Is venga impolite?
I used "venga" to tell my friend's 3-year-old child to "come on." As we were leaving the house and he was not paying attention. She told me not to use that form as it did not sound nice. I am a little confused. Can you help me?
9 Answers
Where I live I use ven much more ,its more polite .
Ven ,mi amor.
Venga is more of a direct command if someone is not taking notice of you .
Ven a ver is also ok especially if you are talking to children to get their attention .
Hello Dmitch, welcome to the Forum.
"Venga" is never impolite; it is just more formal than "ven". In some places, children are always addressed in the informal mode, although in some other countries, the formal mode is used just about for eveyone, and using the informal may be interpreted as rude. So it very much depends on the particular customs that apply in the place you are or for the people you are interacting with.
"venga" se usa "para meter prisa " y también para convencer a alguien para que haga algo ahora mismo. Tambien puede indicar direccion: Si me pierdo en un local y no encuentro la salida,el empleado,para ayudarme puede decirme:"venga por aqui"(=follow me). La situacion en la que estemos y la entonacion usada son importantísimas a la hora de saber si el uso de "venga" es "rude" o no.
No es igual que una azafata me meta prisa para que me siente en el avion, a que me metan prisa para salir de la trinchera durante una batalla.
Ej: ! venga,date prisa que perdemos el tren! Si tu hijo pequeño no quiere entrar en casa y se queda en la puerta podriamos decir :¡venga, entra de una vez! Logicamente, será maleducado su uso si usamos una entonacion agresiva o la situación no es la ideal : Por ejemplo : un ladrón de bancos al empleado: "¡venga dame el dinero de la caja fuerte! " El teniente a los prisioneros que va a fusilar: "¡venga! ¡poneos ahí!"
Venga means 'come on' and 'goodbye'.
Some examples: "¡Venga! que nos cierran las tiendas" (Come on! The shops are going to close - as in "speed up") "¿No sabías? ¡Venga (ya)!" (Didn't you know? Come on! - as in "you must be joking")
The closest approximation I can make is to our English "alright", as in, "Aaaalright, okay, sounds good, alright, I'll see you later." So its also used to end a conversation.
Maybe it was the tone in which you said it. You could've made it sound like a harsh order, and hence an impolite gesture.
Ok, this post turned into an example of why I love this site - I read dmitch's and was mentally dismissive, I thought, hmm, why would anyone say that, and then I continued to read and learned a lot... Thanks all, you do a great job!!!
Venga is actually the polite formal version. Typically you would use the informal ven with children, at least in most places.
I'm trying to think why any Spanish speaker would think of "venga" as a rude or impolite word, but I get nothing. In Spain it would be a completely normal, familiar way of getting someone's attention, perfectly fine to say to a 3 y.o. or an 80 y.o. But then again, in some latin american countries they find it offensive or humiliating when you address them as "tú" instead of "usted", so I guess it's possible.
Venga is used quite a lot in Cantoria, Almeria, Andalucia, as the last word, and we had assumed it was a form of "goodbye", or "come again". But there is a lot of Spanish slang in this area.
I wanted to add my limited experience... Where I currently live i am around ALOT of very young Spanish speakers. Ven is the way I have been taught by the native speakers (all Mexicans).
So, atleast with the crowd that I hang with, Venga has never come up that I can recall. But Ven is used all the time.
