This is something which is similar to English, but it has a little grammatical / spelling twist in Spanish. For example, when referring to a married couple or an entire family in English we can refer to them as “the Smiths”:

“Listen to all that noise – the Smiths must be fighting again”.

Please notice the “s” that we added onto “Smith” in English, because you DONT ADD AN “S” in Spanish. The above sentence in Spanish is:

“Escucha ese jaleo – los Smith estarán peleándose otra vez.”

Here are a few more examples using Spanish names, even though it sounds weird (to me) to put the extra “s” on the end of the Spanish last names:

1. Soy amigo de los Rodriguez desde hace años. – I’ve been a friend of the Rodriguezes for years.
2. Por fin conocí a los García anoche. – I finally met Mr. and Mrs. García last night OR I finally met the García family last night.
3. De todos los vecinos los Santillana son los que mejor me caen = Of all the neighbors I like the Santiallanas the best.

One interesting exception to this is the popular series “The Simpsons”. If you do a Google search, you’ll see a roughly equal number of hits for “los Simpson” (without the “s”) and “los Simpsons” (with the “s”). I think that this is because many Spanish speaking people  who translated “the Simpsons” just translated it as they saw it without realizing that the name is actually “Simpson” as in “Homer Simpson”. The correct form should be “los Simpson” following normal usage in the Spanish language.

Brad

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If you teach a language – Spanish or any other – for a long time, you end up hearing the same errors hundreds and perhaps thousands of times. (note: if you teach languages and hearing the same error bothers you after hearing it 20 or 30 times, you should probably choose another profession).

However, there are some mistakes even the most patient teachers sometimes get tired of after  hearing them for years and years. It’s probably a very personal thing, something like a “pet peeve”. OK, here’s mine which I’ll present in the form of a supplication:

Please don’t ever say “un otro” or “una otra” in Spanish. Never. Ever. Not for any reason. It’s always just plain “otro” or “otra”.

The reason English speakers make this mistake, of course, is by thinking in English: “an = un” and “other = otro” so “another” must be “un otro”. It’s not. I promise. Here are some examples:

1. Dame otra cerveza, por favor = I’ll have another beer, please.
2. Llevaré éste y otro más = I’ll take this one and one other (or “one more”)
3. Tengo otra idea diferente = I have another, different idea
4. Tengo otras mil cosas que hacer = I have another thousand things to do
5. Queremos ésta y no otra = We want this one and not another
6. ¡Otra vez no! = Not again!

Brad

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This topic shows up in my Spanish Word a Day site this week, but I can go a bit more into detail about it here.

The English word “individual” can mean either a person (example: “he’s an important individual in this area”) or it can mean “single” (example: “it is sold in individual containers”). Grammatically, the first one is a noun and the second is an adjective.

In Spanish, the first meaning (a person) is “individuo”. The other one (single) is “individual”. Here are some examples. Notice that “individuo” as used in Spanish can have sort of slangy translations like “guy”. Here are some examples:

Individuo (a person)

1. Ayer vino un individuo y me dio la lata durante una hora = Yesterday a guy came in and annoyed me for an hour.
2. Es un individuo de que uno no se puede fiar = He’s someone that you just can’t trust.
3. ¡Ya no hablaré con ese individuo! = I won’t talk to that person again!

Individual (single)

1. La medicina se toma en dosis individuales = You take the medicine in individual doses.
2. Dormí en una habitación individual tranquila = I slept in a quiet single room.
3. Cada camisa tiene un diseño individual = Each shirt has an individual design.

Brad

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This post is about prepositions in combination with certain verbs. I decided to write it because I see my students – even the advanced one – making the same mistake over and over again. Here’s a sentence which shows both mistakes:

Me enamoré con María y me casé a ella. (this is incorrect)

First mistake: to fall in love with is enamorarse de, not “con”. The cause of this mistake is obvious: thinking in English (fall in love WITH) makes you want to say the same thing in Spanish. Well, it doesn’t work that way.

Second mistake: I got married TO her makes people want to put in the “a” in “a ella”. Sorry once again, but in Spanish (actually, what I’m about to write is Spanglish, but it’ll help you remember it) you marry yourself WITH someone.

Here are some examples:

enamorarse de

1. Me enamoré de ella la primera noche. = I fell in love with her on the first night.
2. Ella se enamorará de alguien algún día. = She’ll fall in love with someone someday.
3. Si nos enamoramos de la misma mujer, ¿qué haremos? = If we fall in love with the same woman, what will we do?

casarse con

1. Nos casamos hace siete años. = We got married seven years ago.
2. Me casaré contigo si me tratas bien. = I’ll marry you if you treat me right.
3. Ella se casó con él aunque no lo quería. = She married him even though she didn’t love him.

