Tarea is the word for task, job or assignment. It is also the word used for homework. As I thought about homework in relationship to this word, tarea, I thought it was a bit odd that the word really just means any task…not necessarily something that is brought home from school for completion. Have you [...]

The word propaganda has always carried the idea government brainwashing for me. The word means very much what it looks like–ideas that are propagated. This can be via print, video, audio or any other medium. In Spanish the word simply means advertising. While this could be any medium, I have only heard the word used [...]

The noun is dawn, daybreak, early morning. Interestingly, there is a verb madrugar–to get up early. While in English we sometimes use the noun to be the verb (exact form), in Spanish there is a difference in the way they are built. Even though madrugar is a real word, I have only heard it used [...]

A juego is a game. When we first moved to Mexico we did a lot of shopping for furniture. We found lots of juegos de sala and juegos de comedor and such. It was very confusing when literally translated as a game for the living room or a game for the dining room when we [...]

Often you will find jamás coupled with the word nunca to mean never ever (nunca jamás). Like nunca it can mean never. But I saw another use of the word last week that I had not noticed before. Jamás can also mean ever. Ever? How can it be never and ever at the same time? [...]

When we start a car in Mexico we use the verb arrancar. That had been only definition that I had known for the use of the word. While reading one time I came across the word and it was used in connection with corn being plucked off the stalk. I checked with the dictionary and [...]

A few days ago I was studying a verse in my Spanish Bible, Hebrews 3:10, “Siempre andan vagando en su corazón” The phrase andan vagando didn’t seem to fit as something done in the heart. Andan or andar means to walk or to go about. Vagando or vagar is to walk without goal or direction, [...]