Así

Hi again,

I don't know why is that I keep thinking about explaining short words... Maybe because at first they seem easy to translate and get an idea of them, but after analyzing them a bit deeper, you realize how many different ways of using them can exist, as well as idioms and coloquialisms.

That's the case of "así".

Even though is not a monster of a word, it's a very common one and you'll hear it every day if you ever go to Spain or Latin America.

Así - Like this or that.

I honestly can not think about a direct translation for "así", but there certainly is a core idea within it, and that is: "like this/that", "in this or that way", "in certain way/manner".

Let's see some examples:

 - Quiero que lo hagas así.
 - I want you yo do it like this/that.

 - Deja de jugar así y ponte serio.
 - Stop playing like that and put yourself seriously. (lit.)
 - Stop fooling around and be serious.

 - ¿Así piensas vestirte para la fiesta?
 - Are you going to dress like that for the party?

So you get the idea, "así" always answers to the question "how?", meaning "in what way?". Using "así" at the beginning of a question of an exclamation indicates surprise or amusement. You can easily imagine the entonation used in the last example if it were said by your dad looking at your 16-year-old sister going to a party with very little clothes.

Así - As well as...

For "así" to work this way it needs the help of an old friend "como", which could be translated as "how" and you will find that in the dictionaries, but its uses are much broader and well... It would take a whole new article to explain it, so let's just look at how it works together with "así" for now.


 - La comida peruana Utiliza muchas especias asi como la Mexicana.
 - Peruvian food uses lots of spices as well as Mexican.

 - No olvides tomar las pastillas o te enfermarás así como esa vez.
 - Don't forget to take the pills or you'll get sick like that time.

In this last example "as well as" wouldn't make much sense, although the idea of repetition is there: "You'll get sick again as well as that time" doesn't sound so good and we would say it different in english, but the idea conveyed there is the same as "así como" for spanish.


Así - though, although, even if, even though...

Again I can't think of a straight foward translation for así in these situation, but let's work with the core idea again... Personally I think that's the best way of learning a new language... If you know in your mind what you want to say you'll eventually find the correct words to express yourself in a more natural way, just keep mind and ears open. So, let's carry on with "así" as a conjunction for these case:

 - Iré a Perú en dos semanas, así no entienda nada de español.
 - I'll go to Peru in two weeks, even if I don't understand any spanish.

 - Carlos sigue fumando una cajetilla diaria, así el doctor le haya dicho que debe parar.
 - Carlos keeps smoking a pack of cigarretes a day, even when the doctor had told him to stop.

So it kinda works like a "in despite of the fact that" thing. You can also start the whole phrasing with "asi", the comma in the middle of both examples means that there are two sentences there, so you could also say.

 - Así lo prohíbas, me iré de todos modos.
 - Even if you prohibit it, I'll leave (anyways).

It works the same if you say it the other way around, just like in english I guess. Now let us see to a quite uncommon use for this word:

Así - The adjective

An adjective is a word that modifies a noun, like in this simple sentence:

 - My cat is fat and lazy.
 - Mi gato es gordo y flojo.

Fat and lazy are adjectives in this sentence because they are modifying or describing the noun, in this case, my cat. Now let's see how "así" works as an adjective.

 - Teniendo un cuerpo así sería tonto pensar que nadie se te va a acercar.
 - Having a body like that, it'd be foolish to think that no one's going to approach you.

It's clear what we're talking about... she (or he if you wish), has got a hot body and that's what the "like that" implies, and just like we said earlier, that's the core idea of "así". With the difference that in this case, it's playing an adjective role, let's see how it fits:

 - Teniendo un cuerpo atractivo, sería tonto...
 - Having an attractive body, it'd be foolish...

We've made obvious the context of the original example placing the adjective "attractive" instead of "así", so we can see clearly what was its role in the sentence.


You'll hear "así" in many idiomatic expressions, they're so many that it'd be overwhelming to elaborate on them all here in this article, but if you want me to explain any specific one please make a comment and I'll reply as soon as posible. Thanks again for reading!