Que desanulen ese gol y me desrompan el corazón: a use of the prefix “des”
one of the verbs I used in the headline exist. But I really like football, and the day after a match where a goal had been disallowed, I used the verb "desanular" (to undisallow?) in a real-life conversation at work, even though it doesn’t exist. However, that sentence is perfectly understandable to anyone who speaks Spanish fluently. In every language, or, more accurately, in every language I know, there are ways to "invent" words that are comprehensible to our interlocutors.
Here is the video of the goal in question
CONMEBOL. 03 de Junio 2021. Eliminatorias | Revisión VAR | Uruguay vs Paraguay | Minuto 23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLY_6sqjXvo .
One of the cases is the use of the prefix “des.” In one of its definitions, the RAE dictionary says that “des” denotes negation or reversal of the simple meaning of a verb. For example, “desconfiar” means not to trust, or “desvestirse” means to undress. Although this prefix has more uses, we will focus on its use with verbs in this article, particularly when the prefix reverses the action that the verb completes.
There are many verbs in Spanish that have a “negative” form, so to speak, with the prefix “des.” From a logical point of view, they generally refer to actions that can be reversed. Or, these verbs can simply have the opposite meaning to the same verb without the prefix.
In "Desconfío de las personas que aparentan tener intenciones demasiado buenas" (I don’t trust people who seem to have overly good intentions), the message conveyed isn’t that I once trusted them.
In other cases, the action has to have been carried out in order to reverse it. To “desandar” (retrace) a path, you must have walked it in the first place to be able to go back. To “desvestir” (undress), you must have dressed first. To “despintar” (strip paint) a wall, the wall must have been painted to be able to remove the paint in some way.
You can’t “desromper” (unbreak?) something. That is, something that has been broken can be repaired, but it generally won’t be the same as it was originally. And here I’m just trying to find a logical reason why the verb “desromper” doesn’t exist in Spanish. The point is that it doesn’t. But it’s understandable.
A goal can be “desanulado” (undisallowed?). All that’s needed is for it to have been disallowed, and then for a decision to be made a posteriori that it is a valid goal, as often happens nowadays, thanks to VAR. However, the verb “desanular” doesn’t appear in the RAE dictionary. But again, it’s understandable.
What’s the point of all this? In colloquial Spanish, words are often “invented” by adding the prefix “des” to a verb, and in this way, you can convey a message that is understandable to anyone with good linguistic competence in the language, even if you’re using a word that doesn’t exist and that the listener may never have heard before. In fact, I have the example of the verb “desanular” and the day I used it. Not only did everyone understand what I meant, but a colleague’s comment was:
- Desanular, ¡qué buen verbo! (what a good verb!)
Thus, in colloquial Spanish, you can find examples of the use of nonexistent verbs. One very common one is “desver” (to unsee?): when someone has seen something, for example, very unpleasant, they might perfectly say:
– ¿Cómo hago para desver esto?, meaning how to undo seeing something that has already been seen, which is clearly not possible.
Another example, although it’s a bit gross, that I’ve seen frequently is the use of the verb “descomer” (to uneat?). No, it doesn’t exist. It’s used colloquially (and jokingly, I must say) to refer to defecating. If we think about it, it makes sense: when we “descomemos” what we’ve eaten, it’s no longer inside our body, right?
An important detail is that not all verbs that begin with the prefix “des” are negating or reversing a simple action, at least not in modern Spanish, given that verbs can evolve phonetically, or meanings may have been lost in their evolution. Let’s take the example of the verb “despertar” (to wake up). If we remove “des,” we’re left with “pertar,” which doesn’t mean anything in Spanish. But again, we can continue using the same logic to “invent” words. I’ll give an example below. An example I’ve never heard, but I’m 100% sure it would be perfectly understandable to anyone with a good level of competence in Spanish.
– ¿Se despertó?
– Sí, se despertó, pero ya se desdespertó.
Do you know anything similar in your language or other languages? I’d love to hear about it!
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