Which one should you use?
You can use ve por tus sueños to change the nuance slightly to "go for your dreams." Additionally, replacing the preposition tras with por shifts the feeling from pursuing or following something to actively going for it.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
There are several ways to express this depending on whom you are addressing. To be informal, use ve tras tus sueños or persigue tus sueños. If you want to encourage someone informally not to give up, you can say no dejes de perseguir tus sueños. For formal situations, use Persiga sus sueños or vaya tras sus sueños (which uses the polite usted form). To encourage someone formally to keep fighting for their dreams, you can say No deje de luchar por sus sueños.
How does it change in a sentence?
The word tus is the informal possessive for "your." If you change tus to sus, the meaning shifts from the informal "your" to the formal "your," or to the third-person "his," "her," or "their." For example, ve tras sus sueños can mean "go after his/her/their/your (formal) dreams."
How do you pronounce it?
/be tɾas tus sweɲos/
Did you know?
- The word sueño can also mean 'sleepiness' or 'drowsiness' in Spanish. If someone says tengo sueño, they are not saying 'I have a dream', but rather 'I am sleepy'.
- In Spanish, the verb perseguir used in persigue tus sueños is the same word used for a police officer chasing a criminal.
- The preposition tras is derived from the Latin trāns, which is the same root used for the English word 'trans-'.
Examples in context
- No tengas miedo y ve tras tus sueños.Don't be afraid and go after your dreams.
Example conversation
Mateo encourages Lucía to start her own business.
- MateoLucía, tienes mucho talento para esto.Lucía, you have a lot of talent for this.
- LucíaGracias, pero me da miedo empezar.Thanks, but I'm afraid to start.
- MateoNo te rindas y ve tras tus sueños.Don't give up and go after your dreams.
- LucíaTienes razón, Mateo. Lo intentaré.You're right, Mateo. I'll try it.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries tras, ve, CC BY-SA 4.0.
