Hola chic@s,

I was downstairs in my apartment block today,

when I saw 4 people waiting sheepishly outside the door to the grotty gym.


I approached them asking if they needed to get in.


The woman turned to her husband to say 👇


“Pregúntale si nos deja la llave.”
“Ask him if he’ll leave us a key.”


After all these years even I get a bit nervous speaking Spanish in front of people.

But I’ve learned to lean into the fear.


We ended up having a 10 minute conversation.

They were a Mexican family visiting London for a Cross Fit tournament.


So many different lives out there.


Back to the phrase 👇

‘Pregúntale’ comes from the infinitive verb ‘preguntar’.


Preguntar 👉 To ask a question (information)


There’s also another Spanish verb that means ‘to ask for…’


Pedir 👉 To ask for something (order/request/demand)


In this example, the Mexican lady was giving a command to her husband to ‘ask me if I’ll leave them a key.’

This is a question.

So ‘preguntar’ is used.


If she was making a request or demand for me to leave them ‘la llave’ 🔑 (which would have been a bit cheeky),

then she would have used ‘pedir’.


Here’s a Pedir vs Preguntar Cheat Sheet (consider it a gift).


That 10-minute conversation doesn’t happen without a bit of courage to put yourself out there.


That’s what I mean by ‘language for living, not just learning’.


Keep going chic@s 💪

and watch how Spanish will continue to open up your world in surprising ways.


Un abrazo,
Harrison

Language for living, not just learning


P.S - The Pedir vs Preguntar Cheat Sheet comes from the ‘VS Section’ of the Chat Spanish Handbook. It covers pairs of words that appear to mean the same thing, but annoyingly don’t. Think ‘ser vs estar’, ‘tener vs haber’ etc… It’s worth a purchase 💰