Demystifying Word Order in Spanish

[@QrooSpanish]

Join the Qroo Crew for More Content www.skool.com/qroo Want to thank me? Buy me a coffee www.buymeacoffee.com/qroo

[@sortingoutmyclothes8131]

8:44 I'm a native Spanish speaker casually spying on English speakers learning Spanish, and I was reading those sentences, and I would say that "A María le dio Juan el libro" is a word order I would only really use with a special intonation. And then I was like "How would I make it sound more natural?" and I ended up saying "A María el libro se lo dio Juan," which is interesting because you end up moving both objects before the verb, and then reinforcing both with object pronouns.

[@himalayo]

lo que me parece más interesante es ver que ellos tienen los mismos problemas que nosotros al aprender el inglés jajaja

[@karenbarth-vt7of]

Just _Juan le dió el libro a María_

[@_loaf0]

@@himalayosí 😂 pero al menos el español se escribe como se dice

[@paros320]

@@_loaf0 Learning English is possible through tough thorough thought 😂🙃

[@MysticWarrior123]

@@paros320 What a tongue twister! (not to me though haha)

[@seanslattery6366]

Its hard to imagine that you were a police officer and didnt attend college to be a professional teacher . They say that we should take a class taught in all spanish yet you explaining things from a native english speaker and giving examples in spanish has expedited my learning . Along with more listening comprehension which is my Kryptonite, im getting slowly over the hump or plateau of a b1 level . Thank you qroo . Most excellect

[@FunniWunni]

Your lessons are very well made and are really valuable to english speakers, Thank you.

[@QrooSpanish]

Thank you! 😃

[@mateoverde8345]

Learn this word order I must!

[@QrooSpanish]

Haha

[@manishagore]

He visto muchos de sus vídeos y me gusta la manera en la que usted enseña. Es muy sencilla. Usted siempre reduce la complejidad del concepto el que está explicando. También, usted lo explica con muchos ejemplos con explicación. Gracias a usted por hacerse esfuerzo honesto en todo lo que hice.

[@catobie1948]

It's almost an English lesson. I realize how much grammar I slept through in my English classes in school. I remember diagramming sentences. Didn't really get it until I studied other languages. You are so very helpful. Or is it very helpful so you are...😊

[@QrooSpanish]

I never thought grammar was very important until I started learning a second language.

[@CurtJunya]

My man is LITERALLY Next Level. As someone that SERIOUSLY studies, you are hitting ALL my pain points. I don’t understand how conventional learning misses these GLARING holes.

[@patersr]

I’ve been hitting OVS lately all the time in the novels I read. You’ve just saved me a swipe, tap, translate on almost every page!

[@QrooSpanish]

Thank you!

[@lisalackey7699]

Excellent. I hadn't realized that the more important things are closer to the front of Spanish sentences. That's really helps ....and makes so much sense!! Your explanation of pronominal verbs vs reflexive verbs also cleared a lot up for me. I thought they were synonymous, which was so confusing those times when they're not! THANK YOU!!

[@marchyman5061]

Paul, I have learned something from every one of your videos, but I think this is the best one yet! And the title is perfect; the OVS structure has been mysterious til now, but it makes sense finally!! 💡💡💡 Thank you!!! 🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@QrooSpanish]

That's great to hear! I'm glad you liked it.

[@junovzla]

I'm a native Spanish speaker from Venezuela. I don't know how common this is elsewhere but we primarily use OVS when we want to put emphasis on the subject rather than the object (i.e. we might use "El dinero se lo encontró Juan en la calle" when we're arguing about who exactly was it who found it, or if we disagree on who should get to keep it we might say that to say like "dude, it was him who found it, let him have it").

[@gabrieldelpino2604]

En español la inversión del orden es posible gracias a las distintas terminaciones de los verbos. Eso permite identificar el sujeto con facilidad. En un idioma es fácil cambiar el orden cuando existen muchas concordancias. Al aumentar la complejidad de la gramática, se vuelve mas fácil entender el significado cuando se cambia el orden de las palabras.

[@judithmartinez-ur8os]

Wow, so helpful, word order is huge in understanding, now I get it. I make inroads when the new language now begins to make sense, in its own way of course. I’ve said it before, you’re soooo good at this!

[@shamimgough1714]

Thanks a lot. For the first time ever I've got to understand this. It's never been explained in an understandable way❤❤

[@QrooSpanish]

Thanks great to hear! Thanks for watching. :)

[@MaryJeanReynolds]

Awesome! Understanding that the subject is at the end answers a lifetime question of when to use me gusta or me gustan! Muchísimas gracias!

