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Today we’ll get lots of out-loud practice with some of the trickiest forms of Ser and Ir, such as fue, fui, fuiste, fueron, fuimos, and fuera. We’ll also learn some new ways that you can use todo.
It’s Friday, así que let’s practice todo lo que we learned this week.
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Today we have a big quiz to practice everything we’ve been learning on the podcast recently. But first let’s take a few minutes to learn some idiomatic uses of our existing vocabulary.
First of all, let’s revisit the word todo, which means “everything” or “all”. Check out this sentence in English:
I have all of it.
How would you translate that in Spanish? Remember that “it” doesn’t really have a proper equivalent in Spanish. Well, to make this work, we’ll reword it to look like this:
I have it all.
If you think about it, that sentence is a little weird, because it’s like there are two direct objects: “it” and “all”. Neither one is an adjective; they both function as the direct object in the sentence. Well, in Spanish, you’ll use both of these as well:
Lo tengo todo.
So here it’s kind of redundant because we have two words that function as the object of the sentence: lo, meaning “it” as a direct object, before the verb, and also todo after the verb. This is just idiomatic; it’s how people speak in real life. In English, it WOULD make sense grammatically simply to say “I have all”, but for some reason we don’t talk like that. So any time you would say “I have it all” or “I did it all” or anything like that in English, you’ll use both lo and todo in Spanish.
Next, here’s another really common combination of words involving todo. See if you can tell what’s going on in this sentence:
Yo tengo todo lo que tú tenías.
Literally “I have all what you had.” We never word things this way in English, but in Spanish, todo lo que is very common. You’ll typically see this any time the English would be “everything that” or “all that”. As another example:
All that I can do is wait.
Todo lo que I can hacer es wait.
Todo lo que puedo hacer es esperar.
Let’s practice lo tengo todo and todo lo que in a few examples.
I don’t have it all.
No lo tengo todo.
This is everything that I have.
Esto es todo lo que tengo.
She has it all.
Lo tiene todo.
It isn’t everything that you have to do.
No es todo lo que tienes que hacer.
Here’s another idiom that you’re going to hear quite a bit in Spanish: sí o sí, literally “yes or yes”. Here’s an example; see if you can tell what’s going on:
Lo van a hacer sí o sí.
So this is literally “they’re going to do it yes or yes”. What this means is “either way”, or “no matter what”. It’s like there are no other options: not yes or no, but yes or yes.
Here’s another example:
We’ll be at home either way.
Estaremos en casa sí o sí.
Another common idiom is por ahí, which literally means “around there”, but it’s a very common way to say “around”. For example:
Yes, they’re around.
Sí, están por ahí.
We have just two more idioms to learn. One of them is así que, literally “so that” or “thus that”. This is a very common way to say “so” in Spanish, specifically between two phrases. Here’s an example.
Now everyone is present, so let’s go.
Ya están todos, así que vamos.
Try to predict the Spanish in this one:
I don’t have it, so please go home.
No lo tengo, así que por favor ve a casa.
Our last idiom is a way to express surprise. See if you can tell what’s going on in this sentence:
¿No están? ¿Cómo que no están?
So literally “They aren’t present? How that they aren’t present?” The phrase cómo que, literally “how that”, is one way to express surprise about something. It’s like saying, “They’re not present? What do you mean they’re not present?” Try it out yourself in this example:
What do you mean we don’t have it?
¿Cómo que no lo tenemos?
Let’s practice these idioms with a mini-quiz.
We have to go no matter what.
Tenemos que ir sí o sí.
She isn’t around, so we can leave.
No está por ahí, así que nos podemos ir.
I told you I don’t have it all.
Te I told que no lo tengo todo.
Te dije que no lo tengo todo.
This is everything that we have.
Esto es todo lo que tenemos.
What do you mean they didn’t leave?
¿Cómo que no se fueron?
Now, if you feel ready, let’s go on to this week’s final quiz. (And remember that to see these as flashcards, you can access the free online flashcards here!)
There is a need to stay indoors in the summer.
Hay que stay indoors en the summer.
Hay que quedarse adentro en el verano.
She was sad when he was with her.
Ella estaba sad cuando él estaba con ella.
Ella estaba triste cuando él estaba con ella.
If I were rich, I would have a house on the beach.
Si fuera rich, tendría una casa en the beach.
Si fuera rico, tendría una casa en la playa.
I hope you always have everything you want.
I hope que siempre tengas todo lo que you want.
Espero que siempre tengas todo lo que quieres.
If she went with me, she would be at the place.
Si fuera conmigo, estaría en el lugar.
They were going to be doctors, but they aren’t.
Iban a ser doctors, pero no lo son.
Iban a ser doctores, pero no lo son.
The boy and I are around the house.
El chico y yo estamos por la casa.
If this house were in Peru, she would be there with them.
Si esta casa estuviera en Perú, ella estaría ahí con ellos.
I hope she goes from the store to her house.
I hope que vaya de the store a su casa.
Espero que vaya de la tienda a su casa.
My friend(m) wants me to have a grill.
Mi amigo wants que yo tenga a grill.
Mi amigo quiere que yo tenga una parrilla.
I got sad because they were mean with me.
Estuve sad porque fueron mean conmigo.
Estuve triste porque fueron malos conmigo.
Go and buy one.
Ve y buy uno.
Ve y compra uno.
Those things aren’t good.
Esas cosas no son buenas.
She would be here If I weren’t present, but I am.
Ella estaría aquí si yo no estuviera, pero estoy.
(All of you) Leave, we will be here another night.
Váyanse, estaremos aquí otra noche.
Life is that way for him.
La vida es así para él.
How much do you want to do?
¿Cuánto you want hacer?
¿Cuánto quieres hacer?
I don’t have it all when you’re not around.
No lo tengo todo cuando no estás por ahí.
Why would I be angry because of that?
¿Por qué estaría angry por eso?
¿Por qué estaría enojado por eso?
She’d be happy if I also were her friend(f).
Estaría happy si yo también fuera su amiga.
Estaría feliz si yo también fuera su amiga.
It couldn’t hurt to study this material.
No está de más to study this material.
No está de más estudiar este material.
We went to a place that had extra tables.
Fuimos a un lugar que tenía tables de más.
Fuimos a un lugar que tenía mesas de más.
We’re all happy with you, even the girl.
Todos estamos happy contigo, hasta la chica.
Todos estamos felices contigo, hasta la chica.
You WERE the winner(m).
Tú sí fuiste el winner.
It would be good if he had a lot of books.
Sería bueno si tuviera muchos books.
Sería bueno si tuviera muchos libros.
I don’t have everything that you requested at all.
No tengo todo lo que you requested para nada.
No tengo todo lo que pediste para nada.
It’s done! At least until next week.
¡Ya está! At least hasta next week.
¡Ya está! Al menos hasta la próxima semana.
They have it all there at their house.
Lo tienen todo ahí en su casa.
Look at that thing! I didn’t see it before.
¡Look at esa cosa! No la I saw before.
¡Mira esa cosa! No la vi antes.
It wasn’t a coincidence.
No fue a coincidence.
No fue una coincidencia.
She is going to go when we go.
Ella va a ir cuando nosotros vayamos.
No matter what, you(formal) are going to give her everything.
Sí o sí, usted le va a give todo.
Sí o sí, usted le va a dar todo.
She has been what I am now.
Ha sido lo que yo soy ahora.
We were friends(m) that year and we saw them(f) there.
Fuimos amigos ese año y las we saw ahí.
Fuimos amigos ese año y las vimos ahí.
Who is that man by the street?
¿Quién es ese hombre por la street?
¿Quién es ese hombre por la calle?
There will be a problem and we’ll have to solve it.
Habrá a problem y lo tendremos que solve.
Habrá un problema y lo tendremos que resolver.
If I had time, I would watch it all.
Si tuviera tiempo, lo I would watch todo.
Si tuviera tiempo, lo vería todo.
I hope you are never here.
I hope que nunca estés aquí.
Espero que nunca estés aquí.
My mom would get mad if I went with my friends.
Mi mom would get mad si fuera con mis amigos.
Mi mamá se enojaría si fuera con mis amigos.
The book was going to be by an Argentinian author.
El libro iba a ser por un Argentinian author.
El libro iba a ser por un autor de Argentina.
You have been playing instead of working.
Has estado playing en vez de working.
Has estado jugando en vez de trabajar.
They are about to do two things either way.
Están por hacer dos cosas sí o sí.
She went to the pharmacy on my behalf.
Fue a the pharmacy por mí.
Fue a la farmacia por mí.
They(f) have to know everything that is on the exam.
Ellas tienen que know todo lo que está en the exam.
Ellas tienen que saber todo lo que está en el examen
Hi! Do you remember me? I was president once.
¡Hola! ¿Me do you remember? Fui president una vez.
¡Hola! ¿Me recuerdas? Fui presidente una vez.
I called the girl who was my best friend.
I called a la chica que era mi mejor amiga.
Llamé a la chica que era mi mejor amiga.
There isn’t either food or money.
No hay ni food ni money.
No hay ni comida ni dinero.
If we said that, we would be being rude.
Si we said eso, estaríamos siendo rude.
Si dijéramos eso, estaríamos siendo groseros.
We were around, but we didn’t have money.
Estábamos por ahí, pero no teníamos money.
Estábamos por ahí, pero no teníamos dinero.
We were going to go because it had a bit of everything.
Íbamos a ir porque tenía de todo.
This is your day.
Este es tu día.
To get more practice with these sentences, join the free course here and quiz yourself with them until you’re acing this.
Next week we’re finally going to dive into the verb Hacer so that we can talk about doing and making things in any person and tense.
This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. Our music was provided by the Seattle Marimba Quartet, and I’m Timothy, encouraging you to do the hard work of learning Spanish. Acquiring a second language is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, so start your fluency journey today using our free course — join here.
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