All Questions
4
votes
2answers
159 views
What are leísmo, loísmo, and laísmo?
What are leísmo, loísmo, and laísmo? How common are they, and where are they primarily encountered?
5
votes
3answers
128 views
“Habría” or “Hubiera”
Given the following sentence:
Si lo hubieran anotado, después no les hubiera (habría) costado tanto recordarlo.
we see that the first use of hubieran is well used, but the second one is ...
5
votes
2answers
146 views
Counterpart of “John Doe, Joe Public”?
In English these names are used as a substitute for the average guy. Or as a specimen when filling out a passport form.
What names/expressions are used in Spanish for this purpose?
3
votes
1answer
154 views
Debuccalization of /s/ to [h]
What is meant in Spanish phonology by the debuccalization of /s/ to [h]? What dialects does this phenomenon primarily occur in? In those dialects, does it take place in all cases or only in some ...
8
votes
1answer
370 views
What are the accentuation rules in Spanish?
Many native Spanish speakers have trouble determining when accent marks (tildes) should be used and where. What are the rules for accent placement in Spanish? How do you determine whether the vowel on ...
10
votes
6answers
370 views
What are the main differences between Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Latin America? [closed]
A good analogy is that the difference is like those in British and American English, but what are those differences exactly? Is Spanish in Latin America a branch from that in Spain?
6
votes
3answers
551 views
Words for strong or weak rain (sprinkling, drizzling, pouring)
This question on English.StackExchange made me wonder about words for rain in Spanish. In English, a light rain can be a drizzle, sprinkle, or mist and a heavy rain can be a deluge, downpour, or ...
6
votes
2answers
729 views
Origin of the mexican expression “güey/buey”
The common Mexican informal expression "güey/buey" (written as "wey" in text).
Where did it come from?
Since when did it become a common expression?
Examples:
A que güey estás. (You are so ...
7
votes
4answers
175 views
Translating “I hear (that)…”
How do you translate the phrase "I hear (that)..." as in:
I hear that you just got back from your vacation.
I hear that it rained all last week in Seattle.
I hear you got an A on your history final.
...
4
votes
5answers
629 views
“¿Qué te interesa?” or “¿Qué te interesan?”
To ask somebody about their interests in Spanish I understand you should say:
¿Qué te interesa?
Would it ever be appropriate to say:
¿Qué te interesan?
As if I was to ask such a general ...
5
votes
1answer
210 views
“Perdón”, “permiso”, “disculpa”, … ?
I always struggle with the correct usage of the various ways one could say the equivalent of I'm sorry or Excuse me. Of course there are many reasons I would say these things and I was often looking ...
4
votes
1answer
109 views
Different words for “hole”
Spanish has several words that could be translated "hole" in English:
hoyo
agujero
hueco
bache
boquete
brecha
madriguera
What are the differences between these words? In what situations can each ...
2
votes
1answer
124 views
Different words for “sign”
Spanish has several words that could be translated "sign" in English:
letrero
rótulo
señal
indicio
cartel
pancarta
seña
What are the differences between these words? In what situations can each be ...
10
votes
2answers
202 views
“Aún” vs. “todavía”, what's the difference?
Somebody just asked me to correct something, and I found that I changed one of their instances of todavía to aún. I didn't do this because todavía wouldn't have worked in the sentence, but rather ...
8
votes
1answer
368 views
Difference between “hay”, “ay” and “ahí”
These are commonly misused when writing, and can be very confusing for someone that is learning Spanish. These three words have a very different meaning and they are used in a very different context.
...
3
votes
5answers
188 views
Is there a colloquial Spanish equivalent for “to get it” in the sense of grasping a concept?
I was just writing in our chat room that I didn't "get" what one of the other questions was trying to ask.
But I was writing in the chat room in Spanish and realized I didn't know how to say "get" in ...
9
votes
3answers
115 views
idioma, lengua and lenguaje
The words idioma, lengua and lenguaje can all be translated as "language".
Are they interchangeable? If not, what are the differences among them? When to use which?