[@yolandassj4529]

This is the more complex part of the grammar and you're making it understandable. Thank you, Paul!

[@Helptosave-uc1pc]

Omg this was so helpful I had gotten frustrated with my Spanish learning due to realizing that when I heard things in Spanish it was backwards and it made it hard to understand how to use sentence structure. I immediately hit a plateau. Now knowing this I feel more confident about learning and motivated because I recently moved to orlando and where I work every one speaks Spanish so I’ll definitely want to take learning more seriously. Thank you. 🙏

[@juanlu3958]

plateau - -!I'm a Chinese native speaker and I had the same problem. I'm now one step away from being fluent in Spanish. I have 40,000 words stored in my software. But to this day I still have the same problem as you have now..

[@juanlu3958]

My feeling is that you have to imitate the way native Spanish speakers think so that you can intuitively understand those structures that seem strange to us.that is why this is hardest part of spanish.Our brains are already used to the SVO structure. So if we want to learn Spanish thoroughly, we have to grow new brains.

[@santoshshankar9183]

superb. thank you much,Qroo and crew!

[@Sergiopoo]

1:09 i know that it is not word for word translation but the correct translation that it still works in english is "The taxes were paid by the owners" and that can be translated more accurately to "Los impuestos fueron pagados por los dueños"

[@NamiStuff]

That's the passive voice!

[@ballsxan]

The passive voice is much less frequent in Spanish than it is in English, but it's correct.

[@dancersbythesea5656]

Muchas Gracias, Paul. I have definitely noticed the different word orders in Spanish and sometimes it does "trick" me, but the more I learn, the less I am "tricked". However, your video nailed it down for me very nicely. I love learning Spanish because it's an algorithm of words (syntax) and fun to piece together into a meaningful thought into an order that makes sense.

[@Steveyyyidk]

Thanks! I was initially stuck on these two sentence that mean the opposite - A Maria le dio Pablo el libro and Maria le dio el libro a Pablo - because of the same Maria le dio in both. What cleared it up for me was seeing how the personal A clarifies who's receiving the action. Have to start showing the personal A more respect lol. Good job.

[@QrooSpanish]

Thanks! That's a good observation on the whole personal a thing. :)

[@0GSoon]

There are a few OVS pattens in Duolingo at level A2, which puzzles for me. It never gives any explanation. And here we go, thank you Pual for this excellent class to explain it!

[@doyourbest7655]

Thanks. Busy morning with lots of notes. This will be a multiple watch, as many of yours are. 👍

[@jimseyer7648]

Muchas gracias Paul. Great explanation,something that I have been searching for and usually recieved the answer" that just the way it is used" thanks for demystifying yet another Spanish topic

[@davidwallace6940]

Que interesante y util está este vidéo..gracias!

[@bromie21]

Thanks Paul - a complicated topic broken down so well

[@QrooSpanish]

Glad it was helpful!

[@fildefaite2449]

Gracias Pablo, otra leccion util y valiosa.

[@ZhivagoDoctor]

Amazing video! Thank you.

[@QrooSpanish]

Glad you liked it!

[@viewer2325]

Thanx Paul, more for me to not to understand at least with first viewing 😞. I will view 3 or mores time to understand 🙂. You may be the best presenter I have ever :🙂seen.

[@jchasern]

Need to review this when I am not working out at the gym !

[@andrzejbanas7261]

Justo acabo de estudiar ese tema en Duolingo. Así que me acostumbré a seguir todos los ejemplos pero no tenía idea de por qué se usa el orden de palabras tan raro. Ahora es claro. Gracias a ti, Paul.

[@geermm1]

Amazing!! This is what I needed, thanks👍🏿

[@QrooSpanish]

Glad it was helpful!

[@tonydewit2240]

Live was so much easier when all I cared for was ¿Donde está el baño? Since finding Paul’s channel a long time ago, I have sleepless nights and living in fear for his next video showing me how little I know 😂😂😂 Having said that, I will not give up, Paul, you are a great teacher. Thank you.

[@QrooSpanish]

Haha, my apologies. ;)

[@JeffC-fq1be]

Really good stuff here. I'm so glad I found this channel. It's hard to keep up with the really small details of Spanish. Example: At 3:03 it's "econtró Juan." Shouldn't there be an "a" between the two words - the personal "a?"

[@QrooSpanish]

Juan is the subject of the sentence there so no personal a is used. The personal a is only used when the person is the object of the sentence: Juan vio a María. Juan saw Maria. Juan is the subject and Maria is the object.

