Beginners 35: Reverse Construction Verbs

Spanish obsessed Beginners, episode 37. Reverse construction verbs. Welcome to Spanish obsessed beginners. In this episode, we'll be talking about reverse construction verbs. What are they? Why are they difficult? What's the easiest way to approach them? And what are some of the most common ones and how can we use them? Don't forget, if you are a pro member, you'll be able to follow along with the transcription, see any relevant translations, get notes and exercises, as well as a ton more. Head over to Spanish.obsessed.com/go-pro/ for more information. So reverse construction verbs. We hear these all the time, but what do they actually mean? What are they? Well, there's a whole group of verbs in Spanish which are reverse construction verbs. And it took me a really long time to get my head around them. It took me a long time to understand the concept of them and then even longer to start using them and conjugating them correctly. So what are they? Well, let's look at a couple of examples.

No me queda nada. Me encanta. Me gusta.

I've got nothing left. I love it. I like it.

Those are a few examples of reverse construction verbs. So what's going on here with these phrases, with these verbs and why are they confusing? Well, let's take that first example.

No me queda nada.

I've got nothing left.

And that means I have nothing left, but that's the English way, our English translation. That's the way that we say it. However, the Spanish way of saying it really it translates as nothing is left to me. Or, to me nothing is left. Another example, let's take our second phrase.

Me encanta.

I love it.

And don't forget, the e sounds kind of join there, so it's typically pronounced mencanta. That means I love it. But again, that's our English translation. Really in a Spanish speaker's mind it's more like it pleases me or the way I like to remember this is it enchants me. Me encanta. It enchants me. These reverse construction verbs are basically a way of saying something and kind of in reverse to the way that we would say it. So instead of, I like something you could say something pleases me. A reverse construction. And technically speaking, we switch the subject and the object around, at least compared to English. To give you a few more examples and help you wrap your head around it consider these phrases in English. I like chocolate. In this case, I am the subject. I am the one doing the experiencing. I am liking the chocolate. And the chocolate is the object of the verb, which is like. And you can find the object by saying, what do I like? What do I verb? Chocolate. So what does that look like when we switch it around? You could say chocolate pleases me. So chocolate is now the subject, and that's the thing which is doing the verb and me, I am the object of the verb.

Chocolate pleases what? Chocolate pleases me. I like chocolate. Chocolate pleases me. So this is the better representation, or if you like, a mental model for me gusta el chocolate.