Every Spanish language student knows that there are two verbs that mean to know, saber and conocer. This is true in other Romance languages as well. What many students don’t know is that we have a verb with the opposite meaning: desconocer. The main meaning of desconocer is to not know, but it could […] More
I saw the film Amores Perros together with one of my students. Below is one of the main soundtrack songs. Its name is Lucha de Gigantes, by the Spanish band Nacha Pop. The actual movie scene is too strong to embed on this website. It’s not for kids and it’s not for many people. […] More
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 el astro rey the king star the Sun. ( nickname). el primer trimestre the first trimester first quarter. Used extensively in financial […] More
We have a YES that English doesn’t use. This sí is used to contrast two opposite ideas, to confirm something, or to eradicate doubts about something. Spanish English (literal translations, ungrammatical English) A mí no me gusta cantar, pero sí me gusta escuchar música Singing is not pleasing to me, but YES listening to […] More
Talking about rats and mice, do you know why they are called rodents? Because they roen. In Spanish, roer means to gnaw. They are roedores because they roen. This is the only Spanish verb I can recall that has 3 different choices for the present yo form. In the present tense, this verb is […] More
If you want to try practicing Spanish by watching telenovelas, this is the essential vocabulary you need to know. ¿Qué hace Chuchito José Rodriguez de Anda y López en el cuarto de la sirvienta? What is Chuchito José Rodríguez de Anda y López doing in the maid’s room?. Yes, telenovela characters have many […] More
There is a little difference between accidents that almost happened in English and Spanish, in English we use past tense, in Spanish we use the present tense. (almost, nearly) + accident verb in the past (casi, por poco) + accident verb in the present I almost fell casi me caigo (caer) I almost hit myself […] More
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 ¿qué crees? what do you believe? guess what. cambiar de opinion to change opinion to change one’s mind, also cambiar de parecer. ser […] More
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 a solas what? alone? privately acaramelarse, estar acaramelados (MX?) what? to coat with caramel to canoodle apantallar (MX) what? (la pantalla, screen) […] More
This is how we call different groups of animals in Spanish: Spanish English Notes bandada (f) flock (birds), skein (group of geese) flock of birds, group of geese (gansos) cardumen (m) school fish (peces) colonia colony pingüinos enjambre (m) swarm bees (abejas), some other flying insects escuela (f) school fish (peces) jauría (f) pack dogs […] More
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
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