It’s Friday again.  The weekend is here!

Are you ready for some sweet Spanish music to touch your heart?  I’ve got a Friday Song for you…

La canción de viernes: No Me Ames by Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony

You can listen and view the lyrics in this video.  Try to sing along.

Letras/ Lyrics

Grammar Note: Subjunctive

-Negative commands-

In last week’s Friday Canción post we discussed the subjunctive mood.  We explored how the subjunctive is used to address desires, doubts, wishes, conjectures, and possibilities; things that are subjective not certain.  Another instance that uses the subjunctive is the issuance of negative commands.

When issuing an affirmative command, the imperative form of the verb is used.  However, when issuing a negative command, the subjunctive is used.

For the below example I am using the informal you…

Tú:
¡Estudia ahora! (study now)- affirmative command
¡No estudies ahora! (don’t study now)- negative command, formed with subjunctive

Below I have highlighted, in yellow, use of the subjunctive for negative commands in No Me Ames.  The blue highlights show other uses of the subjunctive.

As a listening exercise…

The lyrics are clean and clear and not too fast.  A lower intermediate class could try a fill in the blank exercise while listening to this song.

Beautiful Imagery

Here is my favourite line from No Me Ames.  I love the imagery and story created by these few words.  I prefer it in Spanish but the sentiment translates to English quite well.

Con este corazón que se llenó de mil inviernos

With this heart filled with a thousand winters.

Have a beautiful weekend!

If you’d like more posts like this or about Latin American history and culture, FOLLOW Over The Andes today.