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
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)
I wanted to write a few posts about language learning in general and ways that can help “speed up” and improve the process a little bit.
First I wanted to focus on vocabulary building.
When I was learning my first foreign language (Spanish), I had a few methods that I used to help me learn and retain vocab words.
1. Flashcards
Flashcards are my absolute favorite, because you can quiz yourself on vocabulary either English -> Spanish or Spanish -> English just by flipping the cards over. I think it’s really important to be able to do both. I get asked sometimes “Should I practice from Spanish -> English or English -> Spanish?” and my answer is that you should be practicing both ways!
2. Post-It-Note Labels
Another favorite of mine was putting up little post-it-notes on the objects I was learning vocabulary. [For example, "la cama" on a bed, "la puerta" on a door, etc.] The idea is that you are seeing the item “in real life” while processing the word in your mind. This is more effective for some people than others.
3. Using Vocabulary in Sentences
A good way to get a good working knowledge of a vocabulary word going is to use it in a few sentences as soon as you first learn it. Stimulate your mind a little further than just seeing the one word!
4. Vocabulary Lists
Lastly, I love themed vocabulary lists. It is so much easier to retain words when you are learning them with other similar words according to some sort of cohesive theme. I have made about 40 lists of Spanish words that you can check out: Spanish Words
Here is a list of some common Spanish phrases and expressions that begin with “B”.
Bajo llave – Under lock and key
Bien me lo merezco - It serves me right
Boca abajo – Face down
Boca arriba – Face up
Bromas aparte – All joking aside
Buen provecho – Enjoy your meal
Being aware of false cognates is important, because you don’t want to say something without knowing it actually means something completely different!
Following is a list of some common false cognates (also known as “false friends”):
actual
actual meaning: present, current
asistir
actual meaning: to attend
balde
actual meaning: bucket
billón
actual meaning: trillion
carpeta
actual meaning: file
cigarro
actual meaning: cigarette
conferencia
actual meaning: lecture; meeting
contar
actual meaning: to tell, to relate (a story)
dirección
actual meaning: address
embarazada
actual meaning: pregnant
excitado
actual meaning: [sexually] aroused
éxito
actual meaning: success
fábrica
actual meaning: factory
largo
actual meaning: long
realizar
actual meaning: to achieve
recordar
actual meaning: to remember
ropa
actual meaning: clothing
sano
actual meaning: healthy
sopa
actual meaning: soup
suceso
actual meaning: event
One of the first steps to learning a language is of course learning how to greet people and introduce yourself.
Spanish has many different options for greeting others. Here are the universally understood greetings.
¡Hola! – Hello!
¿Cómo está? – How are you? [formal]
¿Cómo estás? – How are you? [informal]
¿Qué tal? – How’s it going?
¿Cómo se llama usted? – What’s your name? [formal]
¿Cómo te llamas? - What’s your name? [informal]
If you are in México, you might instead hear:
¿Qué onda? – how’s it going?
Some common answers are:
Estoy bien or Bien. – Good.
Muy bien. – Great.
And of course, you can add “thank you”:
Gracias. – Thank you.
Estoy bien, gracias. – I’m fine, thank you.
To state your name, say:
Me llamo… [name] – My name is… [name]
Soy de [country] – I’m from [country]
In response to meeting someone, you say:
¡Mucho gusto! – Pleased to meet you!
To say goodbye, you have several options:
¡Adiós! - Goodbye
¡Hasta luego! - See you later!
¡Hasta pronto! - See you soon!
Nos vemos. - See you soon.
¡Chau! – Bye! (informal)
One special note is that many native English speakers assume that one answers the phone by saying “¿hola?”, but you will usually hear people say “bueno”, “aló”, or “diga”.
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