This is a word that I always know what it means when I hear it, but sometimes I have trouble pulling it up when I need to use it. It does not mean to grab with the hands, rather it is to record. Like we would use the word record when referring to recording audio […]

This is patrol or police car. Patrullar is to patrol.
This can also mean a band or a group of people. There is a singing group in Mexico called Patrulla 81. There is also the famous Patrulla Águila from Spain.
Recently on a Spanish discussion forum there was a question about what the lights on top of […]

In continuation of the post costumbre, let’s look at the word costume.
What Spanish word you use for costume really depends on what kind you mean.
One type of costume is traje, this would be a suit or outfit for a specific purpose. Such as, a traje de baño is a bathing suit. A traje de ceremonia […]

This is an odd word. It means an outline and is used very much like we would use the word in English. It would be a rough draft to a drawing or it could be a word list that you would use as a prompt while giving a speech or it could be the first […]

Monte means mount or mountain…most of the time. It can also mean woods, brush or weeds. The second meaning is most common where we live. Since there are no rises much above a few feet in the Yucatán Peninsula, people just use the word to refer to brush or weeds.
My first encounter with the word […]

To answer a knock at the gate or a doorbell you say “¡voy!” It means I go and is quite opposite from what we say in English–”Coming!”
It has been argued that in English there is a lack of understanding of the proper usage of the words come and go (as well as bring and take).
It […]

Whenever I see the word costumbre I automatically think costume because of the beginning of the word. But that is not the meaning of costumbre.
Costumbre means a habit, custom or tradition. Something you do because you always have is a costumbre. In Mexico Chiles en Nogada in September is a yummy costumbre.
Costume is, well, a […]

Besides pedir, another way to ask for something is rogar. This is typically a stronger word in meaning, but they are synonyms of one another.
Pedir would be your generic word for requesting something. Rogar is stronger in that it carries the idea of beseeching or begging the other person. It is often used in a […]

Monto means amount. It is an accounting term and is often seen where you could substitute the word total, but not always. The phrase “monto original de la inversión” would be translated “original amount of the investment,” or, “initial investment.”
Total would be the summary of everything added and subtracted at the end, which can also […]

One day at church our daughter was wearing some new shoes. Since anything that clean on a toddler would have to be new, someone asked if she was estrenando her new shoes.
We had never heard this word before, so they explained when you use or wear something for the first time it is estrenar. In […]