{"id":892,"date":"2020-06-01T16:13:09","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T14:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/?p=892"},"modified":"2024-06-02T19:14:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T19:14:50","slug":"el-la-mar-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/el-la-mar-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00abEl mar\u00bb or \u00abla mar\u00bb?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-size: 22px;\" align=\"center\"><strong>The sea. Only the sea!<br \/>\nFather, why did you bring me<br \/>\nto the city?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p align=\"right\"><em>Rafael Alberti, Marinero en Tierra (1924)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In this post we explain the use of the masculine and feminine forms of \u00abmar (sea), because they are not used in the same way and are not interchangeable. We also explain the importance of the sea in the Spanish language and culture. In just a few minutes you\u2019ll learn words and colloquial expressions related to the sea.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The word mar can be both masculine and feminine in Spanish.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>This is because it comes from the Latin word mare, which was neither masculine nor feminine but neuter. As Spanish evolved, the word was preserved in two forms: masculine and feminine. However, the two forms are used differently.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/masculino-femenino.png\" alt=\"Masculino y Femenino\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The plural form is almost always masculine: los mares.<\/li>\n<li>The masculine form is also used to name the seas: el mar Caribe, el mar Mediterr\u00e1neo. Note that the word is not capitalised in Spanish when naming a specific sea.<\/li>\n<li>People who make a living with the sea, such as fishers or sailors, tend to use the feminine form: for example, hacerse a la mar (to set sail) or vivir de la mar (to make a living from the sea).<\/li>\n<li>We also use the feminine form when describing the state of the sea: for example, mar gruesa (rough sea\/s), mar rizada (choppy sea) and mar llana (calm sea).<\/li>\n<li>The feminine form is also preferred in literary contexts because it has a more emotional connotation and is more expressive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em style=\"position: absolute; top: -15244px;\">https:\/\/www.high-endrolex.com\/18<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-563\" src=\"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Rafael_Alberti.jpg\" alt=\"Rafael Alberti\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can see that Rafael Alberti uses both genders in his poem: el mar of the city-dweller and la mar of the sailor.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, it\u2019s not surprising that the sea is important in Spanish culture. Spain has about 8,000 kilometres of coastline distributed among the peninsula, the Balearic islands, the Canaries, and Melilla and Ceuta. This is why fish and seafood are important in Spanish gastronomy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-886\" src=\"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/mar-de-dudas-1.jpg\" alt=\"Mar de dudas\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Estar hecho\/a un mar de dudas:<\/strong> to be filled with doubt<br \/>\n<em><u>For example:<\/u> Estoy hecho un mar de dudas, no s\u00e9 si deber\u00eda aceptar el nuevo trabajo o no.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-886\" src=\"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Injured-Crying-Boy.jpeg\" alt=\"Estar hecho\/a un mar de l\u00e1grimas\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Estar hecho\/a un mar de l\u00e1grimas:<\/strong> to be in floods of tears<br \/>\n<em><u>For example:<\/u> Marta no ha aprobado el examen de conducir hoy, est\u00e1 hecha un mar de l\u00e1grimas.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-886\" src=\"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Sea-and-blue-sky-Blue.jpeg\" alt=\"La mar de\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>La mar de:<\/strong> much, a lot (indicating intensity or quantity)<br \/>\n<em><u>For example:<\/u><br \/>\nAqu\u00ed estamos la mar de bien, en una casa grande con jard\u00edn y piscina.<br \/>\nTu hijo es la mar de guapo, seguro que tiene mucho \u00e9xito con las chicas.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>We also have many other colloquial expressions related to the sea:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u00a1Me cago en la mar!:<\/strong> literally, \u201cI shit in the sea!\u201d; this is an expression of annoyance or frustration. You may also hear <strong>\u00a1Me cachis en la mar!<\/strong>, which is a milder form of the same expression. Me cago en la mar is vulgar, but not really strong. Nobody thinks about its literal meaning, and it is used as widely as joder. We\u2019ll discuss this word another time!<br \/>\n<em><u>For example:<\/u> No me lo puedo creer, acabo de perder mis llaves del coche, \u00a1me cago en la mar!<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Pelillos a la mar:<\/strong> this expression is used to set aside an argument or disagreement, like \u201cLet bygones be bygones\u201d or \u201cLet\u2019s forget our differences\u201d.<br \/>\n<em><u>For example:<\/u> Bueno, pelillos a la mar, vamos a olvidarnos de todo, no vamos a dejar de ser amigos por una discusi\u00f3n sin importancia.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ultramar:<\/strong> a place far away on the other side of the sea or ocean.<br \/>\n<em><u>For example:<\/u> El barco que ha llegado a Galicia trae mercanc\u00eda de ultramar, son productos de Brasil. You may also hear una tienda de ultramarinos, which is a grocery store, because many of the products are from overseas.<br \/>\n<u>For example:<\/u> He comprado estas latas de at\u00fan en la tienda de ultramarinos que han abierto nueva, son muy baratas.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center; font-size: 24px;\"><strong>More information:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a title=\"Diccionario de dudas\" href=\"https:\/\/www.diccionariodedudas.com\/la-mar-o-el-mar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Diccionario de dudas<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a title=\"Educaci\u00f3n UFM\" href=\"https:\/\/educacion.ufm.edu\/el-mar-o-la-mar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Educaci\u00f3n UFM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a title=\"Wikipedia - Rafael Alberti\" href=\"https:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rafael_Alberti\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Wikipedia - Rafael Alberti<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a title=\"De boca en boca centro\" href=\"https:\/\/debocaenbocacentro.wordpress.com\/2014\/08\/25\/el-mar-la-mar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">De boca en boca centro<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a title=\"Wikipedia - Costas de Espa\u00f1a\" href=\"https:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Costas_de_Espa%C3%B1a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Wikipedia - Costas de Espa\u00f1a<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a title=\"RAE\" href=\"https:\/\/dle.rae.es\/mar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">RAE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sea. Only the sea! Father, why did you bring me to the city? Rafael Alberti, Marinero en Tierra (1924) &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_vibebp_attr":"","_vibebp_dimensions":"","_vibebp_responsive_height":"","_vibebp_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[425],"tags":[574,577,578],"class_list":["post-892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spanish-expressions","tag-aprender-espanol-online-en-2","tag-expresiones-interesantes-en","tag-lecciones-espanol-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7455,"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions\/7455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}