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 [...]

As opposed to diving into a swimming pool, clavar, bucear is scuba diving. It is not just scuba diving, but any swimming under water. When you dive while snorkeling it is also called bucear. The sport is called buceo.

Nadar is the verb to swim. Nadador is the noun for the person who does the swimming, the swimmer. Natación is the noun for the sport of swimming. And, as we have seen before, clavado is the noun for the sport of diving into a pool.

I was thinking of sports words to use here for a few days and already knew that the word deportes meant sports. What I did not think about is that the word deporte is also a conjugated form of the verb deportar, to deport or to expel.

While reading a book to my 4 year old daughter today we came across the word susurrar. I didn’t know what it meant, but she did. Susurrar is to whisper.

Zarpar is one of the strangest words I think I have seen or heard used in Spanish. It just sounds funny. Zarpar means to set sail or to embark.

Aislar is to isolate oneself. The way I remember this word is it sounds like to make an island. I first heard the word aislar applied to a 16 year old boy who was upset with his girlfriend. His mother told me that he was disconnected from his friends at that time, él se aisló.