How to Make Comparisons in Spanish
When you are learning Spanish one of the things that you will want to learn is how to compare things. Even if you don’t like judging things or people, in everyday life you often need to compare things to make simple decisions.
For example, you may be discussing with friends which bar you want to go to, which meal you want to order or suggest to someone else to order.
Here are the rules to make comparisons in Spanish: Continue reading
Essential Spanish Phrases to Ask For and Understand Directions
One of the first things that beginners of Spanish who regularly travel to Spain want to learn is how to ask for directions and how to understand the answers you might get.
For some reason, people either love or hate this subject in Spanish.
It is just a case of learning the key verbs and words, you don’t need to understand long complex sentences. With the whole topic of asking for and understanding directions abroad, the most important thing is to be able to understand what the Spanish words mean and to be able to listen to them and interpret into English rather than learn to say them in Spanish, unless of course you are mistaken for a local and know the area really well so you can give directions. Continue reading
¡Feliz Día de San Valentín!
Valentine’s Day in Hispanic countries
In Spain, Valentine’s Day (El Día de San Valentín or El Día de Enamorados) is celebrated on 14th February in much the same way as in the UK and America. Restaurants are fully booked, cards, flowers and chocolates are sent. In most of South America it is known as “El Día del Amor y la Amistad” (Love and Friendship Day). This day is not just for lovers but friends also go out for dinner.
Here are some romantic words and expressions related to love and relationships in Spanish: Continue reading
5 tips to improve your Spanish pronunciation.
Learning new words and understanding the grammar is just half the battle when learning a language. If you don’t pronounce the words correctly you will find communicating effectively with native speakers difficult which can sometimes lead to confusion and embarrassment. Here are some useful tips on how you can improve your pronunciation and sound like a native Spanish speaker in no time at all! Continue reading
Spanish idioms using colours
Rojo
- Ponerse rojo: To blush/go red (get embarrassed)
e.g. Cuando le dio cumplidos, se puso roja – When he gave her compliments, she went red. Continue reading
5 Easy Ways to Use the Spanish Subjunctive in Everyday Conversation
When you are learning Spanish you soon come across grammatical jargon that just doesn’t make sense – things like, the ‘subject of the verb’, ‘object pronouns’, ‘possessive adjectives’ and the ‘subjunctive’! You panic as you don’t know what these all mean. The problem is most of us haven’t learnt English grammar at school so when faced with these terms it is natural to worry that you won’t understand. However, all these are, are names of parts of the language we speak all the time. For example, the subject of the verb is simply, “I”, “he”, “she”, “we”, “you” or “they”. A possessive adjective is just “my”, “your”, “his”, “her”, “our”, “their”. We use these all the time but we don’t know what they are actually called. Likewise, using the subjunctive is just the same. We use it without knowing that we are. Continue reading
7 Common Uses of the Spanish Verb “Pasar”
The verb pasar in Spanish is one of the most used verbs in Spanish. It is used in many different situations so can seem tricky to use and therefore cannot be translated in one word easily. However, the good thing is that it is a regular verb, so it is easy to conjugate in any tense.
In this blog post we will look at the 7 most common uses of pasar:
1) To spend time
2) To happen
3) Relating to a place
4) Change of state or condition
5) Accepting and adapting to a situation
6) To pass an object to someone
7) Experience something good or bad Continue reading
Spanish Football Phrases
Join in with the locals by discussing football!
With the Euros just underway now is a great time to learn some football lingo! What better way to strike up conversation with the Spanish people than to discuss football! It is worth pointing out to start with that some football related words vary depending on country and region.
Here are some key words and phrases to start you off.
Remember, some of the endings will change depending on whether they are male or female.
Spanish positions / titles:
football player – el/la futbolista
coach – entrenador/a
captain – el capitán
goalkeeper – portero/a / el guardameta Continue reading
Online Resources to Learn Spanish Fast
Nowadays there are so many language learning apps, websites, and online resources out there that anyone can learn a language from the comfort of their own home without ever having to visit the country where the language is spoken.
In this blog post we will look at the many different online resources to help you with your speaking, listening, reading and writing skills when learning Spanish. (Most of these apply to all language learning.) Continue reading
75 Cognates in Spanish
When you start learning Spanish one of the great things is that you already know hundreds of Spanish words without even trying as they are the same as English words! Words that are the same in English and Spanish are called cognates. Here is an infographic of 75 common Spanish cognates: Continue reading
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