One of our attentive users recently asked about an intriguing phrase he encountered in one of our videos: "nos va es a matar." He was curious about the use of "es" in this sentence. "Why is 'es' in this sentence? Two verbs in a row doesn’t seem correct," he commented. If you’ve come across a similar sentence and had similar thoughts, you’re not alone! Today, we're diving into a fascinating feature of Colombian Spanish: the emphatic "es." 

What is the Emphatic "Es"?

The emphatic "es" (also known as "es enfático") is a grammatical structure used in Colombian Spanish to add emphasis to a particular part of a sentence. It's not actually two verbs in a row, as our user thought, but rather a special particle that highlights important information. Let's see an example with the phrase that confused our user:

pero ese man nos va a dar es en la jeta, nos va es a matar.

but that guy is going to punch us in the face, he's going to kill us.

Caption 47, Confidencial: Broma pesada Capítulo 2 - Part 13

 Play Caption

In this clip, you'll hear "nos va es a matar." A standard Spanish version would be "nos va a matar" (he's going to kill us), but the insertion of "es" adds emphasis, similar to saying "what he's going to do is kill us" in English.

banner5 PLACEHOLDER

How Does It Work?

The emphatic "es" can take three forms: es, fue, and era. These correspond to the present, simple past, and imperfect past tenses. The choice depends on the tense of the main verb in the sentence. For example:

- Present: Ella está estudiando es derecho. (She is studying law.)
- Simple past: Yo vi fue un poco de Deporte Gráfico. (I saw some Deporte Gráfico magazines.)
- Imperfect past: Ellos buscaban era dinero. (They were looking for money.)

Aquí yo vengo es a descansar.

I come here just to rest.

Caption 10, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 3 - Part 5

 Play Caption

banner2 PLACEHOLDER

When to Use It

The emphatic "es" has two main uses:

1. Contrastive Focus: It's used to highlight a contrasting element in the sentence. In this case, "es" appears immediately before the contrasting element.

Example: Tú tienes que decírselas es a ella. (You have to tell them to her [not someone else].)

2. New Information Focus: It's used to mark the entire predicate as new information. In this case, "es" appears as early as possible in the predicate.

Example: Me quiero es encerrar con mi tía allá. (What I want is to lock myself up with my aunt there.)

Vamos es a golpear, aquí traemos es todo el repertorio que es. -¡Eh, eh!

We are going to rock, here we bring all the repertoire. -Eh, eh!

Caption 97, ChocQuibTown De donde vengo yo

 Play Caption

banner3 PLACEHOLDER

Syntactic Features

Interestingly, although the emphatic "es" looks like a conjugated form of the verb "ser" (to be), it actually functions as a particle. This means:

- It doesn't create a new clause in the sentence.

- It can appear before words of almost any class (nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc.).

- It's most commonly used before direct objects, but can also appear before indirect objects, adverbial phrases, and even between an auxiliary verb and a main verb.

That's it for today. Have you heard the emphatic "es" before? Try using it in your next conversation with Colombian friends and see how they react! Don't forget to send us your questions and comments.

banner4 PLACEHOLDER