Lesson 40
Prepositions Spanish Sees Differently
Prepositions change between languages, and Mihalis encourages you to find meaning in these differences rather than just memorizing them. In English we "fall in love with" someone — the "with" involves the other person in your process. In Spanish: enamorarse de — "to enamor oneself of." The "of" is more detached. This isn't random — it reflects how the language perceives the experience.
Enamorarse = to fall in love. In the dictionary you'll find it written as one word, but it's really enamorar + se (oneself). I fall in love = me enamoro. I fall in love with you = me enamoro de ti.
Pensar en = to think about ("think in/on" — possibly from Arabic influence during 800 years of contact, since Arabic uses the same preposition here).
Soñar con = to dream about ("dream with"). Soñar has the ñ sound (/ny/ like in mañana). O→ue: sueño = I dream. Soñamos = we dream (no split — stress is on the ending).
Depender de = to depend on ("depend of"). Depende de ella = it depends on her.
New vocabulary
| Spanish | English | Hook |
|---|---|---|
| enamorarse de | to fall in love with | "enamor oneself of" |
| pensar en | to think about | "think in" |
| soñar con | to dream about | "dream with" — ñ = /ny/ |
| depender de | to depend on | "depend of" |
| conmigo | with me | special merged form |
| contigo | with you (inf) | special merged form |
| dormir | to sleep | |
| duermo | I sleep |
Sentences practiced
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Me enamoro. | I fall in love. |
| Me enamoro de ti. | I fall in love with you. |
| Me enamoro de él. | I fall in love with him. |
| Estoy enamorándome. | I'm falling in love. (right now) |
| Me estoy enamorando de él. | I'm falling in love with him. (right now) |
| Pienso en ti. | I think about you. |
| Pensamos en ti. | We think about you. |
| Pensamos en ella. | We think about her. |
| Sueño. | I dream. (o→ue: sueño) |
| Soñamos. | We dream. (no split) |
| Sueño con ella. | I dream about her. |
| Sueña con él. | He dreams about him. |
| ¿Quieres venir conmigo? | Do you want to come with me? |
| ¿No quieres venir conmigo? | Don't you want to come with me? |
| ¿Por qué no quieres venir conmigo? | Why don't you want to come with me? |
| Tienes que venir conmigo. | You have to come with me. |
| ¿Puedes venir conmigo? | Can you come with me? |
| Sueño contigo. | I dream about you. |
| Voy contigo. | I'm going with you. |
| Depende. | It depends. |
| Depende de ella. | It depends on her. |
| Depende de si quiere ir. | It depends on if she wants to go. |
| Para mí. | For me. |