Spanish Lesson Beginner 28 Talking about the weather in Spanish

Posted by Laura No Comments
Jan 11 2012
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Hola. ¿Qué tal?

Today we will see how to describe the weather in Spanish with lots of useful Spanish vocabulary and expressions.

• Hace sol: It´s sunny
• Hace aire: It´s breezy
• Hace (mucho) viento: It´s (very) windy
• Hace (mucho) calor: It´s (very) hot
• Hace (mucho) frío: It´s very cold
• Hace fresco: It´s chilly
• Hace (muy) buen tiempo: The weather is (very) good
• Hace (muy) mal tiempo: The weather is (very) bad

• Llueve: It rains
• Nieva: It snows
• Hay tormenta: It´s stormy
• Está nublado: It´s cloudy

• Primavera: Spring
• Verano: Summer
• Otoño: Autumm
• Invierno: Winter

Let´s see now some common Spanish expressions related to the weather:

• ¡Qué frío/calor hace!: It´s really cold/hot
• Hace un día horrible: It’s a horrible day
• Hace muchísimo frío/calor: It´s very very cold/hot
• Aquí siempre hace mucho frío/calor en esta época: It´s always very cold/hot here at this time of the year
• ¿Tiene/tienes frío/calor?: Are you cold/hot?
• ¡Qué frío/calor tengo!: I am so cold/hot
• Ah, pues yo, no: Oh, I’m not
• ¿Qué tiempo hace allí?: How is the weather like there?
• Hace un día muy bueno/malo: It is a very good/bad day
• Hace un día bastante bueno/malo: It is quite a good/bad day
• No hace nada de frío/calor: It is not cold/hot at all
• Estamos a ….. grados (bajo cero): We are at ….. degrees (below zero)

The weather (“EL tiempo”) is one of the most common topics of everyday Spanish conversation. Don’t think that here in Spain all we have is endless sunshine. Where I come from, in the Basque Country, it rains almost as much as in England and the same is true for the whole of northern Spain: in Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria. The further south you go in Spain, the less the weather varys, but you will still find the occasional downpour in Andalucía and some fairly chilly winters, especially the further inland you go. People in Spain love to chat about the weather as much as anyone so I really hope that you find this Spanish lesson useful.

Have a great week and see you next time for more Spanish!

Las conjunciones coordinadas – Part 01

Posted by Adir No Comments
Jan 10 2012

Conjunctions are words that are used to link two terms in a clause or two clauses. Here are two examples:

Juan y María son primos. (Juan and Maria are cousins.)
Lo encontramos por la calle y lo invitamos a cenar. (We run into him on the street and we invited him to dinner.)

In the first example, the conjunction y links two terms: Juan and María, nouns, which make up the subject of the sentence. In the second example, the conjunction y links two clauses that form a compound sentence: Lo encontramos en la calle and lo invitamos a cenar.

There are two kinds of conjunctions in Spanish: las coordinadas/coordinantes and las subordinadas/subordinantes. Today we’re going to take a look at the coordinating ones. Coordinating conjunctions are used when the clauses of the sentence are independent and have independent meanings. Here are the conjunciones coordinadas in Spanish:

1. y – e – ni

Y (and)
Hay que comprar pan y leche. (We have to buy bread and milk.)
hombres y mujeres (men and women)

When y comes before a word that starts with i or hi (followed by a consonant), it has to be replaced by e, due to phonetic reasons (eufonía).

Cómpranos naranjas e higos. (Buy us some oranges and figs.)
fabricantes e importadores (manufacturers and importers)

Note: We use y before the diphthong hie.

Añade leche y hierve. (Add milk and boil it.)
flores y hierbas (flowers and herbs)

Ni (neither…nor…)

Ni café, ni leche. Acepto un té. (Neither coffee, nor milk. I’ll have some tea.)
No me gustan ni este ni aquel. (I like neither this one nor the other one.)

2. o – u

O (or)
¿Hierro o acero? (Iron or steel?)
¿Agua o vino? (Water or wine?)

When the conjunction o precedes words that start with o or ho, it has to be replaced by u.

plata u oro (silver or gold)
minutos u horas (minutes or hours)

When the conjunction o comes between numbers, we need to replace it with ó so as not to confuse it with the number zero.

8 ó 9 (read like = ocho o nueve)
9 ó 8 (read like = nueve u ocho)
12 ó 15 (read like = doce o quince)
20 ó 30 (read like = veinte o treinta)
8 ó 80 (read like = ocho u ochenta)

Stay tuned for the second part of the coordinating conjunctions soon! Nos vemos prontito.

