Learning Spanish

Spanish word of the week: importante

26th Aug 2020

importante ADJECTIVE important, significant; large Importante is one of those intriguing Spanish words that has one meaning which looks similar to English — important — and another that is a bit unexpected: large: Tu padre es un hombre muy importante en la política. Your father is… Read More

Spanish word of the week: apetecer

19th Aug 2020

apetecer VERB to feel like If you like something you probably know that the basic way to say so is with gustar: Me gusta jugar al béisbol. I like playing baseball. Apetecer is a word you are likely to come across in Spain, but not in Latin America, and… Read More

Spanish word of the week: tras

12th Aug 2020

tras PREPOSITION after Tras is an alternative way of saying after – después de – and tends to be used in writing more than in speech, except in some set phrases: Salimos corriendo tras ella. We ran out after her. Tras unos días de vacaciones volvió a… Read More

Spanish word of the week: igual

5th Aug 2020

igual ADVERB maybe; anyway Igual as an adverb has some interesting uses. If you really don’t mind about something, you use the phrase me da igual or me es igual: Me da igual or Me es igual hoy o mañana. Today or tomorrow, I don’t mind. Colloquially,… Read More

Spanish word of the week: suceso

22nd Jul 2020

el suceso NOUN event; incident Today will be looking at the ‘false friend’ suceso. Be careful not to use the word success as a translation. It translates into English as either event or incident: los sucesos más importantes de la última década the major events of… Read More

Spanish word of the week: harto

15th Jul 2020

harto ADJECTIVE fed up, tired If you’re fed up with or tired with something harto de is the phrase you need: Estoy harta de esta comida. I’m fed up with this food. Estaba harto de tener que hacerlo todo para ella. He was tired of… Read More

Spanish word of the week: imagen

8th Jul 2020

la imagen (PLURAL las imágenes) NOUN image, picture Imagen has very much the same range of application as its English cousin image. It can be used literally to refer to a physical image or picture: las imágenes del accidente the images or pictures of the accident… Read More

Spanish word of the week: discutir

1st Jul 2020

discutir VERB to argue, to quarrel; to discuss Discutir is a word that could trip you up. If a Spanish-speaking friend says that two people están discutiendo and you think it means ‘discussing’, you might be surprised at how loud they’re talking! In fact, it often means… Read More

Spanish word of the week: precioso

24th Jun 2020

precioso ADJECTIVE beautiful, lovely Precioso has one meaning which is the same as precious in English. However, it’s much more often used in its other meaning of beautiful or lovely: Llevaba puesto un precioso vestido de noche negro. She had on a beautiful black evening dress. Read More