4
votes
3answers
215 views
Etymological origin of “false friends” between Spanish and English
Is there an etymological origin that can be called the main one that has created the list of "false friends" between Spanish and English?
I'm constantly stumbling upon a new "false friend" when ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
Responding to an apology (no problem, don't worry about it, etc.)
What are the common ways of responding to an apology? In English, if someone says "Sorry I didn't/couldn't do (whatever)" (or simply bumps into you accidentally and says "sorry") we'd say things like:
...
10
votes
2answers
385 views
Is it bad to address a young male as “señor”?
I was recently in Mallorca, at a restaurant I address the waiter as "señor".
He was probably in his early 30's, he said that I should not use señor, but another word (which I unfortunately don't ...
2
votes
2answers
140 views
Greetings for presents and cards
What phrases and greetings can you use for christmas presents / cards? Are there "general purpose" phrases which can be used for presents which are used the whole year, like an iPod?
For example:
...
5
votes
1answer
117 views
Usage of “donde la espalda cambia de nombre”
In this answer to this previous question of mine, the answerer used the phrase
Antonio se hirió donde la espalda cambia de nombre.
as an example of a milder version of
Antonio se hirió en ...
14
votes
2answers
265 views
How do I know whether to attach a direct object pronoun to the infinitive?
I often struggle to decide what sounds right when I need to use direct object pronouns. Lessons on these pronouns have not been much help because they teach that when using a direct object pronoun it ...
8
votes
3answers
202 views
Are there any subtle differences between “de nuevo” and “otra vez”?
There are two very common ways in Spanish to say the equivalent of "again":
de nuevo
otra vez
But I use them pretty randomly because I've never been able to pick up on any differences in how ...
6
votes
2answers
679 views
How can I say “colmo” properly in English?
There is an expression in Spanish to denote something that is absurd or unexpected. Usually it can be the maximum expression of expertise and talent.
I wondered about this mainly because in Spanish ...
1
vote
0answers
114 views
What is a good, original Spanish childrens novel to help learn grammar and vocab? [closed]
I want to find a Spanish book that I can read to help practice my grammar and vocabulary.
I've only done about a year of evening classes for adults, but I can read sites like BBC Mundo and have a ...
6
votes
2answers
100 views
Analog to “sustainability”
I asked a question on english synonyms of "sustainability" alrady on ELU. In Spanish, dictionaries and ngrams give out several options:
Comparing with the english ngrams chart I conclude la ...
4
votes
2answers
377 views
How to translate “It's for the best”?
How does the phrase "to be for the best" translate into Spanish? My first thought was "es para lo mejor", but as this is fairly idiomatic in English I figured the translation might not be that ...
6
votes
2answers
222 views
What is the difference between different ways of expressing desire and intention?
I hear a lot of different ways to express the idea of wanting something or wanting to do something. What is the difference between them?
Yo quiero (algo o hacer algo o que pase algo)
Me gustaría ...
...
2
votes
3answers
174 views
How can I translate “un ámbito cerrado” into English?
Here's a poem by Borges that I tried to translate into English:
A Un Gato
No son más silenciosos los espejos
ni más furtiva el alba aventurera;
eres, bajo la luna, esa pantera
que nos es ...
4
votes
1answer
87 views
What is the origin of the word “tascalate”?
Another unusual Spanish word I collected in my travels is tascalate.
It's a drink in Chiapas, Mexico and there are Wikipedia articles about it in English and in Spanish.
But it's not in Wiktionary ...
7
votes
3answers
137 views
Translation of “contact info”
What is the best way to say contact info in Spanish (as in a list of phone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses, etc. of a person or business)?
11
votes
3answers
111 views
Is there any subtle difference between the two forms of the imperfect subjuntive?
The imperfect subjuntive has two forms. For example:
Ojalá viniera.
Ojalá viniese.
I think both has the same meaning. However, is there any subtle difference?
5
votes
1answer
64 views
What does the Mexican term “predialazo” refer to?
There's a word whose definition has been requested on Wiktionary (perhaps by me but I can't remember) that seems to be mostly used in Mexico if you Google for it:
predialazo
But it's not in the ...
