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How do you talk about messages and information in Spanish? Let’s learn some new Spanish nouns, including the words for “message”, “information”, and “attention”.
Tengo un mensaje para ti.
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 some nouns that have to do with how information is conveyed from one person to another. We’ll start with the word for “information”, which is información, spelled a lot like the English word except that it ends with c-i-o-n, with an accent mark on the O. Información. Here’s an example:
I don’t know, he didn’t give me the information.
No lo sé, no me dio la información.
So información is a feminine noun. A related masculine noun is the word mensaje, which means “message”. For example:
I have a message for you.
Tengo un mensaje para ti.
The words información and mensaje are pretty easy to use. A slightly trickier word is the very common Spanish word asunto, which means something like “issue” or “matter”. Here’s a fairly simple example:
Can we talk? This issue is very important.
¿Podemos hablar? Este asunto es muy importante.
This word can actually be translated quite a few different ways into English. For example, if you’re talking about este asunto, that might be translated as “this issue”, “this subject”, “this matter”, or “this topic”. And idiomatically, it can sometimes even be translated as the word “business”, but specifically when you’re talking about whether or not someone should be involved in something. For example:
It’s not your business.
No es asunto tuyo.
Notice that instead of tu asunto we said asunto tuyo. That’s not the normal way to use possessive pronouns, but it’s idiomatic for this specific noun. Here’s another example:
She told me that message was none of my business.
Ella me dijo que ese mensaje no era asunto mío.
Let’s practice using información, mensaje, and asunto.
I don’t have information about this issue.
No tengo información sobre este asunto.
Give him this message: it’s none of his business.
Dale este mensaje: no es asunto suyo.
I had thirty-six messages but still didn’t have enough information.
Tenía treinta y seis mensajes, pero aún no tenía suficiente información.
Regarding this matter, she has killed twenty-eight animals.
En cuanto a este asunto, ha matado veintiocho animales.
Our next word is the noun secreto, which means “secret”. We’ve already learned this as an adjective, as in “a secret place” or un lugar secreto. But the noun un secreto means the same thing as the English term “a secret”. Try it out in this next example:
It’s a secret; it’s none of their business.
Es un secreto, no es asunto suyo.
Let’s learn three more words that are very similar to their English counterparts. The word for “attention” is atención, the word for “situation” is situación, and the word for “permission” is permiso. Both atención and situación are feminine, but permiso is masculine. All three of these words are used almost exactly the same as they’re used in English. Here are some example:
That was a very strange situation.
Esa fue una situación muy extraña.
He went out without his mom’s permission.
Salió sin el permiso de su mamá.
Could I have your(plural) attention, please?
¿Podría tener su atención, por favor?
Let’s practice these words.
You don’t need my permission to enter the house.
No necesitas mi permiso para entrar en la casa.
Can I have your attention on this issue?
¿Puedo tener tu atención en este asunto?
I give you permission to have the blue ones.
Te doy permiso para tener los azules.
You have to give me your attention in this situation.
Tienes que darme tu atención en esta situación.
What’s your message in this situation?
¿Cuál es tu mensaje en esta situación?
The information I have it’s that it’s thirty-one phones and not thirty.
La información que tengo es que son treinta y un teléfonos y no treinta.
Our last word for today is the word vista, which can actually mean a couple of different things. It can mean “view”, as in:
They gave us a room with a very pretty view.
Nos dieron una habitación con una vista muy bonita.
But it can also refer to “sight”, as in “eyesight” or the sense of vision. For example:
Do you have sight of the house?
¿Tienes vista de la casa?
Her vision must be perfect.
Su vista debe ser perfecta.
This word is also used in the idiom punto de vista, literally “point of view”. It’s kind of cool that this particular idiom correlates perfectly with the English idiom. Here are a couple of examples:
His point of view seemed strange to me.
Su punto de vista me pareció extraño.
In this next one, “from that point of view” is actually phrased as “under that point of view”, which is idiomatic in Spanish; both bajo ese punto de vista and desde ese punto de vista are common. So here’s the example:
From that point of view, I almost understand it.
Bajo ese punto de vista, casi lo entiendo.
Let’s practice vista and punto de vista.
I don’t remember if his eyesight is good.
No recuerdo si su vista es buena.
From my point of view, thirty-one things are better.
Bajo mi punto de vista, treinta y una cosas son mejores.
My eyesight isn’t good, so I don’t find it.
Mi vista no es buena, así que no lo encuentro.
This point of view has a pretty view.
Este punto de vista tiene una vista bonita.
This is a gorgeous view, with a lot of green things.
Esta es una vista hermosa, con muchas cosas verdes.
For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper at LCSPodcast.com/174. Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.
Remember that this is none of your business.
Recuerda que esto no es asunto tuyo.
If she finds it, she could kill it.
Si lo encuentra, lo podría matar.
Enter the house so you can see the twenty-one messages.
Entra en la casa para que puedas ver los veintiún mensajes.
They found thirty-three red cars.
Encontraron treinta y tres autos rojos.
Do you remember the view with all the green things?
¿Recuerdas la vista con todas las cosas verdes?
He found thirty-nine red ones(f) from this view.
Encontró treinta y nueve rojas desde esta vista.
I want your attention for this issue, we found thirty-one.
Quiero tu atención para este asunto, encontramos treinta y uno.
You have to remember that you already killed thirty-four.
Tienes que recordar que ya mataste treinta y cuatro.
I don’t want to give you permission because you don’t give me your attention.
No quiero darte permiso porque no me das tu atención.
You don’t have to kill me, I won’t tell your secret.
No tienes que matarme, no diré tu secreto.
From his point of view he found the information for the situation.
Bajo su punto de vista encontró la información para la situación.
I found twenty-one red houses.
Encontré veintiuna casas rojas.
He killed thirty-seven and I only killed twenty-five.
Mató treinta y siete y yo solo maté veinticinco.
If he kills it, they could find us.
Si lo mata, nos podrían encontrar.
This matter is important, because they have already found twenty-two.
Este asunto es importante, porque ya han encontrado veintidós.
If she enters the house, we have to talk to her about the situation.
Si entra en la casa, tenemos que hablarle de la situación.
She doesn’t remember that it isn’t her business.
No recuerda que no es asunto suyo.
Kill it! I give you permission.
¡Mátalo! Te doy permiso.
Find the message with the information!
¡Encuentra el mensaje con la información!
We always find that our point of view is better.
Siempre encontramos que nuestro punto de vista es mejor.
It’s not a secret that I like the blue one.
No es un secreto que me gusta el azul.
For more practice with all of this, go to LCSPodcast.com/174, or tune in tomorrow for a big quiz to practice everything we’ve learned this week.
This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. The Spanish voice in this episode was our coach Ximena Lama-Rondón. 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.