Today’s Vine is by Zaifer, from Santander, Spain.

It’s a good example of the phrase por eso, which literally means “for that,” where “for” is taken to be “because of.”  So por eso can be used as a stand-alone, or as part of a sentence, to mean “because of that” or “that’s why!”

por eso = because of that / that’s why

 

The Vine

Transcript

• Girl #1: ¡Sales guapísima en esa foto!
• Girl #2: Si casi no se me ve.
• Girl #1: Ya… por eso.

Explanation

• Girl #1: You look gorgeous in that photo!
• Girl #2: But you can hardly see me.  [literally: “If I almost can’t be seen.”]
• Girl #1: Yeah, uh-huh… that’s why. [literally: “for that.”]

So we see Girl #1 slinging an insult at Girl #2 (both played by the same person), by telling her that the reason she looks fantastic in a photo is: she can hardly be seen.

Slo-Mo Version

https://soundcloud.com/spanishin6seconds/monday-vine-por-eso

Interesting Constructions

This dialogue, though short, is chock-full of interesting and useful sentence constructions.  Let’s look at all of them.

Our good friend “ya”

Notice the use of ya – which means now/enough/already, and can also be used as yes – as in, “yes, yes, that’s right, I hear you.”

For more about the usage of ya, check out these earlier posts:

• “Deja de grabarme” – Monday, 10/27/14
• “Me avisas cualquier cosa” – Monday, 10/21/14
• “Con tu física y tu química” – Monday, 9/23/14

¡Sales guapísima!

The verb salir = to come out / to go out / to exit.

So “sales guapísima” literally means “you come out gorgeous.”  It’s a pretty common construction.  Here are some other ones involving salir:

• ¿Te salió bien el examen? = Did the exam turn out well for you? / Did it go well?
• ¿Cómo te salió? = How did it turn out for you? / How did it go?
• Sólo guardo la foto si salgo guapa. = I only save the photo if I look pretty. / If I come out pretty.
• Salir del armario = to come out of the closet.
• Este problema es dificil.  No me sale.  = This problem is difficult.  I don’t get it. / It’s not coming out for me.

Si casi no se me ve.

Literally, “if I almost can’t be seen.”

This is one of my favorite constructions in Spanish.  It’s a way of talking back and making counter-arguments.

Replace the “if” with “but” to get a good sense of how this phrase would work in English.

Where you see this in English:

•  “Eat three apples!”
• “But we only have two!”

You would see this in Spanish:

• “¡Come tres manzanas!”
• “¡Si sólo tenemos dos!” [“if we only have two!”]

To add more emphasis in Spanish, we can also say “but if”:

• “¡Come tres manzanas!”
• “¡Pero si sólo tenemos dos!” [“but if we only have two!”]

The interesting/surprising thing is the presence of an “if” statement without a “then” to follow it.  That’s because the “then” statement is implied.  I think of it as a generic, “then what?!?”

 

VOCABULARY

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

• la foto (short for: la fotografía)
• guapa
• guapísima
• casi
• por eso
• ¿se me ve?
• No se me ve.
• No se te ve.
• ¿Salgo guapa?
• No sales muy guapa.

 

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.