Today’s Vine is by Allan Sigman, from Mexico City.

The character thinks he’s having a conversation with his girlfriend, but then realizes his mom is listening in too.

The Vine

Transcript

• Guy on the phone: Oye mi amor, dime cosas sucias.
• Other voice on the phone: ¡¡Tus calzones!!
• Guy on the phone: Mamá, ¡cuelga!
• Other voice (which we now know is his mom): ¡A ver si así los lavas!

Explanation

• Guy on the phone: Hey my love, tell me dirty things.
• Other voice on the phone: Your underwear!!
• Guy on the phone: Mom, hang up!
• Other voice (which we now know is his mom): Let’s see if this way you wash them!

Remember the phrase a ver = “let’s see”?  It was also used in this lesson about Enrique Iglesias.

Slow-Mo Version

Useful Phrases

• Mi amor = My love.  Term of endearment.

• Dime = Tell me.
  • Pronunciation: DEE-meh 
  • di is the command form of decir (to say/to tell).
  • it’s another one of those exceptions like haz (from hacer) and pon (from poner) (see last Wednesday’s lesson)
  • This is a common way to answer if someone calls your name.
    • “Oye, Katherine!”
    • “Sí, dime!” (yes, tell me!) (like saying “what is it?”)

• ¡Cuelga! = Hang up!
  • this is the command form of colgar (to hang/to hang up).
  • cuelgas = you hang up (statement of fact)
  • ella cuelga = she hangs up (statement of fact)
  • ¡cuelga! = hang up!  (this time we’ve co-opted the 3rd person version to make a command, just like besame = kiss me from a previous lesson)
  • colgar is an example of a verb that changes its middle letters when conjugated for I, you, he/she/it, or them.  This is called a stem-change verb and you can read all about it here.
  • you’ve already been using stem-change verbs without knowing it.
    • tú quieres = you want (querer –> quieres)
    • tú tienes = you have (tener –> tienes)

VOCABULARY

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

• las cosas
• las cosas sucias
• los calzones
• los calzones sucios
• sucio/a
• colgar
• ¡cuelga!
• lavar
• lavas los calzones
• los lavas (hint: los is a direct object, representing los calzones)
• así
• a ver…
• ¡dime!
• dime una cosa

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.