Know your 'verbos'.
What's the difference between
constar, costar y acostar?
.
.
.
constar = to consist of
El examen consta de dos partes.
The exam consists of two parts
costar = to cost
Los mangos cuestan veinticinco
centavos cada uno.
The mangos cost 25 centavos each.
acostar = to lie down or put to bed
Know your nouns.
What's the difference between
maldito, bendito y bandido?
.
.
.
el maldito = the wicked, the damned,
the cursed
el bendito = the sacred or the blessed
el bandido = the bandit, outlaw, hoodlum
maldito y bendito are also used as adjectives.
Aerial maneuvers -- take off and landing.
There is a common Spanish verb
despegar that means to remove, detach
or unstick.
The same verb is used with reference to
a plane or a rocket ship taking off from Earth.
El avión no despegó debido a adversas
condiciones meteorológicas.
The plane didn't take off due to
adverse weather conditions.
When that plane touches down, the
verb commonly uses is aterrizar,
to land. Note the similarity to the
noun 'tierra,' which means soil, ground
or earth.
This verb is not to be confused with
aterrorizar, which means 'to terrify'.
Makin' stuff.
Many Spanish verbs can be utilized that are
in the 'make' something class.
Verbs that mean 'to make':
hacer
producir
fabricar to manufacture
crear to create
realizar
duplicar
formar
efectuar to make a payment or trip,
or carry out a project
elaborar (often used with food preparation)
In sports, the word anotar means to score
or make .. a goal, points or (baseball) a run.
The good, the bad and the ugly.
.
.
.
the good = el bueno
the bad = el malo
the ugly = el feo (FAY-oh)
How did you learn Spanish. Did you go to school or learn it on your own while living in Ecuador?
I thin I will do better when I am in a Spanish speaking country. I can speak well enough but I do not understand when spoken tol
But cc, I appreciate your entries. I read and learn from someone who is there.
"I thin I will do better when I am in a Spanish speaking country."
--Sestone
---
Vaya! You're speaking English ("thin") like the
fictional Cuban band leader Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) from
"I Love Lucy."
---
I studied Spanish for two years in high school (Montrose, NY).
I visited Mexico for a week or so several times, especially
when I was living in San Diego, CA, about 15 years ago.
For my first two years living in Ecuador (2013-15),
I made it a daily practice to study Spanish at home.
My method was to record TV programs and movies
with Spanish subtitles, then play them back with
liberal use of a DVR pause button, a bilingual dictionary
and Wordreference.com ... I spent an hour or two daily
in real time on the project. Naturally, I had plentiful
opportunities in the Ecuadorian capital to use
the español that I was learning.
cccmedia in Quito, Ecuador
The art of 'el arte'.
You may remember from high school Spanish
that all nouns in español are designated as
either masculine or feminine.
However, this is not always the case.
According to Wordreference.com, the noun
el arte is 'ambos' (both) masculine and/or
feminine.
When 'arte' is feminine, 'el arte' is still correct
to say .. because of the rule that when an
A-word feminine noun's accent is on the first
syllable, then el -- meaning 'the' -- is used
instead of la.
El arte en este museo es magnífica.
The art in this museum is magnificent.
El arte en este museo es magnífico.
The art in this museum is magnificent.
What a Gringo thinks.
A Gringo may think that you stick the
letter 'O' at the back of an English noun
and you would then know the
Spanish equivalent.
That's not always so, although
'canino' is the Spanish word for
a dog or canine.
gusto
What a Gringo thinks it means...
a gust of wind.
What it really means...
pleasure or enthusiasm.
Asked to do something, many
Spanish speakers will respond:
Con gusto.
The Spanish word ráfaga
can be used for 'gust of wind'.
---
mano
What a Gringo thinks it means... man.
What it really means... hand.
(It's a feminine word -- la mano.)
---
olivo
What a Gringo thinks it means... olive.
What it really means... olive tree.
A common word for 'olive' is
aceituna. Also: oliva.
Famous line from The Wizard of Oz.
"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"
lions leones, leonas
tigers tigres, tigresas
bears osos, osas
oh my! O!
Movie title.
We invite you to translate this title:
A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum.
(1966 farce set in Ancient Rome starring Zero Mostel,
Phil Silvers and Buster Keaton.)
---
One possible translation...
Algo Divertido Ocurrió en Camino a El Foro.
@MByerly You can download alternate (virtual) keyboards that suit your particular needs. I had one on a prior system but never really had the patience to learn to use it.
Do you know what he meant?
This entry contains a snippet of music history
and then includes an opportunity to translate
the most famous line of the lead song of
the Beatles' first album.
That line, as some may have guessed, is:
She was just 17, if you know what I mean
And the way she looked
was way beyond compare.
Paul McCartney was having a hard time with
completing the line about 'the way she looked',
it was later revealed.
The Beatles went with the '17' phrase, which
generated some controversy although the
age of consent in the U.K. in the 1960s
was 16.
According to the BBC, USA comedy icon
Jerry Seinfeld once asked Paul McCartney,
"Just Seventeen, if you know what I mean?
I'm not sure we do know what you mean."
---
Please translate to Spanish the
following...
She was just seventeen,
if you know what I mean.
.
.
.
Ella tuvo solamente diecisiete años,
si sabes lo que quiero decir.
(Doesn't seem to have the
same iconic ring, does it?)
---
The song title, by the way, was
"I Saw Her Standing There."
-- cccmedia
Famous sayings in Spanish.
Let's do a translation. Here is today's saying...
Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres.
.
.
.
Tell me with whom you go and I'll tell you
who you are.
