Vez Or Tiempo? Let This Latin Grammy Winner Teach You
Ever found yourself struggling with the quintessential dilemma every newbie learning Spanish faces at some stage: The choice between vez and tiempo? Both of them, says your dictionary, translate into “time” in English. Well, grammar dictates that vez is to be used when talking about instances or frequency of occurrences (e.g., this time, once, another time, twice, in turn, etc.) while tiempo fills in for all other situations. Fair enough, now how to remember this? Music to your rescue again – Here’s the perfect song to drill this piece of Spanish grammar right into you! The song in question is Por Esta Vez by Belanova.
Belanova is a promising name on the Mexican synthpop scene originating in what is widely accepted to be the cradle of Mexican music and arts, Guadalajara, in 2000. Officially, the band consists of only 3 members: Edgar Huerta on the keyboards, Ricardo “Richie” Arreola on the bass, and the lead vocalist, Denisse Guerrero. However, its live lineup is often attended by several non-member performers, most notably Richo Acosta on the guitar and Israel “Campanita” Ulloa on drums.
Each of the three have their own tales of passion that eventually brought them together. While Paul McCartney was the role model that drove Ritchie toward Belanova, Edgar was accidentally sucked into music after he started playing a keyboard that his brother received as a Christmas present. Denisse, on the other hand was already a member of a band called 40 Grados. While the guys are from Guadalajara, Denisse is originally from Los Mochis in Sinaloa. The three came together in guadalajara when Denisse and Edgar were already working together at a local bar.
Though the group has won several prestigious awards and nominated for many more, Fantasía Pop (Fantasy Pop) of 2007 is the album that landed them their first ever Latin Grammy, in 2008. And, more importantly, it is this very album that features the song under discussion here, Por Esta Vez (This time).
This groundbreaking album sold 50,000 copies and got certified Oro (Gold) in Mexico just within the first 3 days of release in the fall of 2007! Furthermore, it went on to hit Platinum in Mexico by the spring of 2008 and made history by recording digital sales numbers that were five times higher than physical sales.
Fantasía Pop made peak positions of #1 on both Mexican Albums Chart and Mexican Latin Albums Chart and #3 on the US Billboard Heatseekers (South Central). In essence, this was the album that made Belanova the household name of today.
As will soon be obvious from the English translation of a snippet of its lyrics below, this song is a treasure trove of vez and the Spanish preterit! It is obviously in the title and then twice in the chorus, not to mention the innumerable reps elsewhere throughout the song. Master these lyrics and take it for granted that you are never ever going to have any problem recalling the situations where vez is to be used (and not tiempo) and recalling at least the first and third person preterite conjugations of some common irregular verbs.
Lo conocí en algún café (I met him in a cafe)
Él me miró, me sonrió (He saw me, he smiled at me)
Me dijo (He said to me)
“Hola, ¿cómo estás?” (“Hi, how are you?”)
Y yo le respondí (And I responded to him)
Le dije “No del todo mal, buen día” (I told him, “Not all bad, good day”)
Por esta vez (This time)
Puede ser de verdad (It may be true)
Podría ser real (It may be real)
Por esta vez (This time)
No tengo qué perder (I don’t have anything to lose)
No hay nada qué temer (There’s nothing to fear)
Lo vi pasar por algún lugar (I saw him pass by at some place)
A eso de las seis (At around 6 o’clock)
Él caminó directo a mí (He walked right up to me)
Me dijo (He said to me)
“Hola, ¿cómo estás?” (“Hi, how are you?”)
Y yo le respondí (And I responded to him)
Le dije “No del todo mal, buen día” (I said to him, “Not all bad, good day”)
Needless to say, always take these translations with a pinch of salt and enjoy the emotions behind the lyrics if you want to make the most of this activity. As with all lyrics and poetry, literal translation is often impossible given the various literary nuances unique to any organic language like Spanish. These translations are, instead, meant to give you a cue about the sense conveyed by the Spanish lyrics and to give you a head-start in decoding the rest of the song.
