En el episodio de hoy, hablaremos sobre el extraƱo uso de la negaciĆ³n en inglĆ©s y cĆ³mo un doble negativo es en realidad un positivo en el idioma inglĆ©s. Para un hispanohablante, usar doble negaciĆ³n es normal y gramaticalmente correcto, lo que significa que esta parte de la gramĆ”tica inglesa puede ser un poquito complicada. Desafortunadamente, me di cuenta mientras grababa que fui un poco demasiado profundo con este episodio, Ā”entonces dividĆ este episodio en dos episodios! Ā”AsĆ que vamos a discutirla, y en nuestro consejo cultural comenzaremos a hablar sobre Kenia!
Formar una OraciĆ³n Negativa
En pocas palabras, en inglĆ©s puedes negar una oraciĆ³n vĆa aƱadiĆ©ndo "no" o "not", o simplemente respondiendo con "no" a una pregunta.
Por ejemplo:
-No thank you. No gracias.
-No problem. No hay problema. (Decimos esto mucho despuĆ©s de que alguien se disculpa por algo, pero solo si no es tan serio. Es una forma bastante informal de decir "Te perdono", que es lo que usarĆas para algo extremadamente importante, como si alguien se disculpa por destrozar tu auto o arruinar un jarrĆ³n importante. SĆ, hay grados de disculpas y de perdĆ³n. En ese sentido, he oĆdo que los estadounidenses se disculpan mucho, en comparaciĆ³n con otras culturas. Ah bueno. Ā”Lo siento! :D )
-I did not want that. Yo no querĆa eso.
-Do you love him? No. ĀæLo amas? No.
Otra forma de crear una oraciĆ³n negativa es usar una palabra negativa.
Las Palabras Negativas
Hay bastantes palabras negativas diferentes, asĆ que he creado una lista de las mĆ”s comunes. Para cada grupo de palabras, te darĆ© la traducciĆ³n al inglĆ©s de palabras positivas, sus contrapartes negativas y ejemplos de oraciones para ambos usos, positivo como negativo. Voy a subrayar todas las palabras negativas.
InglƩs | InglƩs | EspaƱol | EspaƱol |
|---|---|---|---|
Palabras Positivas | Palabras Negativas | Palabras Positivas | Palabras Negativas |
Yes | No, Not | SĆ | No |
Forever, Always | Never | Siempre | Nunca, JamƔs |
Either | Either, Neither | Cualquiera, Ambos | Ninguno/a |
Either...or.... | Neither...nor.... | O...o.... | Ni...ni.... |
Oraciones de Ejemplo
Positiva: Did you see the movie yesterday? Yes, I saw it. ĀæViste la pelĆcula ayer? SĆ lo vi.
Negativa: Did you see the movie yesterday? No, I did not. ĀæViste la pelĆcula ayer? No, no lo hice.
Positiva: I will love him forever. Lo amarƩ para siempre.
Negativa: I will never love him. Nunca lo amarƩ.
Positiva: You can have either option. Puedes tener cualquiera de las dos opciones.
Negativa: You can have neither option. No puedes tener ninguna opciĆ³n. (O podrĆa decir: "You can't have either option." La palabra "can't" es una contracciĆ³n de "cannot".)
Positiva: He is either very happy or very sad. O estĆ” muy feliz o muy triste.
Negativa: He is neither happy nor sad. No estĆ” ni feliz ni triste.
InglƩs | InglƩs | EspaƱol | EspaƱol |
|---|---|---|---|
Palabras Positivas | Palabras Negativas | Palabras Positivas | Palabras Negativas |
Something, Anything,* Everything | Nothing | Algo, Alguno/a, Cualquier cosa, Todo | Nada |
Someone, Somebody, Anybody, Everybody | No one, Nobody | Alguien, Cualquiera, Todos | Nadie |
Somewhere, Everywhere, Anywhere | Nowhere | En algĆŗn lugar, Por todos partes, En cualquier parte | En ninguna parte, En ningĆŗn lugar |
Some, One, Any, Every | None | Algunos/as, Uno/a, Algo de, Cualquier, Todos, Cada | Ninguno/a |
Oraciones de Ejemplo
Positiva: I have something in my pocket. Tengo algo en el bolsillo.
