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    Charlie Chaplin in Mexico.

    This Charlie Chaplin movie, The Pilgrim, was made nearly a century ago, in 1923.  It was not really made in Mexico, but more north in a California movie studio.  In this scene, Charlie Chaplin is deported to Mexico.       Charlie Chaplin really traveled in Mexico. He married 16 year-old Lita Gray, who had […] More

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    R and RR can make a big difference!

    You have to be careful with R and RR, not only spelling words, but also pronouncing them! Here are some examples:   with R meaning with RR meaning ahora now ahorra save (money, time) from ahorrar. boro boron (Chem.) borro I erase, I delete. From borrar. caro expensive carro car cero zero cerro mount, hill […] More

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    Spanish verb tenses terminology

    In English, you say present perfect, but in Spanish we say pretérito perfecto, antepresente, and in the U. S. people also call it presente perfecto, These differences happen usually between Latin America and Spain, and sometimes between schools, like instituto Cervantes and Columbia or NYU. Here is a table showing these name differences. Example English […] More

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    El cumpleaños

    El cumpleaños There are many compound nouns in Spanish that are formed by a verb and a noun. Their noun component is usually plural, so it ends in “s,” but their overall grammatical number is singular. Examples of these words are: El cumpleaños, birthday, formed together with the verb cumplir, to fulfill, to accomplish, to […] More

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    White and Black

    There are many standard expressions in Spanish and English that are exactly the same but reversed. Here are some of them: tarde o temprano, sooner or later (lit: later or sooner) sano y salvo, safe and sound (lit: sound and safe) tenedor y cuchillo, knife and fork  (lit: fork and knife) vivo o muerto, dead or alive […] More

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    El Hombre Araña

      Nouns modifying nouns are common in English, but in Spanish we normally use adjectives to modify them. As a general rule, nouns modify other nouns in Spanish only by means of the preposition de. Examples: hoja de papel, sheet of paper, mesa de madera, wooden table, collar de perlas, pearl necklace. Still, we can […] More

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    Re-, rete-, requete-, archi-, recontra-, super-, hiper-, ultra-

    Re-, rete-, requete-, archi-, recontra-, super-, hiper-, ultra- In conversational Mexican Spanish, it’s common to hear the prefixes re-, rete-, and requete-, which intensify the corresponding adjective or adverb to different degrees: feliz happy refeliz very happy retefeliz very very happy requetefeliz extremely happy rápido fast reterrápido very very fast requeterrápido extremely fast If it’s […] More

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    In Spanish, the verb sometimes comes first.

    The manual of style of some Spanish language newspapers dictates the use of a word order that is not the usual word order. Spanish sentence structure is very flexible compared to English. Latin, the parent language of Spanish, is much more flexible than its child language. English has a very rigid word order, that’s why […] More

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    Sample list of translated proper nouns in Spanish

    This is a sample list of proper nouns in Spanish. Very often, I speak using proper nouns that I take for granted, but some of my students just can’t figure out what they mean, even during a conversation and in context. Some proper nouns are easy to identify, like Jorge Washington but I’m listing them […] More

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    Fingers

    Fingers These are the finger names in Spanish: El dedo is finger, los dedos is fingers, los dedos de los pies (fingers of the feet) are toes.   dedo pulgar, thumb dedo índice, index finger dedo cordial (corazón) or dedo medio, heart finger, middle finger dedo anular, ring finger dedo meñique, pinky       https://www.tumblr.com/enisteyjia/181981985382/g-minor-bach Originally […] More

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    Carnes frías. 10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out (22)

    10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out (22) 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 Cable de la luz What? cable of the light? power cord, power line […] More

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    Decir, hablar, contar.

    Decir, hablar, contar In English we have to say, to tell, to speak, and to talk. They are confusing to foreign students. The same happens in Spanish. Let me try to outline the differences: Decir: to say or to tell. If the sentence contains an indirect object pronoun, it usually means to tell. She tells […] More

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