Listen to the song, refer to the lyrics, rewind, play over, read along the lyrics, and repeat the process as many times as it takes for the song to become etched in your heart. You must hit a stage where you often catch yourself humming away the song without reading the lyrics off the screen. That’s when you know, the song has served its most vital function, teaching you its share of Spanish grammar.
Belanova
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| Belanova: Edgar Huerta, Denisse Guerrero, and Richie Arreola Photo credit: Gozamos licensed CC BY-SA 2.0 |
Each of the three have their own tales of passion that eventually brought them together. While Paul McCartney was the role model that drove Ritchie toward Belanova, Edgar was accidentally sucked into music after he started playing a keyboard that his brother received as a Christmas present. Denisse, on the other hand was already a member of a band called 40 Grados. While the guys are from Guadalajara, Denisse is originally from Los Mochis in Sinaloa. The three came together in guadalajara when Denisse and Edgar were already working together at a local bar.
A blazing success-story
Though the group has won several prestigious awards and nominated for many more, Fantasía Pop (Fantasy Pop) of 2007 is the album that landed them their first ever Latin Grammy, in 2008. And, more importantly, it is this very album that features the song under discussion here, Por Esta Vez (This time).
This groundbreaking album sold 50,000 copies and got certified Oro (Gold) in Mexico just within the first 3 days of release in the fall of 2007! Furthermore, it went on to hit Platinum in Mexico by the spring of 2008 and made history by recording digital sales numbers that were five times higher than physical sales.
Fantasía Pop made peak positions of #1 on both Mexican Albums Chart and Mexican Latin Albums Chart and #3 on the US Billboard Heatseekers (South Central). In essence, this was the album that made Belanova the household name of today.
Por Esta Vez
As will soon be obvious from the English translation of a snippet of its lyrics below, this song is a treasure trove of vez and the Spanish preterit! It is obviously in the title and then twice in the chorus, not to mention the innumerable reps elsewhere throughout the song. Master these lyrics and take it for granted that you are never ever going to have any problem recalling the situations where vez is to be used (and not tiempo) and recalling at least the first and third person preterite conjugations of some common irregular verbs.
Lo conocí en algún café (I met him in a cafe)
Él me miró, me sonrió (He saw me, he smiled at me)
Me dijo (He said to me)
“Hola, ¿cómo estás?” (“Hi, how are you?”)
Y yo le respondí (And I responded to him)
Le dije “No del todo mal, buen día” (I told him, “Not all bad, good day”)
Por esta vez (This time)
Puede ser de verdad (It may be true)
Podría ser real (It may be real)
Por esta vez (This time)
No tengo qué perder (I don’t have anything to lose)
No hay nada qué temer (There’s nothing to fear)
Lo vi pasar por algún lugar (I saw him pass by at some place)
A eso de las seis (At around 6 o’clock)
Él caminó directo a mí (He walked right up to me)
Me dijo (He said to me)
“Hola, ¿cómo estás?” (“Hi, how are you?”)
Y yo le respondí (And I responded to him)
Le dije “No del todo mal, buen día” (I said to him, “Not all bad, good day”)
Make the most out of this song!
Needless to say, always take these translations with a pinch of salt and enjoy the emotions behind the lyrics if you want to make the most of this activity. As with all lyrics and poetry, literal translation is often impossible given the various literary nuances unique to any organic language like Spanish. These translations are, instead, meant to give you a cue about the sense conveyed by the Spanish lyrics and to give you a head-start in decoding the rest of the song.
Listen to the song, refer to the lyrics, rewind, play over, read along the lyrics, and repeat the process as many times as it takes for the song to become etched in your heart. You must hit a stage where you often catch yourself humming away the song without reading the lyrics off the screen. That’s when you know, the song has served its most vital function, teaching you its share of Spanish grammar.
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