What do the Spanish think of Brexit? In fact, have they even heard of it?
This is the fourth, and final, video in the series which we shot in Pontevedra and Vigo, two medium-sized cities in the comunidad autónoma of Galicia, in the northwest of Spain.
In the previous video we asked 4 young Spaniards what they thought of Britain and the British.
In this edition we question them on Brexit. Do they know what it is? What do they think about it? And, do they even care?!
Subtitles
Subtitles are provided in both English and Spanish.
Real Spanish Video 4
In the following sections we’ll look at the main points of interest from the video.
Key phrases from this video
The verbs from this video
I’m always astonished how many verbs people can cram into a two-minute video. Here are the infinitive forms for ALL the verbs we’ve heard in this video, in the order in which they appear.
- ser – be
- ver – see
- comer – eat
- votar – vote
- salir – leave
- llevar a cabo – carry out
- tener – have
- irse – leave
That’s the first 8 verbs. Only 24 more to go!
- saber – know
- explicar – explain
- decidir – decide
- deber – must
- hacer – do
- respetar – respect
- parecer – seem
- objetar – object
There’s more…
- haber – have
- pensar – think
- informarse –inform
- conlleva – entail
- ir – go
- preguntar – ask
- firmar – sign
- estar – be
And more…
- trabajar – work
- decir – say
- adquirir – adquire
- vivir – live
- gustar – like
- querer – want
- quedarse – remain / stay
- repetir – repeat
Brexit o Brexi
Notice anything strange about how our interviewees pronounced the term ‘Brexit’?
The final ‘t’ was either missing or barely audible. While English has a habit of adding an extra ‘tut’ sound onto the ‘t’ , they don’t do that in Spanish. As a result, it’s often difficult for English-speakers to hear whether a Spanish word contains a ‘t’ or not. For a great introduction to Spanish pronunciation, have a look at our Idiot’s Guide to Spanish Pronunciation.
Debería = Should
We saw in the previous video that:
Deber = must
For example:
- Debo hacer esto hoy.
I must do this today.
However, when deber is in the conditional form (debería), then it is the equivalent of ‘should’:
- Deberían habérselo pensado un poco mejor.
They should have thought about it a little more.
A ver- Let’s see…
If you’ve been asked a tricky question and you’re not sure how to respond, then use:
- a ver – let’s see
You’ll hear Nuria use this expression at 0:19. It’s a good way of giving yourself some time to think of an intelligent answer. Another ‘time-gainer’ is:
- pues… – well…
You’ll hear Alba Diana and Luis make use of this filler at 0:21, and 0:36 respectively.
The questions from the video.
Our interviewees were asked to respond to the following questions:
- ¿Qué es el Brexit?
What is Brexit? - ¿Qué opinas del Brexit?
What do you think about Brexit? - Tu trabajo o tu universidad te envia a Inglaterra, ¿qué haces?
Your work or your university send you to England. What do you do?
Where next?
If you found the video useful, then make sure to check out the first three videos in this series on Real Spanish:
In the highly probable case that you struggled with the language in these videos (It’s pretty difficult, sorry!) then grab yourself a cup of coffee and take a look at the videos in our section on Essential Spanish Phrases. They are a whole lot easier to follow.
Alternatively, in our Basic Spanish course, you’ll find a whole set of practical, well-explained classes written by our bilingual teacher, Aurora Ielpi.
