Common Chunks Group 1

These chunks/phrases are common in conversations, as well as common in my own vocabulary in English.

Note: the ‘it’ being referred to could be within the conjugated verb, a ‘lo’, or a clause after ‘que’.

Common Phrases

Forget

se me olvidó – I forgot (it)

Siempre se me olvida – I always forget (it)

Siempre se me olvida que (…) – I always forget that dogs are bigger than cats

Know / Don’t know

Lo sé — I know (it) 

Lo sabía — I knew (it)

  • Sí, lo sabía. — Yes, I knew that. (neutral)
  • Sí, ya lo sabía. — Yes, I already knew that. (slight “I was aware” flavour — Mexican-common)
  • Ah sí, lo sabía. — Oh yes, I knew that. (with a little recognition sound)
  • Sí, claro, lo sabía. — Yes, of course I knew that. (stronger — “obviously”)

No lo sabía – I didn’t know it

Sé que… — I know that… [+ clause]

Sabía que… — I knew that… [+ clause]

Ya sabía que… — I already knew that [+ clause]

The rule: lo and a que+clause are doing the same job, so you only get one.

Lo is a placeholder standing in for “it” — some previously-mentioned thing. Que… introduces the actual content of that thing. Spanish doesn’t let you have both the placeholder AND the content, because that would be redundant. English does this too, actually — we just don’t notice:

– “I didn’t know it.” ✓
– “I didn’t know that Paris is in France.” ✓
– “I didn’t know it that Paris is in France.” ✗

Tell / Told

me lo dijo — he/she told me

Me lo dijo. (told me it)
Me dijo que… (told me that + clause)

No me lo dijo. (didn’t tell me it)
No me dijo que… (didn’t tell me that + clause)

Ya me lo dijo. (already told me)
No me lo ha dicho. (hasn’t told me yet — present perfect)

The me can become any indirect object depending on who received the telling. The rest of the stack stays the same:

  • Me lo dijo — he told me (it)
  • Te lo dijo — he told you (it)
  • Se lo dijo — he told him/her/them (it) [remember: le + lo collapses to se lo]
  • Nos lo dijo — he told us (it)

Realise / Became Aware

darse cuenta / to realise (by old definitions) is for a thing to come into existence.

No me di cuenta — I didn’t realise / I didn’t notice.
Use when: you missed something, want to apologise, want to soften. Apologetic and very common.

Me doy cuenta de que… — I’m realising that…
Use when: something’s dawning on you mid-conversation. Reflective and generative.

One of the most useful apologetic phrases in Spanish. The default Mexican softener:

  • Perdón, no me di cuenta. — Sorry, I didn’t realise.
  • No me di cuenta de la hora. — I didn’t realise the time / lost track of time.

If you want a third eventually, add:Ya me di cuenta — I’ve realised / I noticed (now). Slightly rueful self-awareness flavour.