Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Llegar

Even though llegar has no special connotation in slang, two of its deratives are highly handy: llegue (JEH-geh) and llégale (JEH-gah-leh).

A llegue can be a little taste of something: le di un llegue a los chiles rellenos (I had a bite of chiles rellenos) or le dimos un llegue a tu huizcacho (we drank a bit of your scotch). It can also mean a minor car crash or the dent resulting from it: me dieron un llegue en la puerta del copiloto (I got hit by a car on the passengers' door).

When used by secundaria (junior high) students, llegarle to someone means to ask that person to be one's sweetheart: mi primo acaba de llegarle a tu carnala (my cousin just asked your sister to be his sweetheart).

In a more general setting, llegarle means "to the get out of here": ya son las 3AM, yo creo que ya le llego (it's 3AM already, I think I'd better get out of here) or llégale a verga (get the hell out of here).

1 comment:

  1. Another very useful use of "llegar" it's in the imperative form with a friendly intonation "llégale!!" which means "by all means".

    En un antro:
    Comensal 1: Brother, te importa si me siento en tu mesa?
    Comensal 2: Llégale!!

    In a bar:
    Patron 1: Dude, do you mind if I sit at your table?
    Patron 2: By all means, go right ahead!!

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