Chilean Spanish

Posted by Adir 3 Comments
Jan 7 2012

I started learning Spanish in 1991 with two friends from high school, Ximena and Ivo. They were from Chile. They had been living in my town for some time and I was amazed that at home they spoke Spanish and in other situations they would speak Portuguese, perfectly!

That got me very interested in learning Spanish so they taught me the basics with lots of Chilean expressions. So today I’m going to share some of them with you guys!

Al tiro – Right away! This is a very common expression in Chile and it refers to the shot fired to initiate a race. Hazlo al tiro que lo necesitamos para ahora. (Do it right away because we need it now!)

Bencina – gasoline. We also have the word bencinera, gas station.

Cabro(a) – Literally it’s a goat, but this word is used to mean kids, boy or a girl. When they’re little, they say cabro(a) chico(a).

¿Cachai? – Got it? Ths expressions comes from the verb cachar, to get it, to understand. Here are some examples with cachar: Cáchate eso. (Check this out.) – Cacha lo que estoy haciendo. (Look at what I’m doing.)

Cahuín – gossip. Also called copucha.

Chupar – literally “to suck” but it’s used to go on a drinking binge. Usually used in the expressions salir a chupar.

Gallo – a guy. There’s also the feminine form, galla (a young woman).

Guagua – a baby

Guata – the belly

Lolo(a) – a teenager or young adult

Mechón – freshman in college going through the hazing process

Palta – avocado

Pega – work. ¿Tenís pega pa’ mí? (Do you have work for me?) – Voy a la pega. (I’m going to work.)

Pituco – Derogatory term used to refer to someone or something from the highest social class.

Porotos – beans

Pololo(a) – boy(girl)friend

Regalón – a spoiled child or student

Ya – Literally it means “already” or “still” but Chileans use it to say “yeah”, “yes”.

Chilean Spanish has so many more cool informal expressions like the ones above. HBO has a very good show with Chilean actors called Prófugos. Check your TV listings to see if it’s available and enjoy!

De flechas y rodillas

Posted by David Carmona 1 Comment
Jan 6 2012

Si navegáis por internet con frecuencia, es más que posible que últimamente hayáis visto en algún comentario o blog algo así como “yo antes era… pero me hirieron con una flecha en la rodilla.” Algunos tendrán una sonrisa de oreja a oreja, mientras que muchos probablemente no sepan a qué se refiere esta expresión. Ahora voy a clarificarlo.

Se trata de un “meme”. Los memes son elementos culturales compartidos por un grupo de personas que se difunden por repetición o imitación a través de internet, sobre todo en redes sociales como facebook o Twitter, pero también pueden extenderse a medios más generales. En este caso, el meme original se ha adaptado porque, al ser una oración compleja, permite la sustitución de elementos en ella para construir expresiones paralelas. Pero… ¿de dónde viene este meme?

En la comunidad de aficionados a los videojuegos, la respuesta es obvia. El lanzamiento más esperado de 2011 fue la quinta entrega de la saga The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Es la continuación del laureado juego Oblivion, convertido en clásico desde su aparición en 2006. Es un juego perteneciente al género de rol, en el que aparecen personajes con los que el jugador puede interactuar y establecer transacciones o conversaciones. En Skyrim, una de esas figuras es el guardia armado, de los que hay bastantes. Las conversaciones con estos guardias no son esenciales para el juego, y suelen arrojar unas cuantes frases predeterminadas. El problema es que, tras hablar con varios de estos guardias, irremediablemente todos acaban respondiendo con la misma frase: “Yo era un aventurero como tú, pero me hirieron con una flecha en la rodilla.”

Los fans del juego descubrieron esto bastante pronto, y se empezó a comentar de forma humorística en foros y conversaciones, hasta que acabó convirtiéndose en el meme que está ahora tan de moda, y que podemos adaptar a nuestras propias necesidades sustituyendo la primera parte como queramos. Por ejemplo: “Yo antes leía el blog de Transparent Spanish como tú, pero me hirieron con una flecha en la rodilla.”

¿Alguna idea para otras frases divertidas usando este meme?

 

Of arrows and knees

If you browse the internet often, you are more than likely to have come across recently in comments or blogs something along the lines of: “I used to be… but I took an arrow to the knee.” Some people will be already chuckling, while many of you probably don’t know what this expression refers to. I’ll clarify that now.

It is a “meme”. Memes are cultural elements, shared by a group of people, that are spread around online through repetition or imitation, especially using social networking sites like facebook or Twitter, but may also spill out into more generic media. In this case, the original meme has been adapted because, being a complex sentence, it allows for the substitution of elements in it that will build parallel expressions. But… where does this meme come from?

