Tag Archives: Spanish Vocabulary
Ask away! Posted by Adir on Sep 5, 2008
“Ask” has several meanings in Spanish. They’re not interchangeable, and there are some subtle differences in meaning. Preguntar – “to ask a question” or “to ask about” something. Preguntó por ti en la fiesta. – He asked about you at the party. Pregunté si habían estudiado para la prueba. – I asked if they had…
Reguetón Posted by Adir on Aug 14, 2008
You’ve probably heard of reguetón, right? Reguetón “was born” in Puerto Rico about 10 years ago and it’s a blend of rap, hip hop, and reggae. In this post I’m bringing an all-Spanish text talking about reguetón. You also have the most difficult words translated to help you understand it. If you have questions, post…
Expressions with Take Posted by Adir on Aug 11, 2008
Whenever I teach my students vocabulary, I always tell them to take notes using real and meaningful examples and to learn fixed expressions. Let’s take for example the verb “to take”. If we look it up in an English-Spanish dictionary, dozens of entries will crop up and if we´re not very familiar with the language…
False Friends Posted by Adir on Aug 4, 2008
English and Spanish have many similarities, but sometimes what could be helpful ends up getting in the way. That’s the case of some words called “false friends”. They are pairs of words from different languages that look or sound similar, but are actually different in meaning. If students rely on the similarity and use the…
Idioms with Bread Posted by Transparent Language on Jul 2, 2008
The word bread (pan) is the source of several idioms and expressions. Contigo, pan y cebolla – We shall live on love alone. Para casarse se necesitan muchas cosas, no sólo decir que contigo pan y cebolla. Llamar al pan pan y al vino, vino. – to call a spade a spade. Voy a hablarte…
Chilean Spanish Posted by Transparent Language on Jun 26, 2008
I went to high school with two Chilean kids and one year I spent Christmas Eve with their families. I ended up learning some Chilean Spanish expressions. Here are some interesting ones: ¿Cachai? – Do you understand? Get it? Agarrar p’al hueveo/leseo/chuleteo – make fun of someone Al tiro – right away, immediately Año de…
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…