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Salvar, Odiar, Lamentar

Let’s explore three new regular Spanish verbs: Salvar, Odiar, and Lamentar. We’ll get lots of practice using these verbs in a variety of real sentence contexts.

Full Podcast Episode

Transcript

No lo odiarían.

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 pretty easy to use. We’ll start with the verb Salvar, which means “to save”. For example:

He saved three people from the danger.

Salvó a tres personas del peligro.

When you’re talking about saving someone’s life, you use the person as an indirect object and then say la vida. For example:

They saved her life.

Le salvaron la vida.

Literally, “to her they saved the life”.

Another note about this verb: In English, we sometimes talk about saving something, as in saving it up; for example, “I’m going to save up my money” or “I’m going to save some time”. The verb Salvar is not used that way; it’s only used as basically a synonym for “rescue”.

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

His policy saved the majority of the people.

Su política salvó a la mayoría de las personas.

(Formal) Save that girl! She needs help.

¡Salve a esa niña! Necesita ayuda.

I’m a doctor (f) and I save lives, I’ve saved a lot of people.

Soy doctora y salvo vidas, he salvado a mucha gente.

They started saving her when that happened.

La empezaron a salvar cuando pasó eso.

They want me to save the world and him also to save it.

Quieren que yo salve el mundo y que él también lo salve.

Save those animals! Don’t you see they are starting to die?

¡Salva a esos animales! ¿No ves que empiezan a morir?

She always saves the day; you didn’t save us this time.

Ella siempre salva el día, tú no nos salvaste esta vez.

He starts doing that only when he talks to me.

Empieza a hacer eso solo cuando habla conmigo.

Note that this verb is often used pronominally to refer to “being saved”. For example:

We were saved from the danger.

Nos salvamos del peligro.

Let’s get a little bit of practice with this.

She is always saved at the right time.

Siempre se salva en el momento correcto.

They were saved and had a good life.

Se salvaron y tuvieron una buena vida.

He wasn't saved from his mom because he didn’t do the homework.

No se salvó de su mamá porque no hizo la tarea.

Our next verb is Odiar, which means “to hate”. For example:

You can do it, but you’re going to hate it.

Puedes hacerlo, pero lo vas a odiar.

The most common form of this verb is odio for “I hate”, which is the same as our noun for hatred. Here’s an example:

I hate that they always do that.

Odio que siempre hagan eso.

Here are a couple more examples:

She used to live there, but she hated it.

Ella vivía allí, pero lo odiaba.

I’ll do it until I hate it.

Lo haré hasta que lo odie.

Let’s practice this verb.

She used to hate those things, but now you hate them.

Ella odiaba esas cosas, pero ahora tú las odias.

Let’s start doing this before he hates us.

Empecemos a hacer esto antes de que él nos odie.

I’m sure he’d hate having that doubt.

Estoy seguro de que él odiaría tener esa duda.

You haven’t started yet? If you know they don’t hate you…

¿Todavía no has empezado? Si sabes que no te odian…

I’d never hate you, but I hate they aren’t here.

Nunca te odiaría, pero odio que no estén aquí.

He hates that music and wants you to hate it too.

Odia esa música y quiere que tú la odies también.

Try that food. I used to hate it too before, but not anymore.

Prueba esa comida. Yo también la odiaba antes, pero ya no.

Our last verb is the verb Lamentar, which literally means “to lament”, but it’s actually used very frequently to mean “I’m very sorry” or “I’m so sorry”. For example:

I’m so sorry you’ve lost your dog.

Lamento que hayas perdido a tu perro.

Literally “I lament that you have lost your dog.” This is used very often to express condolences or regret. And actually, the only form of the verb that’s used all the time is lamento. It IS possible to use other forms, although they’re not as common. For example:

She’s so sorry that she can’t be here.

Lamenta no poder estar aquí.

But of course it’s much more frequent to express sorrow on your own behalf, not on someone else’s behalf.

Let’s get some practice with Lamentar. The only forms we’ll use are lamento, lamenta, lamentan, and lamentamos.

He's so sorry you have been sick(f).

Lamenta mucho que hayas estado enferma.

I’m so sorry we can’t go today. However, we’ll come back soon.