[@JeffC-fq1be]

@@QrooSpanish Thanks!

[@believeinpeace]

Muy claro. Muchas Gracias. Escuché de Vilnius. Ačiū

[@katekraft110]

That’s never been explained to me before- thank you!

[@anneli1735]

Great! At least one issue less because in my maternal language German we practice the same changes like in Spanish emphasizing the more important. 🥳

[@NarsilRenewed]

Very useful, thank you very much! Some of this Duolingo definitely did not cover when I finished their Spanish course (twice!)

[@kephillips99]

Very valuable, I leaned something new 😊

[@QrooSpanish]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kephillips99]

@@QrooSpanishI was an adult trainer for 30 years. Your teaching style ticks all the boxes for this type of learning. Clear, well presented, great examples. 😊

[@QrooSpanish]

Thanks!

[@JefftheSabaDude]

I learned to speak German fluently about 30 years before I started living in a situation where I had to dredge up my college Spanish and bring it into a similar fluidity. This grammatical point of emphatic word order had already been engrained in the foreign language cache in my brain from the difficult German grammar, so this one in Spanish was "un pedazo de pastel!" or pan comido as a native speaker pointed out to me. Thanks for all your great videos, Paul. I try to get all my Lake Chapala friends who have lived here for years and still butcher Spanish horribly to watch your vids. They're already pretty crusty, so it's a tough sell but I try!

[@QrooSpanish]

Thanks for sharing the page with your Lake Chapala friends. It seems like most expats are content to just "get by" in Spanish. At least that has been my experience in Quintana Roo. Take care and have a great Sunday!

[@sortingoutmyclothes8131]

In Spanish we say "eaten bread" instead of "a piece of cake," "Pan comido."

[@marilynpeoples5099]

To know expressions like that are helpful as well.

[@TheMaru666]

​@@marilynpeoples5099 In Spain we say " Esto es pan comido" , " Esto es coser y cantar" , or " Esto está chupado" , or " chupa'o" ,

[@KwoliToli]

I love your content….This is awesome

[@BrandonBusby-u2b]

Ombe! Muchisimas gracias por el video! Una explicacion hecho por un gringo para los gringos. Ya se que entiendes la lucha.

[@michaelhardy3529]

perfect, I am at this point with my journey in Spanish......Keep it going, I have the most from your lessons, like this one. You are much appreciated :o)

[@TVadicto100]

Your first example, second Spanish form “Los impuestos los pagaron los dueños” is weird in spanish (Mexico). A more common form would be “Los impuestos fueron pagados por los dueños” which would translate to English as “Taxes were paid by the owners”. In this case the word order is the same in both languages so no problem here

[@QrooSpanish]

It agree it wouldn't be the most common, but I have seen/heard it used in Mexico. A very similar example to the one in the video is in this article from Mexico, "Los impuestos los pagamos todas las personas, ya sea como parte de nuestros ingresos, nuestros bienes o en la compra de servicios o productos para la vida diaria." www.tiendanube.com/mx/blog/tipos-de-impuestos/

[@ballsxan]

You should know that any foreign language student is more aware of the real language details than natives. To me it sounds fine, definitely not the standard way we speak but the way we speak at certain specific situations. Usually when the object is presented beforehand and you want to add some info.

[@brokenregime]

Another thing that might help students understand the object pronoun added in OVS is that it makes it more clear that the noun beginning the sentence is NOT the subject of the following verb, and this is an OVS sentence. If everything is in third person singular, it could get very confusing without that extra bit of information.

[@user-vn6uc8bu6z]

What was corrected?

[@QrooSpanish]

A typo around the 9 minute mark. It was confusing some folks.

[@AnitaBlanks-b2x]

Gracias

[@AlfredoManuelAlonsoGonzález]

Muy interesante el vídeo, soy hispanohablante y nunca me había percatado de ese cambio. Solo quería añadir que la oración: A María le dio Juan el libro, no suena natural, sería mejor decir: A María Juan le dio el libro, o A María el libro se lo dio Juan. Pero muy interesante el vídeo en general

[@ElFacko]

Creo que depende de la región. Yo por ejemplo esa conjugación imagino que se usaria en una region especifica de mi pais con una entonación muy específica, mientras que con la entonacion de otras regiones sonaria bastante raro. Lo digo porque soy de la region que si diría "A Maria le dio Juan el libro". Lo que no estoy seguro es si es correcta gramaticalmente la frase o no.

