Is the substitution in some verbs, such as estábamos or íbamos, by estábanos or íbanos correct?

February 18 2025 (19:48 WET)

The use of -nos instead of -mos in some verb tenses is a phenomenon that has been recorded in the popular speech of some regions of Spain, especially in the western peninsula and the Canary Islands, and in Hispanic America. According to the Royal Spanish Academy, most of the uses of -nos for -mos, generally belonging to low-formality contexts in which the speaker and listener maintain a face-to-face conversation, are Venezuelan. However, its distribution on the continent is wider, and its use has been found in Mexico, Guatemala, Santo Domingo, and Peru. T. Navarro Tomás, in El español en Puerto Rico (1948), recorded the phenomenon on the island, both in the forms of the imperfect indicative (íbanos, cantábanos), and in those of the subjunctive (fuéranos, compráranos). Other testimonies indicate that it is also present in Cuba and Paraguay.

In the Canary Islands, its use is very frequent on the island of La Palma. It has also been recorded in some areas of Tenerife. 

Regarding the correction criterion, the normative form for the first person plural is -mos.


 

Our words

desarmar

1. v. For the body to be battered by a fall, by overwork, or by any other cause. Also used as prnl. He painted four rooms in one afternoon and was completely worn out.

2. v. To deteriorate or for something to be in poor condition due to lack of maintenance. Also used as prnl. This house has not been inhabited for some time, and that is why it is completely dilapidated.

3. prnl. Lz. and GC.  For a person to become excessively fat. After he stopped playing sports, he got completely out of shape.

deschamizar

1. v. Tf. and LP.  To smash something to pieces. When the rope broke, the load fell into the courtyard and was smashed to pieces.

2. v. Tf. To squander. He squandered everything he earned in a month in two days.

Information on the location of voices and meanings

Fv: Fuerteventura

GC: Gran Canaria

Go: La Gomera

Hi: El Hierro

LP: La Palma

Lz: Lanzarote

Occ: Western Islands (Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro)

Or: Eastern Islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria)

Tf: Tenerife

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