Today we went to the playa, the beach, where there was arena. On the beach we wore our playeras, short sleeve shirts or t-shirts.

Vencer has two main meanings that don’t seem at all connected. One is to defeat or conquer and the other is to expire.
When vencer is used to mean defeat or overcome it is used in a straight forward manner. “Bill overcame the temptation” would become “Bill venció la tentación.” It is a transitive verb meaning […]

Talla, tamaño and medida all refer to size and what it is.
Talla is used to describe how tall a person is or what size shirt or pants you wear.
Tamaño is used to describe what size soda or french fries you want, large or small.
Medida is the measurement of something, how long your couch is for […]

We noticed something recently with our daughter. She watches Dora the Explorer in both English and Spanish. She occasionally will play out one of the adventures. If she is playing out a Spanish adventure she will insist on the English words be spoken in English. But, it is like she does not know the difference […]

Encuesta is a survey or poll. This is a word that is hard to forget when you learn it. It sounds like an inquest.

Desafiar is to challenge. It can also mean to stand up to.
In English we see these as two different sides of the same conflict. One person challenges and the other one stands up to the challenge.

We recently made a big trip through Mexico. Along the way we saw many interesting signs that could be confusing and are nice to know about before you have to know what is going on.
One sign was elija su carril. Elija is the imperative form for elegir which means to choose. Su carril is your […]

Cosquillas means tickle. Dar cosquillas is to tickle.
I remember cosquillas by relating it to costillas, ribs. Dar cosquillas a las costillas.

These are 3 words that I see and hear a lot but don’t use much. Mostly because I can’t keep them straight.
Aun means even or still. Te daré 100 pesos, y aun 200, si los necesitas. I will give you 100 pesos, and even 200, if you need them.
Aún means yet or still. Aún […]

To train someone for a position is capacitar. You can easily see the English word capacitate in the Spanish version. We just don’t use capacitate enough for that word to be the first one we think of when looking for the word train.
You can also use it to equip someone for service. There is another […]