This Is Why This Blog Is One Of My Go-to's In My Journey Of Spanish. Clear And Concise, And Straight

This is why this blog is one of my go-to's in my journey of Spanish. Clear and concise, and straight to the point, with examples too for extra clarification. Especially with that "yo me" and "me" stuff.

Definitely noting this down.

I'm doing Duolingo, but something that confuses me is when to use things like "yo ducho" and "me ducho". When translated, they both end up as "I shower" but I feel like contextually, there's something more. I've even come across something like "yo me ducho", which screws me up more.

HELP??!?!!?!?!?

Multiple things happening here so I'll break them down

First, duchar "to shower" is understood as "to shower (someone else)" or occasionally it's "to spray with water" like with a hose - though less common in my experience because there are other words like regar is "to water (plants/flowers)" etc.

What you're seeing is a reflexive verb - ducharse "to take a shower"

A reflexive verb is when the subject and the object are the same - the first one you typically learn is llamarse for "to be called" as in your name

So it's me llamo literally "I call myself"; rather than llamar which is "to call someone (else)" like to call the police, or to make a call

Another standard one is lavar "to wash" where you could wash dishes, but lavarse las manos is "to wash one's hands" literally "to wash oneself the hands"

...You COULD technically say lavar las manos (a alguien) as in you're washing someone else's hands though

This is also the difference between something like cepillar el pelo/cabello "to brush someone's hair" rather than cepillarse el pelo/cabello "to brush one's own hair"

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I can't say I typically see ducho by itself; it's usually the reflexive me ducho

ducho by itself is like "I shower (someone/something else)", while me ducho is "I shower" or "I take a shower"

You can see this more as bañar "to bathe (someone else)" like giving kids a bath or giving a pet a bath; then bañarse is "to take a bath"... generally more difficult to "shower someone else", which is why you see ducharse or me ducho more

...

As for yo me ducho this reads as very emphatic as if it's "I'm the one who showers"

Because both me and ducho imply a yo, it's not considered strictly necessary and it reads as more emphatic than normal - this is also common without reflexives too like "I do this, but you don't"

In proper context it could make sense like - yo siempre me ducho después de nadar en la piscina pero ellos no "I always take a shower after swimming in the pool but they don't"

.......Typically though out of context yo me ducho sounds like an English speaker, where we are used to using subjects in every sentence, while Spanish grammar often makes use of sujeto tácito [silent subject; aka omitting the subject unless it's needed for clearing up vagueness, or for emphasis]

Which is to say that contextually yo me ducho is correct; but everyday Spanish will have you saying me ducho without the yo

*Note: As far as ambiguity or vagueness you often see this with 3rd person, singular or plural, where multiple subjects could be talked about - like ella lee todo pero su amiga no lee nada "she reads everything but her friend doesn't read anything"

In reflexive it could be like mis padres se levantan muy temprano pero mis abuelos se levantan tarde "my parents get up very early but my grandparents wake up late"

In these sorts of situations the conjugation doesn't give you enough information, so adding the subjects creates more distinction and clarity - you see this a lot with changing subjects. You might see a string of sentences with no subject if you're talking about someone, but then if you start talking about someone else you add that subject in so the listener knows who you're talking about; like Elena es muy alta e inteligente, y Ana es artísta y también sabe tocar el piano "Elena is very tall and smart, and Ana is artistic and also knows how to play the piano"

PLEASE TELL ME THIS WASN'T ACTUALLY THEIR PLAN

TALKING DOESN'T DO SHIT! SQUEEZING! WATER! BLANKET!

D.I.S.T.R.A.C.T.I.O.N.

Speaking from someone who had to help someone from a panic attack, just aggressively shoving things doesn't do anything.

What I did was stick cold water [in a bottle] in their hands and make them drink (learned these tricks from Pinterest). Then, when they could speak, I tried to get them to talk about topics I knew would turn into a long debate/discussion (less effective).

Honestly the class's plan to calm someone feeling negative emotions to avoid akumatization is pretty bad

I liked the scene in 'Guiltrip' where the class talks to Juleka and try to comfort her, which drives the akuma away

...and now in s5 (not naming the episode because those titles are not memorable, what was Astruc thinking??) Juleka is having a breakdown over having to redo school next year again and we have the class screaming at her and shoving her a giant picture of cute animals..

"Damnit, Juleka! Stop having a panic attack, or I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL KILL YOU!"

I don't think the animal picture thing happened in "Confrontation", but I get what you mean with how poorly emotional stress is handled.

And we know that if someone brings this up with Thomas Astruc, he'll just make up some BS about how they're pure evil anyway and chose to side with Hawkmoth (14-year-olds willfully choosing evil without outside influences, yeah right), therefore they're absolutely irredeemable.

Chloé was literally retconned into an evil hateful bitch with (apparently) no intelligence to speak of and is later shipped to an abusive mother, and Lila went from a girl desperate for an absent mother's attention to a grifting mastermind with several identities and three mothers whom she fooled brilliantly.