[@ballsxan]

@ElFacko En castellano puedes colocarlo todo como quieras siempre que cumplas ciertas normas, como poner el pronombre indirecto cuando hay complemento indirecto, el directo cuando el complemento directo no va detrás del verbo, y que no partas en dos un sintagma mediendo algo en medio. El tema es que esto lo sé por interés personal, en realidad nadie me lo enseñó.

[@Spanish-wq8wo]

8:48 This is difficult to wrap my head around, but I suppose trying to teach a person learning English how certain words can be stressed to show emphasis is also confusing.

[@QrooSpanish]

I think it helps to think of it as a pattern. A pattern you can learn and repeat -- even if the end result seems "odd" -- you know what you are saying is 100% correct. In other words, try not to overthink it.

[@ElFacko]

I think the correct usage of ovs is adding "a" (wich translated to english is "to") at the start of the sentence. Example: A la casa la pintaron los hombres. Al dinero lo encontró Juan en la calle. Obviously, as a lot of thing in spanish, we skip the word "a" when we are talking to make it faster, but the correct usage is adding the "a" before the object.

[@ballsxan]

No. I'm a Spanish speaker, those are direct object. A is used for indirect object or direct object on a person. Nobody is speaking like that and nobody is skipping anything.

[@LovesHummingbirds]

Oh. My. Bananas. Someone FINALLY explained this!!! 😮 So helpful.

[@MelissaJenkins-forBCO]

I'm actually confused why there is the "Le" in the beginning of the second sentence at 8:08 minutes? Why not just Di Las flores a Maria? I gave the flowers to Maria. SVO Le di las flores a María. OVS Las flores se las di a María.

[@QrooSpanish]

The verb dar takes a redundant LE in Spanish. This video talks about those: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2PYooycjNyNeNUsi=ltQ4tILYaZoWuf9U

[@aswithinsowithout8638]

Any advice on what order to watch these videos? I've been through the Beginners course playlist, and I'm on Lesson 2 of Breaking out of Beginners course. After that... I'm not sure which direction to go. Love the videos, and I want to watch them all!

[@alexartamonov2010]

Just an opinion. Well, it seems after all that OVS follows the natural order of presentation of the information: first comes what is known or "introduction", and the most important piece of information at the end. English has different means to that. I mean to the Spanish "backward" structure "Los impuestos los pagaron los dueños " may correspond the phrase "Who pays the taxes is the owners ". Or "it's the owners who pay the taxes ". Or I may be just mistaken.

[@ballsxan]

I agree. Commonly the object part is already named in the conversation and that's why it tends to be moved to the beginning, but unlike English you can do it without resorting to the passive voice. There are a few rules to do it though.

[@RickLowe-u7o]

You make this very clear. But I have a number of other sources say that the emphasized concept of the sentence comes at the end, not the beginning. Can you clarify please?

[@QrooSpanish]

Hi Rick. In all these years, I have never seen or heard that the emphasized information would come at the end. That has also not been my experience in speaking Spanish for years and in multiple countries. Why would someone put the emphasized information at the end? Dramatic build-up? I asked my Colombian wife about it just now and her response was the same. If you have some sources that are free online, feel free to share some links.

[@RickLowe-u7o]

Thanks so much for the quick response. I will try to find them and send. In any event, I love your work. Has helped me a lot.

[@barryhohstadt2107]

Very interesting and not too many teachers talk much about this. But you do seem to be saying that most of the time OVS is only optional. It does seem to me that I run into this a lot, but I randomly entered a bunch of English SVO sentences into DeepL and they were always translated SVO in Spanish. Not sure if that means much LOL! Then there is the more common "backwards" that trips up beginners is the adjectve-noun like The red house, la casa roja. Thanks again for another great lesson!

[@QrooSpanish]

SVO is the default. The translators don't know what info you want to stress so they default to SVO.

