Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

Using the phone 29.8alegrarse de algoto be glad or pleased about somethingalegrarse de que + subjunctiveto be glad or pleased that . . .¡Felicidades! is the most common and general of the expressions used in this context.Enhorabuena is very common in Peninsular Spanish but unknown in some LatinAmerican countries. Expressions with felicitar, ‘to congratulate’, are used by allSpanish speakers, and will call for a change in the pronoun, depending on who weare congratulating:¡Te felicito!Congratulations! (fam., sg.)¡Os felicito!Congratulations! (fam., pl.)¡Lo/s or le/s felicito!Congratulations! (formal, m., sg./pl.)¡La/s felicito!Congratulations! (formal, f., sg./pl.)Remember that in Latin American Spanish the os form corresponding to vosotros isnot used in colloquial language, and therefore los and las will be appropriate in formaland familiar contexts. 8 (p. 34)The two expressions with alegrarse ‘to be glad or pleased’, a reflexive verb, arecommon in all forms of Spanish. Alegrarse de will be followed by a noun in thiscontext, while alegrarse de que will be followed by a subordinate clause containinga subjunctive.Me alegro de tu éxito.I’m glad or pleased about your success.Me alegro de que hayas tenido éxito.I’m glad or pleased you were successful.Specific expressions used on special occasions are:¡Feliz cumpleaños!¡Feliz Navidad!¡Feliz Año Nuevo!Happy birthday!Merry or Happy Christmas!Happy New Year! 23.6 (p. 109); 18.1.4 (p. 85); 63.2 (p. 360)29.829.8.1Using the phoneAnswering the phoneForms used for answering the phone are not the same in all countries. Here are the mostcommon equivalents of the English word ‘Hello?’161