Posts under Vocabulary

Cuéntame todo.

Posted by adir ferreira
Sep
24
2009

The verb contar has several meanings. Check them out!

1. to count (to add up)

Ella quiere perder peso sin contar calorías. – She wants to lose weight without counting calories.

2. to tell (a story)

¿Le contaste la historia a tu hermano? – Did you tell your brother the story?
No se lo cuente a nadie. – Don’t tell anybody.

3. to have (a period of time)

Cuenta 15 años de experiencia en periodismo. – He has 15 years of experience in journalism.

4. to count (to matter)

La maestra dijo que ese error no cuenta. – The teacher said this mistake doesn’t count.

5. used with “con”

Cuento contigo. – I’m counting on you.
Cuento con los derechos de reventa de los libros de Stephen King. – I have the resale rights for Stephen King’s books.
Tuve que contar con expertos en biología para terminar tal trabajo. – I had to count on Biology experts to finish that job.

6. Con esto yo no contaba. – I wasn’t expecting this.

7. ¿Qué te cuentas? – What’s happening?

9. to count oneself in, to considerer oneself as.

Los medios estadounidenses se cuentan entre los mejores del mundo. – The American media are among the best in the world.

Nos vemos prontito.

 
Posted under Language, Spanish Language, Vocabulary
Tagged with 		1 Comment | Post a Comment

Word Origins: placebo, domingo y ostra

Posted by adir ferreira
Sep
18
2009

Placebo (same spelling in English and Spanish) is a harmless substance given to a sick person instead of medicine, without telling them it is not real. They’re often used in tests in which some people take real medicine and others take a placebo, so that doctors can compare the results to see if the real medicine works properly.

The word placebo comes from Latin and it is the future of the verb to please or satisfy; it denotes the idea that doctors prescribe a placebo just to satisfy/please his patient.

Domingo – Pope Sylvester I hold office between the years 314 and 335, and he was the first to name the seventh day of the week dominicus, because it was “the day to consecrate the Lord” (Dominus). Before that, Romans had called Sunday dies solis (day of the sun) and such denomination influenced other languages like English (Sunday), German (Sonntag), Dtuch (zondag), and Swedish (söndag).

Pope Sylvester I was canonized as St. Sylvester – his day is celebrated on December 31st – and his calling Sunday the seventh day of the week had geographical impact almost ten centuries later: when Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean on November 3rd 1493, he landed in an island in the Small Antilles, which he named Dominica, because it was a Sunday, according to the Julian calendar.

Ostra (oyster)

The word ostra, which comes from Latin ostrea, has a very interesting story in Spanish. Around the 14th century, it lost the r and became ostia, thus becoming a homophone with the word hostia (host as sacramental bread, coming from the Latin for sacrifice) and lending itself to all sorts of puns, which was considered a sacrilege. However sacrilegious it was, this form imposed itself in most of the Iberian Peninsula and, even today in Andalusia, the word for oyster is ostión. Later on, due to pressure from the Vatican, it adopted the form ostra, the same form in the language of Camões and Machado de Assis (Portuguese).

Nos vemos prontito.

 
Posted under Culture, Spanish Language, Vocabulary
Tagged with 		1 Comment | Post a Comment

Verbs and Prepositions

Posted by adir ferreira
Sep
14
2009

Verbs and other words change meaning when used with some prepositions. Let’s have a look at some of them.

1. deber

Deber – have to, must (obligation) – Debes estudiar mucho para la prueba. (You have to study a lot for the test.)

Deber de – must, should (probability) – Hoy no ha venido; debe de estar enferma. (She didn’t come today; she must be sick.)

2. dar

Darse a (to work hard, to start doing something vigorously) – Para no perder la beca, me daré al estudio. (I will study hard so I don’t lose my scholarship.) – Después de que su mujer lo abandonara, se dio a beber. (He started drinking after his wife left him.)

Darse con uno (to run into someone) – Se dieron con Rosa en la fiesta. (They ran into Rosa at the party.)

Dar por (to consider something finished) – Esta tarea la doy por concluida. (This task is over and done with.)

Darse sobre uno (to attack) – El perro se dio sobre el niño y casi lo mató. (The dog attacked the boy and almost killed him.)

Dar para (stretch to cover) – Nuestro presupuesto no da para comprar un coche nuevo. (Our budget is not enough to buy a new car.)

Nos vemos prontito.

 
Posted under Language, Spanish Language, Vocabulary
Tagged with 		2 Comments | Post a Comment

Partes del Coche

Posted by adir ferreira
Aug
31
2009

I had this great teacher and friend, Mariza Ribeiro, and she taught me a very valuable lesson. Learn a bit about everything, vocabulary-wise. So today we’re going to learn a bit about parts of the car. Check them out!

Acelerador – gas pedal
Asiento – seat
Cambio de marchas – gear shift
Embrague – clutch
Espejo lateral – wing mirror
Faro – headlight
Freno – brake
Freno de mano – handbrake
Guantera – glove box
Limpiaparabrisas – windshield wipers
Luz intermitente – turn signal
Maletero / portaequipaje – trunk
Matrícula – license plate
Neumático – tire
Parabrisa – windshield
Parachoques – bumper
Puerta – door
Rueda – wheel
Salpicadero – dashboard
Velocímetro – speedometer
Ventana – window
Volante – steering wheel

Can you say what part of the car above these definitions are about?

1. En los vehículos automóviles, tablero situado delante del asiento del conductor, y en el que se hallan algunos mandos y aparatos indicadores.

2. Pieza, generalmente en forma de aro, con la que el conductor dirige un vehículo automóvil.

3. Mecanismo que se adapta a la parte exterior del parabrisas y que, moviéndose de un lado a otro, aparta la lluvia o la nieve que cae sobre él.

4. Caja del salpicadero de los vehículos automóviles en la que se guardan guantes y otros objetos.

5. Mecanismo que sirve en las máquinas y carruajes para moderar o detener el movimiento.

See you guys next time!

 
Posted under Spanish Language, Vocabulary
Tagged with 		1 Comment | Post a Comment

Prepositions and Art

Posted by adir ferreira
Aug
27
2009

Let’s practice our prepositions with a little bit of art. Using this Van gogh’s painting from 1889, fill in the blanks with the following prepositions:

ENCIMA DE / SOBRE
A LA IZQUIERDA (DE)
DELANTE (DE) / ENFRENTE
BAJO / DEBAJO DE
A LA DERECHA (DE)
DETRÁS DE
DENTRO DE
CERCA (DE)
ARRIBA / ENCIMA DE
FUERA
LEJOS (DE)
AL FONDO (DE)
AL LADO DE

a. Hay una silla … la cama.
b. La ventana está … la habitación.
c. Hay algunos objetos … la mesilla.
d. El espejo está … la ventana.
e. No hay nada … la mesilla.
f. En la pared, … , hay cuatro cuadros colgados.
g. Hay otra silla … la habitación.
h. … la cabecera de la cama hay una percha con ropas colgadas.

Nos vemos prontito.

 
Posted under Culture, Language, Spanish Language, Vocabulary
Tagged with , 		0 Comments | Post a Comment