¡Necesito ayuda, Lupita! I’m having grammar issues. (Sí, otra vez.)
Back to my studies…
It occurred to me (actually, has occurred to me over and over) that I need to get back to my interactive audio lessons from Rocket Spanish. As helpful (and enjoyable) as listening to Latina Pop is and soaking in the pronunciation of Spanish words set to song, I definitely do need the lessons to help me understand the rules and add to my vocabulary.
Speaking of rules… I was listening to Lesson 5.2, a continuation of a role-playing between Amy and Mauricio started in 5.1, when I learned a new way of bidding someone farewell. Most of us are familiar with phrases like hasta mañana, hasta luego, and vaya con dios from watching movies and TV, perhaps listening to radio and recorded music. Near the end, though, of Lesson 5.2, I was introduced to the phrase te veo mañana, which is translated by Rocket Spanish (Amy) as “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The word veo acts as both subject and verb, since it’s the 1st-person singular, present-tense, indicative-mood conjugation of the verb ver (to see), and since the yo (I) is left out in Spanish except to add emphasis. The word te (familiar for “you”) is the direct object. Please pardon all the Nerdspeak. I was an anomaly in high school English. Almost failed the literature semester for lack of interest (back then) in reading, but lead the class, and by a wide margin, in grammar.
But there’s where my confusion lies. As I mentioned, veo is present-tense. Yet, the message being conveyed is “I’ll see…”, a future tense expression. The conjugation of ser into future tense is veré. (Check me at SpanishDict, if you like.) Therefore, shouldn’t “I’ll see you tomorrow” be “Te veré mañana“?
Much ado about nothing?
I sometimes wonder whether I’d learn this much faster, and be more inclined to move faster through my studies, if it were not for my propensity for stopping and investigating anomalies like this one. I remember being somewhat puzzled by the prescribed lack of article adjectives, for example, in declaring one’s profession. I.e., en Español, “I’m a writer” is expressed “Soy escritor”.
A word-for word translation of that into English would omit the “a” and be “I’m writer”. While I was puzzled (and a little bugged) by that, I was able to chalk it up to… well, I don’t know what and move on. I’m sure I’ll still move on from this veo vs. veré conundrum, as well, but it might just stick in my head a little longer, to be honest. It’s challenging enough learning all of these verbs and their many conjugations without finding out that there seem to be cases in which they’re thrown to the wind! But I’m going to do it. I’m determined to.
Bueno, te veré luego.
Well, that’s about all I have for this time. Naturally, there will be another vídeo de música come Wednesday morning. I’m not sure whether it will be from Ha*Ash, Prince Royce, one of my other favourites, or someone completely new. Haven’t thought that far ahead.
And, I’m hoping to finish out not only lección 5.3 before next post, but hopefully all of Module 5. Ambitious for someone who’s been slacking off, I know!
¡Te veré luego, amigas!
Ω