[@pedroteran5885]

In Spanish, we truly do what the video said: we arrange the parts of a sentence in a hierarchy of relevance. We don't do it all the time, as it would be mentally exhausting, but it's not correct that reordering is 'optional'. A sentence like 'Juan le dio el libro a María' can be made into a sentence about Juan, about the book, about María, or about the act of giving, depending on how the parts are ordered. Thus SVO, depending on the context, can be non-neutral just like any other ordering. For example: -¿Dónde está el libro? No lo encuentro. -Juan se lo dio a María. (where 'lo'='the book') If the book isn't Juan's, this is an unspoken accusation that he took the book and gave it to someone else. It is in SVO but the ordering is not neutral because a question *about the book* is given a reply *about Juan*. In this case, a more neutral reply would be: -¿Dónde está el libro? No lo encuentro. -El libro se lo dio Juan a María. Or, to emphasize where the book is now and de-emphasize Juan's role: -El libro, se lo dio a María Juan. Whereas if Juan gave presents to several people, we would say: -A María, Juan le dio el libro. A Alberto, un jersey. It would even be possible to find a context in which the verb itself is emphasized. Imagine we're at María's place now. -¿Dónde está el libro? No lo encuentro. -En casa de Alberto. -Creía que Juan se lo había dado a María. (I thought Juan gave it to María) -Dárselo, Juan se lo dio a María, pero ella se deshizo del libro en cuanto pudo. (He did give it to María, but she got rid of the book as soon as she could.) This verbal duplication may look quite weird but it's occasionally used (Venir vino, pero no trabajó nada: He did come but he didn't do any work at all). An alternative would be "Sí se lo dio" or "Sí que se lo dio". I wish 'He yes gave it to her' existed in English, honestly.

[@DanB-ww1pj]

vídeo increíble!

[@ronaldallanbanares2440]

Because of this video, now I know why some spanish quotes and poems i see on social media are like that 😂

[@fszocelotl]

We also use VOS: "Botó las flores María"... VSO: "Botó María las flores"... And it still works. As long as we can differentiate the object (regularly the inanimate one) from the subject (the one that does the action) there is not much of an issue, unless both are capable of doing the action (the verb), and yes the idea to to emphasize what is being said first.

[@ballsxan]

Yes, it's barely said that in Spanish there isn't a prescriptive word order despite using one or two word orders much more than any other. They usually teach the common ones and then get too stuck to them.

[@karenbarth-vt7of]

Qroo, ¿es por Quintana Roo?

[@michaelhardy3529]

question? with "El libro se lo dio Juan a Maria" can we change the order of Juan and Maria?

[@QrooSpanish]

Yes, you could. Spanish offers quite a bit of flexibility.

[@muhammadvalere1105]

Great video I really enjoyed it. presently I'm learning the accent from Argentina and most people will use SVO and there is some person that will use OVS but some person in Argentina when they use OVS it is more to correct some for example. Pablo encontró el dinero en la calle the problem is Pablo didn't find the money Juan did so it will go like this (Al )el dinero lo encontró Juan en la calle) some person in Argentina might put. (A) so like the example that you give with Maria it can be translated in OVS in Argentina. Las flores se las di a María o A las flores se las di a María

[@marchyman5061]

Paul, I love all of your videos! I have watched every one of them between five and 10 times each. They are tremendously helpful! I have a question. You frequently say that the ideas you’re teaching are not too tough… Piece of Cake, and I agree, because of the way you explain things so clearly. My question is, what is an idea or construction in Spanish that you do consider difficult to master or even understand?

[@KurogamiProductions]

Hi! Spanish speaker here. Some of these ideas or constructions may involve some rare subjunctive tenses, like pluperfects or composed pluperfects -past or future- because they're pretty specific but can be replaced with other tenses, and doesn't have any -or almost any- direct translation in English.

[@pedroteran5885]

I agree subjunctive+pluperfect may possibly feel like drowning in the ocean for a native English speaker.

[@shoneek]

Hey, Paul Can you reveal the name of the advanced grammar book you mentioned in another book that taught you subjunctive?

[@QrooSpanish]

Here's the video in it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nXyTZol6jphlgZI There is a link to the book in the descrption section of every video.

[@shoneek]

Thank you so much. Do you also recommend the accompanying workbook?

[@QrooSpanish]

I haven't looked at the workbook. I really don't think it is necessary. The reference guide is something you can use throughout your Spanish learning journey. All the way from beginner to advanced. I still refer to it from time to time after all of these years.

[@shoneek]

Awesome thank you!@@QrooSpanish

[@JINDRICH8]

Maybe silly question. If I want to use encontrarse in a sentence "He (not Juan but he) found the money in the street." in OVS order, should I put "se" to the sentence twice? Something like: El dinero se se lo encontró en la calle. Thanks for the explanation.

[@QrooSpanish]

No, just once. That refers to any third party: El dinero se lo encontró en la calle. You could fill in any third party after the verb: 1. El dinero se lo encontró los hombres. 2. El dinero se lo encontró mi amigo. 3. El dinero se lo encontró él (he)

[@JINDRICH8]

@@QrooSpanishOK, Thanks a lot. I have got it, I hope 🙂. It is not a situation when I use a direct and indirect object with a pronominal verb but only a direct object and a pronominal verb.

