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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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, […]

The verb dar is very flexible and is used in conjunction with many other words to form idiomatic expressions both figurative and literal. The phrase darse cuenta is used to mean to realize. Pedro se dió cuenta que se le olividó su tarea. (Peter realized that he forgot his homework). The word realizar does not […]

These are two words that can be really confusing for the English speaker because they are false friends. First let’s review what the meanings are in English of assist and attend. Assist is to help. This could be used to help another person or it could be a machine that lends support. Attend is to […]