Let me call you sweetheart
Spanish
has many terms of affection used by los
enamorados / eh-nah-mohDDAH-thohss (the ones in love).
Here are a few, with their literal translations.
Please note that some English words of endearment such as
“honey” and “sweetie” don’t translate literally into Spanish:
mi
amor – my love
mi
vida – my life
corazón
–heart
querido
– dear (m.)
querida
– dear (f.)
cariño
– affection
Falling
in love
Here
are some words and expressions associated with falling or being in love:
¡Te
quiero!
(I love you!)
enamorarse
–
to fall in love
amar –
to love
adorar –
to adore
estar enamorado (m.)
– to be in love (man)
estar enamorada (f.)
– to be in love (woman)
amor
(m.) – love
alegría
– happiness
felicidad (f.)
– happiness
feliz
– happy
placer
(m.) – pleasure
sueño
– dream
ilusión (f.)
–dream, fantasy, illusion
pasión (f.)
– passion
cuerpo
- body
(el) alma (f.)
– (the) soul
corazón (m.)
- heart
ojos
- eyes
brazos –
arms
piel (f.)
– skin
beso
– kiss
abrazo
– hug
cariño
– affection
caricia
– caress
Touches of poetry
Love
songs in Spanish tend to be very poetic, and often use words from nature
or expressions of time. Here
are a few basics you will need to know:
¡Estoy
loco por tu amor!
(I’m crazy (m.) for your love!)
¡Estoy loca por tu amor!
(I’m crazy (f.) for your love!)
flor
(f.)
– flower
canción (f.)
– song
baile
(m.) - dance
sol (m.)
– sun
luna
– moon
estrella
- star
mar (m.)
- sea
música
- music
junto
a ti, junta a
ti – next to
you
juntos
– together
los dos
– the two of us
a mi lado
– by my side
a tu lado
– by your side
en mis (tus) brazos
– in my (your) arms
día
(m.)
– day
noche (f.) –
night
años
–years
otra vez
– once again
para siempre
– forever
por toda la vida
– the whole life long (literally, “for all the life”)
hasta la muerte (f.)
– until death
Problems in love
Some
songs don’t paint such a rosy picture of love.
Here are some words and expressions for complications and
heartbreak:
¿Qué
voy a hacer sin ti?
(What am I going to do without you?)
sufrir
–
to suffer
doler –
to hurt
llorar
– to cry
estar
desesperado
(m.) – to be
out of hope or in despair (man)
estar desesperada (f.)
– to be out of hope or in despair (woman)
dolor
(m.) - pain
tristeza
– sadness
triste
- sad
lágrimas
– tears
tiempo
- time
distancia
– distance
el pasado
– the past
el
destino - destiny
mentiras
– lies
la
verdad
– the truth
orgullo
– pride
otro
– another (man)
otra
– another (woman)
el
final
– the end
el adiós (m.) –
the good-bye
Healing the pain
Some
songs talk about reconciliation, and others just talk about getting over
it. Here are some words
you’ll need to know:
¡Te
deseo lo mejor!
(I wish you the best!)
regresar
– to return
volver –
to return
pedir perdón
– to ask for forgiveness
perdonar –
to forgive
sentir
– to feel
perder
– to lose
entender
–to understand
recordar
– to remember
olvidar –
to forget
seguir adelante
– to continue forward, to keep going
memoria
– memory
recuerdo
– memory, keepsake, memento
paz (f.)
–peace
Intimate you and verb
endings
Spanish
has two different kinds of address, or ways to say “you.”
The Spanish that Works™
course teaches the polite forms usted
(You) and su (Your), and not
the intimate or “buddy-buddy” forms tú
(you) and tu (your), because
the polite forms are more appropriate for customer service situations
and simplify the verb conjugations for the beginner.
However, in a love song, intimacy is the key!
Here are some of the intimate you form pronouns that you are
likely to hear in songs:
tú
– you (subject)
tu,
tus – your
te
– you, to you (object of verb)
ti
– you (object of preposition)
contigo
– with you
In the
present tense (and most other tenses), the intimate tú form verbs end in –S. For
example:
Me
dices que me quieres.*
(You tell me that you love me.)
Eres
mi vida.
