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 […]

One of the rules we learned in school was “Day is masculine, but its parts are feminine.” That has been a huge help in remembering the gender of dí­a. However, it is somewhat humorous to still hear native Spanish speakers say, “Buenas Dí­as.” Mañana This can mean tomorrow or morning. Most of the time when […]

Templo and Iglesia are two words that confused me for a long time. Part of it was due to a prejudice I had against the word temple. To me, temple carries with it a connotation of a place of worship, in my mind, associated with cults. I have talked with other people about this and […]

Some Spanish words make perfect sense when you look at their parts, and sometimes it can cause you to look at the English word with more appreciation for its meaning. That is the case with the word prejuicio (prejudice). The parts of this word have the meaning to pre-judge someone or something. Often words like […]