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Today’s Vine is by Dante Caro, from Madrid, Spain.

It’ll be helpful to read the caption first: Cuando me gusta una chica, la entro con confianza, sin nervios… porque a ellas les encanta que tengas confianza en tí mismo.

Translation: “When I like a girl, I go for her with confidence, without nervousness… because girls love it when you have confidence in yourself.”

The Vine

Transcript

• Hey, Paula, soy de la otra clase, ¿quieres ir a tomar algo?  …Nah, es broma… No, no lo es.  Te quiero.  Eh ah uh…
• [turns to leave and accidentally bangs head on door]

Explanation

• Hey, Paula, I’m from the other class, do you want to go out for a drink? …Nah, I’m kidding… No, no I’m not kidding.  I love you.  Eh ah uh…
• [turns to leave and accidentally bangs head on door]

• The joke is that, while intending to demo confidence when asking a girl out, he ends up showing a kind of slapstick-level of awkwardness and nervousness.

Slow-Mo Version

Useful Phrases

This Vine is full of useful phrases!  As the character corrects himself and fumbles for words, he rattles of one useful phrase after another.

• Soy de… = I’m from…
  • He uses this to introduce himself.  More examples:
    • Soy de Nueva York = I’m from New York
    • Soy de tu clase = I’m from your class

• ¿Quieres ir a tomar algo? = Want to go have a drink? / get coffee? / get a snack?
  • This is a useful, informal way of asking out a date, as well as inviting a friend out.

• Es broma = I’m kidding / just kidding. (literally: It’s a joke.)
  • so useful!!!!  From now on, don’t try to translate “I am kidding” in your head.  Just let es broma roll of your tongue. 😉

• Te quiero. = I love you. (literally: I “want” you)
  • There are various ways to say “I love you” in Spanish.  Kinda cool.  This is one of the most common.  It can be used in a romantic way, or between family and friends.  (e.g. Mamá, ¡te quiero! = I love you, Mom!)

Going Deeper

 SENTENCE BREAKDOWN

• “soy de la otra clase” = “I’m from the other class”
  • Pronunciation: “soy deh lah OH-trah CLAH-seh”

• “¿quieres ir a tomar algo?” = “want to go [to] drink something?”
  • Pronunciation: “KIEH-res eer ah toh-MAR AL-goh?

• “es broma.” = “It’s a joke.”
  • Pronunciation: “es BRO-mah”

• “No, no lo es.” = “No, it’s not.”
  • Pronunciation: “no, no loh es”

VERBS

Two conjugated verbs:

• ser (to be)
  • soy (I am) de la otra clase.
  • es (it is) broma.
  • no, no lo es (it isn’t).
• querer (to want, or, to love)
  • ¿quieres (you want) ir a tomar algo?
  • te quiero (I love)

Two unconjugated verbs:

• ir (to go)
  • ¿quieres ir (to go) a tomar algo?
• tomar (to take / to drink)
  • a tomar (to drink) algo

OBJECTS

• In te quiero, te is a DO (direct object).  We could replace te with other pronouns to say we love different people.
  • La quiero mucho = “I love her a lot”
  • Lo quiero mucho = “I love him a lot”
  • Los quiero mucho = “I love you guys a lot” OR “I love them a lot”
  • ¿Me quieres? = “Do you love me?”
  • Why use la and not le?  Because le and les are special little words we whip out for IOs (indirect objects) only.  Otherwise we use la, lo, las los.
  • For more info about objects, visit the OBJECTS page.

• Consider the lines: Es broma.  No, no lo es.
  • In English, we would just say “no it’s not.” No need for an extra word.
  • In Spanish, if you just said no es, it would sound like “it is not” as in, “it doesn’t exist.”
    • That’s why he says, “No lo es.”
    • Wait, shouldn’t we use la since la broma is feminine? 
    • No.  This situation is slightly different from your typical DO situation.  The lo is not a stand in for la broma as an object.  Instead, it represents the entire phrase of “it’s a joke.”
    • Check out some more examples.
    • Enrique está enfermo.  No, no lo es. (Enrique is sick.  No, he’s not.)  The lo represents the phrase, “está enfermo.”
    • ¿Tu hermana es inteligente?  Sí, lo es.  (Is your sister intelligent? Yes, yes she is.)  The lo represents the phrase, “tu hermana es inteligente.”
    • Eres poeta y no lo sabes.  (You’re a poet and you don’t know it.)  The lo refers to “eres poeta” (you’re a poet).  In this sentence it’s easier to see, because the English version is very similar.  “It” refers to being a poet, just like lo refers to “eres poeta.”

One more example: a quote from the 19th Spanish writer Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, as copied onto a wall.

¿Qué es poesía?  ¿Y tú me lo preguntas?  Poesía eres tú.  

What is poetry?  And you’re asking it to me?  Poetry is you.

Here, lo represents the question, “¿qué es poesía?”

BREAKING DOWN THE CAPTION OF THE VINE

Cuando me gusta una chica, = When I like a girl (structurally, think of this as: “when a girl pleases me“)

la entro con confianza, = I go for her with confidence (la entro literally means “I enter her” but it’s not being used for that.  Here, the phrase la entro means going for her; going for something with all your heart.)

sin nervios… = without nervousness…

porque = because

a ellas les encanta = they love (encantar is a stronger version of gustar) (think of this as: “to them it enchants them“)

que tengas confianza en tí mismo = that you have confidence in yourself.

VOCABULARY

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

• te quiero
• soy de…
• la clase
• la otra clase
• quieres
• tomar algo
• ¿quieres ir?
• ¿quieres ir a tomar algo?
• la broma
• es broma
• no es broma

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.