One further, related note: to be in love with, like to fall in love with, is “estar enamorado DE“. Examples:

1. Ella está enamorada de un hombre mayor que ella. = She’s in love with a man who is older than her.
2. He estado enamorado muchas veces. = I’ve been in love many times.
3. ¿Qué te pasa? ¿Estás enamorado de María? = What’s wrong with you? Are you in love with Maria?

Brad

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The easiest way to learn the difference is to remember that “(el) televisor” refers to the TV set itself (the apparatus or machinery). With that out of the way, you can use the word “televisión” in pretty much all other situations. Here’s a general usage definition:

“(El) televisor” is the TV set, whereas “(la) televisión” refers to the industry or programming.

Also, notice in example 4 that the verb “ver” (to see) is generally the verb used to mean “watch TV” and not the verb “mirar”.

And here are some examples:

1. ¿Por qué pasas tanto tiempo delante del televisor? =  Why do you spend so much time in front of the TV (set)?
2. No me gusta la televisión. = I don’t like (to watch) TV.
3. ¿Hay algo en la televisión esta noche? = Is there anything on TV tonight?
4. El pasa el día viendo la televisión = He spends all day watching TV.
5. Tienen una oferta en televisores esta semana = They have a special offer on TV sets this week.
6. No olvides limpiar el televisor también = Don’t forget to clean the TV set too.

Brad

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We recently discussed how to stop doing something (dejar de + infinitivo) in Spanish, and now it’s time to show the opposite: how to continue doing something.

It’s easy: use the verbs continuar or seguir plus the gerund. The gerund is, of course, what corresponds to the -”ing” form in English which for -ar verbs is -ando (hablar – hablando) and for -er and -ir verbs it’s -iendo (comer – comiendo / vivir – viviendo).

Here are some examples. Note that it doesn’t make any difference whether you use continuar or seguir. They both mean the same thing although in my experience seguir seems to be used more often for this construction, although I imagine that could vary from country to country.

1. Pepe sigue trabajando en la misma empresa = Pepe still works (is still working) in the same company.
2. Ella siguió hablando sin hacerme caso = She kept on talking without paying any attention to me.
3. Espero que continúes mejorando tus notas = I hope you continue improving your grades.
4. El seguirá criticando al gobierno pase lo que pase = He’ll keep on criticizing the government no matter what happens.
5. Como usted continúe metiendo la pata, le echarán del equipo = If you continue making mistakes, they’ll kick you off the team.
6. Sigue cantando – me gusta mucho – Keep on singing – I really like it.

Brad

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Look for “stop” in the dictionary. It will show you “parar” which means “to stop”, but usually in a physical sense:

El autobús para cerca de aquí = The bus stops near here.
Tuvimos que parar cuatro veces para echar gasolina = We had to stop four times to put in gas.

But when you want to talk about stopping some sort of activity, you use the verbal expression “dejar de + infinitivo” in Spanish. Here are some examples:

1. José dejó de fumar hace 3 años = José stopped smoking 3 years ago.
2. ¡Deja de hacer tanto ruido! = Stop making so much noise!
3. Ella se enfadó y dejó de llamarme = She got mad and stopped calling me.
4. Dejaré de trabajar cuando sea viejo = I’ll stop working when I get old.

On a related note, you can use “dejar” alone when telling someone to stop doing something:

1. Deja lo que estás haciendo y ven conmigo = Stop what you’re doing and come with me.
2. Deja eso y escúchame = Stop (doing) that and listen to me.

Brad

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The Spanish word “éxito” is not an “exit” – an exit is usually a “salida” in Spanish. It comes from the verb “salir” which means “to leave“. Here are a couple of examples:

1. (conduciendo) Tenemos que tomar la próxima salida = (driving) We have to take the next exit.
2. La salida de emergencia del cine estaba cerrada = The cinema’s emergency exit was closed.
3. (una señal de tráfico) Sin salida = (a traffic sign) No exit.

The word “éxito” always has something to do with success. It is most commonly found in the verbal expression “tener éxito” which translates as “to be successful” or the expression “con éxito” which means “successfully“. Also there’s the noun “éxito” which means “best-seller” or “hit“. Here are some examples:

1. Lo intentamos pero no tuvimos éxito = We tried, but we weren’t successful.
2. El tiene mucho éxito en su negocio = He’s very successful in his business.
3. El experimento salió con éxito = The experiment was successful.
4. Compré un DVD que se llama “Los grandes éxitos de los Beatles” = I bought a DVD called “The Beatles Greatest Hits“.

Brad

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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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