Ask a Question

(Create a thread)
Go Back   Spanish language learning forums > Spanish & English Languages > Vocabulary

siempre

 

Vocab questions, definitions, usage, etc


 
 
Thread Tools
  #1
Old June 20, 2025, 07:43 AM
poli's Avatar
poli poli is offline
rule 1: gravity
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: In and around New York
Posts: 7,923
Native Language: English
poli will become famous soon enoughpoli will become famous soon enough
siempre

I know it means always, but I have a acquaintance who uses it to mean directly. For example, vamos siempre a la tienda. Has anyone in this forum ever heard this usage?
__________________
Me ayuda si corrige mis errores. Gracias.
   
Get rid of these ads by registering for a free Tomísimo account.
  #2
Old June 20, 2025, 10:31 PM
AngelicaDeAlquezar's Avatar
AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
Obsidiana
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mexico City
Posts: 9,128
Native Language: Mexican Spanish
AngelicaDeAlquezar is on a distinguished road
Hmm... I have never heard it as "directly", but to mean that we are doing something that was doubtful or unplanned.

- ¿Entonces, siempre vamos a la tienda o no? -> So, are we finally going to the store or not? There was no previous agreement to go there, but someone finally had to decide.
- Pues vamos siempre a la tienda. -> We didn't know where we were going, but it was decided in the end that we were going to the store.
- Queríamos pedir un aumento de sueldo, pero siempre no lo hicimos. -> There was a previous consensus to ask for a raise, but in the end we were convinced not to do it.
- ¿Siempre vas a cortarte el cabello? -> You seem to have planned to go and get your hair cut, but you didn't look convinced to do it, so I'm asking if you finally decided to go to the hairdresser.
- ¿Siempre sí o siempre no? -> Have you made your mind yet?
__________________
Ain't it wonderful to be alive when the Rock'n'Roll plays...
  #3
Old June 21, 2025, 05:19 AM
aleCcowaN's Avatar
aleCcowaN aleCcowaN is offline
Diamond
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Sierra de la Ventana, Argentina
Posts: 3,379
Native Language: Castellano
aleCcowaN is on a distinguished road
Here, siempre means "without exception", or "on a regular basis", or "univocally".

I always imagine that if I were a native English speaker living in the States and I wanted to learn Spanish, I would somewhat take exception of the Spanish spoken around me, especially by those native Spanish speakers who emigrated being old enough to keep a thick accent. There's no guarantee they just used a couple thousand words before they left their countries of origin, and they had to interact with people in similar circumstances speaking scores of quasi-dialectal equally limited versions of the language. I'm sure most of them spot Spanglish, but they're mostly unaware of the degree of pidginization their native language versions had gone through. Besides, it's the matter of "family idioms" or "family code", that is, a stable use within a family or group that ends up feeling like real language, mainly because some others around can grasp its meaning. I suspect this happens in the States, hundredfolded.

As an example of the latter, I grew up in a time when there was just one TV set in the house and the whole family watch it together. Watching Hollywood films while eating pizza -home made or walk to the pizzería, wait, and walk back balancing the stack of flat boxes as if it is a waiters tray- became a tradition. As the formulaic plots progressed my father would say "éste tiene olor a fiambre", meaning that character most probably would be murdered later. It comes from the local word for cold cuts and its use in slang meaning "stiff" (cadáver). The phrase became a staple and all members of the family would compete to spot the fiambre as formulaic plots came in succession until famous 70s and 80s films led the way out of so much nonsense and the public became more sophisticated (or our brains just gave up). Today, I feel tempted to say "we say tiene olor a fiambre", but I know better. How many times have I offer a similar explanation totally unaware? Only Darwin knows. I hope it's just a few times. But the question is, have they?
__________________
Sorry, no English spell-checker
  #4
Old June 22, 2025, 09:15 AM
poli's Avatar
poli poli is offline
rule 1: gravity
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: In and around New York
Posts: 7,923
Native Language: English
poli will become famous soon enoughpoli will become famous soon enough
Thank you Angelica for explaining this usage which siempre confounded me. Now it makes more sense. The word always is not nearly as versatile.

Alec, in these parts. we use he's a cooked goose when someone's future seems dubious. I read a book by author Thomas Berger who used the term stew meat when referring to a character who is doomed, but unfortunately this term has never been incorporated in commonly spoken English.
__________________
Me ayuda si corrige mis errores. Gracias.

Last edited by poli; June 22, 2025 at 09:24 AM.
 

Link to this thread
URL: 
HTML Link: 
BB Code: 
Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Site Rules

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Siempre Perikles Vocabulary 8 March 31, 2012 01:37 AM
El de siempre ROBINDESBOIS Vocabulary 4 February 22, 2011 10:59 PM
Siempre poli Vocabulary 15 August 26, 2010 08:01 PM
Por Siempre y Para Siempre laepelba Translations 15 May 18, 2010 11:15 AM
Por siempre / para siempre Tomisimo Vocabulary 4 July 30, 2008 09:32 PM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:42 AM.

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.

X