Negativa: I have nothing in my pocket. No tengo nada en el bolsillo.
Positiva: Everything he does is correct! Ā”Todo lo que hace es correcto!
Negativa: Nothing he does is correct! Ā”Nada de lo que hace es correcto!
Positiva: Someone is listening. Alguien estĆ” escuchando.
Negativa: No one is listening. Nadie estĆ” escuchando.
Positivo: Everybody can hear you! Ā”Todo el mundo puede oĆrte!
Negativa: Nobody can hear you! Ā”Nadie puede oĆrte!
Positiva: The dog is somewhere in the house. El perro estĆ” en algĆŗn lugar de la casa.
Negativa: The dog is nowhere in the house. El perro no estĆ” en ninguna parte de la casa.
Positiva: The soldiers were everywhere! Ā”Los soldados estaban por todas partes!
Negativo: The soldiers were nowhere to be found! Ā”Los soldados no se encontraban por ninguna parte! (Normalmente no dirĆas "to be found", por sĆ solo en esta oraciĆ³n. Si no lo hicieras con esta oraciĆ³n, significarĆa literalmente que estaban "en ninguna parte", como perdidos, como si los soldados no supieran dĆ³nde estaban; mientras que si estĆ”s tratando de decir que no estĆ”n allĆ, usarĆas la frase "nowhere to be found!")
Positiva: Some of the apples are red. Algunas de las manzanas son rojas.
Negativa: None of the apples are red. Ninguna de las manzanas es roja. (Solo usamos "none of" o "no" directamente delante de los sustantivos. Si deseas leer mĆ”s sobre cĆ³mo usar "no" y "none", consultas este artĆculo excelente de Cambridge University Press).
Positiva: Do you have any apples? Some. ĀæTienes manzanas? Algunos.
Negativa: Do you have any apples? None. ĀæTienes manzanas? Ninguna.
*Muchas veces, puedes usar "some" y "any" indistintamente, como en "something" o "anything", aunque tienen matices diferentes y, a veces, no es apropiado usar uno en lugar del otro. Ā”Pero eso es para un episodio diferente!
TambiƩn puedes usar las siguientes palabras para expresar diferentes grados de positividad o negatividad. Con estas palabras, haces declaraciones que no son completamente negativas o positivas. Son un matiz de cualquiera de las dos emociones.
InglƩs | InglƩs | EspaƱol | EspaƱol |
|---|---|---|---|
Palabras Positivas | Palabras Negativas | Palabras Positivas | Palabras Negativas |
Easily, Completely | Hardly | Con fĆ”cildad, Por completo | DifĆcilmente, Casi no, Apenas |
Abundantly, Exceedingly | Scarcely | Copiosamente, Completamente, Perfectamente, Extremamente | Apenas, Escasamente |
Completely, Considerably | Barely | Por completo, Considerablamente | Apenas |
Oraciones de Ejemplo
Positiva: He easily made five baskets. AnotĆ³ fĆ”cilmente cinco canastas.
Negativa: He hardly made five baskets. Casi no anotĆ³ cinco canastas.
Positiva: They had done exceedingly well. Lo habĆan hecho extremadamente bien.
Negativa: They had scarcely done well. Apenas lo habĆan hecho bien.
Positiva: He made it abundantly clear. Lo dejĆ³ perfectamente claro.
Negativa: He scarcely made it clear. Escasamente lo dejĆ³ claro.
Positiva: The were considerably well off. Estaban considerablemente ricos.
Negativa: They were barely well off. Apenas estaban ricos.
Desafortunadamente, este es todo para esta semana - Ā”no tenemos tiempo para mĆ”s! Pero en el prĆ³ximo episodio, vamos a discutir la doble negaciĆ³n y mĆ”s. Si deseas aprender mĆ”s sobre este tema, consultas estos otros artĆculos (Ā”en espaƱol!) de You Talk TV Plus y Idiomium.
Recuerda, aprender un idioma es una travesĆa para toda la vida.
Embrace it, Enjoy it, and Share it!
Cultural Tip: Kenya
Country Facts
Name: Republic of Kenya / Jamhuri ya Kenya
Size: According to the World Factbook, Kenya is just a little more than twice the size of the state of Nevada.
