🍅 Who are you? [Day 3]

Morning! 😃 ☕️ 

More blanks today. Your brain is working harder now - that's the point.

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In today's email...

• 📱 Day 3: The blanks are growing

• 🌟 Formality levels and when NOT to use this

• 🏃‍♂️ Mistakes that make you look clueless

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MEMORIZE 🧠

Dime con _____ andas y __ ____ _____ eres.

As always, the answer key and audio are at the bottom of this email.

CULTURAL MOMENT 🍅

This proverb is powerful. But power comes with risk.

Here's the thing most Spanish learners never learn: This phrase carries judgment. Heavy judgment. When you say "Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres," you're not making small talk. You're implying that someone's character is questionable because of their associations.

Use it wrong, and you'll offend people.

When it works: Among close friends discussing someone outside the group. With family members who share your concern about a relative's new crowd. In professional settings when you have standing to comment on someone's network.

When it backfires: Saying this to someone's face about their own friends. Using it with people you've just met. Deploying it in formal business settings where indirect criticism isn't appropriate.

The formality question matters too. This proverb uses tú forms (dime, andas), which means it's inherently informal. You wouldn't say this to your boss or a client. It lives in the space of trusted relationships - family, close colleagues, longtime friends.

One more mistake to avoid: Don't use this proverb as a "fun Spanish saying" at a party. Native speakers will hear the judgment in it and wonder who you're talking about. It's not a casual icebreaker. It's a statement with teeth.

The cultural intelligence here: Knowing a phrase isn't enough. Knowing when to deploy it - and when to keep it holstered - separates textbook Spanish from real fluency.

WORD SPOTLIGHT 🔍️ 

Te diré - This is the future tense of decir (to tell) combined with the indirect object pronoun te (to you). Together they mean "I will tell you." But notice the confidence in this construction. It's not "te podría decir" (I could tell you) or "te voy a decir" (I'm going to tell you). It's te diré - declarative, certain, final. The speaker isn't offering a possibility. They're making a promise. Give me the information about your friends, and I will deliver my verdict about your character. No hesitation. This grammatical certainty adds weight to the judgment.

The accent on diré marks the stress on the final syllable and distinguishes it from other forms. Future tense in Spanish often carries this confident, prophetic quality - which is exactly why it fits this proverb so well.

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HEAR THE SPANISH AUDIO 🍅

Pro tip: Listen three times.

Once for general meaning.

Once following along with the text.

Once with your eyes closed, focusing purely on pronunciation and rhythm.

ANSWER KEY ✅

Spanish: Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres.
English: Tell me who you hang out with, and I'll tell you who you are.

Today's disappeared words: te, diré

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