Imagine you are watching a film
about love, such as “Before Sunrise”. A
couple says goodbye at a train
station. They want to meet in the
same place six months later. Their
sad farewell sounds like this:
imagine: imagina que;
before sunrise: antes del
amanecer; couple: pareja;
want to meet: desean
reencontrarse; six months later:
seis meses después; their sad
farewell: su triste despedida;
sounds like this: suena así;
– But I'm gonna be here.
–
Okay, me too.
–
All right.
–
And we're not gonna call, write
or... No.
–
No, it's depressing.
–
Yeah,
okay.
–
All right. All right, your
train is going. Say goodbye.
–
Bye.
I'm gonna be here: yo voy a
estar aquí; me too: yo
también; we're not gonna call,
write: no nos vamos a llamar,
escribir; depressing: triste,
depresivo;
After you wipe the tear from your
eye, some questions might come to
your mind: What is the grammatical purpose of
okay?* And why do Americans
use the word so often?
after you wipe the tear:
después de enjugar tu lágrima;
might come to your mind: podrían
surgir en tu mente; purpose:
propósito; so often: con
tanta frecuencia;
In today's Everyday Grammar, we are
going to explore the different uses
of the word
okay.
We will
learn how its meaning can change
depending on how it is used in a
sentence.
how its meaning: de qué maneras
su significado; can change:
puede variar; depending on how:
dependiendo de cómo (remember:
depend ON
not
depend OF);
THE WORD "OKAY".
The word
okay can act as
a noun, verb, adjective, or
adverb.
Its meaning changes slightly when it
is used in different ways.
When speakers use
okay as a
noun, they usually mean "approval or
permission”.
slightly: levemente;
approval or permission:
aprobación o permiso;
For example, a coworker might tell you,
"The boss gave her
okay". This is an informal way of saying
that the boss gave her permission.
coworker: compañero de
trabajo; boss: jefa; gave
her okay: dio (su) permiso;
The verb form of
okay
has a
similar meaning. It means to approve
something.
So, a coworker could tell you "The
boss
okayed this project".
to approve something: aprobar
o autorizar algo; to okay /
okayed / okayed: aprobar,
autorizar
(uso informal);
project: proyecto;
This means the boss approved the
project. This use is informal but
you will hear it often, even in
professional settings.
this means: esto significa
(que); you will hear it often:
lo escucharás con frecuencia; in
professional settings: en
entornos o ambientes profesionales;
Finally, there is the adjective form
of
okay. It means fairly
good, or not bad. So, you might hear
an American say, "The new boss seems
like an
okay person".
fairly good, not bad:
bastante bueno, no malo; seems
like an okay person: parece una
persona agradable, normal;
This statement does not praise the
new boss. Rather, it means that
there is nothing remarkable about
the new boss. He or she is
okay
– not great and not bad.
statement: comentario;
does not praise: no elogia ni
ensalza a; there is nothing
remarkable about: no existe nada
extraordinario acerca de;
Now that we have covered some of the
basic meanings of
okay, we
can turn to what it means when it
acts as an adverb.
we have covered: hemos
explicado (en este contexto);
ADVERBS.
Adverbs are often used to show time,
place or manner. They are also used as
discourse markers
– words that organize a conversation. These
words show transitions, agreements,
disagreements, and so on.
time, place or manner:
tiempo, lugar o modo; discourse
markers: marcadores discursivos
(palabras o expresiones cortas que
se utilizan an conversación; por
ejemplo: bien, oh, etc);
transitions: transiciones;
agreements: acuerdos;
disagreements: desacuerdos;
and so on: etcétera;
DISCOURSE MARKERS.
A
common discourse marker in American
English is
okay.
As a discourse marker, it has a few
common uses.
a few common uses: algunos
usos comunes;
1. The first use is to
acknowledge what another
person says.
So, for example, consider this
situation. Two friends are ordering
dinner at a restaurant. Their
conversation goes like this:
to acknowledge: reconocer,
aceptar; what: lo que;
ordering dinner: ordenando,
pidiendo la cena; goes like this:
es así;
A: Should we order the salad?
B: Yeah!
A:
Okay!
should we order?: ¿pedimos?;
In this example, one speaker uses
okay to show that she
acknowledges what the other speaker
says. She also uses
okay
to
show agreement.
what the other speaker says:
lo que dice el otro interlocutor;
to show agreement: para mostrar
aceptación;
However, Americans often use
okay even when they do not
necessarily agree with each other.
Consider the same situation at a
restaurant.
however: si embargo; even
when: aún cuando; they do not
... agree with each other:
cuando no ... están totalmente de
acuerdo; consider the same
situation: analiza la misma
situación;
A: Should we order the salad?
B: No, it does not look very
good.
A:
Okay, but I would like
to eat some kind of vegetable.
it does not look very good:
no parece muy buena; I would like
to eat: quisiera comer; some
kind of vegetable: algo de
verdura;
Once again,
okay
serves the
purpose of acknowledging what
another person says. The speakers
may disagree about what to eat, but
one speaker is using
okay
to show that she understands what
the other speaker is saying.
once again: reiteramos;
serves the purpose of: cumple el
objetivo de; acknowledging what
another person says: reconocer,
aceptar lo que dice otra persona;
may disagree: pueden no estar de
acuerdo;
In that sense,
okay helps
organize a conversation.
in that sense: en ese aspecto;
helps organize: ayuda a poner en
orden;
2. A second common use of
okay is to
show a transition
to the end of a conversation. It can
also be used to show the end of a
topic in a conversation.
to show a transition to the end:
mostrar la transición hacia el fin;
Here is an example. Imagine you are
at a car rental business. The
employee has just explained to the
customer how to return the car:
car rental business: local de
alquiler de coches; employee:
empleada; explain: explicar
(remember:
explain TO someone
not
explain someone);
customer: cliente; how to
return the car: cómo devolver el
automóvil;
Employee:
Okay, so you
understand how to return the car?
Customer: Yeah, I understand.
Employee:
Okay, I'll see
you in a few days!
I'll see you in a few days:
la veré uno de estos días;
The employee uses the word
okay
twice. In both cases, the
employee uses it to show that the
conversation will soon be ending.
This use of
okay
helps make
it clear to both speakers that the
conversation is coming to a close.
In this way, neither speaker is
surprised when the conversation does
end.
will soon be ending:
finalizará pronto; helps make it
clear that: ayuda a dejar en
claro que; is coming to a close:
esta llegando a su fin; in this
way: de esta manera; neither
speaker: ninguno de los
interlocutores; is surprised:
se sorprende; does end:
realmente finaliza (uso enfático del
auxiliar DOES);
Okay, it has been great
teaching this lesson, but we have to
go now. Until next time!
I'm John Russell.
Okay, and I'm Jill Robbins.
it has been great teaching:
ha sido fantástico enseñar.