Today’s Vine is by JiRafita, from Mexico City.

It’s an example of a horrible pick-up line (una frase seductora).

The Vine

Transcript

• Guy: Oye, ¿cumples años hoy?
• Girl: No, ¿tú?
• Guy: Tampoco.  ¡Tenemos mucho en común!
• Girl: ehhhh…
• Guy: Cállate y bésame.

Explanation

• Guy: Hey, is it your birthday today? [literally: do you turn years today?]
• Girl: No, you?  [as in, is it yours?]
• Guy: Me neither.  We have a lot in common!
• Girl: ehhhh…
• Guy: Shut up and kiss me.

Notice how he asks if it’s her birthday: “¿cumples años hoy?”

hoy = today

años = years

cumplir = to turn, to fulfill, to finish

• cumplir años = to have a birthday
• cumplir una promesa = to keep a promise
• cumplir un sueño = to fulfill a dream

cumplir is an interesting word, and this picture illustrates its multiple meanings:

“Promises? hahahaha…these days, the only thing people keep is years.”

(It’s nothing special in English, but in Spanish it’s a pun – you use the same word for birthdays and promises: cumplir años and cumplir promesas).

Slow-Mo Version

Useful Phrases

• ¡oye! – hey!
  • Pronunciation: “OH-yeh” 
  • This literally means, “hear!” It comes from the verb oír (to hear).
  • You might hear someone say ¡oiga!  That is the formal way of saying “hey” – i.e. that’s what you would say when talking to usted (formal “you”).

• Tampoco – neither.
  • Pronunciation: “tam-POH-coh” 
  • In this Vine, he’s using it to mean “me neither” but, due to the question the girl asked, he is able to convey “me neither” by simply saying “neither.”
  • If she didn’t ask the question, he would have to say:

• Yo tampoco – me neither.

• Tenemos mucho en común. – We have a lot in common.

• Cállate. – shut up.
  • Pronunciation: “CAH-yah-teh” 
  • Double “L” is pronounced like a “y” (always)
  • Literally means, “quiet yourself.”  Callarse is a reflexive verb meaning “to quiet oneself.”

• Bésame = kiss me.
  • Pronunciation: “BEH-sah-meh”

More about shut up and kiss me!

“Shut up and kiss me!” is a command.  We have a special conjugation for commands.  Consider this phrase:

Tú me besas = you kiss me / you’re kissing me.

This is not a command.  This is an observation; a statement of fact.  If you want to make it into command, conjugate it as though you’re in the 3rd person:

• Escribes una canción. = You write a song (statement of fact)
• Escribe una canción. = Write a song.  (as in, do it! write it!)

• Tomas agua ahora. = You drink water now (as in, I’m observing that you’re drinking water now.)
• Toma agua ahora. = Drink water now. (as in, do it! drink that water!)

There are some exceptions – verbs whose command format looks a little different.  I’ll list a few of them:

• hacer (to do/to make) becomes haz (do! make!)
• decir (to say / to tell) becomes di (tell! say!)
• tener (to have) becomes ten (have!)

Sample usage:

• haz la tarea = do the assignment.
• di la verdad = tell the truth.
• ten cuidado = have caution (“be careful!”)

OBJECTS: Remember how we learned that objects go before the conjugated verb? (e.g. me quiere = he loves me)  Well, when we’re dealing with commands (e.g. kiss me!) we glue the object onto the end of the command.

• ¡Escucha! = Listen!
• ¡Escúchame! = Listen to me!
• Di la verdad = Tell the truth.
• Dime la verdad = Tell me the truth.

Remember the song “Kiss the Girl” from The Little Mermaid?  In Spanish, it’s “Bésala.“

SPELLING: Why the accent over the first “a”?  It’s because, the default pronunciation is emphasize the second-to-last syllable.  If you want to change this, you need an accent to show where the emphasis should be.  Callate is designed to be pronounced, “CAH-yah-teh.”  Without an accent, it would sound like “cah-YAH-teh.”

More about birthdays

There are several ways to ask if someone is having a birthday.  In this vine, JiRafita asked, “¿cumples años hoy?”  

He could also say,

¿hoy es tu cumpleaños? = Is today your birthday?

el cumpleaños = birthday

¡feliz cumpleaños! = happy birthday! (short version: ¡feliz cumple!)

¡felicidades! = happiness/blessings/congratulations!  (commonly used to convey, “I’m wishing you happiness on your birthday!”)

VOCABULARY

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

• un beso
• ¡oye!
• mucho
• bésame mucho
• cállate
• ¿cumples años hoy?
• Sí, cumplo años hoy.
• Yo también.
• Yo tampoco.
• ¡feliz cumple! / ¡felicidades!

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.