Hola amigos! Get ready to chuckle because we’ve got a linguistic squabble to discuss! Apparently, in Mexico, some folks are adding an extra “s” to the end of second-person singular verbs in the past tense – making “dijiste” into “dijistes,” among other verb changes. But not everyone approves of this non-standard variation.
The haters are claiming that this variant is not official, which means that most Spanish speakers (especially in writing) aren’t using it. They’re worried about Mexico’s education authorities unilaterally changing things that could create turmoil in the Spanish-speaking world. Yikes!
Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, isn’t having any of it. He says that critics are asking ordinary folks to “speak physics” instead of their natural way. And he played the indigenous-versus-European card, saying that the Spanish spoken in Mexico is linked to ancient cultures – um, okay, sure.
It turns out that this quirk has nothing to do with Mexico’s indigenous heritage. It’s just an overgeneralization that occurs in many Spanish-speaking countries. In Spanish, nearly every second-person singular verb form ends in an “-s”. So, some folks are adding it incorrectly to verbs in the past tense. Hey, no judgment – we all make mistakes sometimes! Just look at English speakers who say “I shrunk” when they should say “I swung” or “I strung” – oopsies!
Okay, okay, let’s not lose our cool here. We can all agree that overgeneralization is common, but that doesn’t make it correct. However, we don’t have to be squares about it. Sometimes non-standard forms are just as good or even better, depending on the situation. Like “y’all” in American English – it fills a hole in the pronoun system and signifies warmth among friends and family. Who doesn’t love feeling a sense of belonging to the South?
Variations in pronouns and verbs in different languages are perfectly normal. Pittsburghers have “yinz,” New Yorkers have “youse,” and some English dialects still use “thou.” In Brazil, most people use “você” instead of “tu,” which sounds stuffy to European Portuguese speakers. And in Spanish, many Latin Americans use “vos” instead of the European standard “tú.” There are variations on top of variations – it’s a linguistic cornucopia!
But hold up! We can still appreciate the importance of knowing the standard form for serious work, especially if we’re unsure of our listeners. Good language textbooks make a point of explaining these variations, but this particular Mexican textbook missed the mark. It should’ve emphasized that the non-standard form is informal and avoided judgments based on expression. Don’t worry, though – kids are smarter than we think. They know that some language is appropriate in certain settings and not others. A little lesson on grammar, style, appropriateness, and identity could do them some good.
Phew, that was a lot to cover! But hey, who knew a little squiggle could cause such a fuss?
