What does :Si la vida te da la espalda agarrese las nalgas" mean in English?
A friend of mine sent me a text message, "Si la vida te da la espalda agarrese las nalgas." What does it mean in English?
4 Answers
It literally translates to something along the lines, "If life turns its back on you, grab its buttocks."
No native input here, but I'm never shy about interpreting.
The point is, when life turns it's back on you, showing you its buttocks, take control by grabbing its buttocks and holding on. Agarrarse means to hold on, and also to fight. So it is a pronomial verb, but the use is not reflexive (like ponerse la camisa is reflexive.)
So the meaning is:
When life turns its back on you, hold on to its buttocks (with and fight being an enrichment of the verb agarrarse).**
It should read 'agárrale las nalgas', if one is to go by the Facebook page?.
Agarrese changes the conjugation from 'tú' to 'usted', and also makes the action relexive so that rather than grabbing the buttocks of the world you are told to grab your own buttocks!
Native speaker input would be much appreciated. 
It should be "agarrarse". It's like "if life turns its back on you and grabs you by the baxxs"
