Here are 10 common random idioms you may have trouble with if you hear them for the first time: Expression Approximate literal translation (what you might think you actually heard) Explanation deshuesadero (m) (MX) what? hueso = bone. Unboner? Disboner? Bone ripper? vehicle scrapyard, to sell used spare parts. ¿será? will it be? […] More
Who in New York City doesn’t know what SI VES ALGO, DI ALGO means? It’s all over the place SI VES ALGO, DI ALGO is the familiar (tú) translation for IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. When we just switched from tokens to Metrocards in the mid-1990s, we had these […] More
It’s not uncommon to hear Spanish language students say finito! when they finish doing a quiz or an exercise. The thing is that finito meaning done! is not a Spanish word, it’s the past participle of the Italian verb finire. Finito in Spanish is an adjective that is used mainly in mathematics referring to a […] More
Several years ago, I put together a table about Spanish automobile-related vocabulary to show how it’s very different in Mexico and Spain. My theory was that cars came to the Spanish-speaking world simultaneously to Mexico via the United States, and Spain via France, and somehow there was not enough time to assimilate the new vocabulary […] More
In Spanish, many professions and adjectives end in -dor for males, but in -dora for females. So I think whoever named the character Dora the Explorer in English, knew that it was going to be very appealing in Spanish. The masculine form for this occupation is explorador. Now let’s imagine that Dora has some other […] More
The English Channel’s name in Spanish El Canal de la Mancha, literarily translates as The Channel of the Stain. This is historically an unfortunate translation mistake from its French name Canal de la Manche, which in French means Channel of the Sleeve, yes, as in a shirt. Probably the channel’s shape resembled a sleeve to the […] More
Entender and comprender both mean to understand. Although comprender is very popular among students, natives don’t use it as much. The reason comprender is so popular among beginner students and tourists is that comprender is a regular verb so it’s taught before entender, which is a stem-changing verb. Many students quit Spanish before even […] More
In Spanish, one way to classify verbs is by their endings, -ar, -er, and -ir. In a few years, the -ar verbs will be the big majority. The reason is that almost every new verb that is being incorporated into the language is always -ar. Many of these verbs come from either English or […] More
One of my friends who wrote a book asked me to go to Barnes and Noble, find his book, and take photos of it so that he could put them on his Instagram profile. I didn’t think I was going to find it unless I went to the big one at Union Square, and I […] More
My student Greg Zittel was watching soccer games on TV during a World Cup, and every time a team scored a goal, the announcer shouted golazo, golazo, azo, azo. He wanted to know what azo, azo means. -azo, -aza are attached at the end of some nouns to make them bigger or greater, and sometimes […] More
Here are some examples of diminutives for common Spanish names for men and women. Most of these names are used in Mexico but they may be a little different in other countries. Ale, Alex » Alejandro (Alexander) Beto » Alberto, Roberto Bety » Beatriz Carmela, Carmelita » Carmen Coco » Socorro (women’s) Concha » […] More
Hay in Spanish means there is, there are, is there?, are there?. Hay should always be singular. Hay, Había, habrá, ha habido, etc. In spite of that, in Mexico and other countries it’s common to use a conjugation of haber that does not officially exist in Spanish: habemos. Latin American presidents often use this […] More
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