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What’s the difference between Prometer and Jurar? Let’s learn how to talk about “swearing” and “promising” in Spanish.
Te lo prometo.
Intro: Join us on a rigorous, step-by-step journey to fluency. I’m Timothy and this is LearnCraft Spanish.
Today we’re learning two new verbs, and we’ll start with the verb Prometer, which means “to promise”. For example:
Can you promise me that you are going to do it?
¿Me puedes prometer que lo vas a hacer?
Now of course, yesterday we learned the verb Jurar, which means “to swear”. What’s the difference between Jurar and Prometer?
Well, Jurar can be used in a wide variety of ways, including to swear that something is true. But Prometer is used specifically when you’re promising something for the future. This is actually traditionally true in English too. Sometimes we colloquially say things like “I promise that he is here”, but that’s kind of an odd use; the dictionary-correct way to use the word “promise” is to promise that something is going to happen in the future. So in summary, you can use Jurar for the past, the present, or the future, but you’ll typically use Prometer only for the future. Here’s another example:
I’ll be there; I promise you it.
Estaré allí, te lo prometo.
So as you can see, just like the verb Jurar, this tends to take both direct and indirect objects.
Here’s another example, where we use Prometer for the future of the past.
You promised me that you were going to do it.
Me prometiste que lo ibas a hacer.
Let’s get some practice with Prometer. It’s a regular E-R verb, conjugated exactly like Deber, so you should be able to predict the Spanish.
Promise that you aren’t going to do it!
¡Promete que no lo vas a hacer!
Yes, sure, I promise it to you.
Sí, claro, te lo prometo.
Promise me that you’re going to go!
¡Prométeme que vas a ir!
Why are you promising what he already promised?
¿Por qué prometes lo que él ya prometió?
She wishes that I be there because I promised it to her.
Ella desea que yo esté ahí porque se lo prometí.
You don’t have to promise me anything, they already promised me it.
No me tienes que prometer nada, ellos ya me lo prometieron.
They have sworn that they don’t know anything about what we promised.
Han jurado que no saben nada acerca de lo que prometimos.
It’s wonderful, but you promised me the same that he had promised me.
Es maravilloso, pero me prometiste lo mismo que él me había prometido.
We’re wishing that he’s here soon because every year he promises that.
Estamos deseando que esté aquí pronto porque todos los años promete eso.
Our next verb is Correr, which means “to run”. This is a pretty simple verb, and also a regular verb conjugated exactly like Deber. Here are some examples:
Are you going to run in the race tomorrow?
¿Vas a correr en la carrera mañana?
My dog ran very fast.
Mi perro corrió muy rápido.
Don’t run in the house.
No corras dentro de la casa.
Let’s practice Correr.
Run! You have to arrive on time at the square.
¡Corre! Tienes que llegar a tiempo a la plaza.
I ran because he ran in that direction.
Yo corrí porque él corrió en esa dirección.
(formal) Run! Don’t you see that they are running?
¡Corra! ¿No ve que ellos corren?
Don’t run here! You know we only run outside.
¡No corras aquí! Sabes que solo corremos afuera.
I swear you’ll have problems if I see you running here again.
Juro que tendrás problemas si te veo corriendo aquí otra vez.
You’re running because he’s running, but they want me to run.
Tú corres porque él corre, pero ellos quieren que yo corra.
You don’t have to swear anything, we’ll go only when he wishes it.
No tienes que jurar nada, iremos solo cuando él lo desee.
(plural) Run! We have to pass by the bridge to get to the road.
¡Corran! Tenemos que pasar por el puente para llegar a la carretera.
My brother likes running and that’s why he wants you to run.
A mi hermano le gusta correr y por eso quiere que corras.
For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper at LCSPodcast.com/232. Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.
He promises he’s not going to go to that area, but they wish that he does it.
Él promete que no va a ir a esa zona, pero ellos desean que lo haga.
Promise that you aren’t going to be running all day at that site.
Promete que no vas a estar corriendo todo el día en ese sitio.
He ran before and that’s why now I run.
Él corrió antes y por eso ahora yo corro.
She promised she was going to tell us where the exit was.
Prometió que nos iba a decir dónde estaba la salida.
I wished to arrive on time and I ran, now tell it to me.
Deseaba llegar a tiempo y corrí, ahora dímelo.
You know I don’t want them to run, you swore it to me!
Sabes que no quiero que corran, ¡me lo juraste!
We promised we weren’t going to do it, but you didn’t promise anything.
Prometimos que no lo íbamos a hacer, pero tú no prometiste nada.
It’s weird, but I wish that someone else does it.
Es raro, pero deseo que alguien más lo haga.
I want you to run like they run.
Quiero que corras como ellos corren.
(Formal) I promised you something new for the living room, now tell it to me.
Le prometí a usted algo nuevo para la sala, ahora dígamelo.
Look at the ground, it’s very interesting.
Mira el suelo, es muy interesante.
Promise me that they’ll only do it after telling you it.
Prométeme que solo lo harán después de decírtelo.
I don’t know why he’s swearing that if he already swore something else.
No sé por qué él jura eso si ya juró otra cosa.
We’re going to go to that destination when she wishes it.
Vamos a ir a ese destino cuando ella lo desee.
She’s not welcome here and you have to tell it to her at the entrance.
Ella no es bienvenida aquí y tú tienes que decírselo en la entrada.
We wish for the impossible and it’s not at all fun.
Deseamos lo imposible y no es para nada divertido.
You always run in the park because there’s a lot of space there.
Siempre corres en el parque porque hay mucho espacio ahí.
You wish for something he has already wished for before.
Deseas algo que él ya ha deseado antes.
Why are you promising him that you’ll give it to him? It’s stupid.
¿Por qué le prometes que vas a dárselo? Es estúpido.
There were more people near the window.
Había más gente cerca de la ventana.
It’s hell here, weren’t you going to tell me it?
Es un infierno aquí, ¿no ibas a decírmelo?
We wish for many things, but we can’t promise you anything.
Deseamos muchas cosas, pero no te podemos prometer nada.
If you’re going to run, give it to me. You have promised me it.
Si vas a correr, dámelo. Me lo has prometido.
I swore I wasn't going to say anything terrible about that state.
Juré que no iba a decir nada terrible de ese estado.
Don’t run! And please, give it to him before you leave it on the floor.
¡No corras! Y por favor, dáselo antes de que lo dejes en el piso.
I wished to go with them because they promised it to me.
Deseaba ir con ellos porque me lo prometieron.
Run and tell it to him, he’s on the sidewalk.
Corre y díselo, él está en la acera.
They want me to run because he’s running, but I promise you I won’t do it.
Quieren que yo corra porque él corre, pero te prometo que no lo haré.
(formal) Run! He’s an excellent person and you have to talk to him.
¡Corra! Es una persona excelente y tiene que hablar con él.
She has to tell it to us, but she doesn’t want to talk.
Ella tiene que decírnoslo, pero no quiere hablar.
Give it(f) to me! I would wish that you had done it sooner.
¡Dámela! Desearía que lo hubieras hecho antes.
For more practice with all of this, go to LCSPodcast.com/232.
In tomorrow’s episode, we’ll learn some new adverbs, including the words for “completely”, “totally”, and “lately”, as well as how to form the diminutive in Spanish using suffixes like “-ito” and “-cito”.
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.