Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

In English we only have one verb which means “to play.” However, in Spanish Jugar and tocar are verbs which mean “to play,” but have very different uses. Jugar + a, is used to play a sport or game. José juega al tenis. Joe plays tennis. Me gusta jugar a la pelota. I like to play ball. On the other hand the verb tocar is used to play a musical instrument: Carmen toca muy bien el piano. Carmen plays the piano very well. Tocar may also mean to have one’s turn at doing something, to knock on a door or to touch someone or something.

Pedir and preguntar are two other troublesome verbs for English speakers. Both of these verbs mean to ask but note the uses. Pedir means to ask for or request something. El niño le pide dinero a su padre. The boy asks his father for money. Preguntar means to ask a question or inquire. El alumno pregunta a la profesora cómo está. The student asks the teacher how she is.

Poder and saber are two verbs that mean “can,” but have different uses. Poder means “can’ in the sense of ability. No puedo ayudar a mi amigo. I cannot help my friend (unable to help). Saber means “can” in the sense of to know how. El niño no sabe leer. The child can’t read (doesn’t know how to).

Finally, volver and devolver, both mean “to return” but are not used the same way. Volver means to return in the sense of come back. Voy a volver a casa. I’m going to return home. Devolver means to return in the sense of to give something back. Voy a devolver el libro a la biblioteca. I’m going to return the book to the library.

Tiquismo of the week:
Agazapado is a person who is a hypocrite in Costa Rica.

Have you ever wondered how to say you did something to yoursef in Spanish? There is a way to talk about oneself in Spanish called “the reflexive verb.”

Reflexive verbs are those for which the subject and the recepient of the action are the same. In a phrase like “He hurt himself” the words ‘he’ and ‘himself’ refer to the same person. To hurt oneself is therefore a reflexive verb.

In Spanish you use reflexive verbs in the same way as in English, but there are more of them and they are not always easy to recognize. For example, in Spanish levantarse (to get up) is reflexive as is acostarse (to go to bed).

Many verbs fall into this category of doing something to oneself like putting on one’s clothes, washing, shaving or getting ready in the in the morning. Often reflexive verbs like enamorarse (to fall in love) or sentirse (to feel) are not particulary obvious and have to be learned.

Most verbs can be reflexive and non-reflexive. For example, poner (to put). I put the glass on the table - Puse el vaso en la mesa. But when used as a reflexive this verb changes: I put on the sweater (myself) - Me puse el suéter.

To form the reflexive in order to talk about yourself, just put the reflexive pronoun ‘me’ before the first person of any verb; ‘te’ before the second person of any verb; ’se’ before the third person singular and plural of the verb; and ‘nos’ before the first person plural of the verb like this:

me levanto - I get up
nos levantamos - we get up
te levantas - you get up
se levanta - he/she/gets up
se levanta - they/you get up

Tiquismo of the week:
Polo is a derogatory term for someone from the countryside or any ill-bred person.