Hola from Mark = Topic: ¿Si o Sí?

[Mark_Frobose]

Hi guys,

When Spanish is spoken, you don't necessarily hear the accent.

However .... a written accent can dramatically change the meaning of a Spanish word.

For example, you should be aware of the fact that the word 'Si' without an accent means 'If'  and 'Sí' with an accent means 'Yes'.

Have any of you encountered this one before? 

Are there any accent related stories or questions you would like to share?

Hasta pronto,

Mark

Speaker Beware

 Sí  or Si

Yes or If?

The word ‘sí’ with an accent means ‘yes’, but ‘si’ without an accent means ‘if’.  This difference is usually obvious from the context in which the word is used.

[thewanderingjew]

You piqued my curiosity and I found some interesting examples on wikipedia.

In Afrikaans:

appel (apple) and appèl (appeal)

In Dutch:

vóórkomen = to occur, voorkómen = to prevent

In German:

Ofen (English: oven) has the plural Öfen  (ovens)

In Swedish:

ide (hibernation) versus idé (idea)

"A few English words can only be distinguished from others by a diacritic or modified letter, including animé, exposé, lamé, maté, öre, øre, pâté, piqué, rosé, and soufflé. The same is true of résumé, alternately resumé, but nevertheless it is sometimes spelled resume in the US, and saké, which is more commonly spelled sake"

All of these above words have double meanings due to the accent marks.

[Mark_Frobose]

Gracias por la respuesta,

¿Ha estudiado el español acaso? - Have you studied Spanish by any chance?

Si sí (If yes) nos podemos comunicar en la lengua de Cervantes.

Marcos

[SueWho]

¡Hola, Mark!  A couple I can think of are esta (this) versus está (you are) and qué (what) versus que (that).  I'm sure there are lots more that we will encounter throughout this course.

[Mark_Frobose]

Hola SueWho,

Great Question!

'Ahí te va' or 'Here it goes'.

Que without an accent usually means 'that' or 'what'.

Qué with the accent is used in the interrogative when it is a question.

Example:  ¿Qué es esto?  What is this?  But 'No sé que es'.  I don't know what it is. No accent.

Está can mean is or are and comes from the verb infinitive 'estar' - one of two ways of saying 'to be'

in Spanish.  Example:  ¿Dónde está?  -  Where is he/she/it?

Esta without this accent is not a verb, but rather a demonstrative.

Example:  Esta es la última canción que canto para tí = This is the last song I sing for you.

Sorry to be so melodramatic. I used to give seranades with that song back in the day.

Bear in mind that stress is also different.  Está is pronounced (s TAH)  with the stress on the second syllable whereas Esta is pronounced (S tah) with the stress on the first syllable.

I  hope this helps.  Ojalá que esta explicación te ayude.  Alright?  ¿Está bien?

Marcos

[MissShopaholic]

I've lived in South Texas, near the mexican border, my whole life.  I grew up in a monolingual household.  The spanish language is everywhere down here and the few words and phrases that i do know, i didn't know this.  WOW.

[thewanderingjew]

I am not great in Spanish, but is this the song you meant? I loved it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPeAL657lnk&feature=related

[Mark_Frobose]

Buenos Días Wandering,

Nice song.  Thanks for the link.

The song I was referring to was written by Victor Yturbi Piruli and is called 'La Ultima Canción'.

I have it on MP3.  If you would like a copy, I will email it to you.

Send me your request at: mark@frobose.com and let me know you are my student with Barnes and Noble.  (I do everything for my alumnos).

¡Qué pases un buen fin de semana!  =  Have a nice weekend!

Marcos

www.frobose.com

[Nadine]

There are loads on YouTube.

Here is La Ulitima Canción by Paulo Sergio

Finding the lyrics might be more difficult since there seems to be different versions and it looks like there is a movie by that name as well.

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Mark_Frobose wrote:

Buenos Días Wandering,

Nice song.  Thanks for the link.

The song I was referring to was written by Victor Yturbi Piruli and is called 'La Ultima Canción'.

I have it on MP3.  If you would like a copy, I will email it to you.

Send me your request at: mark@frobose.com and let me know you are my student with Barnes and Noble.  (I do everything for my alumnos).

¡Qué pases un buen fin de semana!  =  Have a nice weekend!

Marcos

www.frobose.com

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