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We have added several new articles to Complete Spanish Guide.

Check out our listing of our very favorite Spanish Websites.

We also made a guide for those beginning in their journey of learning Spanish: Basic Spanish

And finally, some tips for How to Learn Spanish and how to Learn Spanish Fast.

Also, our website just underwent a major re-design. Hopefully the lessons are much easier to navigate now. It should also be easier to print out the vocabulary lists.

The Cinco de Mayo holiday is right around the corner, so now is a good time to read up about the origins of the holiday. Many people incorrectly assume that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexico’s independence, among other incorrect notions. (Mexico’s indpendence day is September 15th)

Here is a website that has a great overview of Cinco de Mayo: http://www.vivacincodemayo.org/history.htm

Be sure to check and see if there is a local celebration or parade for Cinco de Mayo in your local city. Many have long traditions of yearly celebrations held on this day, or on a day close to May 5th.

For those in or near Los Angeles, here is information about events being held for Cinco de Mayo 2011: http://golosangeles.about.com/od/fairsandfestivals/tp/Cinco-de-Mayo-LA.htm

Here are the Spanish names for various holidays in the United States:

New Year’s Day [Jan. 1st] – el día de Año Nuevo
Mother’s Day [2nd Sunday in May] – el Día de la Madre
Father’s Day [3rd Sunday in June] – el Día del Padre
Independence Day [July 4th] – el Día de la Independencia
Halloween [Oct. 31st] - la víspera del día de Todos los Santos
Thanskgiving [4th Thursday in November] – el Día de Acción de Gracias
Christmas Eve [Dec. 24th] - la Nochebuena
Christmas [Dec. 25th] – la Navidad
New Year’s Eve [Dec. 31st] – la víspera de Año Nuevo

There are quite a few commonly used Spanish verbs whose meaning includes a preposition, such as “to”, “of”, “out”, etc. Many beginners will make the mistake of adding the Spanish preposition after these verbs. Be sure to memorize this list!

apagar – to turn off
aprobar - to approve of
bajar – to go down
buscar – to look for
caerse – to fall down
conocer – to be acquainted with
elegir – to choose to
encender – to turn on
envolver – to wrap up
escuchar - to listen to
esperar – to hope for,wait for
lograr – to succeed in
merecer - to deserve to
mirar – to look at
pagar - to pay for
pedir - to ask for
poder - to be able to
preferir – to prefer to
sacar – to take out
subir – to go up

Actions speak louder than words
En la cancha se ven los gallos

All good things in moderation
De lo bueno, poco

Between a rock and a hard place
Entre la escapada y la pared

The cream of the crop
La flor y nata

To get up on the wrong side of the bed
Levantarse con el pie izquierdo

It makes no difference
Darle lo mismo

Once in a blue moon
De uvas a peras

Whether you like it or not
Por las buenas o por las malas

Tener is one of the most used verbs in the Spanish language and it has quite a few expressions linked to it. Here is a large list of them.

tener calor - to be warm
tener celos - to be jealous
tener cuidado - to be careful
tener derecho a - to be entitled to
tener en cuenta - to bear in mind
tener éxito - to be successful
tener frío - to be cold
tener ganas de - to feel like (+ infinitive verb)
tener hambre - to be hungry
tener la culpa - to be to blame
tener lugar - to take place
tener miedo - to be afraid
tener prisa - to be in a hurry
tener que - to have to (+ infinitive verb)
tener razón - to be right
tener sed - to be thirsty
tener sueño – to be sleepy

When it comes to Spanish in the United States, most people start learning a little Spanish in grade school/junior high and then start taking it full time. (This is thankfully changing though, and many schools are starting Spanish education younger.) However, one thing that does not seem to be standard across the United States is whether people are taught Vosotros. I have talked with many people about this topic: professors, other students, etc.

I am of the opinion that vosotros should be taught instead of completely omitted. Not only that, I am also in favor of teaching “vos” as well, or at the very least, introducing it a few times.

The main argument I hear against teaching vosotros is that vosotros shouldn’t be taught in high school Spanish, because in the United States, students are unlikely to hear it much. While it is true that you don’t often hear much use of vosotros in the U.S., what about all the culture coming out of Spain that students will see, read, etc.? This goes for vos as well. I remember way back when I was in high school and saw sentences that used vos, I had no idea what those strange verb endings were. I remember thinking they were mis-spellings! I think a lot of students that aren’t taught vosotros or vos think everyone uses “ustedes” for plural familiar you, and that everyone uses “tú” for singular familiar you. Of course, both of those assertions are wrong.

I think it would be like teaching someone Brazilian Portuguese and just completely ignoring anything to do with the Portuguese of Portugal (yes, it’s a more extreme example than with Spanish but you get the point).

And besides, isn’t one of the fun things about language learning seeing how a language has evolved in different areas of the world?

Here is a list of some commonly used Spanish verbs. There is one for almost every letter of the alphabet!

Abrir (to open)
Borrar (to erase)
Crear (to create/make)
Dormir (to sleep)
Enamorarse (to fall in love)
Felicitar (to congratulate)
Gozar (to enjoy)
Hablar (to speak/talk)
Impedir (to prevent)
Jurar (to swear)
Limpiar (to clean)
Mirar (to look at)
Nadar (to swim)
Obedecer (to obey)
Pagar (to pay)
Quejarse (to complain)
Recibir (to receive)
Saltar (to jump)
Trabajar (to work)
Utilizar (to use/utilize)
Valer (to be worth)
Zafarse (to get away)

There are several websites out there that have several free grammar exercises written by professors and instructors of Spanish.

Here are a few of my favorites:

http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/index.php

http://www.bowdoin.edu/~eyepes/newgr/

http://www.trinity.edu/mstroud/grammar/

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~annw/gramatica.html

Also, be sure to check out our collection of grammar lessons: Spanish Grammar Lessons

There are quite a few Spanish verbs that seem to give native English speakers problems. The obvious problematic verbs are “ser” and “estar” but I’d like to focus on some other ones in this post.

How do I say “to take”?!

From my experiences with native English speakers, most usually just use tomar anytime they are trying to say “to take”. However, when you are talking about taking people or objects to a different location, you must use llevar.

Darse cuenta de vs. Realizar

If you are wanting to say realize, you need to use darse cuenta de. Realizar is used as the equivalent of the English verb to succeed.

Saber vs. Conocer

The difference between these two is that saber will relate to knowing facts, knowing how to do something, etc.  Conocer can better be understood as meaning to be familiar with or to be acquainted with. Use it when you’re trying to say or ask if someone is acquainted with a person, place, or thing.

How to Say You’re Moving

Finally, remember that if you want to say that you are moving (as in changing your residence) that you need to use mudarse instead of moverse.