Archive for the year 2008
Sports vocabulary Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 6, 2008
Today we’re going to learn and review some sports vocabulary, take a look! el ala delta – hang-gliding el alpinismo – mountaineering las artes marciales – martial arts el atletismo – athletics/track and field el automovilismo – motor racing el bádminton – badminton el baloncesto – basketball el balonmano – handball el béisbol – baseball…
Negative Sentences Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 3, 2008
Let’s review some ways of making negative sentences in Spanish. 1. Place the adverb no before the verbal expression. María conoce a Carlos. (Maria knows Carlos) – María no conoce a Carlos. He terminado mis deberes. (I have finished my homework) – No he terminado mis deberes. 2. Here are some common negative words. Nadie…
Conjunctions and discourse markers Posted by Transparent Language on May 30, 2008
When we read and write in Spanish, or any other language, we need to provide this text (an e-mail, a letter, a report, a memo, or even a simple note) with cohesion and coherence. Conjunctions and discourse markers play a major role in connecting your ideas logically over long stretches of text or speech. They…
Food vocabulary Posted by Transparent Language on May 27, 2008
Hello there! OK, so a reader e-mailed me last week and asked, “Adir, Spanish is spoken in so many countries, and I just found out that food has several names in different countries, so how do I do to memorize that?” I gave it some thought and the answer to that question is: you don´t…
Expressions with “ir” (to go) Posted by Transparent Language on May 22, 2008
The verb ir, like its English counterpart to go, has several meanings and sometimes you can´t figure them out by considering indivual parts of the expression. “Ir” is usually used with the preposition a, when it means direction or future time: Voy a estudiar para la prueba. – I´m going to study for the test…
El voseo Posted by Transparent Language on May 18, 2008
Voseo is the use of the second person singular pronoun vos instead of tú. Vos is used extensively as the primary spoken form of the second-person singular predominantly in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and in the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In the dialect of Argentina and Uruguay (known…
Body part idioms I Posted by Transparent Language on May 12, 2008
Today we´re going to learn some idioms related to body parts. PELO – hair No tener pelos en la lengua – not to mince words Le dije que era un sinvergüenza porque yo no tengo pelos en la lengua. – I told him he was shameless because I don´t mince words. Poner los pelos de…