A quick post today that might save you some embarrassment if you’re beginning to learn Spanish:

“EMBARAZADA” does NOT mean “EMBARRASSED” – it means “PREGNANT”

Examples:

1. Estoy embarazada de ocho meses. = I’m eight months pregnant.
2. Mi mujer está embarazada otra vez. = My wife is pregnant again.
3. Es mi tercer embarazo. = It’s my third pregnancy.

If you want to say you are embarrassed in Spanish, there are different ways to do it but they usually revolve around the word “vergüenza” which means “shame” or “embarrassment“. Some examples:

1. Me da vergüenza hablar en público. = I’m embarrassed to speak in public.
2. Siento vergüenza cuando la veo. = I feel embarrassed when I see her.
3. Tenía tanta vergüenza que no podía hablar. = I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t speak.

Brad

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Someone compliments you on being “educado” or “educada” in Spanish and they know nothing about where or if you have studied. What’s going on? The answer:

(Spanish) educado = (English) well-mannered, polite

Ok, now that we’ve figured out that they think you are well-mannered, but what would they say if they think you are an educated person, possibly with a PhD. The answer:

(Spanish) culto = (English) educated / knowledgable

Here are a few more examples:

1. ¡Qué joven más educado! = What a well-mannered/polite young man!

2. Mi tío es un hombre muy culto. = My uncle is a very educated/knowledgeable man.

The opposite of “educado”:
3. ¡Qué hombre más mal educado! = What a rude man!

And the opposite of “culto”:
4. Es un pobre hombre inculto. = He’s a poor, uneducated man.

I’m sure that all of the readers of this blog are both educados and cultos as well!

Brad

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There are different Spanish words for the English word “season”, depending on what you are referring to. Here are the main divisions:

Time of year (usually associated with weather) = estación
Specific activity or event (like harvest) = temporada / época

Here are some examples of how these words are used in Spanish:

Seasons (time of year)
invierno = winter
primavera = spring
verano = summer
otoño = fall/autumn

Sports
baseball season = temporada de béisbol
basketball season = temporada de baloncesto

Weather
dry season = estación seca
cold season = estación del frío
wet/rainy season = temporada de lluvia

Tourism
high season = temporada alta
mid season = temporada media
low season = temporada baja

Agriculture / Food
out of season = fuera de temporada
sowing season = época de la siembra
season of grape harvest = vendimia

Others
season ticket = abono de temporada
season ticket holder = abonado
silly season = temporada boba

Brad

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A nice example of an expression which can’t be translated literally. The verb “arrimar” means “to move/bring … closer” in, for example, a sentence like this:

El arrimó el sillón a la pared = He pushed/moved the armchair up against the wall

“hombro” means “shoulder” so the expression “arrimar el hombro” should mean “move a shoulder”, but no, it’s real translation is “to lend a hand” or just “help”.

I’ve chosen this particular expression because here in Spain we’ve been forced to hear the expression several times a week for the past six years since the socialist government won the elections. They have an insidious strategy: they decide to introduce a new law or do away with an old one and when the opposition party protests, they say “Estamos intentando salvar/modernizar/cambiar el país y la oposición se niega a arrimar el hombro” meaning “We’re trying to save/modernize/change the country and the opposition party refuses to lend a hand”. They say this as if the opposition were morally obliged to support anything they propose instead of doing what the opposition is supposed to do: oppose.

Sorry to go off on a small tangent, but the expression becomes quite tiresome when used this way. Hopefully you will find better uses for it.

Brad

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In this post, I’m not going to discuss whether “deber” is translated as “must” or “should”. You can already find lots of discussion of that topic on the Internet. I’m going to translate it as “should” for the purposes of this article.

Instead, I want to point out a common usage of the future tense in Spanish which English speakers find either odd or confusing or both. Most language learners learn that:

debería   deberíamos
deberías  deberíais
debería   deberían

which is actually the conditional tense form of “deber”, and is also what is usually translated into English as “should” when referring to something in the present:

Deberías estudiar más. = You should study more.
No deberías comer tanto. = You shouldn’t eat so much.
Deberían bajar los precios. = They should lower the prices.

All of the examples imply something that can/could be acted on NOW.

When we refer to something that should be done in the FUTURE, you can also use the future tense of deber:

Deberás estudiar más este fin de semana. = You should study more this weekend.
No deberás comer tanto cuando vuelvas a casa. = You shouldn’t eat so much when you go back home.
Deberán bajar los precios el año que viene. = They should lower the prices next year.

So what’s the difference between “deberías estudiar más” and “deberás estudiar más”? Well, that’s where the “should” or “must” debate starts again. Some would argue that the “deberás estudiar más” example above should be translated as “You must study more this weekend” when in reality, it could be either “should” or “must”, depending on the situation and the kind of emphasis you give it. It’s definitely not a black and white issue.

Brad

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This is an odd one among the false cognates between English and Spanish. The two words have similar meanings in each language, the main difference being that the English word “disgust” is much stronger than Spanish “disgusto”. The Spanish version is more similar to being an annoyance while the English version shows outright repugnance.

