Lesson Introduction
The remote control: the thin line between civilization and chaos. That remote has got to work, and it's got to work every time. So when someone sabotages the remote by removing the batteries... I shudder to think about it. In the big podcast today, we have a Spanish lesson about the remote control not working; and the sinister findings of the investigation.
Comments (26) 
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No no no, if the somebody takes the batteries out of my remote control, there's gonna be a fight! I'm kidding, I don't even own a tv nowadays...
Question of the day:
¿Hay algo en tu casa que no funciona? Is there anything at home that doesn't work?
En mi apartamento, es la docha que no funciona. Tengo que llamarle al dueño. In my apartment, it's the shower that's not working. I gotta call the landlord.
En mi casa la lavadora no funciona bien.
The washing machine does not work properly at home.
En mi casa la computadora no funciona bien. la problema siempre occurrir. yo siento muy triste. de verdad !
En mi casa es la novia que no funciona.
;-) es broma,
En realidad, es las esposas que no trabajan. Me gustaría fijar ellas, pero estoy atado hoy.
Actually, it's the handcuffs that don't work. I would fix them, but I'm tied up just now.
cobre
Todo funciona bien en mi casa!
Una pregunta: The lesson is devoted entirely to explaining "serve" as a way to say something works, or doesn't work. Sin embargo, nevertheless, every comment in this thread uses the alternative word "funcionar," to function. I know both are legitimate. But how do you choose? And why is everyone using funcionar here even though the lesson uses servir? Finally, something amusing to share. More than once, here in Los Angeles, I have heard Spanish speakers say of something that doesn't work (the doors of a Methro bus, in this instance) "no trabajan!" They are translating directly from English! I find that amusing.
Yardbird: Yes I'm guilty, twice . . . Estaba broma cierta, oye.
las esposas que no sirven
would have been so much better. and maybe
las esposas que no me sirven
even better?
Hola Cobre,
I know some people seem to prefer "funcionar" for this purpose, though "to serve" conveys more nuance and sense of context, when you want to achieve that. I think, anyway. As for your revision, "las esposas?" Is this a joke about a certain fundamentalist community in Texas that's been in the news lately? Or are you writing from Saudi Arabia? In which case, sorry. Don't cut back any more on the oil production. We started to develop more efficient cars and better energy technology back in the 1970s, but then we spaced out. My best to all your wives. If you aren't in that cult, or in the Middle East, you could always wash a dish or two. That goes back to the 1970s, too. Just a suggestion. technolg9poi ooio9il lraifundmalmany of these "
Yardbird, sirvese a las palabras.
no wife, or wives, solo una novia querida en todos de estes veinte y quatro años. Esposas es por la vocabulario de lecion "Kidnaping - Part 2"
¿Tienes las esposas?, porque la tenemos que atar a la cama.
Esposas es una palabra para doble sentido.
Handcuffs. Maybe two wives would be...
I thought "no sirve" meant something is not useful, and "no funciona" meant something doesn't work.
WordReference defines Servir as meaning "useful".
http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=sirve
Or is "no sirve" a colloquial way of saying something doesn't work?
Rodney, putting no in front of a verb inverts the meaning. it is the standard way to negate things.
Listen to the lesson at 3:40 - 4:20 min.
Pilas is also a cognate to a word for battery in English.
Pile is the original word for battery, because batteries were piles of metal plates with blotter paper soaked in electrolyte in between them.
yardbird, cobre, rodneyp,
- servir=to be useful. Tu ayuda no sirve para nada. = Your help it's not useful at all.
- funcionar=to work. La tele no funciona.=TV does not work.
Nevertheless, Latin Americans use "servir" also as "funcionar". So, don't worry much about this guys.
It's also worth mentioning "servir" has another meanings, like "to serve".
Esti,
I understood all that. Honestly I did.
Cobre, I don't understand why you say that "esposa" can mean "novia,." You think it's like saying "my old lady?" That's "mi ruca" in L.A. Spanglish, I think. As for the b&d handcuffss, I don't know what that was about. And the long list of single words, each one with an on-mouse-over balloon, I'm sorry but I can't read any of that or figure out why you made the words clickable. I'm blind and my screen reader program can't deal with that. Anyway, best of luck with getting your ladies to wash the dishes while wearing handcuffs. I still don't understand why you say where you live, the wives won't do any work. But it's okay. I must have missed the joke or something. that happens sometimes.
yardbird,
I am sorry that the pasted section did not work for your browser. that was from part of the web page in another section of these lessons. the text all had definition, part of speech links on each word. It sounds like those pages would be totally unreadable by a text only browser. . .
It was from a lesson that explained that "Espousas" plural meant "handcuffs" as well as "wives".
I never said wife = girlfriend.
I said the girlfriend did not function. and then I said that was meant as a joke.
I followed that with another play on words which fed back on the statement that my girlfriend did not work.
What i wrote was that my handcuffs (esposas as handcuffs) did not work. I would fix them but I was tied up at the moment.
(1.If the handcuffs were on me I would be tied up. 2.If I did have wives and they were not happily working, I might well be tied up, like the boss in the movie "9 to 5")
So much for bad jokes.
El interruptor de la luz en el baño no sirve. ¿Hay una electricista en la casa?
(The light switch in the bathroom doesn't work. Is there an electrician in the house?)
annajo, you should say "un electricista" (it's a masculine noun), unless you're looking for a female electrician, je.
Otro día fue la vez del teléfono no funcionar.
mi camión no funciona hoy día pues no puedo ir al trabajo. tengo que esperar hasta que ellos arreglen mi camión. mi dinero sirve al mechanico. me encanta cuando gasto mucho dinero
I just wanted to say "thanks" for this program. My family has been studying spanish for awhile now but my daughter has seemed to resist all the way. Today I searched through the programs and this one seemed best for her- we ended up using it ourselves, we made it into a game- 1st with a little flashlight w/o batteries and then w/ a differant word for her nightlight in her room (which I gave her a new light.) In the end...smiles on both of our faces!!! MUCHAS GRACIAS
digame, por favor,hay un diferencia entre ultil y sirve.
khin,
"sirve" means "it works," it's from the verb "servir" (to serve or to function.)
"útil" is an adjective, it means "useful."
khin
Útil is an adjective meaning useful. You can say something like es útil – it is useful.
Sirve is from the verb servir – to serve. So you can say something like no serve – it doesn’t serve (it doesn’t work). See wordreference.com server util
en mi apartamento, es la television en mi habitacion que no cirve.
I think thats correct spanish<<<<<
bintou1305, it is correct, well done, you have just a typo, Sirve (with S).
To provide an example using "sirve", I was in a cab in Mexico about to put on my seatbelt, and the cabbie told me "no sirve".
It doesn't seem like seatbelts are the in thing in Mexico. Pues, ni modo!