Some like it hot! And then again, some don't. In today's lesson, we'll talk about spicy food, a topic you may or may not have to deal with when traveling through the Spanish-speaking world. So tie that napkin around your neck, and have a quart of ice cream standing by; this lesson is going to be picante!
Not sure if your comment is appropriate Check our Commenting Policy first.
New lesson idea? Please let us know on our contact page.
tel: (302) 482-8078 / +86 (021) 5178-6708
email: support@praxislanguage.com
Suite A301, 2452 Wanhangdu Road,
Shanghai, China 200051
This feature is only available to paid subscribers. SpanishPod offers 3 paid subscription types.
| Basic | Starting from $5 per month |
| Premium | Starting from $17 per month |
| Praxis | Starting from $23 per month |
To find out more about these subscription types, please click here.
To upgrade your account, please click here.
This feature is only available to Premium and Praxis subscribers.
| Premium | Starting from $29 per month |
| Praxis | Starting from $39 per month |
To find out more about these subscription types, please click here.
To upgrade your account, please click here.
Our friends at www.wordreference.com, were chasing the dinner vs supper definition discussion in a thread in a Spanish-English forum. It would be an understatement to say that with people in different regions of the US and Scotland and Britain responding there were regional differences and common ground could not be found. (for more info look here - http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=123961 ) I'm glad that the situation is clearer in Spanish. :)
A mi no me gusta picante. Cuando me comerlo, ¡me siento como tengo fuego en mi boca y mis orejas! ¿Es muy raro, no? Mi hermana llamame La Loca.
can you also say:
Toma, tomar agua, y perdona
You can say: Toma, toma agua, y perdona.
so it's toma, toma :) gracias esti!
I thought "saber" was the verb "to know" - is it also "to taste?"
adel2654
Good eye. Saber does mean both to know and to taste. You can say la comida sabe bien (the food taste good). It does not mean to taste from the perspective of tasting food. You can not say voy a saber esta comida (I am going to taste this food). In this case you would use the verb probar voy a probar esta comida.
By the way sabor means flavor.
Thanks!
Adela,
Not to make it even more confusing, but saber can also mean "can". I was chatting with a native of Spain and liked her emoticons, so she said "sabes copiarlo". I was wondering what exactly she meant by "you know to copy it". So I had to ask, and she said it meant "you can copy it". This was actually the first time I've ever heard saber used as "can". I would have thought to use poder. I wonder if it's just something used a lot in Spain...?
Can anyone shed any light on this? Gracias :)
Jodibean adela2654
Saber can mean to know how. Jodi is it possible that when you freind said "sabes copiarlo" she meant "do you know how to copy it"
steve - I told her I was confused, and asked her what she meant, and that was when she said "you can copy it," in a statement versus a question.
Esti?? Even more now, I'm wondering if maybe it's just one of those words that they mostly use in Spain...
This one's a stumper!
Thanks for your input Steve :)
Steve, adela
I actually found something on wordreference. It's still not clear to me though, but it's in there:
http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=saber
it's the #4 example.
I sent a message to Esti too. This one is really bugging me, hehehe...
Jodi adela
I see what you mean Jodi. In the sentance no sabe aguantar una broma, she can't take a joke, you can say that saber means to be able to. But, I still think it is easer and just as correct to think of saber as "to know how to". I think that no sabe aguantar una broma can be just as correctly translated to "She doesn’t know how to take a joke."
I would also say that I think that we should not get to hung up on trying to find a exact one for one translation of any given word and we should concentrate on the meaning of the sentence or phrace.
Of course these are just my thoughts and I would love to hear from anyone who disagrees.
Steve...I totally agree, which is why I won't even use it that way unless I hear it used more that way (which I probably won't). I prefer poder, but it's good to have a better understanding of it now. Gracias de nuevo.
Jodibean everyone
If you want to say “John can’t swim” you can say Juan no sabe nadar. Which I would argue can be translated to “John doesn’t know how to swim”. If John is physically incapable of swimming, I do not think you can uses Saber, I believe you would have to say Juan no puede nadir. I would like to ask anybody if this is true. If you can say Juan no sabe nadar if John is not physically capable of swimming then I am simply wrong.
