Phrases in spanish
Stay calm Don't be angry
3 Answers
Would anyone like to give it a go?
I will, although primarily for the benefit of the other learners on this site.
These are commands (imperatives).
To write a command, you need to know who you are saying it to- a single person that you can be informal with, or one that you need to be formal with, or a group, or a group in Spain that you can be informal with.
The forms will be different for each group. Also the adjectives will differ depending on the sex of the person(s).
Stay calm Don't be angry
Stay calm. I will be literal, obviously calm down and be calm would be different.
I will choose mantener for stay, and tranquilo for calm. Others might choose other ways.
I will do this as a tú command for a male. Mantener is based on tener, which is irregular. The form is manten, but you need the reflexive because you are keeping yourself calm. Pronouns attach at the end for an afirmative command. So:
¡Mantente tranquilo!
Don't be angry. Again I would choose differently for don't get (become) angry. And I will choose enojado, although I might choose differently depending on who I was speaking to.
This is a condition/state, not a defining characteristic, so pick estar for be. So for the negative tú command for a male (the form with tú is not the same positive and negative):
¡No estés enfadado!
The accent on estés is required, despite the lack of it in the meme I am including.
It would be a good exercise for you to try this with some of the other possibilities I mentioned.
Now I have seen Keep calm done as Mantén la calma on a number of memes- it gives me more of a sense of Keep the peace than keep feeling tranquil as the one I did gives to me:
Bosque's is perfectly correct. I only offer mine as an alternative.
Mantente tranquilo y no te enojes.
An old Mexican saying is,
No te aflojes ni te aflijas ni te pongas a pensar.
Would anyone like to give it a go?
