{"id":9377,"date":"2024-10-02T06:54:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T04:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/2024\/que-desanulen-ese-gol-y-me-desrompan-el-corazon-a-use-of-the-prefix-des\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T01:28:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T23:28:22","slug":"que-desanulen-ese-gol-y-me-desrompan-el-corazon-a-use-of-the-prefix-des","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/que-desanulen-ese-gol-y-me-desrompan-el-corazon-a-use-of-the-prefix-des\/","title":{"rendered":"Que desanulen ese gol y me desrompan el coraz\u00f3n: a use of the prefix “des”"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\t<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Here is the video of the goal in question<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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CONMEBOL. 03 de Junio 2021. Eliminatorias | Revisi\u00f3n VAR | Uruguay vs Paraguay | Minuto 23. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sLY_6sqjXvo . <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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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. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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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. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In \"Desconf\u00edo de las personas que aparentan tener intenciones demasiado buenas\" (I don\u2019t trust people who seem to have overly good intentions), the message conveyed isn\u2019t that I once trusted them.<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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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. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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You can\u2019t “desromper”<\/em> (unbreak?) something. That is, something that has been broken can be repaired, but it generally won\u2019t be the same as it was originally. And here I\u2019m just trying to find a logical reason why the verb “desromper”<\/em> doesn\u2019t exist in Spanish. The point is that it doesn\u2019t. But it\u2019s understandable. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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A goal can be “desanulado”<\/em> (undisallowed?). All that\u2019s needed is for it to have been disallowed, and then for a decision to be made a posteriori<\/i> that it is a valid goal, as often happens nowadays, thanks to VAR. However, the verb “desanular”<\/em> doesn\u2019t appear in the RAE dictionary. But again, it\u2019s understandable. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What\u2019s 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\u2019re using a word that doesn\u2019t exist and that the listener may never have heard before. In fact, I have the example of the verb “desanular”<\/em> and the day I used it. Not only did everyone understand what I meant, but a colleague’s comment was: <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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- Desanular, \u00a1qu\u00e9 buen verbo! (what a good verb!) <\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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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: <\/p>\n

– \u00bfC\u00f3mo hago para desver esto?, meaning how to undo seeing something that has already been seen, which is clearly not possible.
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Another example, although it\u2019s a bit gross, that I\u2019ve seen frequently is the use of the verb “descomer” (to uneat?). No, it doesn\u2019t exist. It\u2019s used colloquially (and jokingly, I must say) to refer to defecating. If we think about it, it makes sense: when we “descomemos”<\/i> what we\u2019ve eaten, it\u2019s no longer inside our body, right? <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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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\u2019s take the example of the verb “despertar” (to wake up). If we remove “des,” we\u2019re left with “pertar,” which doesn\u2019t mean anything in Spanish. But again, we can continue using the same logic to “invent” words. I\u2019ll give an example below. An example I\u2019ve never heard, but I\u2019m 100% sure it would be perfectly understandable to anyone with a good level of competence in Spanish. <\/p>\n

– \u00bfSe despert\u00f3?<\/p>\n

– S\u00ed, se despert\u00f3, pero ya se desdespert\u00f3.<\/p>\n

Do you know anything similar in your language or other languages? I\u2019d love to hear about it! <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t<\/path><\/svg>Prev<\/span><\/span>Anterior<\/span>El voseo: another way to speak Spanish (I).<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tSiguiente<\/span>Aren’t you a little too old for that?<\/span><\/span><\/path><\/svg>Next<\/span><\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of course, we can invent words in all languages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[178,177],"tags":[158],"class_list":["post-9377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colloquial-language","category-humor-en","tag-feed-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9377"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16109,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9377\/revisions\/16109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conexionsp.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}