For those in the gamer community, the answer is obvious. The most eagerly awaited video game launched in 2011 was the fifth installment in The Elder Scrolls saga: Skyrim.  It is the continuation of the award-winning game Oblivion, an instant classic since it came out in 2006. It is a role-playing game, in which players can interact with other non-playing characters (NPCs) to make certain transactions or have conversations with. In Skyrim, one of those NPC figures is the armed guard, of which there are quite a few. Conversations with these guards are not essential to gameplay, and they tend to come up with a limited set of pre-scripted utterances. The problem is that, after talking to a few of them, they all invariably end up replying with a similar sentence: “I used to be an adventurer like you, then I took an arrow in the knee.”

Game fans found out about this fairly soon, and it started to be commented in a funny way all over forums and conversations, until it ended up becoming the meme that is so popular today, and that we can adapt to our own needs by using any phrase we want for the first part of the sentence. For example: “I used to read the Transparent Spanish blog, then I took an arrow in the knee.”

Any other ideas for funny sentences using this meme?

 

 

 

Noche de Reyes

Posted by Magda No Comments
Jan 5 2012

Esta es una noche mágica para todos los pequeños de España: ¡vienen los Reyes Magos! Aunque muchos se han pasado a Papa Noel, por aquello de recibir pronto los regalos y disfrutar de ellos durante las vacaciones navideñas, esta noche no ha perdido aún su encanto.

Para encontrar nuestro regalo bajo el árbol en la mañana del día 6, hay que dejar los zapatos muy bien limpios junto a él, o en la ventana. Los niños han de irse prontito a la cama, y por supuesto dormir del tirón: no vale hacer trampa para intentar ver a estos entrañables señores, pues podrían enfadarse y dejarnos sin nada. Y es todo un detalle si dejamos un poco de agua para calmar la sed de los camellos tras su largo viaje, y algún aperitivo para los magos.

Cada año, cuando se acerca la navidad, todos escribimos una carta a los Reyes Magos, que podemos entregar en mano al paje real, enviar a través de correos (si, tienen un servicio especial lo creáis o no), o bien por mail ya que la tecnología lo domina todo, y sus majestades tienen ADSL. Claro, por eso son magos. En ella pedimos cualquier regalo que deseemos recibir, pero solo nos lo traerán si durante el año nos hemos portado bien. De ahí el nerviosismo propio del día de hoy en muchos pequeños, al pensar cuantas veces dejaron la verdura en el plato, no hicieron los deberes, o hicieron rabiar a su hermano pequeño, porque es posible que en vez de regalos reciban carbón. En ocasiones, aunque el regalo esté junto al árbol, también aparece ese delicioso carbón dulce, que es como un tironcito de orejas de los magos de oriente que todo lo saben, para que en el año que corre enmendemos nuestro comportamiento.

Así que como yo tengo mis dudas, y prefiero desayunar roscón de reyes a carbón dulce, hoy tomaré doble ración de verdura, y me iré muy temprano a dormir. Espero que por lo menos que me dejen uno de los regalos de mi lista: un mundo diferente y mejor.  ¡Y para vosotros que vengan cargaditos de magníficos presentes!

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Tonight is a magical night for all the little ones in Spain: the Three Wise Men are coming! Though many families have defected to Santa Claus, in order to receive their presents earlier and enjoy them during the Christmas vacation, this night hasn’t lost its charm yet.

To find our present under the tree the morning of the 6th, it is necessary to leave our very clean shoes next to it, or on the window. Children have to go to bed early, and obviously sleep right through the night: you can’t cheat trying to get a peek of these pleasant old men, because they might get angry and leave us without presents. And it would be nice if we leave a bit of water to quench the camels’ thirst after their long trip, and some snacks for the Wise Men.

Every year, when Christmas time is approaching, we all write a letter to the Three Wise Men, that we can deliver in hand to the royal page, send through the post office (yes, they have a special service, believe ir or not), or by e-mail, since technology controls everything, and Their Majesties have DSL. Obviously, because they are magicians. In it we ask for any gift we want to receive, but they will only bring them if during the year we have behaved appropriately. That’s the reason for the agitation in our children today, when thinking of all the times they left vegetables in their plate, did not do their homework, or teased their little brothers, because it is possible that instead of gifts they receive coal. Sometimes, although the present is by the tree anyway, there also appears this delicious sweet coal, which is like the Wise Men, who know everything, give us a small tweak of ears, in order to encourage us to correct our behavior in the present year.

So, as I have my doubts, and I prefer having breakfast with a Roscón de Reyes (large ring-shaped cake baked for Epiphany) rather than with some sweet coal, today I will a double serving of vegetables, and will go to bed really early. I hope that at least they will leave me one of the gifts from my list: a different and better world. And for you, that they bring a lot of wonderful presents!

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