[@brianray65]

Hey Paul I just join your monthly crew level. Is there an order to watch the videos to start level 1 and build?

[@QrooSpanish]

Thanks for joining and welcome to The Crew! The only videos that run in order are the ones fro CERO to Conversational and the subjunctive playlist. Otherwise, you can skip around and fill in different parts of your Spanish. Language learning is not a linear process. People learn these things in different orders.

[@denali_edc8199]

I struggle a lot with word order in Spanish. For example, as a native English speaker I would say “I have a green car” however in Spanish it translates to “tango un auto verde”. ( I have a car green). This is just one example. Is there a rule or trick to know the word order in cases like this? Maybe I’m just overthinking this. Thank you for all you do to help people like me, that are dedicated to learning Spanish. I live in Arizona and as I’m learning, it’s really opened up my world.

[@Ekotren13qq]

most adjectives just go after the word they are describing. There are several exceptions that go in the beginning though, for extra emphasis. you just have to learn the words

[@davidr1147]

In spanish adjectives goes after noums, you can see the abjective first in a poem for example, without those exception the normal use: NOUM-ADJECTIVE

[@JeffC-fq1be]

I wonder the same thing.

[@Klaatu-Gort]

Some adjetives (very few) have a different meaning depending on their order. "¡Menuda gente!" expresses surprise: "What people!". "Gente menuda" means "slight peeple".

[@cronosmu]

Adjectives almost always come after nouns, otherwise it sounds cheesy and pretentious. That's a romance feature. The same happens in French. There a few exceptions, such as "buen": un buen libro, una buena taza de café. If you would invert the order, you would say "un libro bueno", but for sone reason it sounds weird. Two adjectives can sandwich the noun, in which case the emphasis falls in the first adjective: una horrible ciudad gris, "a horrible gray city". An alternative is the use of "y": una ciudad horrible y gris. On the other hand, "una horrible y gris ciudad" sounds like something a bad emo teen would write.

[@KaibilBalam-b2q]

Yep we have the same problem when learning English 😅 in fact when i started learning English by my own i bought a book for 5 dollars and this thing translated Spanish to English word by word and i didn't know it was wrong so many times 😂

[@volkanates5393]

Is that Spanish causative verbs?

[@antoniovpi118]

Another reason for this differences between English and Spanish is that in English the subject must be at the beginning of the sentence to distinguish it from the direct object whereas in Spanish, we sometimes rely on the preposition "a" to distinguish the object from the subject. For example: The sentences "the wolf bites the rabbit" and "The caterpillar bites the leaf" translates into Spanish as "El lobo muerde al conejo" and "La oruga muerde la hoja". "Al conejo" is the object with the preposition "a" in the first tense and "la hoja" is the object in the second tense. Because "la hoja" is inanimate and cannot bite anything, it doesn't need preposition "a". Also, the sentence "Maria was given a ring" cannot be translated word by word into Spanish as we lack this type of passive structure. Hence, we say "A María le han dado un anillo".

[@TheMaru666]

"A María de fue dado un anillo " " A María se le dio un anillo "

[@antoniovpi118]

That's an interesting way to translate it. We have the following: A María: Indirect object se: Impersonal mark le: Pronominal form of infirect object dio: verb in past perfect simple un anillo: direct object The first translation would be: A María le fue dado un anillo A María: Indirect object le: pronominal form of indirect object fue dado: passive verb in past perfect simple form un anillo: subject

[@ballsxan]

@antoniovpi118 Let me add something for the students: English can use an indirect or prepositional object as the subject in a passive sentence: Maria was asked a question, the guests were looked at, etc. It's important to know that in Spanish only the direct object can be taken as subject for a passive sentence. Unlike journalists, who often take that structure from English into Spanish: Fulanito de tal "fue preguntado"...

[@krist7275]

Very good video, one question though to clarify my mind. At 7.30 you talk about the pronominal and reflexive pronouns and in the sentence, El dinero se lo encontró Juan en la calle, you indicate that "se" is reflexive and "lo" is a direct object pronoun, but in this case, it is accidental se and therefore it really is a pronominal pronoun and not reflexive? For me, this is the most difficult to understand and recognize in the sentence structure, when the grammatical meaning is different but the pronoun is the same.

