I mentioned recently in a previous post and in the past about a section in El Nuevo Herald titled Bien Dicho. It provides a tip about Spanish be it grammar, vocabulary, incorrect usage of a word, word borrowing etc. Since I discovered the section almost two years ago, I find it very interesting even though it?s brief. IMO one would have to have a strong understanding of grammar to truly appreciate the examples discussed, however, the grammar tips that have been of interest to me have always been true and insightful.
The tip posted in yesterday?s paper was about the verb acordarse, which always must be followed by the preposition "de". As per the article, "de" is often omitted in daily speech and has become the norm however; the preposition must be included when writing formal Spanish. This verb is often confused with recordar which is not a pronominal verb, meaning it is not conjugated with the pronoun "se" and its corresponding forms which is also a common error made by speakers. See the examples below in the article.
What I thought was interesting about the article was that it states that "de" is often omitted in informal speech. I have not noticed this phenomenon when speaking with a diverse group of speakers daily however; I have noticed the reverse concept which is the excessive and incorrect usage of "de" when it should not be used which is called "deque?smo". On a daily basis I hear "dijo de que" xxx. This is a common error in colloquial speech. The usage of "de" is incorrect and has become common among many speakers. "De" should be used when it has a direct correlation with the verb. "Acordarse de" is one of many verbs in Spanish that must be followed by the preposition "de".
This phenomenon also occurs with other verbs that have a transitive or intransitive form and a pronominal form (se) whereas the example in the article involves two distinct verbs that can have the same meaning. After reading Bien Dicho, I thought of the verbs "alegrar" and "alegrarse de". The same error occurs. "De" is often omitted in informal Spanish when using the pronominal form "alegrarse de" but it must always be written.
Examples:
Alegrarse de:
1/ Me alegro de que te sientas mejor
Alegrar
2/ Me alegra que te sientas mejor
Romance language comparison:
For those of you who speak French you may find it interesting to make a grammatical comparison since both languages come from the same root. Comparing Spanish grammatical patterns to English is illogical although sometimes they are similar. The verb "acordarse de" functions the same way in French. It also requires the preposition "de" in French. Se souvenir de = acordarse de and it?s also a pronominal verb "se souvenir".
Example:
Se souvenir
1/ "Je me souviens de cette soir?e"?
In summary, these are the specifics of grammar that make Spanish difficult to master but IMO distinguish informal speech from formal speech and well-spoken Spanish from Spanish spoken by the average speaker. Strong grammar knowledge, reading good sources, books, newspapers, magazines, essays in Spanish is the key to overcoming concepts such deque?smo or omitting "de" when it?s required.
Here is the article:
______________________
-LDG.
The tip posted in yesterday?s paper was about the verb acordarse, which always must be followed by the preposition "de". As per the article, "de" is often omitted in daily speech and has become the norm however; the preposition must be included when writing formal Spanish. This verb is often confused with recordar which is not a pronominal verb, meaning it is not conjugated with the pronoun "se" and its corresponding forms which is also a common error made by speakers. See the examples below in the article.
What I thought was interesting about the article was that it states that "de" is often omitted in informal speech. I have not noticed this phenomenon when speaking with a diverse group of speakers daily however; I have noticed the reverse concept which is the excessive and incorrect usage of "de" when it should not be used which is called "deque?smo". On a daily basis I hear "dijo de que" xxx. This is a common error in colloquial speech. The usage of "de" is incorrect and has become common among many speakers. "De" should be used when it has a direct correlation with the verb. "Acordarse de" is one of many verbs in Spanish that must be followed by the preposition "de".
This phenomenon also occurs with other verbs that have a transitive or intransitive form and a pronominal form (se) whereas the example in the article involves two distinct verbs that can have the same meaning. After reading Bien Dicho, I thought of the verbs "alegrar" and "alegrarse de". The same error occurs. "De" is often omitted in informal Spanish when using the pronominal form "alegrarse de" but it must always be written.
Examples:
Alegrarse de:
1/ Me alegro de que te sientas mejor
Alegrar
2/ Me alegra que te sientas mejor
Romance language comparison:
For those of you who speak French you may find it interesting to make a grammatical comparison since both languages come from the same root. Comparing Spanish grammatical patterns to English is illogical although sometimes they are similar. The verb "acordarse de" functions the same way in French. It also requires the preposition "de" in French. Se souvenir de = acordarse de and it?s also a pronominal verb "se souvenir".
Example:
Se souvenir
1/ "Je me souviens de cette soir?e"?
In summary, these are the specifics of grammar that make Spanish difficult to master but IMO distinguish informal speech from formal speech and well-spoken Spanish from Spanish spoken by the average speaker. Strong grammar knowledge, reading good sources, books, newspapers, magazines, essays in Spanish is the key to overcoming concepts such deque?smo or omitting "de" when it?s required.
Here is the article:
______________________
-LDG.
Last edited: