Posts related to Spanish grammar.
Phone etiquette in several Spanish-speaking countries? We use several different expressions to answer the phone, so when you travel or watch a foreign movie don’t be surprised. It’s not always as simple as hello. I think no other language has a particular way to answer the phone depending on the region. < This table is […] More
These are the only irregular verbs in the future and conditional tenses. Only 12 of them (plus compounds). It’s worth learning them by heart. Future Verb (infinitive) 1st person singular meaning caber cabré I will fit in decir diré I will say, I will tell haber habré (future of hay) there will be. Future of […] More
Para ti, para mí, para ella, para él, para todos, para nadie…¡para vos! I hope this commercial in Spanish from Argentina made for Coca Cola Femsa, helps you understand one of the uses of the preposition para. Similar commercial with subtitles. (also Argentine accent). Cola in Spanish means cola, ass, […] More
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
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
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
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
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
Many fruits in Spanish have different names in different countries. One example is banana, in Mexico and Spain it’s called plátano, but in other countries, it’s called banana. This is a sample list of fruit tree names in Spanish. If you pay attention, very often, the tree’s name of a fruit with a femenine noun, […] More
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