(You are my life.)
Yo
sé que me vas a querer.*
(I know that you are going to love me.)
Me
has robado el corazón.
(You have stolen my heart-- literally, “you have robbed me the
heart.”)
In the
preterite tense (completed past), the tú form verbs end in –ISTE
/ EE-steh. For example:
No
me quisiste.* (You
didn’t love me.)
Me
dijiste adiós. (You
told me good-bye.)
Te
fuiste.
(You left, you went away.)
*NOTE:
The verb querer /
keh-DDAIRR can translate as “to want,” but it also means
“to love a person.”
You can use querer to talk about love of parents, children, and friends, as well
as romantic interests.
In
direct affirmative commands (the ones that you use to tell someone to do
something), the intimate you form verbs usually look exactly like the
present tense s/he & formal You verbs, though there are some
exceptions. Here are a few
commands you might hear:
¡Mira!
/ MEE-ddah (Look!)
¡Bésame!
/ BEH-sah-meh (Kiss me!)
¡Dime
la verda!
/ THEE-mah lah bairr-THATH (Tell me the truth!)
¡Regresa, por favor!
(Come back, please!)
We
and we verb endings
Love
songs also talk a lot about “we” and “us.”
Here are the pronouns you’ll need to recognize.
You’ll notice that they all start with “n” :
nosotros
– we (subject &
object of preposition – changes ending to show feminine gender)
nuestro
– our (changes ending to show gender and plural)
nos
– us (object of verb)
The we
form verbs are easy to spot because they always end in –MOS.
For example:
Nos
amábamos. (We loved each
other.)
Pasamos
mucho tiempo juntos. (We
spent a lot of time together.)
Somos
una pareja feliz.
(We are a happy couple.)
¡Vamos,
mi amor!
(Let’s go, my love!)
Building your vocabulary
Oftentimes
a Spanish noun and adjective, or noun and verb, will have similar forms.
Learning one word or form can help you to learn the other, but
you need to recognize that they are used differently.
Here are some examples of related words from Spanish love song
vocabulary:
amor
(m.) – love
amar
– to love
amante
(m. or f.) - lover
amado / amada
– loved one
beso
– kiss
besar
– to kiss
abrazo
–
hug
abrazar –
to hug
estar abrazados -
to be in an embrace, to be hugging one another
perdón
(m.)
– forgiveness
perdonar
- to forgive
perdonado / perdonada
– forgiven
esperanza
– hope
esperar
– to hope, to wait
desesperar
– to despair, to lose hope
desesperado / desesperada
– out of hope, in despair
feliz
–
happy
felicidad (f.) –
happiness
felicitar
– to congratulate
canción
(f.)
– song
cantar –
to sing
cantante
(m. or f.) - singer
baile
(m.)
– dance
bailar
– to dance
bailador (m.)
– dancer (m.)
Learn
it!
The
best way to learn these love song words is to get a CD you like and
listen to it again and again. Many
CD’s include the words to the songs, and some give an English
translation. For CD’s
that don’t include lyrics, you can usually find them on the internet.
(Run a search with the name of the artist or group and the word discografía
and you should find
something.)
At
first, you may want to just listen to see how many words you can pick
out. Then read along as you
listen to the songs, so you get used to how the words sound.
You don’t need to translate every word at first; just follow
along and get the flow of things.
Then,
when you are familiar with the CD, choose a couple of songs you really
like, and learn those by heart.
You
may find that learning a few songs a
fondo / ah FOHN-thoh
(deeply) will open doors in your mind to the fluency in Spanish that you
have been wanting!
For
recommendations on some music CD’s that students seem to like, visit
the enrichment page and look for
supplemental materials. You
can check out your local bookstore or public library, or do an online
search for music to download. There
is something for everyone --- rock,
ballad, slow, salsa, hip-hop, folk....
just pick what you like!
Oh,
and here are some translations of Valentine’s Day:
Día
de los enamorados
(Day of the Lovers)
Día
del amor y de la amistad
(Day of Love & Friendship – celebrated in Mexico)
Día
de San Valentín (St. Valentine’s Day)
¡Que
pase un día muy feliz!
read
about
recommended music
go to Día
de San Valentín website