[@QrooSpanish]

Whether the verb is truly reflexive or not, the pronouns used with the verb (me,te,se,nos,se) are commonly called reflexive pronouns. Most students call all of the verbs reflexive even if the action does not reflect back on the subject. That's fine, really. The important thing is that you can use the verbs correctly.

[@krist7275]

@@QrooSpanish Thank you for the clarification. If I want to say "Se me olvidó las llaves" in different word order, I would say "Las llaves se me las olvidó"?

[@QrooSpanish]

Las llaves se me olvidaron -- Yes, you can say it that way. The verb belongs to the item forgotten with that construction so it is plural (las llaves).

[@krist7275]

@@QrooSpanish Ah, yes, the verb has to be in plural, " Se me olvidaron las llaves". There are a few expressions that I have been stretching my head about: "Se le acabó la leche", A Gabriela se le acabó la leche. And this is interesting: " Como se te ocurra decirselo a algien" I hear this often "en las telenovelas":) I guess these expressions just belong to category 3.

[@bluenotgreen63]

I think we learn our native language before we actually go to school to learn it and would, without an english lesson, speak that language perfect. So many of us get confused by all the crazy talk of indirect objects, conjunctions, past present participles or what not's which make it very difficult to learn another language. Perhaps just accepting the fact that a sentence is said that way in Spanish instead of why it is said that way, would be faster to learn. When I say , "I like eating apples." I don't ask myself, "Uh, let's see... The subject is...? I think accepting that is how it is said in Spanish makes it easier because I am not an English major by far.

[@casacalmar]

I checked out the song/rap singer - René - Residente (Puerto Rico)- Cool!

[@brebrown5338]

I think maybe I’m not ready for this video yet. This blew my mind too much…I’m sure I’ll be back later. 😂 😩

[@balker8973]

Un humilde consejo. Hay que mejorar el saludo final. Es "hasta - luego" y no "hasta - lo- uego".

[@QrooSpanish]

Gracias por ver el video. Lo digo así en broma. :)

[@ballsxan]

¡Anda, un perfeccionista! 😂 pero si lo dice bastante bien

[@brebrown5338]

The reflexive verbs confuse me so much. Some verbs use it when it’s doesn’t seem to go back to yourself. That part is taking me awhile to get.

[@salva3017]

Me, a spanish speaker at 4 am: Intresting

[@franceshall7127]

wow .. but i will keep going lol cada dia

[@QrooSpanish]

Don't get dscouraged by this. You can work around it on your end. :)

[@franceshall7127]

@@QrooSpanish gracias a ti 😍

[@ikerpaz6636]

As a Spaniard, I´m so glad I don´t even have to think about this 😅

[@Anthid1]

native spanish speaker here the cue is "about who is this sentence giving information about" La casa la pintaron los hombres gives information about the house "Who painted it" and in "Los hombres pintaron la casa" gives information about what did the men do?

[@josenoesantiago9175]

A few acronymic uses I have; Equation: Proper Conjugations - subject pronouns = object pronoun; another way of thinking is stand-up comedy: "it goes in the the front? what goes in the front, It the object."

[@NoemiPerez7275]

That ordet is used when when you are describing something that happened: "La casa la pintaron los hombres, y el dueño sólo pintó la cochera", "Necesitábamos el dinero y los documentos, estos los conseguí yo, y el dinero lo encontró Juan en la calle" "Las flores las botó María, el resto de la basura la sacaron los demás". Can you find the pattern? We are saying this as we are making a report for someone who was not there

[@NoemiPerez7275]

Bad song example, by the way

[@cronosmu]

I know I'm being pedantic, but I think that most of these examples are not true OVS constructions. "Los impuestos los pagaron los dueños" is still SVO, in the sense that the subject is "los impuestos", while the (indirect) object is "los dueños". You just have to ask "¿quiénes pagaron los impuestos?". A true OVS would be "Las montañas vio Juan" or "Los impuestos pagaron los dueños". It is the "la(s), lo(s)" that creates the grammatical illusion, so to speak, of dealing with OSV sentences. In linguistic typology, the grammatical alignement deals with the unmarked form of the sentence. Think of it this way: a heavily inflected language, such as Russian, would use declensions instead of "la, las, lo, los, les". "Los impuestos los pagaron los dueños" has an implied dative, while "Los impuestos pagaron los dueños" is a nominative sentence (the default, unmarked structure), albeit in a weird order. That being said, your video is basically right. And if thinking in OSV terms helps the learner, I wouldn't complain at all (unless such person aspires to become an academic in the field of linguistics).

