Comprar, Vender, Abrir

¡Ábrelo!Intro: Join us on a rigorous, step-by-step journey to fluency. I’m Timothy and this is LearnCraft Spanish.Today we’re going to learn three new verbs that are quite simple. We’ll begin with Comprar, which means “to buy”. For example:

I want to buy myself a new outfit.Quiero comprarme un traje nuevo.

So notice that we used the contraction comprarme. We’re indicating whom we’re buying something for, namely myself. If we were buying it for someone else, we might say something like this:

I bought her a present.Le compré un regalo.

Now, it is possible to use Comprar without a reflexive or indirect object. But it’s more common in Spanish than in English to specify who you’re buying something for. And that’s probably because it’s so easy; it just requires throwing in one tiny little extra syllable. So for example, let’s say you want to say “I bought three boxes”. In Spanish, this could be either compré tres cajas or me compré tres cajas. The extra me is very easy to add. Whereas in English, there’s a huge difference between “I bought three boxes” and “I bought myself three boxes”; the word “myself” is a mouthful in English and seems like too much effort.Anyway, in our quizzing, I’ll try to make it clear what you’re supposed to do. If you’re going to use an indirect object or a reflexive object, I’ll include it in the English, even if it seems a little extra.Let’s go ahead and get some practice with Comprar. This verb is conjugated exactly like Hablar, so you should be able to predict the Spanish.

I want him to buy what I had bought.Quiero que él compre lo que yo había comprado.

She brought what I could not buy.Ella trajo lo que yo no pude comprar.

She buys that because she doesn’t think I’ll buy it.Ella compra eso porque no cree que yo lo compre.

I want to buy myself that because he didn’t buy it for me.Quiero comprarme eso porque él no me lo compró.

Why don’t you buy lunch? I buy it every day.¿Por qué no compras el almuerzo? Yo lo compro todos los días.

Buy it! Why didn’t you buy it before?¡Cómpralo! ¿Por qué no lo compraste antes?

(formal) Buy that, don’t you see that there are a whole lot of people buying those things?Compre eso, ¿no ve que hay muchísima gente comprando esas cosas?

He wants me to bring what I bought.Quiere que traiga lo que compré.

I’ll buy that when I have time.Compraré eso cuando tenga tiempo.

Now a verb that goes very nicely with Comprar is Vender, which means “to sell”. For example:

She was going to sell me a car.Me iba a vender un auto.

This verb can take direct or indirect objects, or often both, as in that sentence. The person being sold to is the indirect object, and the thing being sold is the direct object. Here’s a more complex example:

I sold my things to my friends.Les vendí mis cosas a mis amigos.

Here’s an example with just a direct object:

You can sell things on this site.Puedes vender cosas en este sitio.

Let’s get some practice with Vender. It’s conjugated exactly like Deber, so you should be able to predict the Spanish.

My granny sold those things because everyone is selling them.Mi abuelita vendió esas cosas porque todos las están vendiendo.

(Formal) Sell that! It’s still early.¡Venda eso! Todavía es temprano.

Sell it! He always sells that without a problem.¡Véndelo! Él siempre vende eso sin problema.

They want me to sell it because I’ve already sold those things.Quieren que yo lo venda porque ya he vendido esas cosas.

I sell this lock because he wants me to sell it.Vendo esta cerradura porque él quiere que la venda.

I completely agree, they sell what I want to sell.Estoy completamente de acuerdo, ellos venden lo que yo quiero vender.

Our last verb is another common one that’s quite easy to use: Abrir, which means “to open”. For example:

I opened the box early.Abrí la caja temprano.

So normally this verb takes a direct object. But when you’re talking about something being opened, or simply “opening”, you’ll use Abrirse. For example:

What time do the doors open?¿A qué hora se abren las puertas?

This verb is conjugated exactly like Vivir, with just one exception: The participle is irregular. Instead of “abrido”, it’s abierto. For example:

We haven’t opened it yet.No lo hemos abierto aún.

Let’s jump in and get some quizzing practice with Abrir.

Open those things, please.Abre esas cosas, por favor.

