "there are."

"Haber" has a limited set of conjugations. There is only one conjugation in each tense: the third-person, singular form. You can't conjugate "haber" in the yo-form or the tú-form, for example, because you can't say things like "I there is," or "You there are." But "haber" can be conjugated in other tenses (and moods). Some examples:

(According to one theory, the caribbean island of Aruba got its name from the Spanish "oro hubo," meaning "there was gold.")

"Haber" can also be used as an auxiliary verb together with a past participle to form perfect tenses (present perfect, pluperfect, future perfect, etc.) When used this way, it means "to have" (as in, "to have seen," "to have done," "to have written," etc.) and it has a complete set of conjugations:

(See Past Participles & Perfect Tenses for a complete breakdown of "haber" conjugations.)

There are also some of common idiomatic expressions that involve conjugations of "haber":

Using a form of "haber" together with "que" and an infinitive expresses the idea of being necessary or very important:

Hay que comer mucha fruta.
It is necessary to eat a lot of fruit. / You gotta eat a lot of fruit.

Habrá que salir muy temprano.
It will be necessary to leave very eary. / You'll have to leave very early.