Transcript of the video lesson:
Hey, this is Joel from worldspanishteacher.com. In this lesson I want to talk about the difference between “auxilio” and “ayuda”.
Now both of them mean “help” but they’re used in different ways. “Auxilio” is used in emergencies and “ayuda” is for non-emergencies. So let’s say that you fell down and you twisted your ankle and you need help. You can yell, “¡Auxilio!” You don’t yell “ayuda”.
You could use the verb “ayudar” and say, “¡Ayúdenme!” which is basically just saying, “Help me!” But don’t say “ayuda”.
You could use a synonym for “auxilio” which is “socorro”. It means the same thing. So you could yell, “¡Auxilio! ¡Socorro!” You could yell both of them together or you could just simply yell “¡Socorro!”
So, “auxilio” and “socorro” for emergencies – “ayuda” for non-emergencies.
So, to use “ayuda” you could say, “Necesito ayuda” or “¿Puedes ayudarme?” And if you want to ask someone else if they need help, you can say, “¿Necesitas ayuda?” Or a shortened form would be, “¿Te ayudo?”
Alright, one exception for “auxilio” when you can use it in a non-emergency would be when you want to say “first-aid” which would be “primeros auxilios”. But other than that, “auxilio” is going to be for emergencies.
So, I don’t want to say I hope you can practice this because you don’t want to have to say “auxilio”. You don’t want to be in an emergency. But now at least you’ll know what it means in case you are in Latin America and you hear someone yell “auxilio” you can know that they need help so you can know you should go and help them. Or if you’re watching a movie or TV show, you’ll know exactly what they mean when you hear someone yell “auxilio”.
Alright, well hope you learned something and you can check out worldspanishteacher.com for more lessons, an mp3 conversational course for download, and native Spanish speakers who you can practice your Spanish with and get the correction and practice you need to improve quickly.