What does it mean word for word?
The component con honores is a literal translation of 'with honors', where con means 'with' and honores means 'honors'.
Which one should you use?
While graduarse con honores is a direct way to express this, you can also use graduarse con distinción to mean 'to graduate with distinction'. In many Spanish-speaking academic systems, graduarse con distinción is a common alternative to con honores. Additionally, the Latin phrase magna cum laude can be used in Spanish to indicate high academic achievement.
How does it change in a sentence?
The phrase uses the reflexive verb graduarse. Because it is reflexive, when you conjugate it in the past tense, such as 'he/she graduated with honors', you must use the reflexive pronoun se (e.g., se graduó con honores). The form graduarse con honores itself is an infinitive construction used to express the general concept.
Did you know?
- In Spain, a student who graduates with the highest possible marks is often called matrícula de honor, which literally means 'enrollment of honor'.
- The word con in this phrase shares the same Proto-Indo-European root, *ḱóm, as the English word 'companion'. This highlights the historical connection between being 'with' someone and being a person one travels 'along' with.
- In some academic systems, achieving the highest honor is described as sobresaliente, a word that literally means 'standing out' or 'protruding'.
Examples in context
- Me gradué con honores de la Universidad Nacional.I graduated with honors from the National University.
- Obtuve mi título de licenciatura con honores.I obtained my bachelor's degree with honors.
- Me gradué magna cum laude de la Universidad Carlos III.I graduated magna cum laude from Carlos III University.
- Recibí el título de ingeniero magna cum laude.I received my engineering degree magna cum laude.
- Juan se graduó con distinción en matemáticas.Juan graduated with honors in mathematics.
- Laura recibió su título de arquitecta con honores.Laura received her degree in architecture with honors.
- David se graduó con sobresaliente en su maestría.David graduated with honors in his master's degree.
- ¡Felicidades por graduarte con sobresaliente en Derecho!Congratulations on graduating with honors in Law!
- Ella espera graduarse con honores este año.She hopes to graduate with honors this year.
- Es difícil graduarse con honores en esa universidad.It is difficult to graduate with honors at that university.
- Él logró graduarse con honores después de mucho esfuerzo.He managed to graduate with honors after much effort.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries con, CC BY-SA 4.0.