But no, Gabriel Agreste (who emotionally neglected his son, terrorized Paris for over a year, and falsely imprisoned his own child) is the sympathetic redeemable one, all because he has a good reason—which is debatable—to do it.

Yes. Logic.

It’s honestly disgusting how two teenagers, who’s downfalls were specifically orchestrated by Hawkmoth, who has targeted them, egged them on, preyed on their insecurities, and spied on them

Are worse than him somehow.

It’s weird how stans will get on Lila and Chloe’s case for “siding with Hawkmoth” (ignoring that this is an adult taking advantage of people’s negative emotions but okay), but willingly ignored Hawkmoth holding Chloe’s parents hostage, cornering her, and using her insecurities to get her to side with him, as well as him and Nathalie spying on Lila, purposefully trying to aggravate her with targeted messages and groom her into being an akuma victim.

Weird of the narrative (and the fandom by extension) to continuously hate these teenagers, ignoring all depth, background, and the adults surrounding them that may make them act the way they do, but will always show sympathy to the adult terrorist manipulating them because he has a dead wife.

The problem with Marinette is that claiming her as "the best Ladybug ever" or "the best leader" gets moot when there's no measure. We hear nothing about other Ladybugs in the past, so there's no one to compare to as "the best Ladybug ever". And as "the best leader", there's also no one to compare her to. Of course she'd be the best leader—you can call yourself that however you want because there's no competition!

And as a "leader", she gets next to no challenge taking on a leadership role. She's just good at it. The point of writing a character, especially a main character like Marinette, is to challenge them. Give them struggle. Marinette doesn't struggle as a leader. She either makes a coincidentally-good choice with no backing from the story whatsoever (which is 90% of the time) or she fucks up and is told it's not her fault.

Every time Marinette forms a "team", everyone is magically amazing and is 100% obedient to Ladybug. If they weren't obedient (like Kagami) it gets resolved in the episode and then they're 100% cooperative like the rest. There's a difference between being a leader and just plain being the boss. Being the boss means you get the final say in choices and people do what you say. A leader inspires, leads, and is a big responsibility that should be treated as such, because your choices strongly impact the lives of the people that trust you.

I 100% agree on the five-man band. The "temporary heroes" concept feels just like a cheap excuse to make more costumes, but a single consistent team with their own dynamics—not just as heroes but also people—would help not only challenge Marinette's abilities, but to actually enrich the story and introduce more arcs that could help us become invested in what the show tries to preach.

Any fanfic I write always uses the original five-member team, because they didn't need to go away. It didn't need to change. And frankly, giving so many people different miraculouses for no other reason than "Marinette thinks they deserve it" actually devalues the importance of the miraculouses, since apparently anybody will do.

I like ML because it has a formula that I've never seen in superhero genre before, a girl as a leader whos also the brain of the team who's also one that have little to no emphaty paired with a boy who's the heart of the team that also a team mom yet the brawl at the same time. That premise is so good because usually it's the girl who is the heart of the team so this formula is good... In concept.

The problem is that the leader, aside from lacking in emphaty departemen is also very avoidant and self centered. Way too self centered to even notice the problem in her team and that's a very dangerous line to walk on. Of course usually this problem would be fixed when the heart of the team try to talk to the leader, that's how it's usually goes, right? Except the leader either keep dismissed him or outright ignore him which makes the conflict prolonged. The writers seems to be saying that she could do everything, even comforting her own teammate which she failed spectacularly.

Even now as s5 ended, I haven't seen Marinette as the leader, try to talk to Adrien about the problem. There's just no growth on her part. In fact, she double down in her secrets. At this point they're basically just keep the false peace.

In Timetagger Bunnyx said Ladybug is the best team leader, but with current dynamic and her lack of growth as of current, I feel like that assessment is as false as Fu's saying Marinette as the strongest Ladybug. Considering he only know ONE Ladybug holder. There's no base in those praise, just pure bias.

Yeah, like there's no growth going on for Marinette but that's probably because all the traits we see in her, being self centered and lacking in empathy, the writers didn't intend it. That's why there isn't an arc planned to resolve it. And it makes people claiming she's the best Ladybug ever when she doesn't have much to show for it under her belt.

But she ain't special.

I'd be ranting all day if I had to list every character that has a trait (good or bad) we all see but I doubt the writers saw it too, like Adrien being Marinette's equal or Chloe coming off as more sympathetic than intended in the early seasons. But then, when they do notice a character flaw a notable chunk of the fandom complains about... you get bullshit like Derision (to address Marinette being a "stalker"). Honestly, I'm more afraid of what they'd do to rectify this.

Can someone explain to me why sometimes, it just feels like my heart stopped. I mean, it's still beating, but it's like I can't feel it, and there's no drive to do something, but at the same time, I want to do something.

Please, I want to know.

Either that, or it's:

After this I'll write.

Okay, after this then.

After this then.

I'm so busy, after all this then.

Oh no, it's too late. Tomorrow then.

On repeat.

Me waking up: I want to write

Me eating breakfast: I want to write

Me getting ready for work: I want to write

Me at work: I want to write

Me eating lunch: I want to write

Me driving home: I want to write

Me at home, sitting in front of my laptop: