For more than two years now I’ve been being asked in the morning, “Como amaneció?” But for more than two years I’ve been hearing “Como nació?” At times, I’ve thought they were asking me, “Como le nació?” When learning Spanish (or any other language for that matter), one has to really refine their listening skills. However it’s interesting how the mind fills in the blanks automatically!

Finally yesterday, I was trying to explain this phrase to a client we have here for our volunteer program and was corrected by someone else. I was in shock that I had it wrong all this time.

Amaneció is the perfect preterit form of the verb amanecer, which is “to dawn” (the act of the sun rising in the morning) or “to wake up.”  What the phrase means then is, “How did you wake up?”

The phrase in English, “I learn something new every day” is obviously very valid for me here. I often wonder how many years it’ll be before I speak Spanish perfectly!