Spanish with Shakira - Estoy Aquí - Part 1 of 6 | Learn a language with songs

The first Spanish song I ever heard was Shakira's song called Estoy Aqui, which means I am here. It was because of this song that I started to learn Spanish. I really wanted to know what the words meant, especially the fast bits in the middle, so I sat with the dictionary and tried to translate the whole song. This was back in the days before you could easily go onto Google Translate. I became fascinated with Spanish and went on to learn it at university, but I must admit that a good proportion of the Spanish words I know first came from Shakira songs. So let's have a look at one of my favourite Shakira songs, Estoy Aqui. I'll go through this song bit by bit and explain what it means, but I've put a link to the entire song in the description in this video, so that you can enjoy the whole thing. As we go through the song, I'll explain any interesting Spanish language points that will be useful for you to know. So let's listen to the first line of the song. Let me just play it one more time. So she's saying Ya sé que no vendrás. The word Ya means already, and it's a useful word to know in Spanish. We tend to put it at the start of sentences in Spanish, whereas in English, the word already normally goes somewhere in the middle of the sentence. For example, Ya he pedido. Ya he pedido means I've already ordered, or literally, already, I have ordered. Ya he pedido. Or Ya estamos en Madrid. Ya estamos en Madrid means we're already in Madrid, or literally, already, we are in Madrid. Ya estamos en Madrid. So Ya means already. This sentence goes Ya sé que no vendrás. The phrase Sé que means I know that. In English, we tend to just say I know, followed by any phrase, like I know it's here somewhere, or I know she speaks Italian. However, in Spanish, you have to literally say I know that, followed by any phrase. Sé que means I know that. So if you want to say I know that it's here somewhere, you would say Sé que está aquí en alguna parte. Or, I know that she speaks Italian. Anyway, so we've had so far Ya sé que, which literally means already, I know that, or in English, we would probably put the word already a bit more in the middle and say I already know that. And then the last bit of the first line is No vendrás. No vendrás, which means you won't come. The word Vendrás comes from the verb Venir, meaning to come. Vendrás is the future tense of this verb. The ending RAS, R-A-S, is always used for the future tense when you want to say you will do something. For example, Verrás. Verrás means you will see. Or, Hablarás Español. Hablarás Español means you will speak Spanish. So whenever you have RAS on the end, it means you will do something. The bit in front of the RAS is the verb. So Verrás has Ver, which means to see. That's why it's you will see. And Hablarás has Hablar in front of it, which means to speak. So Hablarás, you will speak. When you put No in front of any future tense in Spanish, the meaning changes from will to will not or won't. If Vendrás means you will come, then No vendrás means you won't come. So all together, the line Ya sé que no vendrás means I already know that you won't come. What a sad start to the song. Ya sé que no vendrás. The next line is a bit longer, so let's play that bit. Todo lo que fue, el tiempo lo dejó atrás. She says Todo lo que fue, el tiempo lo dejó atrás. Todo lo que fue, el tiempo lo dejó atrás. This sentence is a really nice construction in Spanish and it has some useful words. The word Todo means everything. However, you will very often see Todo lo que instead of just Todo. By itself, Todo means everything. So you can say things like Todo está aquí. Todo está aquí means everything is here. O todo es perfecto. Todo es perfecto. Everything is perfect. O quiero todo. Quiero todo. I want everything. However, if you want to say something like everything I want or everything you need, well, you have to use Todo lo que for everything instead. Again, this is similar to the Sé que phrase we learned in the first line. In English, we can say either everything you need or everything that you need. In Spanish, Todo lo que literally means everything that. So, if you can say everything that in English, you have to say Todo lo que in Spanish. The grammatical reason for this is because we're using what's known as a relative clause. A relative clause is one that slots into the middle of a sentence. For example, everything is here is a simple sentence. But we can put a relative clause in the middle and say something like everything that you need is here. The that you need part is a relative clause. And in Spanish, you use Todo lo que in front of a relative clause instead of just Todo. Look at these examples. Todo está en el supermercado. It means everything is in the supermarket. But we can put a relative clause in there and say Todo lo que necesitas está en el supermercado. Todo lo que necesitas está en el supermercado. It means everything you need is in the supermarket. Or literally, everything that you need is in the supermarket. Todo está resaltado en amarillo. It means everything is highlighted in yellow. Resaltado means highlighted. Well, let's put a relative clause in there. Todo lo que quiero está resaltado en amarillo. This means everything I want is highlighted in yellow. Or literally, everything that I want is highlighted in yellow. Todo lo que quiero está resaltado en amarillo. Now, that's the grammatical explanation as to why sometimes you use Todo and other times you use Todo lo que. But it might sound a little bit complex and confusing. So, if in doubt, just use a rule of thumb. If you can say everything that in English, then use Todo lo que in Spanish. So back to the song. The next bit of the line is Todo lo que fue. Which means everything that was. The word fue is the preterite or the past tense of the verb ser which means to be. So fue means either was or it can also mean it was, he was or she was. In this song, we'll just assume it means was. Seeing as Shakira hasn't mentioned a he or she so far. So Todo lo que fue means everything that was. The second part of this sentence is El tiempo lo dejó atrás. Meaning literally, the time left it behind. So the whole sentence is Todo lo que fue. El tiempo lo dejó atrás. And it means everything that was, time left it behind. A second sad sentence already in the song. The word El tiempo literally means the time. In Spanish, you would always say El tiempo rather than just tiempo. Even though in English, you don't always have to say the word the. So you could either translate El tiempo as the time or just time. The verb dejó is the preterite or the past tense of the verb dejar. Dejar means to leave, as in to leave something somewhere. Or it can also mean to let, as in to let somebody do something. And the O with an accent on it that's on the end of this verb, dejó, shows that it's in the past tense. And dejó can either mean he left, she left, or it left. Let's look at some examples. Dejó su pasaporte en el avión. Means he left his passport on the plane. Dejó todo aquí. She left everything here. Or we could use a sentence with a relative clause. Dejó todo lo que necesito en su coche. He left everything I need in his car. Now, there's no difference in Spanish between he left or she left. It's always dejó. And so you would tell by the context whether it's he or she. So actually, in these sentences, the dejó could be he left or she left. And so it's not clear here. The word lo, by itself, means it. And it usually goes in front of the verb in Spanish. You can put lo in front of pretty much any verb in Spanish to mean it. So quiero means I want. Lo quiero means I want it. So lo quiero. You say the lo first, and then the verb. O necesito means I need. Lo necesito means I need it. Bebemos means we're drinking. And so lo bebemos means we're drinking it. So since dejó means he left, she left, or it left, if we say lo dejó, it can mean he left it, or she left it, or even it left it. In this sentence, in the Spanish song, we have el tiempo. Lo dejó, which means time left it. Finally, the word atrás. Atrás means behind. Atrás. So dejó atrás means left behind. And the sentence in the song is el tiempo lo dejó atrás, which means time left it behind. So todo lo que fue, el tiempo lo dejó atrás. Everything that was, time left it behind. Atrás.