Today’s Vine is by Mau Hernandez, from Mexico City.

In this Vine, Mau pretends to be a schoolteacher talking to the famous singer Enrique Iglesias.

The Vine

Transcript

• Teacher: A ver Enrique, ¿con cuál de mis materias tienes problemas?
• Enrique Iglesias [singing]: Con tu física y tu química, también con tu anatomía, la cerveza y el tequila… 

Explanation

• Teacher: Let’s see Enrique, which of my subjects do you have trouble with?
• [literally: with which of my subjects to you have problems?]
• Enrique Iglesias [singing]: With your physics/physique [pun in Spanish] and your chemistry as well as with your anatomy, the beer and the tequila…

The Enrique Iglesias lyrics are taken from his recent hit, “Bailando.” (“Dancing”)

It seems weird and unrelated when he suddenly starts singing about “la cerveza y el tequila” (the beer and the tequila) at the end.  Seeing more of the song lyrics will help put that in context:

Con tu física y tu química, (with your physics/physique and your chemistry)

También con tu anatomía, (also with your anatomy)

La cerveza y el tequila, (the beer and the tequila)

Y tu boca con la mía, (and your mouth with mine)

Ya no puedo más. (I can’t handle it anymore) 

Why do the lyrics start with the word “with”?   

Enrique Iglesias is using a grammatical construction:

no puedo con ________ 

Literally: I can’t with ________.  Sounds awkward in English, but you could translate it more usefully to, “I can’t deal with ______” or “I can’t handle _________.”

Examples:

• ¡No puedo con él! = I can’t handle him / I can’t stand him!
• Ya no puedo con el estrés = I can’t take the stress anymore.
• Con esto ya no puedo más = I can’t deal with this anymore

This construction usually carries a negative connotation (as in the examples above), but Enrique is using it in positive way, i.e. “this is so awesome / you are so awesome I can’t even handle it!”

Slow-Mo Version

Useful Phrases

• A ver… = Let’s see…  [literally: “to see”]
  • Useful as a filler-word, especially when you’re starting a sentence

• No puedo con ______ = I can’t deal with _____ / I can’t handle _____.

• Ya = Now/Already/Anymore
  • This is an incredibly versatile word to be aware of, just like así (así = like this/like that)
  • Ya no puedo = I can’t anymore
  • Ya vengo = I’l be right back (literally: “now I come”)
  • ¡Ya basta! = Enough already!

• También = also
  • ¡Yo tambíen! = me too!

• La cerveza = Beer
  • Ok, why is this a useful phrase?  It’s especially useful because it sounds so much like “service” that people learning Spanish can get confused.  But it’s not service – it’s beer!  Good distinction to know.
  • El servicio = service, la cerveza = beer

 SENTENCE BREAKDOWN

(read this if it helps you to see each line broken down word-by-word; otherwise, skip it)

• “a ver” = “let’s see” [literally: “to see“]
  • Pronunciation: “a vehr” / “a behr”

• “¿con cuál de mis materias tienes problemas?” = “with which of my subjects do you have problems?”
  • Pronunciation: “cohn CWAL deh mees mah-TEH-ree-ahs tienes pro-BLEM-ahs”

• “con tu física y tu química” = “with your physics/physique and your chemistry”
  • Pronunciation: “con tu FEE-see-cah eeh too KEE-mee-cah”

• “también con tu anatomía” = “Also with your anatomy”
  • Pronunciation: “tamb-YEN cohn too anato-MEE-ah”

• “la cerveza y el tequila” = “the beer and the tequila”
  • Pronunciation: “la ser-VEH-sah eeh el teh-KEE-lah”

VERBS

Two conjugated verbs:

• tener (to have)
  • tienes (you have) problemas
• poder (to be able to)
  • ya no puedo (I can’t) más

VOCABULARY

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

• ver
• a ver
• las materias
• el problema
• cuál
• ¿con cuál?
• ¿cuál es?
• la física
• la cerveza
• el servicio
• ya
• también

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.