Archive for 'Spanish Vocabulary'
Getting into trouble? Te la vas a cargar. Posted by Adir on Dec 19, 2008
There are a number of verbal expressions in Spanish that involve a reflexive verb and the pronouns -la or -las. Check them out. 1. apañárselas, arreglárselas – to manage, to get by. No te preocupes, me las apañaré. (Don’t worry, I´ll manage.). Jorge vive solo y se las arregla bien en la cocina. (Jorge lives…
¿Gorra o gorro? Posted by Adir on Dec 12, 2008
Because of its distinctive gender endings, Spanish does not have many words with the same form but different meanings (true homonyms). However, there are many pairs of words distinguished only by the –o and -a (and sometimes also -e) endings which are easily confused. These are known as gender paronyms. Here are some examples: el…
One word, many meanings Posted by Adir on Dec 9, 2008
Synonyms are terms or expressions which have the same or similar meanings and it also entails the study of the contexts in which they occur. I have chosen some very common Spanish words and their synonyms with examples, espero que les guste. Abogado – lawyer 1. letrado – lawyer. El letrado nos leyó la carta…
Idioms with “Hacer” Posted by Adir on Dec 5, 2008
In addition to its regular meanings (to do, to make), the verb “hacer” is used in very common idioms. Check them out. hacer una broma – to play a joke. Nunca más me hagas bromas así, que no me gustan. (Don’t you ever play jokes like this with me again, because I don’t like them.)…
Special adjectives Posted by Adir on Nov 20, 2008
The following list of adjectives is special because they don’t follow the regular “-o” and “-a” endings for masculine and feminine forms, respectively; they have only one form for both genders. Check it out. egoísta – selfish materialista – materialistic optimista – optimistic pesimista – pessimistic realista – realistic alegre – happy amable – kind…
Cool Spanish Posted by Adir on Nov 13, 2008
BBC Online has many interesting resources for students who want to improve their Spanish. One of them is Cool Spanish. It’s basically informal and slang words used in Spain and some countries in Latin America. They come with audio and translations, so you won’t get lost. Check it out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/cool Here’s another very good…
¡Por Dios! Posted by Adir on Nov 3, 2008
Spanish has a myriad of interesting expressions using the word “Dios” (God), not all of them religious. Check them out! 1. a la buena de Dios – without preparation, carelessly. Como no sabía coser, hizo el vestido a la buena de Dios. 2. como Dios le da a entender – without thinking a lot, using…