3
votes
1answer
174 views
What does “tracatera” mean?
I've been collecting unusual Spanish words for years. I've been going through them to find any that are not in my dictionaries and found this one:
tracatera f
It's not in the DRAE, it's not in ...
8
votes
2answers
586 views
Are there any nouns with irregular plurals in Spanish?
In English, some nouns have regular plural forms ending in -s or -es and fewer are irregular. Fish in the plural is still fish while child becomes children.
In Spanish, nearly all nouns are regular, ...
2
votes
1answer
169 views
How does portuñol work and how effective is it? [closed]
I've briefly read about Portuñol, which is supposedly a code switching method for Spanish and Portuguese. How does it function, and what sounds are switched? Also, is it an effective method of ...
8
votes
2answers
439 views
How to translate “make it count”
This evening a friend saw a poster in English that said something like:
If you have only one chance at opportunity, make it count.
She asked me what it meant. She knew enough English to make out ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
The letter “k” in Spanish
The letter "k" is rarely seen in Spanish. What is the origin of Spanish words containing a k? Are most recent loanwords from modern languages, influences from older languages (Latin or Greek), or of ...
7
votes
4answers
233 views
Why should we use estar over ser for being old or fat?
I can understand why we would use estar for temporary states. But there are conditions that people have that are not temporary, such as being old (or for some people, being fat).
¡qué gordo está!
...
8
votes
2answers
106 views
Are there any true nouns containing a hyphen in the Spanish language?
In this Spanish Wikipedia: about Guion ortográfico I found mentioned
Separar algunas palabras compuestas.
but there are no examples given.
Are these foreign words or are there proper examples ...
7
votes
1answer
189 views
How to Explain the use of vosotros to refer to an individual in the movie, “El Laberinto del Fauno” (Pan's Labyrinth)?
The movie "El Laberinto del Fauno" by Guillermo del Toro was set in Spain, with actors well-known in Spanish film, but was created by a Mexican crew (del Toro is Mexican).
In the movie, a Faun often ...
8
votes
2answers
218 views
Best translation of “just wanted to”
In English, I often use "just wanted to" to soften the force of a question or statement:
I just wanted to ask if it was okay with you.
I just wanted to make sure you were coming to the meeting ...
5
votes
1answer
109 views
Was the word “bomb” only used as slang in Chile and only in the '80s?
In the hit novel Mala honda by Chilean author Alberto Fuguet I remember the word "bomb" being used a lot.
It's obviously a slang word. I think it was only used in dialogue. I got the impression it ...
1
vote
1answer
380 views
What are some terms of endearment for a girlfriend/wife? [closed]
What are some Spanish terms of enderment you could use for a girlfriend or a wife? In English I'm thinking things like sweetheart, sweetie, darling, cutie, babe, etc..
Any others that are unique to ...
8
votes
2answers
204 views
What makes a question in Spanish rhetorical?
In German, the placement or usage of single words shifts the meaning of a rhetorical question, in English, additionally distinct marker phrases are common for this purpose.
Are there specific ...
5
votes
1answer
144 views
Historical pronunciation of letters “b” and “v”
In another question, a Wikipedia article was quoted saying:
The letters ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩ were originally simply known as be and ve. However, there is no longer any distinction between the sounds of ...
4
votes
2answers
106 views
How widespread was (or is) the phrase “La mamá de Tarzán”?
I came across the phrase "La mamá de Tarzán" when reading Los años con Laura Díaz by top Mexican author Carlos Fuentes.
The part of the book was set in the early part of the 20th century if I recall ...
5
votes
1answer
230 views
When should you use the preterite or the imperfect to express past time?
There are two ways to express simple past time actions and conditions in Spanish. One is the preterite,
Comí tacos. (I ate tacos.)
Besé a una chica. (I kissed a girl.)
and the other is the ...
5
votes
1answer
100 views
Are there regions or dialects which use both “tú” and “vos”?
In my experience most places use either "tú" or "vos" for the second person singular intimate/informal pronoun.
But I haven't been to every Spanish speaking country and area. Are there places which ...