(Spanish) disgusto = (English) annoyance, displeasure
(English) disgust = (Spanish) repugnancia, indignación

Some examples:

Spanish

(disgusto)
1. El niño me ha dado un disgusto hoy.
2. Vas a tener un disgusto como sigas así.
3. Tuve un disgusto con mi mujer sobre una tontería.
(disgust)
4. El salió de la reunión indignado con lo que le habían dicho.
5. ¡Me da asco ese hombre!
6. Le miré con repugnancia.

English

(disgusto)
1. The boy gave me a bad time today.
2. Your going to have a big problem if you continue like that.
3. I had a spat with my wife over something stupid.
(disgust)
4. He left the meeting disgusted with what they had told him.
5. That man is disgusting!
6. I looked at him with disgust.

Brad

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The words “delito” and “delight” resemble each other somewhat and can cause confusion, but they are very different things:

(Spanish) delito = (English) crime, offence
(English) delight = (Spanish) encanto

Some examples:

Spanish

(delito)
1. Es un delito robar en una tienda.
2. Se cometieron menos delitos este año que el año pasado.
3. Ese tipo de delito se paga caro.
(encanto)
4. El niño es un encanto.
5. ¡Qué encanto de mujer!
6. Su casa es un encanto.

English

(crime)
1. It’s a crime to steal in a shop.
2. Fewer crimes were committed this year than last year.
3. That sort of crime has a high price.
(delight)
4. The boy is delightful.
5. What a lovely/delightful woman!
6. Their house is lovely/delightful.

Brad

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Yesterday, my wife told me that she had tried to call her aunt who lives just up the street and had got no answer. Since I knew that the aunt is frequently in the back part of the house and the phone is in the front, we had the following exchange:

yo: ¿Por qué no te acercas?
ella: Sí, ya me voy a acercar.

which translated into everyday English would be something like:

me: Why don’t you go to her house?
her: Yeah, I’ll go in a moment.

It suddenly occurred to me that this use of “acercarse” might not be obvious to an English speaker learning Spanish. I looked at “acercarse” on a couple of online dictionaries and they defined the verb as:

1. To approach, to come near, draw near, to come close to.
2. To be reconciled (amantes).
3. Acercarse a (Comp.), to close in on.

You really have to stretch your imagination to correlate the dictionary definition to the way we used the verb in our little conversation.

The point is that dictionaries are wonderful, necessary aids in learning a language but they can and do fall short at times when showing common usages. Frequently they just point you in the right direction, and you’ll have to go beyond what the dictionary says out there in real life, in one way or another.

Brad

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“Corresponder” and “correspond” sure look like they should mean the same thing, don’t they? But the real meanings are:

(Spanish) corresponder = (English) match / coincide with
(English) correspond = (Spanish) escribirse (write to each other)

Here are some examples of each one:

Spanish

(corresponder)
1. A ti te corresponde la mitad del dinero.
2. A ella le corresponde escribir el resumen – a mí no.
3. El tiene el lugar que le corresponde.
4. Este texto no corresponde a esta foto.
(escribirse)
5. Mi hermana y yo nos escribimos una vez al mes.
6. Pedro y yo ya no nos escribimos.

English

1. You are entitled to half of the money.
2. It’s her job to write the summary – not mine.
3. He is now in the appropriate place.
4. This text doesn’t go with this photo.
5. My sister and I correspond once a month.
6. Pedro and I no longer correspond.

Brad

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Entrar (en)

To enter or go into a place in Spanish the verb “entrar” is used in Spanish. It’s easy to remember since both the English and Spanish forms come from Latin.

The problem that students of Spanish encounter is that they forget to use the preposition “en” when mentioning the place. Here are some examples:

Spanish

1. Entramos pero sólo nos quedamos cinco minutos. (no “en”)
2. Entramos en el restaurante pero sólo nos quedamos cinco minutos. (must use “en”)
3. Entré en la tienda pero no había nadie. (must use “en”)
4. Ella entró y terminó gastando todo su dinero. (no “en”)
5. Ella entró en la tienda y terminó gastando todo su dinero. (must use “en”)

English

1. We went in but we only stayed five minutes.
2. We went into the restaurant but we only stayed five minutes.
3. I went into the shop but no one was there.
4. She went in and ended up spending all of her money.
5. She went into the shop and ended up spending all of her money.

Salir (de)

To leave a place, “salir” is one of the verbs you can use. You can also use “irse”, “dejar” and “abandonar”, but I want to talk about “salir” today since it is possibly the most common verb to use.

Once again, the problem for students is a preposition (this time “de”), which must be used when you mention the place you are leaving. Examples:

Spanish

1. Salimos sobre las 8:00. (no “de”)
2. Salimos de la fiesta sobre las 8:00. (must use “de”)
3. Salieron del hotel y entraron en una cafetería. (must use “de”)
4. Saldré cuando termine. (no “de”)
5. Saldré de la oficina cuando termine. (must use “de”)

English

1. We left about 8:00.
2. We left the party around 8:00.
3. They left the hotel and went into a cafe.
4. I’ll leave when I finish.
5. I’ll leave the office when I finish.

Brad

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