Nobody wants to open that because it isn’t safe.Nadie quiere abrir eso porque no es seguro.

They want me to open the door because I didn’t open it before.Quieren que yo abra la puerta porque no la abrí antes.

I open the windows because they never open them.Yo abro las ventanas porque ellos nunca las abren.

Don’t open that now! Open it when everyone is here.¡No abras eso ahora! Ábrelo cuando todos estén aquí.

Why don’t you open that with the knife? ¿Por qué no abres eso con el cuchillo?

He always opens it like this.Él siempre lo abre así.

(formal) Open that when they bring everything we need.Abra eso cuando ellos traigan todo lo que necesitamos.

He didn’t open them and we want you all to open them.Él no las abrió y queremos que ustedes las abran.

I have brought the same thing they brought, but they still haven't opened it.He traído lo mismo que ellos trajeron, pero todavía no lo han abierto.

(plural) Open the door! We need someone to open it with that key.¡Abran la puerta! Necesitamos que alguien la abra con esa llave.

For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper at LCSPodcast.com/237. Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.

Do you buy your breakfast in the place that opened there?¿Compras tu desayuno en el lugar que abrió ahí?

(formal) Buy that, please. Compre eso, por favor.

You know they never bring anything for their little friends(dim).Sabes que ellos nunca traen nada para sus amiguitos.

Even she believes I won’t bring anything. Aun ella cree que yo no traeré nada.

She’s going to buy something.Va a ir a comprar algo.

(plural) Bring those things because he doesn't bring anything lately.Traigan esas cosas porque él no trae nada últimamente.

She bought those forks in the place that has opened near your house.Compró esos tenedores en el lugar que ha abierto cerca de tu casa.

You know he’s not going to bring it.Sabes que él no va a traerlo.

They are going to bring a lot of presents, so open(plural) all of them.Van a traer muchos regalos, así que abran todos.

They completely agree and they want me to open the door.Están completamente de acuerdo y quieren que yo abra la puerta.

(formal) It’s absolutely safe, so open the door.Es absolutamente seguro, así que abra la puerta.

Bring that! I already brought it yesterday.¡Trae eso! Yo ya lo traje ayer.

Please, buy the computer because I won’t buy it.Por favor, compra la computadora porque yo no la compraré.

Obviously we’re selling all the plates you’re bringing.Obviamente estamos vendiendo todos los platos que tú traes.

Hopefully he brings his watch because you didn’t bring it.Ojalá él traiga su reloj porque tú no lo trajiste.

He opens all the presents I buy for them. Él abre todos los regalos que yo compro para ellos.

He knows he can’t open them.Sabe que no los puede abrir.

(formal) Bring the glasses I bought yesterday.Traiga los vasos que compré ayer.

Open that now, I’m in a hurry and I have to leave right away.Abre eso ahora, tengo prisa y me tengo que ir enseguida.

He’s selling all the objects you bought him.Vende todos los objetos que tú le compraste.

Can you bring me that?¿Puedes traerme eso?

Sell that! I want any person to buy it.¡Vende eso! Quiero que cualquier persona lo compre.

There are a whole lot of people, but nobody has bought that.Hay muchísimas personas, pero nadie ha comprado eso.

Why have you sold that spoon? I told you you couldn’t sell it.¿Por qué has vendido esa cuchara? Te dije que no la podías vender.

The little house is definitely far away, so bring me that please.La casita está definitivamente lejos, así que tráeme eso, por favor.

Why is he buying that for the cat? And our dinner?¿Por qué compra eso para el gato? ¿Y nuestra cena?

They are selling the same that she sold.Ellos venden lo mismo que ella vendió.

For more practice with all of this, go to LCSPodcast.com/237.In tomorrow’s episode, we’ll learn some fun new adjectives, including the words for “kind”, “favorite”, and “yummy”.This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. The Spanish voice in this episode was our coach Michael Agudelo. Our music was performed by the Seattle Marimba Quartet, and I’m Timothy, encouraging you to do the hard work of learning Spanish. Acquiring a second language is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, so start your fluency journey today at LCSPodcast.com.

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