Does "sentados" mean "sit down" and does "de pie" mean stand up?
My son's preschool teacher has sent home a vocabulary list for parents to review with the children. One of the words is "sentados" and her translation is "sit down". I don't recall this from my high school Spanish and I can't find it translated this way on this site. The other word is "de pie" which she has translated to mean "stand up". Could someone tell me if these are correct?
Thank you!
10 Answers
It looks like you've already run them through the dictionary here and found that her translations aren't quite right. Sentados = seated, de pie = standing.
The correct verbs are sentarse (to sit) and pararse (to stand), so the imperatives (in the plural form) would be siéntense = sit down, and párense = stand up.
She has given the adjectives, rather than the verbs.
I agree with Charlius. I have heard "de pie" to mean "stand up" in many TVshows, and have it be short for "ponte de pie" or "ponganse de pie". It seems like sentado should work the same way, though siéntense is certainly more common where I am from.
I agree with Luisa's translations.
In Spanish, this type of "short talking" is common when giving commands to dogs, etc. Maybe it's a "new age," trendy way of speaking to little children as well, but I would not want a teacher of my kids speaking to them in broken English or Spanish - or any other language. Children learn extremely fast and therefore great care must taken when saying anything to them.
A civilized person would tell children, "Sientense por favor" not "Sentados." After all, they're not in the army and they're certainly not dogs. I hope for the sake of all these children that their teacher is just mistaken in her use of the language and not treating little children in such a manner.
The correct verbs are sentarse (to sit) and pararse (to stand), so the imperatives (in the plural form) would be sientense = sit down, and parense = stand up.
The verb "parar(se)" meaning to stand is only used in one region of Spain and in America. Everywhere else in Spain "pararse" means only to stop, to come to a halt. I don't think there is a verb for "to stand" In peninsular Spanish. Of course, in America "parar(se)" also means to stop.
Also, to be sitting cannot be translated with a gerundio (present participle in English), since in Spanish "sentar(se)" means to get seated, not to remain seated, like "to sit" in English, which means both - you need to say "sentado" when you remain in such position.
Siéntense and párense have stress mark.
Hola,
Sentados = sitting down.
De pie = standing up
Thank you all so very much for your help! I feel a bit more prepared to speak to the teacher about these (and other) words she has included in her vocabulary list. I would like my son to learn proper Spanish before he learns to take shortcuts in speaking the language. You guys are great!!
I have seen a character in a Pixar film use sentado for sit down. She was mad at her kids and shouted, "Sentado!" to her boy and "Sentada!" to her girl. (About 12 seconds into the clip...at 15 seconds you've missed it).
Later, in the same movie, a boss quietly said to his employee, "Sentado, Bob" while motioning to a chair. (About 10 to 11 seconds into video...it's over by the 14th second). He meant "Be seated, Bob." I was told it was acceptable to use past participles for certain commands. The movie is "The Incredibles" (Spanish track).
When I first saw the movie, I asked a similar question about sentado. Almost all the responses are from native Spanish speakers (Mokay is from Mexico and Heidita is from Spain) and all thought it was a fine way for authority figures to command those under them to "sit down!"
Just watching a military show, the commander definitely says "sentados" for sit down, and "de pie" for get up.
While everyone has been correct in telling you about the actual command form in spanish (siéntate, etc), you could certainly use those things the teacher originally gave (sentados, de pie) to convey that same wish.
I mean, let's say I want to do an activity with my students, after explaining the whole activity, I could then say, 'Vamos, de pie' without having to say 'que se pongan de pie' or something more long winded. Much shorter and easier to just say 'de pie' right?
-Charlius-
If she had meant the familiar, plural, imperative verb (sit down you all) then the correct form would have been sentaos (the "d" is dropped when os is attached).
siéntate tú
sentados vosotros
That is, assuming that you are somewhere that uses the vosotros form. If not, then it would be siéntense Uds. (formal and familiar)
