Saturday, March 27, 2010

Pasame una lana primero, y después arreglamos

So there I was talking with my profesora, and I asked her for something, and this is what she tells me:

Pasame una lana primero, y después arreglamos

I couldn't help but laugh.  Not because I knew what she said, but because I knew it was supposed to be funny, and because yet again I had the deer in headlights look on my face. 

Now let's see if we can figure out what this means.

One word in our phrase you may not recognize is lana. Lana is a colloquial term for dinero, or as we say in English, money.  Plata is another colloquial term you may hear for money.

Arreglar is another verb that may be new to you.  Like so many verbs in Spanish, Arreglar has several meanings:  to fix something, to clean up, and to sort or work things out.  The last definition is the one we're interested in.  And since we're talking about Arreglar, I'll also mention that it's reflexive cousin Arreglarse means to get to ready, or dressed, as well as a few other things.  It's a good verb to learn, I've heard it on more than one occassion.

But let's get back to our phrase.  I think we know enough to make a good translation:

Pasame una lana primero, y después arreglamos
Pass me some money first, and then we'll work it out

When can you use this phrase?  Anytime someone asks you for a favor, big or small, is a perfect time to use this.  I'm sure your amigos will get a good laugh and be impressed with your Spanish as well.  

¡Hasta la próxima!

No comments:

Post a Comment