The Spanish Certainty Levels Explained

[00:00:05]Notice something. None of these sentences simply give information.

[00:00:09]They'll tell you how confident the speaker feels. And Spanish does this constantly.

[00:00:14]Amigos y amigas, welcome back. This is Profe Juan, and by the end of this video, you'll understand how Spanish expresses certainty, the most common expressions native speakers use, and how to sound much more confident in Spanish. And amigos, amigas, I always told you the same, but it's important that I repeat this. This is not about complicated grammar, it's about how Spanish actually works. Look at this. In a previous lesson, we talked about how Spanish expresses probability.

[00:00:41]Words like quizás, tal vez, and expressions like debe de, but now let's go to the opposite side.

[00:00:50]What happens when the speaker feels confident, certain, sure, convinced?

[00:00:56]That's what today's lesson is about. Let me remind you first. When we speak, we don't just communicate information.

[00:01:03]We also communicate our confidence in that information. Compare something like quizás viene, maybe he's coming, with seguro que viene, he's definitely coming.

[00:01:14]Same event, very different level of certainty. Here's a big idea.

[00:01:19]Spanish has many expressions that increase certainty. They tell the listener, "I believe this strongly."

[00:01:26]Not maybe, not probably, almost certain.

[00:01:31]Let's see the most common ones. Seguro que.

[00:01:34]And look at this.

[00:01:36]Seguro que viene.

[00:01:38]He's definitely coming. Literally, I'm sure that he is coming. Seguro que está en la casa.

[00:01:46]He's definitely at home. I mean, you know this for sure. It's a fact.

[00:01:52]Probably you know, you've seen him like going inside the house. Seguro que lo sabe.

[00:01:59]He definitely knows it.

[00:02:02]Seguro que ganan.

[00:02:04]They'll definitely win.

[00:02:06]And this is one of the most common certainty expressions in the everyday Spanish.

[00:02:10]Again, seguro.

[00:02:13]This expression expresses that you are absolutely confident. And honestly, if you think about it, seguro it's like secure, just like a lock.

[00:02:24]Like literally the word, you know? So it makes sense.

[00:02:28]But Spanish can sound even stronger than a lock.

[00:02:32]Sin duda. Look at this.

[00:02:36]Sin duda, tienes razón.

[00:02:38]They are undoubtedly right.

[00:02:41]Literally, without any doubt. Not a single like milligram. But you want more examples?

[00:02:50]Sin duda fue la mejor opción.

[00:02:53]It was undoubtedly the best option. It doesn't sound that naturally in English, but in Spanish is super common. Sin duda, llegará pronto.

[00:03:04]He will undoubtedly arrive soon.

[00:03:08]And this sounds stronger and slightly more formal than seguro que. Está bien?

[00:03:12]Sin duda.

[00:03:15]Now, let's move to a word you'll hear literally everywhere.

[00:03:20]Because obviamente, you know what I mean.

[00:03:23]Obviamente es una broma.

[00:03:25]Obviously, it's a joke. The speaker sees the conclusion as obvious. That's why the word is obviamente, obviously. Obviamente está cansado. He's obviously tired.

[00:03:37]Obviamente no funciona.

[00:03:39]It obviously doesn't work.

[00:03:42]This word appears constantly in conversation and online content. Let's talk now about claramente. And look Look this.

[00:03:51]Claramente necesita ayuda. He clearly needs help. Claramente está mintiendo.

[00:03:56]He's [music] clearly lying. Again, the word is very similar to the word in English, right? Claramente, clear, like it's crystal clear. This is a an adverb that give us confident. Okay?

[00:04:12]Claramente entendió la pregunta. He clearly understood the question.

[00:04:18]This often sounds slightly more analytical. The speaker believes the evidence is visible.

[00:04:25]Like the word itself, claramente.

[00:04:28]Now, let's talk about por supuesto.

[00:04:31]Por supuesto que sí.

[00:04:34]Of course.

[00:04:35]This is one of the most common certainty expressions in Spanish, and obviously, if you relate it with the one in English, of course, it's familiar, right?

[00:04:44]Por supuesto que voy.

[00:04:46]Of course I'm going.

[00:04:49]Por supuesto que funciona.

[00:04:51]Of course it works.

[00:04:52]The speaker isn't expressing doubt.

[00:04:55]They're expressing confidence.

[00:04:58]But now, let's talk about levels of certainty, because quizás viene, maybe he's coming.

[00:05:06]We have probablemente viene.

[00:05:08]He's probably coming.

[00:05:10]Seguro que viene.

[00:05:12]He's definitely coming.

[00:05:14]Sin duda viene.

[00:05:16]He's undoubtedly coming.

[00:05:19]Hey.

[00:05:20]They all share the same information, but you have different levels of confidence.

[00:05:25]And that's what these expressions actually do.

[00:05:30]Let's analyze the pattern here.

[00:05:33]Probability.

[00:05:34]Quizás, tal vez, probablemente, you know, like the previous video.

[00:05:39]Certainty.

[00:05:41]Seguro que.

[00:05:42]Sin duda.

[00:05:44]Obviamente. Claramente.

[00:05:47]Por supuesto. And that's the system.

[00:05:49]It's That you're going to help me here because it's your turn.

[00:05:55]Write one sentence expressing certainty.

[00:06:07]I'll read all of them. I'll correct them, give you a thumbs up, and we'll interact right there in the comments, okay?

[00:06:16]If you want to learn the opposite side of the system, you know, expressing doubt, expressing hesitation, hey, watch the video on how Spanish talks about probability.

[00:06:30]Together, these two videos explain how Spanish expresses certainty and uncertainty.

[00:06:35]Amigos y amigos, if this helped you understand how Spanish talks about certainty again, like the video, subscribe, sin duda, nos vemos en el próximo video.

[00:06:47]Ciao.