Lamento que no podamos ir hoy. Sin embargo, volveremos pronto.

I’m very sorry you all have to start later because of my fault.

Lamento que tengan que empezar más tarde por mi culpa.

We’re very sorry for everything that happened and I know they’re so sorry too.

Lamentamos todo lo que pasó y sé que ellos lo lamentan también.

For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper at LCSPodcast.com/217. Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.

Save the kids! We have already tried everything.

¡Salva a los chicos! Nosotros ya hemos probado todo.

Do you(plural) want us to start? There are already a hundred people here.

¿Quieren que empecemos? Ya hay cien personas aquí.

We’re so sorry we have two hundred and sixty-eight examples.

Lamentamos tener doscientos sesenta y ocho ejemplos.

I know they’re so sorry about it too.

Sé que ellos lo lamentan también.

He never tries anything new and I think he’d hate that.

Nunca prueba nada nuevo y creo que odiaría eso.

I hope he saves the day because she always saves it.

Espero que él salve el día porque ella siempre lo salva.

That is very good today, do you want to try it?

Eso está muy bueno hoy, ¿quieres probarlo?

Based on what he said nine hundred and seventy-five times, I don’t think he’ll fear that.

En base a lo que dijo novecientas setenta y cinco veces, no creo que tema eso.

She used to hate that color, but it’s time to try something new.

Ella odiaba ese color, pero es tiempo de probar algo nuevo.

He has number eight hundred and ninety-seven, and he’ll do it when the race starts.

Tiene el número ochocientos noventa y siete, y lo hará cuando empiece la carrera.

I save him like seven hundred and twenty-three times per year.

Lo salvo como setecientas veintitrés veces por año.

I’m very sorry you’re not here, but I started without you.

Lamento mucho que no estés aquí, pero empecé sin ti.

I have number three hundred and eighty-four and you have six hundred and fifty-nine.

Tengo el número trescientos ochenta y cuatro y tú tienes el seiscientos cincuenta y nueve.

She has saved you, and at that moment the problem started.

Te ha salvado, y en ese momento empezó el problema.

We never start on time and I hate it, but I want this to start soon.

Nunca empezamos a tiempo y lo odio, pero quiero que esto empiece pronto.

Don’t start saying anything! You never try anything new.

¡No empieces a decir nada! Nunca pruebas nada nuevo.

She saved you when you were in that state and she doesn’t regret it.

Te salvó cuando estabas en ese estado y no lo lamenta.

I used to hate that house; it had a lot of problems, especially in the base.

Yo odiaba esa casa, tenía muchos problemas, sobre todo en la base.

This network is starting and you(plural) already hate them.

Esta red está empezando y ya los odian.

I have like four hundred and twelve of those things at home.

Tengo como cuatrocientas doce de esas cosas en casa.

(formal) Start working and save that boy.

Empiece a trabajar y salve a ese niño.

Thirty percent of those houses have that size.

El treinta por ciento de esas casas tienen ese tamaño.

He can only sleep with that sound and in that position.

Solo puede dormir con ese sonido y en esa posición.

I hope he doesn’t hate English, I feel like talking to him.

Espero que no odie el inglés, tengo ganas de hablar con él.

I did it like one hundred and forty-one times and you like five hundred and thirty-six.

Lo hice como ciento cuarenta y una veces y tú como quinientas treinta y seis.

I’d hate having to save the world and hundreds of people.

Odiaría tener que salvar el mundo y a cientos de personas.

They don’t want me to hate this place, but there's a lot of noise and like a hundred and ten people.

No quieren que odie este lugar, pero hay mucho ruido y como ciento diez personas.

We know you hate it, but we want you to start going to that place.

Sabemos que lo odias, pero queremos que empieces a ir a ese lugar.

Start your homework before it’s too late.

Empieza tu tarea antes de que sea demasiado tarde.

You saved me and they hope that I save you too.

Me salvaste y esperan que yo te salve también.

She hates having a conversation with him, that’s why I start talking.

Odia tener una conversación con él, por eso yo empiezo a hablar.

For more practice with all of this, go to LCSPodcast.com/217.

In tomorrow’s episode, we’ll learn the last of our Spanish conjunctions and prepositions.

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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