11 May 2010

Don't make me cry!

Today I learned of a little four year old boy whom I know who was participating in a kindergarten program for "El Dia de la Madre" (Mother's Day) and each child had to hand their mother a rose. When it came his turn to give his mother the rose he "rompió en llanto" and asked his mother in front of all the children and the other mothers if they could please go and live again with his father from whom she was separated. The phrase "romper en llanto" means to break into tears and "rompió en llanto" means that he "broke into tears". I have to tell you that so did everybody else including, no doubt, the angels in Heaven. Why, oh why, must we put little children through so much emotional pain?

The phrase "romper en llanto" is a good phrase to learn although you can also say "romper a llorar" and "estallar en llanto".

Here are some examples you might use:

Me hizo romper en llanto.
It made me break into tears.

Lo hizo romper en llanto.
It made him break into tears.

La hizo romper en llanto.
It made her break into tears.

Ella estaba a punto de romper a llorar.

She was at the point of breaking into tears.

Please don't make anyone break into tears...especially little kids. Like your Mom always said, "It just isn't nice".

Oops...one more thing. Be careful. The word "llanto" means "crying". The word "llanta" means "automobile tire". Isn't Spanish interesting?

7 comments:

Calypso said...

I knew the word for tires but not llanto - para ponerse a gritar!

Gracias

Leslie Harris said...

The story of that little boy makes me want to "romper en llanto".

Unknown said...

I am with Calypso. I didn't know llanto, just llorar. Sad little tale.

bordersaside said...

Ok so I did romper en llanto when I read this. Prego hormones might have something to do with it though.

Nita said...

How do you say "Have a nice day" in Spanish?
Nita

Bob Mrotek said...

Nita,

"¡Que tengas un buen día!"

Alice said...

a good one to know but one i hopefully won't have to use very often. had been missing your language posts -- keep 'em coming!

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I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. I have been living in Mexico since January 6th, 1999. I am continually studying to improve my knowledge of the Spanish language and Mexican history and culture. I am also a student of Mandarin Chinese.