[@captiantbone]

I love your lessons and feel I have a good handle on subjunctive but this sign I saw the other day has me stumped. "La pandemia es dificil para todos nosotros. Pero sepan que dentro de estas pareded, consideramos que estos valores son sagrados. Why the Sepan?

[@oginer]

That "sepan" there is imperative (3rd person plural), not subjunctive. Imperative and present subjunctive tend to be very similar (many times, as in this case, share part of the conjugation) so you have to be careful to not confuse an imperative as a subjunctive. 3rd person is used instead of 2nd person ("sabed") because it's the formal form: the subject of that sentence is "ustedes", not "vosotros". You could convert that sentence to the informal version as: "Pero sabed (vosotros) que dentro de estas paredes...".

[@RM-jb2bv]

Very helpful video. I get tripped up seeing this construction when reading. This video will be a huge timesaver since I wouldn’t have figured it out on my own. Especially the added object, le -> se etc. I have a mini panic attack every time I see ‘se’ lol.

[@crisqr16]

I am a native Spanish speaker. And I have heard many times that Spanish is hard for native English speakers. Now I understand why xD

[@antoniovpi118]

Interestingly, "Juan se encontró el dinero en la calle." is equivalent to "Juan encontró el dinero en la calle". "se" in this sentence is what we call "dativo ético" and it just adds some emphasis on "Juan". "Se" is an extremely tricky word in Spanish as it has many different functions. In the sentence "El dinero se lo encontró Juan." "lo" is the pronominal form of the direct object ("el dinero"). However, "se" is again "dativo ético" and is completely optional its use. It is not an indirect object. "Se" would be compulsory and would work as indirect object pronoun in the sentence "Las flores se las doy a mi madre." and the indirect object would be "a mi madre". "Se" also works as impersonal mark: Ej.: "Se observa el cielo". "Se" could also be used to create an special passive tense with no equivalent in English: "Se ven las flores". This last one has the subject "las flores", and the verb "ver" in "pasiva refleja" form.

[@TheMaru666]

I think ( I might be wrong ) that the " se" in " Juan se encontró el dinero en la calle " ,seams to mean that the finding of the money happened by chance without looking for it. Without the " se " and without further context Juand could have been searching for some money he had been looking for.

[@antoniovpi118]

Now that you mention it, I think you are right. 🤔 My apologies! I might have chosen a wrong example for the "dativo ético". A better example would be: "He eats his food" = "Se come la comida" = "Come la comida". Thank you for having pointed that out. I think that native speakers can miss grammatical nuances regarding our own language. 😅

[@antoniovpi118]

So "encontrar" is "to find (after looking for something)" whereas the pronominal verb "encontrarse" is "to run into someone" or "to find (something by chance)". Something similar happens with the verb "ir". "ir" means "to go" whereas "irse" means "to leave"

[@GenoArcska]

That first example is a lot like reported speech

[@ramysaidah3628]

The first video where my brain got froze🤒. but I'm not quitting OVS ..

[@incognito96]

Yoda does it in star wars.

[@kelcben]

I'm reminded of grade school where we were told not to say "my brother, he......"

[@Svensk7119]

"There, but for the grace of God, go I." English OVS.

[@miguimau]

When you say "Los impuestos los pagaron los dueños " (OVS) is not the same than said (SVO) . In that phrase you are trying to remark WHO did it. Probably an answer after "Who paid the taxes?

[@QrooSpanish]

Yes, the emphasis is on who paid them.

[@BACANCHOA]

I'm a native spanish speaker and I feel OVS (la casa la pintaron los hombres) sounds very robotic, we dont usually phrase things like that

[@NarsilRenewed]

May I ask which area is your Spanish from?

[@NarsilRenewed]

P.S. extra credit for quoting the awesome Calle 13 as an example!

[@galloitaliano27VEVO]

Y para hacer las cosas un poquito peor o para hacer peor un poquito las cosas: Los pagaron los dueños los impuestos 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Qué pesadilla! 🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂

[@danzinman2063]

How about a thinking Spanish in English video. for visual learners like me- rather to read Lo Cocine and I cooked it, show "it I cooked" as well. Te Escucho, I hear you- show You I hear. Carro Azul, Car blue.

[@XKathXgames]

Lol yeah sounds backwards for us native Spanish speakers learning English. Once you get past that obstacle everything becomes a little easier.

[@pepepepe796]

El vídeo lo haces muy interesante, but this cannot be studied, this "nuances" have to be heard and practiced to be "learnt". So my advise is forget about them and just stick to Subject-Verb-Object, until you are fluent enough to do otherwise without a second thought.