Wow, fence or berry, do you know how to tell them apart?

Today we bring you a different item. It's the first time we're going to talk only from three words. These words are wow, fence and berry.

What is so interesting about these words that you should dedicate an article to them?

Well then All three are pronounced the same, but are written differently.. Furthermore, each one has its own meaning.

Surely you have ever asked yourself:

«When do you write go or fence?» «And boy or girl?»

They are words that are used a lot in Spanish and that they confuse the students a lot because of that difference in its spelling and meaning.

If you are in that group of confused students and want to avoid spelling mistakes, don't worry! 

After this article you will know when use berry, fence and go and how to avoid the incorrect way of writing these words.

These words are not the only ones in Spanish that are pronounced the same, but are spelled differently. We have many of this type. They are included in the so-called homophonous words.

homophonous words

The homophonous words They belong to a larger group that are homonymous words. 

Homonymy refers to words that they are pronounced the same but what do they have different origin and meaning. 

Homonyms are divided into homophonous words and homograph words.

What are the homograph words?

They are the ones that They are written the same and pronounced the same, but they have different meanings.

some examples they are: 

• Capital (city) or capital (money).
• Cat (animal) or cat (tool).
• River (water flow) or river (verb to laugh).
• I love (owner or proprietor of something) or love (conjugation of the verb to love).
• Nothing (nothing) or nothing (conjugation of the verb swim).

These are just some examples of homograph words, We could continue with a really extensive list, but it is time to talk about the homophonous words.

What are homophones?

They are the words that they are pronounced the same but they have a spelling different. That is, they have some letters different and this changes the meaning.

As you can imagine, our dear berry, go or go belong to this group.

Homophonous words examples

Do you want to know some homophonous words with examples? We present some to you:

• Boot / vote: the boot It is a type of winter shoe, while "vote" It is the third person singular of the verb to vote in the present tense.
• Cow / Baca: the cow It is an animal, and roof rack It is an object that is placed in vehicles to carry luggage.
• Wise / Sap: a person wise is a person with a lot of practical knowledge about life, while the sap It is the liquid that plants and trees have inside.
• Hato / Ato:The herd It is a set of livestock animals. «Ato» It is the first person of the verb atar in the present tense.
• Softening/Talking: "softening" is the gerund of the verb ablandar (make something softer) and "speaking"It is the gerund of the verb to speak.
• Asta / Until: the antler It is the horn of an animal, such as the antler of a bull. Until It is the preposition that marks time or place limit.

To master these words it is necessary to control Spanish spelling. There are many more homophonous words, but we don't want to stop with more examples.

It's time to see the difference between go and go and berry.

Wow

Wow comes from the verb go. 

It is the first or third person of the verb ir in present subjunctive:

I go

you go

He/she/you go

we go

You go

They / they / you go

If you look at how it is written go of the verb go, you can see that in all people it is with the letter “and”, never with ““ll”. Therefore, be very careful when writing this verb. 

We don't want to see "he goes" or "they go"!

The verb go is a verb of movement, so wow Go expresses action of movement from one place to another in the subjunctive mood.

Do you know the uses of the present subjunctive? 

Here we give you some examples 😉

• Temporary prayer: when I go To Paris, I'll climb the Eiffel Tower.
• Wish for other people: I don't want you to go out there alone at night, it's very dangerous.
• Probability: It is likely to go out for a drink with my friends tonight.
• head verb: Are you sick? then I don't think go to work tomorrow.

These are just some examples of go from the verb ir in the subjunctive. There are many more uses.

But the meaning of wow It is not limited only to the verb go.

Wow is also a fossilized imperative. 

Fossilized imperatives are words that express emotions. 

They are called that because many of these words come from imperatives of some verbs. For example:

• Come on! – expresses haste or encouragement.
• Hey! – When we want to get someone's attention.
• Viva! – expresses joy.
• Don't tell me! – Used to show surprise.

And what do you know refers wow? What emotion does it transmit? We see it in the next section 👉

Different values of the fossilized imperative

The fossilized imperative fundamentally presents two values of wow. 

On the one hand, expresses disappointment or sorrow in the face of a bad event.

Example: 

a) I have not been able to enter the career that I wanted, the cut-off grade was very high.

b) Wow…I'm so sorry.

Although it can also express irony, suspicion or sarcasm. This is already a more advanced and pragmatic level of Spanish.

Example: 

Go, go…you told me that you couldn't come to my wedding because of work and it turns out that was a lie.

We can also find a use of go as a fossilized imperative that expresses surprise.

Example:

Isn't that Juan over there? Oh! What a surprise to find it here!

Are the uses of wow? Recapitulating, they would be the following:

• Wow as a verb to go conjugated in the first person of the present subjunctive.
• Wow as a fossilized imperative: sorrow or disappointment.
• Wow as a fossilized imperative: sarcasm or irony.

Fence

what is fence? Here we are no longer talking about verbs, but about a feminine noun. 

we have 3 types of fences.

Fences to delimit or protect a house

According to the Royal Academy, Spanish language dictionary, the first type of fence refers to "Line or term formed of stakes driven into the ground or of joined boards, to close a site or mark it." 

For example, the wood or iron that surrounds a house and they separate it from the neighbor's, they are fences. The word "fence" can also be synonymous with fence.

There is the verb fence, which refers to the action of fence a site or put up a fence to delimit a piece of land.

• Example: Andrés' company fences land at a very good price and also offers the service of repair the fence of the townhouses.

Hurdle in athletics 

The fences In athletics they are the barriers that runners must jump in the racing with obstacle. 

Hurdle races are run over 100 meters for men or 110 meters for women. There is also the 400 meter dash modality for men and women. 

In all these races, athletes have to jump 10 hurdles. Can you imagine what it must be like to jump every hurdle while running at full speed? These athletes have all our admiration. 👏🏻

Billboard

The billboards are those large size postersthat promote products. They are usually placed on the outskirts of cities, near roads so that drivers can see them.

Although there are also in the cities. It is common to see this type of advertising poster, especially at bus stops or subway stations.

Berry

We have already seen the meanings of fence and go. It's just missing berry!

Well it turns out that a berry is a very healthy food, specifically a very delicious type of fleshy fruit.

They are the so-called red fruits. The name of the fruit we are talking about can also be "berry." There are a lot of types of berries: strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries... Which one is your favorite?

Now you know the difference between the verb go and berries?

Remember that go is the second person conjugation of the verb go wow of the present subjunctive.

• Example: When you go to Rome, send me photos.

On the other hand, berries are those delicious little red fruits.

• Example: I eat yogurt with berries every day for breakfast.

Clarified the meaning of berry and wow. Let's practice!

Activity to practice the word correct

In the next activity, you must write the correct way: berry, fence or go.

Look closely at the context and you will be right.

How are you? Has it gone well? 

Yes you want to expand your vocabulary and improve your level of Spanish, the best advice we can give you is to notes to a school.

In Hispania, Spanish school, we offer face-to-face Spanish courses andonline Spanish courses in which you will learn Spanish with the best professionals in the sector.

Another way to learn Spanish is by reviewing our blog posts. Every week we upload two articles, one cultural and the other educational, related to the world of Spanish.

How many options we give you to study Spanish. You can't complain! 😁

That's it for today's article, we hope that the difference between go, fence and berry. For sure yes!

In Spanish there are many words like these, the so-called homophonous words, that is, they are pronounced the same way but are written differently and have different meanings.

Do you know other homophonous words that we have not mentioned in the article?

If so, write your comment.

See you! 😉

Article written by Carlos Martinez for Hispania, Spanish school. 

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