Today’s Vine is made by Buoy from Puerto Rico.

Note: This Vine contains one expletive in Spanish.  I substituted it for a softer English word in my translation, in an effort to keep this blog relatively clean. 

I figured it’s worth it to be familiar with expletives so you can recognize them when you hear them, instead of being blindsided by them.  In your own conversations, I’d recommend not using Spanish expletives because as a non-native speaker, you have a high probability of accidentally using them in a legitimately offensive way.  (Perhaps you’ve had the experience of hearing a non-native English speaker use the f-word in awkward and unfitting contexts.  Same thing.)

The Vine

Transcript

• Girl: Yo me voy a comprar unas cositas, quédate en el carro.
• Guy: Puedo ir contigo.
• Girl: No, no, es rápido.
• Guy: Ok.
• Girl (50 years older): ¡Llegué!
• Guy (50 years older): Coño, ¡por fin!

Explanation

• Girl: I’m gonna go buy myself a few things, stay in the car.
• Guy: I can go with you.
• Girl: No, no, it’ll be fast.  [literally: “it’s fast”]
• Guy: Ok.
• Girl (50 years older): I’m back! [literally: “I arrived!”]
• Guy (50 years older): Geeze, finally!
• Note: I chose to translate coño as “geeze,” but in practice it would translate to a much stronger English word.  The word coño is vulgar slang in Spanish and you can find an excellent description of its meaning and usage here.  
• The joke of the Vine is that she said it would be quick, but she ended up shopping for so long that when she got back, they were both many years older.

Slo-Mo Version

Useful Phrases

• Voy a… = I’m going to… [literally: I go to…]
  • Pronunciation: “voy ah”
  • voy a comprar algo = I’m going to buy something
  • voy a hacer esto = I’m going to do this
• ¡Por fin! = Finally!
  • Pronunciation: “por FEEN”
  • This is useful!  When you want to say “finalllllyyy!!” don’t say “finalmente,” say “por fin.”
• Puedo… = I can / I am able to
  • Pronunciation: “PWEH-doh”
  • Note the form: puedo + {verb in the infinitive form}
  • puedo ir = I can go
  • no puedo hablar = I can’t talk

Going Deeper

SENTENCE BREAKDOWN

• “me voy” = “I’m going”
  • Pronunciation: “meh VOY”
  • why the “me”?  See the OBJECTS section below.
• “a comprar” = “to buy”
  • Pronunciation: “ah cohm-PRAHR”
• “unas cositas” = “some things, some little things”
  • Pronunciation: “ooh-nahs coh-SEE-tahs”
  • unas cosas = some things.  By changing the end to “itas” she is using the diminutive which can be used to denote either smallness or affection
• “quédate” = “stay” [literally: stay yourself]
  • Pronunciation: “KEH-dah-teh”
• “en el carro” = “in the car”
  • Pronunciation: “en el CAH-rro”
  • double “r” in Spanish means rolled “r”: rrrrrrrrrrr

• “puedo ir” = “I can go”
  • Pronunciation: “PWEH-doh EER”
• “es rápido” = “it’s fast”
  • Pronunciation: “es RAH-pee-doh”
• “llegué” = “I arrived” (can also be used to say “I’m here” or “I’m back”)
  • Pronunciation: “yeh-GEH”
  • double “l” in Spanish means make a “y” sound as in “yes”
• “por fin” = “finally”
  • Pronunciation: “por FEEN”

OBJECTS

Let’s observe the line, me voy a comprar unas cositas.

In this line, me is an indirect object.  As usual, it goes right before the conjugated verb, voy.

• me voy a comprar unas cositas = I’m going to buy myself some things.

Other examples:

• me voy a comprar unas camisetas  = I’m going to buy myself some t-shirts
• te voy a comprar una mesa = I’m going to buy you a table
• te voy a decir una cosa = I’m going to tell you something [literally: a thing]
• ¿me vas a decir la verdad? = Are you going to tell me the truth?

Note:  You’ll see me voy for two reasons.  Either its part of a sentence with an object (as in the examples above) or, it’s being used to say, Peace out!  I’m leaving!

What?!  That seems totally random and unrelated.

Here’s the catch.  Me voy can also exist on its own. In this case, it’s being used as a reflexive verb – irse – literally, “to go oneself.” In practice, irse is to leave, to peace out.

Examples:

• Se fue. = He/she/it left. He/she/it is gone.
• Chicos, ¡me voy! = Guys, I’m leaving!
• Me voy al mercado a comprar pan. = I’m going to the market (ie I’m leaving my current location) to buy bread.
• ¿Ya te vas? = You’re leaving already?

VOCABULARY

See if you can identify these words/phrases in English.

• me voy
• comprar
• unas cositas
• quédate
• puedo
• puedo ir
• el carro
• rápido
• por fin
• llegué

If you’re still reading this, watch the Vine again!  Then try to speak the words of the Vine out loud again, as slowly as you need to.