The word, "about".

Question

When do I use, "acerca de" or "sobre".?

Example: Christmas is about... - La Navidad es acerca de/sobre...

Edit: Christmas is about Jesus Christ. (And/Or) Christmas is about being with friends or family.

Thanks.

True to the dot :) - Matjam, Oct 27, 2015

Answer 1

In Spanish "acerca de" will be translated as concerning or about something "La pelicula es acerca de la segunda guerra mundial" "The movie is about the second world war" And "sobre" will be translated the same way but it is more usual to write "trata sobre" "La pelicula trata sobre la segunda guerra mundial" Posible translation will be... "The movie is about the second world war" same meaning You can use both.

Here is another one a little more complex:

La trama de la pelicula gira en torno a la segunda guerra mundial...

Thank you from me. In English the word Spanish needs to be capitalized. - Jubilado, Oct 26, 2015

Veo que eres colombiano. ¡Qué bueno que nos ayudas! - Jubilado, Oct 26, 2015

Ok. Thanks - Ikigreg, Oct 26, 2015

¡Gracias! - Rápido99, Oct 27, 2015

Great answer. Clear explanantion. Then the final bit was a perfect example of how a native would say something but a non-native would never think of. - gringojrf, Oct 28, 2015

Answer 2

You can also use "se trata de" La navidad se trata del nacimiento de Jesucristo. The meaning is more like "it deals with" (o algo parecido).

Answer 3

See Ikigreg's answer and disregard mine.

The nuance of "acerca de" is "around" and that of "sobre is" "covering". Your sentence begins "Christmas is about..." You are thinking in the wrong direction here in my opinion. The sense of your sentence is "Christmas concerns..." or "We celebrate Christmas because..." Maybe you can edit your post to reflect this idea because I don't need "about" in this sentence as far as I can tell.