Credit... Fluentu.com
Know your Spanish 'verbos'.
What's the difference between creer,
crear y criar/criarse?
.
.
.
creer = to believe
crear = to create
criar = to raise or bring up (crops, kids)
Me criaron judío.
I was raised Jewish.
Know your 'verbos'.
What's the difference between rasgar,
rascar y rastrear?
.
.
.
rasgar = to tear or rip
rascar = to scratch or scrape
rastrear = to trail, as in tracking an animal
---
The noun rasgo can mean a 'characteristic'.
What a Gringo thinks.
Tu actuación me defraudó.
Your behavior disappointed me.
Conversation heard this evening between
a Gringo and Quito police at García Moreno
y Mejía, where police put up one of
many barricades in anti. cipation of the
latest protests near the government-buildings
section of El Centro.
Gringo: Quiero visitar el restaurante allí.
I want to visit the restaurant over there.
Policía: No puede pasar.
You may not pass.
Gringo: Por qué no?
Why not?
Policía: Manifestaciones.
Protests.
Gringo: Es la tercera vez dentro de
una semana.
(Policía nod in agreement.)
Gringo: La gente no está feliz.
The people are not happy.
Five numbers.
Stick around a minute and you can take
a quiz.
We'll pick five numbers.
See if you can say them in Spanish.
Answers below.
Here are the five....
12 ... 50 ... 500 ... 3,008 ... 1947
.
.
.
.
12 doce (DUH-say)
50 cincuenta
500 quinientos (keen-YEN-tose)
3,008 tres mil ocho
1947 mil novecientos cuarenta y siete
E-mail addresses.
Don't get thrown by the intricacies
of Spanish-language email addresses.
Here are some details you should know
when giving out or receiving an email
address...
@ is called 'arroba'.
.com is said as punto-com
Underscore ( _ ) is called 'guión bajo'.
'Guión' means script, 'bajo' means low.
ccc guión bajo media arroba expatmail punto com
---
The above email-style address is not a real
address and is submitted here only as
an instructional example.
Checkout line at the supermarket:
how to get a little help from your 'friends'.
Do you ever do a major shopping trip to
a 'supermercado' .. only to find yourself
exhausted by the time you reach the
checkout line.
Below is a sentence you may want to remember
in such an instance. For some, it may be especially
useful at the 'preferencia' line that is
reserved for pregnant persons, 65-plus seniors
and 'discapacitados'.
Debido a una falta de energía, me convendría
si personal de MegaMaxi pueda descargar
las mercancías.
Due to a lack of energy, it would suit me
if MegaMaxi staff could unload the merchandise.
---
At this point, expect that the cashier or a 'mozo'
will unload your purchases onto the
cashier station conveyor belt. Your next move
may be to pull out your store card, your ID
and your cash or payment plastic.
Mañana.
By now you may know that ayer means
yesterday .. and, at least technically,
mañana means tomorrow.
La mañana means the morning.
So: mañana por la mañana =
tomorrow morning
---
Culturally, mañana can mean
tomorrow .. or it can mean any day
after tomorrow. It's a challenge for
Gringos to determine or confirm
which day is being referenced.
And don't forget anteayer - the day before yesterday,
and pasado mañana - the day after tomorrow.
Even a Gringo.
Even a Gringo should be able to scope out
some Spanish words.
What is the Spanish word for ...
omit or leave out ... omitir
admit or accept ... admitir
emit or send out ... emitir
Know your nouns.
What's the difference between
mosca, moza y mostaza?
.
.
.
una mosca = a fly
un mozo, una moza = a youth or single person
mostaza = mustard
Clean your kitchen floor.
Please translate the English words on the left.
Spanish is on the right side.
mop mopa, fregona
broom escoba
dustpan pala
All the above Spanish words are feminine,
e.g., la pala.
Brother Archer, would you say
'la escoba' or 'el escoba'?
Brother Archer, would you say
'la escoba' or 'el escoba'?
La escoba is correct, it follows the rule of feminine nouns ending in "a" (even though there are exceptions like "el agua" and "la mano").
@cccmedia
How to Change Your Keyboard Language on Windows
Click on the Windows icon on the bottom left corner of your screen.
Click on "Settings".
Click on "Time & language".
Click on "Region and language".
Choose Spanish.
Click on "Options".
Click on "Add a keyboard".
Select a Spanish keyboard.
Select a Spanish keyboard.
No need to select a Spanish keyboard. Select English International. Then you simply first type ' and then a, e, i, o or u to get á, é, í, ó or ú, and the same for upper case. For the ü type first " then u. For ñ first type ~ then the n. Right Alt ! gives you ¡ and Right Alt ? gives you ¿
What do you know about this word?
What do you know about the word el hacha?
There are some oddities.
First, what does the word mean?
In English, it means 'the axe'.
Next, is this word masculine or feminine?
Answer: el hacha is feminine, despite the
fact that it takes the article 'el', which is
normally associated with masculine words.
Because the 'h' in hacha is silent, it follows
the formula for words that begin with an 'a'
in which the first syllable is stressed.
For example, 'el área', a feminine word meaning
'the area'.
Pronouncer ... AH-chah
Know your Spanish nouns.
What's the difference between ala, alma y ama?
ala = wing
alma = soul
amo/ama. = owner or master (m.), owner or mistress (f.)
ama de llaves (at hotel) = housekeeper (mistress of keys)
--
These three words starting and ending in 'a' are feminine.
Following the rule about nouns starting with 'a' with
the stress on the first syllable, the associated article is 'el'.
el ala, el alma
Do we say 'el ama' or 'la ama', Osage?
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