Discover Spanish With Us » General

Playa

Stephanie — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:05:19 +0000

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

David — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 03:47:03 +0000

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 venciÃ³ la tentaciÃ³n.” It is a transitive verb meaning it must have a direct object, i.e. “the temptation.”

When used to mean expire or become due the verb is in its intransitive form (it does not have a direct object). “They let the milk expire” becomes “Ellos dejaron vencer la leche.”

I don’t pretend to understand transitive and intransitive verbs, but there are a lot of verb meanings that make a whole world of difference depending on how they are used.

UPDATE: I found this article over at Daily Writing Tips that explains transitive and intransitive verbs a bit better.

Talla, tamaño, medida

Stephanie — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:49:15 +0000

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 instance, or the volume of soda in your cup.

Bilingual is sometimes confusing

David — Mon, 12 May 2008 02:43:15 +0000

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 between the two languages.

She has always done well in separating the two langugages until the last couple of weeks.

While I don’t think this will limit her language learning, it is interesting to see her four year old thinking being played out.

Encuesta

David — Sun, 11 May 2008 03:07:41 +0000

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

David — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:29:48 +0000

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.

Elija su carril

Stephanie — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 03:39:34 +0000

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 lane. So elija su carril is choose your lane. This shows up when something is about to change in the road, such as a stop, merge, or lane exiting. Elija su carril lets you know you need to decide where you need to be now while there is plenty of time.

Cosquillas

Stephanie — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:19:40 +0000

Cosquillas means tickle. Dar cosquillas is to tickle.

I remember cosquillas by relating it to costillas, ribs. Dar cosquillas a las costillas.

Aun, aÃºn, aunque

Stephanie — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 03:57:52 +0000

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 darÃ© 100 pesos, y aun 200, si los necesitas. I will give you 100 pesos, and even 200, if you need them.

AÃºn means yet or still. AÃºn estamos aquÃ. We are still here.

Aunque is although or even though. Yo comÃ la vainilla aunque me gusta el chocolate. I ate the vanilla although (even though) I like chocolate.

Capacitar

David — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 03:28:59 +0000

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 Spanish word that fits nicely in there. That is the word equipar.