FALSE FRIENDS in Spanish and English (Part 3)

This is the third part of our Spanisih English false friends series! Welcome :)

So, the next false friends (#11) are DORMITORIO and DORMITORY.

Ex.   Todas las casas tienen al menos un dormitorio.
         All houses have at least one bedroom.

        Students that live far from the university sleep in a dormitory.
        Los estudiantes que vive lejos de la universidad duermen en una residencia universitaria.

False friends #12

EMBARAZADA vs. EMBARRASSED

Ex.    La esposa de Martín está embarazada.

          Martin's wife is pregnant.

         Did you get embarrassed by the outfit you wore at the party?

         ¿Te sentiste avergonzado por el atuendo que vestiste en la fiesta?

False friends #13

ENVIAR vs. ENVY

Ex.     El jefe quiere enviar una carta a aquellas dos empresas.

          The boss wants to send a letter to those two companies.

           I envy their sweet relationship.

           Yo envidio su relación dulce.

False friends #14

EXITO vs. EXIT

Ex.    Para tener éxito en el trabajo hay que comparecer todos los días y también hacer todas las tareas asignadas.

          To be successful at work, one must go to work every day and also do all the assigned tasks.

          We need to find the exit so that the fire won't consume us!

           ¡Tenemos que encontrar la salida para que el incendio no nos consuma!

False friends #15

INTRODUCIR vs. INTRODUCE

Ex.    Usted tiene que introducir la contraseña para acceder las aplicaciones del móvil.

         You need to enter the password to access the mobile's apps.

         We're you already introduced to Mr. Nakamura?

          ¿Ya te han presentado al Sr. Nakamura?

                                                       Go to the next blogpost to continue... :)

FALSE FRIENDS in Spanish and English (Part 2)

So here we are again iin the second part of the False Friends topic...

Without much further ado, let's see the next false friends! Ok?


False friends # 6

COLEGIO vs. COLLEGE

Ex.     Mi hijo y mi hija van al mismo colegio todos los días.

          My son and daughter goes to the same school every day.

          I finished college at Harvard University.

          Yo terminé mi facultad en la Universidad de Harvard.

False friends # 7

CORRIENTEMENTE vs. CURRENTLY

Ex.     Yo puedo hablar árabe y chino mandarín corrientemente.

           I can speak Arabic and Mandarin Chinese fluently.

           Currently there are more than twenty candidates for interview.

           Actualmente hay más de veinte candidatos para la entrevista.

False friends # 8

DELITO vs. DELIGHT

Ex.    Hurtar en tiendas es un delito.

          To shoplift in stores is a crime.

          What a delight to see you here with us!

          ¡Qué deleite verlos aquí con nosotros!

False friends # 9

DESGRACIA vs. DISGRACE

Ex.     Aquel bicho tuvo la desgracia de ser atropellado en la calle.

           That animal had the misfortune of being hit on the street.

          It's a disgrace to spread rumors about people.

           Es una vergüenza propagar chismes sobre personas.

False friends # 10

DISGUSTO vs. DISGUST

Ex.     ¡Qué disgusto ver montones de basuras en el centro!

           How annoying to see piles of trash in downtown!

            Robin ate his vegetables with disgust.

           Rubén comió sus verduras con asco.

                                                                   

                                                           To be continued on the next post.... :)

FALSE FRIENDS in Spanish and English (Part 1)

So, let's look at another topic in Spanish learning. It's called "false friends". This is important in order that natives of Spanish who you communicate with will understand you. Or else, you will be speaking nonsense and you'll sound even funny to them.

The first thing to do is to define "false friends". What are they?

False friends are words in Spanish that resemble in spelling in another language, in our case English!

For example,  the word "carpeta" in Spanish means a folder where you hide important documents, while the false friend in English is "carpet" means that textile you put on the floor to  beautify a certain room.

There are a lot of false friends in Spanish and English out there!

We'll just go over some of them in this post (or more subsequent posts later on). Ok? Ready?

False friends #1 

ASISTIR vs. ASSIST

So, as you see they almost look the same, But they really have different meaning/senses.

ASISTIR means "to attend" "to be present at", while ASSIST means "to help, aid"

Ex.  Ayer yo asistí al partido de béisbol en el estadio con unos amigos.  

