Trouble with PONER? Learn it with CHUNKS, never forget it again (Conjugation)

Hi loves, today we have a new verb video. This time nos pondremos a trabajar (we’ll get working) on the verb “poner” (to put).

This little verb sure does a lot of things, which is why we consider it important enough to make an entire video just about it. Also, it’s irregular. I know, I know, but remember we always go through the conjugation through chunks to make it much, much easier for you to remember and use it with confidence!

I’m Maura, from Spring Spanish, and ¡Pongamos manos a la obra, ya! (Let’s put hands to work, already!)

1. Ponte (Put it on)

WORRYING MAURA
¡Ten cuidado con el sol! Ponte protector y ponte la gorra.
(Be careful with the sun! Put on sunscreen and put on a hat.)

ACTOR 2
Ya tengo puesto protector. Voy por la gorra.
(I already put on sunscreen. I’m going for the cap.)

Talking about things you can put on your body is definitely the most common way to use this verb. It is as versatile as it gets, because you can use this for almost anything. Let’s check out some examples conjugating it for “tú” each time.

• ¿Te pusiste un nuevo perfume? (Did you put on a new perfume?)
• Mejor ponte la camisa azul. Combina más. (Better put on the blue shirt. It matches more.)
• ¿Por qué no te pones unos zapatos más cómodos? (Why don’t you put on more comfortable shoes?)

Creams, makeup, accessories, all of these would use “poner” as their verb.

Ya tengo puesto (I already put on) is one of the chunks you can use to say you already put on something. Let’s go over other chunks about things you put on, but with “yo” (I):

• Me puse los zarcillos nuevos, ¿te gustan? (I put on the new earrings, do you like them?)
• Me voy a poner el vestido rojo con las sandalias beige. (I’m going to put on the red dress with the beige sandals.)
• Espera que aún no me he puesto las cremas de la noche. (Wait, I haven’t put my night creams on yet.)

Also, we put all things in all places. So you can use this as the generic verb to say where something is. For instance:

• Puse tu regalo en el cuarto. (I put your gift in the room.)
• Pon los platos en la mesa, porfa. (Put the plates on the table, please.)
• ¿Recuerdas dónde pusiste la factura de lo que compramos? (Do you remember where you put the receipt for what we bought?)

Now, at the end we’ll go over how to hypothesize about life with this verb and where and how this verb can turn sexual without you meaning to so, stay tuned for that!

2. Common chunks with Poner

BUBBLY MAURA
¡No sabes lo que hice! ¡Puse la torta a lo grande!
(You don’t know what I did! I made a big mistake!)

ACTOR 2
¿Por qué? ¿Qué hiciste? ¡Me estás poniendo de los nervios!
(Why? What did you do? You’re getting on my nerves!)

Chunk Alert!

Puse la torta (I made a mistake) is a very cute chunk-like way to say you made a mistake. Even if the literal translation is “to put the cake”. The nature of the mistake doesn’t really matter so feel free to use it anytime you want to accept and embrace your perfect imperfection.

If you click on that link in the description though, you’ll get access to our basically perfect free Essential Spanish Chunkin kit, which will teach you many more super useful chunks to start using right now! Go get it!

• Me estás poniendo de los nervios. (To get on someone’s nerves.) It means you’re making me nervous or, another layer could be, you’re irritating me. Another way to express something similar would be to say que se te ponen los pelos de punta, which means the same as “something gives you goosebumps”. There’s other moods you can put someone in. For example:
  • No te imaginas cómo reaccionó, se puso como loco. (You can’t imagine how he reacted, he went like crazy.) If someone se pone como loca o como loco it’s because they got super mad, probably raised their voice and lost control a little bit. For this we also say people se ponen como una furia (they go into a fury.)
• Terminaron porque ella le puso los cuernos. (They broke up because she cheated on her.) The deeper we get into these chunks, the farthest the translation goes, right? Well, we do talk about cheating on people with poner los cuernos which would literally translate to “put the horns on”. In Venezuela, though, and I’m not sure if anybody else does this, we shift “poner los cuernos” to “montar cachos”. It means exactly the same. We just use synonyms for some reason.

Because it sounds funny, let’s use this chunk to go over the conjugation table in the present tense, shall we? Remember to focus on the chunks, their sound and rhythm more than on memorizing the whole table. Also, the literal translation says something crazy about horns, but we’re actually talking about cheating on people.