Tag Archives: spelling
Spanish Orthography 101: 5 Tricky Spanish Letters and How to Pronounce Them Posted by Jakob Gibbons on Mar 21, 2016
On a recent post about the things that are making you sound super gringo in Spanish, someone asked in the comments about the letter x in Spanish. This is just one of the many tricky little symbol with a few different pronunciations, and using the wrong one in the wrong place can sound a bit ridiculous at times…
Happy New Year! Singing “Un año más” with Mecano Posted by Magda on Dec 31, 2013
Today we say goodbye to 2013, and welcome a new year. As you know, we Spanish people have the tradition of eating twelve grapes at midnight: a grape is eaten for each stroke of the clock at 12pm on December 31st, and each grape is supposed to represent one month of the New Year. Most…
Spanish tricky words. Should I write “haya” or “halla”? Posted by Magda on Dec 5, 2013
There are different letters in Spanish with a similar pronunciation, and it makes difficult to decide whether we should write a word with “V” or “B”, for example. The problem is that sometimes the misspelling can also imply a new word with a different meaning. Today, I want to give you some hints to distinguish…
Some common linguistic mistakes in Spanish Posted by Magda on Aug 8, 2013
To learn a language also implies to avoid some native speakers´ typical mistakes. In some previous posts, we have talked about “dequeismo” (to know more, click here) and “laísmo” (to know more, click here), for example. Today, I want to share with you some linguistic mistakes, or vulgarisms: Así (this way): Things are this way…
How to use “m” and “n” in Spanish Posted by Adir on Apr 29, 2013
Hello, there! Did you have a good weekend? I hope you did! Both letters “m” and “n” have the same sound when they come at the end of a syllble, for example, in words like completo [complete], cambio [change], cinco [five], algún [some], among others. We follow some rules: 1. Before p and b we…
Spelling changes in irregular verbs Posted by Adir on Jan 26, 2012
As you may be aware of, irregular verbs are the ones that have some kind of alteration in their radical or endings. Let’s take a look at some of these changes in Spanish verbs that have to do with sound (eufonía = good sound). Such changes are not exactly irregularities because verbs keep the same…
“Sobre el idioma español”, the parody of a poem Posted by Magda on Nov 29, 2011
Today´s post will probably be a bit hard for beginners, but it is a good summary about some of the problems we can find when studying my language. This poem was written in 1921 by Pablo Parellada, a satiric writer , novelist, playwright, and humorous draftsman who used such funny nicknames as “Melitón González”or “Pancho…