Location: Located in East Africa, Kenya is in-between Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, and South Sudan. It's eastern border touches the Indian Ocean.
Government Type: Presidential Republic, with the country divided into 47 counties. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is both the head of the government and chief of state, has been in office since 2013, and was reelected for a final term in 2017. They have a bicameral Parliament made up of the Senate, which has 67 seats, and the National Assembly, made up of 349 seats, with all members serving 5-year terms. What's interesting about Kenya's Parliament is that the majority are elected by simple majority vote in their county, but a small percentage are elected by proportional representation vote. This means that 16 women, and four more men and women are directly elected to represent youth and the disabled (2 each). In the National Assembly, 47 women are elected via simple majority in their counties, whereas the 12 representing youth and the disabled (6 each) are nominated by the National Assembly. It's a rather complex system! The Supreme Court is the highest court, with a Chief Justice, a Deputy Chief Justice, and five judges. The Chief Justice can only serve for 10 years, and all judges/justices must retire at 70. While those on the Supreme Court are appointed by the President, the Chief and Deputy Justices must be approved by the National Assembly.
Capital City: Nairobi
Religion: As of 2019, 85.5% identify as Christian (including Protestant, Evangelical, and Catholic), and 10.9% identify as Muslim.
Official Language: Its two official languages are English and Kiswahili.
Currency: Kenyan Shillings (KES)
Brief History
In the ancient world, Kenya was part of the Land of Zanj, with many trade centers with the outside world. Around 2000 BC, Cushites came from northern Africa. Then in the first century AD, Arab traders showed up along the coast, followed by Arab and Persian settlements in the 8th century. Sometime during this first millenium AD, the Bantu and Nilotic peoples arrived. Interestingly (I did not know this before!), KiSwahili is a combination of Bantu and Arabic that developed for trade reasons. According to the World Factbook, Swahili means "people of the coast" and referred to the Arabs, Persians, and Africans who lived along the Kenyan and Tanzanian coastlines.
Then the Portuguese arrived in 1498, but they were pushed out by the Imam of Oman and forces from Pate in the late 1600s. Then Europe divided East Africa during the Berlin Conference of 1885, and in 1890 the UK and Germany split the area up. Germany took the south, including Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania. The UK received the north, creating the East Africa Protectorate in 1895, which they then converted into a British colony in 1920, calling it Kenya , a name derived from its highest mountain. Sadly, Africans were not allowed a direct voice in their government until 1944. With political tension between Kenya and the UK, things eventually erupted with the Mau Mau Uprising from 1952 to 1959, resulting in greater political participation from African Kenyans and eventually the colony declaring its independence from the UK on December 12, 1963.
Jomo Kenyatta was the first President, leading Kenya from 1963 until his death in 1978. For awhile, Kenya was a one-party state, and the Kenya African National Union made it official in the constitution in 1982. Things were not quite stable for awhile, with even a reelection in 2007 resulting in the deaths of more than 1,100 people, hundreds of thousands dislocated, and two months of ethnic violence. The current constitution was adopted by Kenyans in 2010, creating the 47 counties, removing the position of Prime Minister, and introducing more checks and balances for the executive branch.
LAS NOTAS DEL PODCAST:
Ā© 2022 por Language Answers, LLC
MĆŗsica de la introducciĆ³n y conclusiĆ³n por Master_Service de Fiverr
Los Recursos de InvestigaciĆ³n
El Episodio
"No, none and none of" from English Grammar Today via the online Cambridge Dictionary by the Cambridge University Press, accedido el abril de 2022.
"La doble negaciĆ³n: quĆ© es y por quĆ© debemos evitarla en el inglĆ©s" por Fran Monaj para You Talk TV Plus
"La doble negaciĆ³n en inglĆ©s" por Idiomium
El Consejo Cultural
"Kenya" de World Factbook por la CIA, actualiado el 6 de abril de 2022
"Kenya: Resumen de Un PƔgina" de World Factbook por la CIA, actualiado el octubre de 2021
"The Functions and Role of the Senate in Kenya" por Gĩthĩnji para AfroCave el 1 de enero de 2021
"A Brief History of the African Country of Kenya" por Alistair Boddy-Evans para ThoughtCo., actualizado el 2 de enero de 2020.