La manguera

Question

Tonight I was talking to my brother in-law, who is from Perú, about how to tell my 21 month old nephew how to turn the water on to the gardening hose. I asked if you use the infinitive "encender", which I have always used when talking about turning on a wide variety of different appliances. He told me to use "abrir", which makes a lot of sense, but he also told me another way saying something that sounded like "Prenda el agua." Maybe I heard him wrong or it is a regional thing, but "prendar" doesnt make much sense to me here. Any thoughts? Also, I forgot to ask him if the verb "apagar" would be correct when talking about turning the water off?

On a side note, isn't it crazy how children can pick up languages? Even though he isn't even two, my nephew differentiates between English and Spanish and responds to people in the language that they speak to him in.

Makes you envious, doesn't it? And what does it say about all of the grammar study when someone that cannot even read or write can master the language. - 0074b507, Jun 21, 2011

Probably prender, not prendar. They may consider it more of working the valve. Opening or closing it, rather than turning on or off the flow. - 0074b507, Jun 22, 2011

Yeah, that makes sense. I guess when he was telling me he was using the usted form of the imperative, which is common for Peruvians. - pescador1, Jun 22, 2011

Answer 1

My mother in law (Mexican) uses prender for "to turn things on."

Answer 2

Well, I say "abre" y "cierra" and I use the same words for umbrella (paraguas or sombrilla).

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the extra info. - pescador1, Jun 22, 2011

Your welcome! - 00a4c226, Jun 22, 2011