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Halloween and “La Noche de Brujas” — Spooky Words in Spanish
Halloween, or La Noche de Brujas in Spanish, is not originally from Latin America, but it’s now celebrated in many Spanish-speaking countries. Children dress up (se disfrazan), go from door to door asking for candy, and people decorate their homes with pumpkins and skeletons. In this post, you’ll find a big list of Halloween-related words […] More
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10 Expressions That Are Hard to Guess
In this post, we explore ten popular expressions that are commonly heard in conversations, on TV, and in everyday life in Mexico. Some of them can be rude or informal, so they must be understood but not necessarily used carelessly. Spanish Expression Literal Translation Equivalent in English ningunear to “no-one” someone To belittle, ignore, treat […] More
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The Secret of Corn: Why Nixtamalization Saved Lives
Maíz or corn is central to Mexican history, culture, and daily food. But what many people do not know is that corn by itself does not give the human body much nutrition. If you eat plain corn — just boiled or ground without treatment — your body will absorb almost nothing. It will pass through […] More
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CAMIÓN y CAMIONETA
In the Romance-speaking world, camión simply means a heavy truck. But if you are in Mexico City, the phrase “Voy en el camión” doesn’t mean you are driving a freight vehicle. It could mean you’re on a bus. It’s one of those unique Mexican usages that confuse native Spanish speakers from Spain or Argentina, and […] More
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Mexican Telenovela Parody Practice
This is Conspiración de Pasión: (You might need to go to this YouTube video settings and slow the Playback Speed to 0.75 or even 0.50) YouTube Video Settings Playback Speed This is just a small segment of a much longer telenovela parody. The automatic video subtitles are not accurate. Español (Original) English […] More
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10 Expressions That Are Not Easy to Figure Out – Brincos Dieras
Here are ten colloquial expressions that you’ll hear on the street, in songs, and even in movies. Be careful — some of them are pejorative or rude, so it’s important to learn them for understanding, not for repeating in formal situations. Spanish Expression Literal Translation Meaning / English Equivalent Ser solo pantalla To be […] More
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¡Con ganas!
Note: Gana in these examples is not the same as the verb ganar (to earn, to win, to gain) and its nouns ganancia, ganador, etc. When students first hear the word gana, they usually think it means desire or wish. But in reality, gana and its plural ganas appear in many different expressions, some very […] More
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Híjole: the little Mexican exclamation that has many meanings
If you’ve listened to Mexican Spanish for a while, you’ve probably heard a short, breathy sound that comes out on surprise, irritation, admiration or mild defeat. That little word is híjole (sometimes written hijole, sometimes híjoles), and it’s one of those automatic expressions that people use without thinking. The Real Academia defines híjole as a […] More
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in Culture, Mexico, Spanish, Vocabulary
Diminutives for Food in Mexican Spanish
If you spend time in Mexico, you will hear diminutives everywhere — and food is one of the favorite places to find them. Un cafecito, unos huevitos, tómate tu lechita, un pastelito, unas tortillitas calientitas… these little endings do a lot of work. They sometimes mean size, but often they mean something else: friendliness, politeness, […] More
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in Spanish
10 Expressions That Are Not Easy to Figure Out. Desmadre
The Spanish you hear on TV in the US is full of expressions that sound confusing for students because their literal meaning has little to do with the real intention. Sometimes these are very colorful, sometimes strong, sometimes playful. They are used every day, and even though they look difficult, once you know them, they […] More
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Generic Names of Animals in Spanish
In Spanish, nouns have a gender: masculine or feminine. For students, it can be strange when animals are sometimes “he” or “she” by default. For example, in English we say the spider, and it can be male or female, but in Spanish it is always la araña (feminine). On the other hand, el pez, el […] More
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in Spanish
OVNI
OVNI looks strange at first sight, but it’s one of those acronyms that became a normal everyday word. In Spanish, OVNI stands for Objeto Volador No Identificado — literally Unidentified Flying Object (UFO in English). What’s interesting is that Spanish isn’t the only language to use OVNI. French, Italian, Portuguese, and Catalán all built the […] More
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