The mystery behind Enterarse :)
Hi All, This is just an informative post meant to help the beginners who 1. Often confuse themselves between entrar and enterar and 2. Often confuse themselves between enterar and enterarse.
1st and forement. Never get confused between entrar and enterar. Just because they almost sound and look the same doesn't mean they bear the same meaning. Entrar (true cognate of its English counter part To enter) means the same as it's English cognate does which is to enter some where or some place (for example .. adelante y entre la casa por favor,,, move on and enter the house please) .. However the later one "enterar"(which is a false cognate of the english verb to enter) has a different meaning altogether and has nothing to do with the phenomenon of entering.. Enterar rather means to inform some body about some thing for example : si continuas molestarme, me voy a enterarselo a nuestra maestra (if you keep bothering me, I am going to report it to the teacher).. Demystification of ENTERARSE ** Now enterarse (forma reflexiva de enterar has yet another meaning which is completely different from its core verb enterar .. which is "to find out about some thing" (like averiguar) .. But how and why is that so :well the answer lies in the logic of reflexives ** if you are using the verb enterar (to inform) with the reflexive pronoun, you are making the action reflect back on yourself (or on the subject) so if i say enterarme .. What I am saying per the reflexive logic is that I am informing myself or i am getting my self informed about some thing (which paves way for its reflexive meaning .. to find out). **I have noticed this confusion in many beginners which is why I thought of posting this matter here.. hope you all find it beneficial (provechoso) .. Regards. ** (and this is no mystery, just the application of the simple reflexive logic)
5 Answers
Just to clarify:
"...si continuas molestarme, me voy a enterarselo a nuestra maestra..." is not a good grammatical construction and besides, unnatural.
Be that as it may, I think it would be better to say: "...si continúas molestándome, voy a enterar a nuestra/la maestra (de tu conducta)..."
However, in my opinion, the most natural way to express it, would be: "...si continúas molestándome, voy a reportarte con nuestra/la maestra" .
Solo para clarificar:
"...si continuas molestarme, me voy a enterarselo a nuestra maestra..." no es una buena construcción gramatical y además no es natural.
En todo caso, pienso que sería mejor decir: "...si continúas molestándome, voy a enterar a nuestra/la maestra (de tu conducta)..."
No obstante, opino que la manera más natural de expresarlo, sería "...si continúas molestándome, voy a reportarte con nuestra/la maestra" .
Thanks so much for posting this explanation as it is very helpful. I know I overuse averiguar; I am going to try to incorporate enterarse into my daily language now. I use preguntarse a ton as well, I taught myself the meaning with the same logic -- when you ask yourself a question, you are wondering about something. Now I just translate it directly, for example, "I wonder if..." "Me pregunto si..." I often use this as a polite way of asking for something, especially in a store, hospital, etc. "Me pregunto si sería posible ver un médico hoy?", etc.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but the practical differences (que sepa yo) is that you use averiguar when you investigate and put the effort into finding out something yourself, while enterarse is more you finding out information second-hand, i.e. someone told you, you heard it on the news, etc.
By the way, the verb "enterar" also means to pay or to send money to public offices, usually taxes. In this case "entero" is the noun for the amount of money paid or sent.
Thanks for taking the time to post this Jimmy. I am a beginner with Spanish, so this was helpful. I have not encountered this problem, at least not with these verbs, but now I can be aware of it. Gracias!
