5 WAYS TO USE “ACUERDO”

Today we’re going to look at a word that functions both as a masculine noun and a conjugated verb but is used somewhat differently when compared to other verbs.

The word in question is “acuerdo”. It is derived from the verb acordar meaning to agree. Therefore, when functioning as a noun, “un acuerdo” means an agreement. However, as we will see shortly, when functioning as a verb, its usage can be slightly idiomatic.

Let’s look at five interesting and subtly different ways we can use the “acuerdo” form:

1. De acuerdo
In isolation the phrase “de acuerdo” functions as an interjection. It means “okay”, “all right” or "agreed". It is used to show general agreement in the given situation.

Spanish	Meaning
“¿Puedo llamarte más tarde hoy? -De acuerdo”	Can I call you later today? -Okay
“De acuerdo, nos vemos a las ocho”	Agreed, we'll see you at eight o'clock

2. Estar de acuerdo
If the verb acordar means to agree, then one might assume we simply use this verb to describe the action of agreeing and conjugate it accordingly. However, in Spanish, we don’t tend to use the verb acordar on its own very often. For instance, we might assume that on its own, “acuerdo” (the present tense first person singular of acordar) means “I agree” and whilst strictly speaking it does, it is almost never used like this.

It is more common to combine the verb estar with “de acuerdo”. So, in Spanish we would say “estoy de acuerdo” to express something like “I agree”, which is more literally saying “I am of agreement” or “I’m in agreement” rather than just “I agree”.

Let’s see some more examples of estar being combined with “de acuerdo” to express being in agreement:

Spanish	Meaning
“Estoy de acuerdo con tu idea”	I agree with your idea
“Estoy totalmente de acuerdo contigo”	I totally agree with you
“Estaría de acuerdo pero...”	I would agree but...
“No estoy de acuerdo”	I do not agree
“Bueno, sigo sin estar de acuerdo ”	Well, I still don't agree
“Todos estaban de acuerdo”	Everybody agreed
“Todos parecen estar de acuerdo”	Everyone seems to agree

3. Ponerse de acuerdo
If “estar de acuerdo” translates to mean to agree, then “ponerse de acuerdo” means to come to an agreement. The difference being, with “estar de acuerdo” the agreement isn’t usually referring to or depending on anything else, we just agree. Whereas “ponerse de acuerdo” is usually the result of something else occurring (usually a conversation).

Because of this, any conjugated forms of ponerse are more often than not a past tense construction, as they are the result of something else already happening, or that something else is at least implied. Let’s see a few examples:

Spanish	Meaning
“¿Al final podrían ponerse de acuerdo?”	Were they able to finally agree?
“Aún no nos hemos puesto de acuerdo”	We still haven't come to an agreement
“No podían ponerse de acuerdo en nada”	They couldn't agree on anything
“El problema es que la gente no puede ponerse de acuerdo en nada.”	The problem is that people can't agree on anything
“Debéis ser capaces de poneros de acuerdo algo”	You must be able to agree something

4. Llegar a un acuerdo
Next we have a nice construction using the verb llegar (to arrive). Thus, “llegar a un acuerdo” translates to mean “to arrive at an agreement”, “to reach an agreement”, “to come to an agreement” or even "to come to an understanding". Let’s see some examples of this common construction in action:

Spanish	Meaning
“¿Podemos llegar a un acuerdo?”	Can we come to an agreement?
“Llegamos a un acuerdo ”	We came to an agreement
“No fue posible llegar a un acuerdo”	It was not possible to reach an agreement
“David llegó a un acuerdo con María”	David came to an understanding with Maria
“Parece que las dos partes han llegado a un acuerdo”	It seems that the two sides have reached an agreement

5. Me acuerdo
Finally, we come to a really interesting construction. “Me acuerdo” is an example of when we can indeed use a verb form in isolation. However, the very observant amongst you may have already realised we are not in fact using the verb acordar, but its reflexive version acordarse.

The verb acordarse actually changes meaning quite significantly from its non-reflexive version to mean to remember. Thus “me acuerdo” is a pronominal construction meaning “I remember”, and has little to do with agreement.

Let’s see a few other examples of “me acuerdo” in action, plus a few other examples of acordarse being used:

Spanish	Meaning
“No me acuerdo”	I can't remember
“No quiero ni acordarme”	I don't even want to think about it
“Ahora que me acuerdo”	Now that I come to think of it
“¿Te acuerdas de mí?”	Do you remember me?
“Sí, me acuerdo de ti”	Yes, I remember you
“¿Te acordaste de apagar el ordenador?”	Did you remember to turn off your computer?

How to express disagreement
Of course, once we know how to agree with things, we probably should learn the very opposite. We’ve already seen above how to say: “I do not agree” by simply negating the statement “I agree”, but is there a specific way to express disagreement?

The Spanish noun for a disagreement is “un desacuerdo”. Therefore, one might expect that we can simply combine this with estar in much the same way as we’ve shown above. This is almost correct, expect that we use the word “en” instead of “de”. Let’s see a few examples:

Spanish	Meaning
“Estoy en desacuerdo”	I disagree
“Podemos estar en desacuerdo en otras áreas”	We may disagree in other areas
“Tuve un desacuerdo con mi amigo”	I had a disagreement with my friend

Conclusion | En conclusión
The word “acuerdo” crops up in spoken Spanish with a surprisingly high frequency. Whilst it often expresses agreement, it can also be used in verb form to mean remembering, as well as more basic interjections of agreement like “okay”.

Many of the uses shown today are clearly idiomatic, as they require us to combine a noun form with another verb; but these serve as an interesting reminder of how, at times, we should take a moment to learn these types of constructions, as sometimes verbs on their own do not function quite as we might expect.

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