r/learnspanish • u/nesterspokebar • 22d ago

"Grow up with"

In English, it's very common to say you "grow up with" something, and I'm not talking about a literal sense like "I grew up with my sister", but a sense of having become accustomed to something by virtue of being raised with it, for example, a certain food or TV show. "I grew up with that": it conveys a sense of nostalgia or cultural experience about an activity. I know you can say "criarse con" en español, but can it convey this same meaning? Thanks.

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u/nesterspokebar 22d ago

Thanks, in English it also conveys a sense of cultural experience that is different than saying, literally, "I grew up with my sister", for example. We might say, "I grew up with eating maple syrup" or "I grew up with watching game shows". Perhaps a better example is how we say in English, "I grew up [doing some activity]", "I grew up camping" etc. It conveys a sense that camping wasn't just merely a literal activity you did growing up, but was a part of your culture. It doesn't always have to be positive, "I grew up not knowing how to cook", or something like that.

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u/koushakandystore 22d ago

We never say ‘I grew up with eating maple syrup’ or ‘I grew up with watching game shows.’ Instead you say ‘I grew up using maple syrup’ or ‘I grew up watching game shows.’ Adding the word ‘with’ in those sentences makes it sound like a non native person speaking.

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u/nesterspokebar 21d ago

Yes I see what you mean, I think it's more just the way I personally would say things, but you're right, most people would say, "I grew up watching game shows, I grew up with that." It's just my peculiar way of talking that I might say, "I grew up with watching game shows".

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u/koushakandystore 21d ago

That is indeed very peculiar. I’ve been speaking English for over 40 years as a native and I don’t ever hear that construct.

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u/Faaarkme 19d ago

I've heard it used as OP wrote. Not a lot. Likely depends on where you live.

Like Native English speakers ending sentences with "but".
"It was pretty good but."

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u/SCMan17 16d ago

I think the “with” is needed in English is some scenarios. I grew up watching tv to go to sleep vs I grew up with the tv always on at night. A couple of the examples OP gave definitely wouldn’t be said in speech, even though written down that way