Era un parte del discusion, pero olvide contestar la pregunta: A mi tambien me gusta el picante. Mi mama no prepara mucho comida picante, porque piensa no es bueno por la salud. Entonces, mi hermana y yo compramos salsas picante a la groceria, y las podemos en nos platos. Esta manera, todos son felices.
Hello everyone, I am new on spanishpod and I like it very much. I've been using spanishpod for about three weeks(the free version). So I finally decided to join the rest of the group in the discussion section
Since I've been using spanishpod, my ability to understand spoken spanish has gotten much better.
I am not to sure as to how is the best way I should study the material on SP. So I will be looking for some guidence from the people using SP. Thank you in advance.
Ferriez,
Check out my thread in the community section, here: http://spanishpod.com/community/conversations/post/339
I posted a question asking what resources people use to study. Some people, including myself, also mentioned methods they use to study (in SpanishPod, as well as with other resources).
Hope this helps!
jodibean and stevestrv, nice discussion, je, I am so proud of you guys, you're able to solve your doubts using one anothers knowledge, well done! So if you ask me, I totally agree with stevestrv explanation of "saber".
1.-Sabe alemán. He knows German.
2.-El pollo sabe bien. Chicken tastes good.
3.-¿Sabes copiarlo? Do you know how to copy it?
By the way, I´ve never use "saber" as "can". I would never say "sabes copiarlo" meaning "you can copy it". I'd say "puedes copiarlo".
jodibean, you said "steve - I told her I was confused, and asked her what she meant, and that was when she said "you can copy it," in a statement versus a question."
I'm wondering if perhaps when she said "you can copy it" that she herself was making a misinterpretation, using "can" not as permission, but can as having the ability to (knowing how to). In English, if a kid just learned how to write their name, they could say "Mommy, I can write my name!". She's not expressing that she has been given permission, but rather that she knows how to. Entonces ella sabe escribir su propio nombre.
Your friend might not have known that can is more often used for permission and conveyed that meaning unintentionally. Those are my guesses!
dear friends,
For what it's worth, my take on this situation is just that it's a loose pragmatic translation; no big whoop.
But here's the bigger issue: I think the key to this saber=can? question is that discrete word translations can change when those words are put into a phrase in the wild. So don't hold on too tightly to what the dictionary says a word means. Ultimately, the dictionary should be treated as a starting point, but not the final authority.
(now is the time for dictionary ninjas to swoop down from the rafters and slice me into sashimi for blasphemy against word-mavenism...)
There are a lot of variables in a code-switching, international IM session that might have led you to understand that saber = can in some situations. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe she was distracted, maybe it's her regional variety, maybe she meant it as a question, maybe saber does = can in certain cases...
In any case, the point is that the real world gave you some data that you're curious about. My recommendation is just go with it. Keep your ears open, maybe you'll hear more data to support your hypothesis... maybe you'll never hear it again. Either way, you are your own linguist :)
Me gusta lo picante....Mi salsa favorita es Tobasco,que le pongo en todo la comida,incluso el helado..(ja! ja!....es una broma!)☺☺☺♪♪♪
me gusta picante y patata
hola todos
hay hacer muchos comentarios agui. deben cadas perasones muy interesa a hablar la alimento picante.soy mismo mucho gusta alimento picante. sin embargo pera mi ni picante ni apetito.
Me gusta la picante, pero no puedo comer mucho, por que es mal para mi estomago.
iscreamicecream
Me gusta el picante, pero no puedo comer mucho, porque es malo para mi estómago.
Mi doctor me pidió dejar el picante, porque como picante hasta en el desayuno!
My doctor asked me to quit spicy, because I eat chilie even at breakfast!
Gracias Mucho, lilianamata
Voy a cenar en un Sichuan restaurante hoy, la comida alli es muy picante pero muy bueno!
iscreamicecream
Muchas Gracias
A mi me encanta la comida de Sichuan! porque es picante. Uno de mis restaurantes preferidos en Shanghai es DiShuiDong! que rico!
Me gusta picante, con unos Gallos (Guatemalan beer) tambien.
Me gusta mucho picante!
Recuerda esta leccion? Tambien una de mis favoritas. "Le pusiste picante" Pobrecito! je je
Me gusta mucho el picante, ¡salsa de habanero es mi favorito!
"muy picante pero muy bueno"
no
muy picante y por eso es muy bueno!