       Yesterday I attended the baseball match at the stadium with some friends.

       Tommy and Jane assisted their mother in baking cupcakes.

       Tommy y Jane ayudó a su madre a cocer pastelitos.

False  friends #2

BIZARRO vs. BIZARRE

Ex.   Los soldados deberían ser siempre bizarros.

        Soldiers should always be courageous.

        In the amusement park there are some bizarre rides to try.

        En el parque de diversiones hay unos aparatos extraños que probar.

False friends # 3

CASUALIDAD vs. CASUALTY

Ex..    La semana pasada en el centro yo vi a mi enamoramiento por casualidad.

          I saw my crush by chance in downtown  last week.

          The volcanic eruption didn't lead to many casualties.

          La erupción del volcán no resultó en muchas víctimas.

False friends # 4

CHOCAR vs. CHOKE

Ex.    El camión que transportaba puercos chocó con otro camión.

         The truck that carried pigs collided with another truck.

         The girl choked on a fishbone.

         La niña atragantó con una espina de pescado.

False friends #5

CODO vs. CODE

Ex.   La señora siempre unta loción en sus codos.

        The lady always applies lotion on her elbows.

         What is the code to open this locker?

         ¿Cuál es el código para abrir este lócker?

To be continued on the next post... Stay tuned ;)

      

Some common Spanish Conjunctions and how to use them (Part II)

So here we are in the second part of our topic Spanish conjunctions and how to use them!


The next conjunction is "EN CUANTO" which means "as soon as".

Ex.
     *En cuanto terminen, entreguen sus papeles de examen.
      (As soon as you're finished, hand in your exam papers.)
     *Se lo diré en cuanto lo vea.
      (I'll tell him as soon as I see him.)

"HASTA QUE" means "until"

Ex.
     *Los alumnos quedaban en silencio hasta que la maestra los despidió.
      (The pupils remained silent until the teacher dismissed them.)
     * No podemos tocar esa computadora hasta que el jefe no dé el permiso.
      (We can't touch that computer until the boss gives the permission to do so.)

"MIENTRAS" means "while"

Ex.
     *Yo toco el piano mientras mi marido lee un libro.
      (I play the piano while my husband reads a book.)
     *Mientras hace sol, vamos a nadar en la playa.
      (While it's sunny, let's swim in the sea.)

"NI...  NI..."  means "neither... nor..."

Ex.
     *No puedes ni tocar instrumento ni leer partituras.
      (You can neither play an instrument nor read sheetmusic.)
     *Mi sueldo no fue ni bajado ni subido. Permanece lo mismo!
      (My salary was  neither lowered nor raised. It remains the same!)


"O"  means "or". This is probably the easiest conjunction to learn :)

Ex.
     *Tú puedes quedarte en casa o venir con nosotros.
     (You can stay at home or come with us.)
     *El jefe podrá subir tu salario o darte beneficios de forma otro que salario.
     (The boss can give you a salary raise or other forms of benefits.)

"PARA QUE" means "so that, in order that". This is synonymous with "a fin de que".

Ex.
     * Necesitas llevar las gafas para que las cosas alrededor queden más nítidas.
      (You need to wear eyeglasses so that the things around you become clearer.)
     *Para que nadie tropiece, recojan los juguetes del piso.
      (In order that no one stumbles, keep the toys away from the floor.)

"PERO"  means "but"

Ex. 
     * Ella canta bien pero es demasiado tímida.
      (She sings well but she's too shy.)
     *Él tiene el cuerpo grande pero no consigue bien levantar cajas pesadas.
      (His body is big but he hardly can lift heavy boxes.)

"PORQUE" means "because"

Ex.
     *El niño no lo puede comprar porque no tiene dinero.
     (The boy can't buy it because he has no money)
     *El jefe lo echó porque tuvo muchas ausencias.
     (The boss fired him because he had a lot of absences.)

"SI" means "if", "whether"

Ex.
     *Yo no sé si o no ellos quieren venir conmigo a la fiesta de mi amiga.
      (I don't know whether they wanna come with me to my friend's party or not)
     * El jefe pregunta si todos ya llegaron a la oficina.
      (The boss asks if everyone has already arrive at the office.)

"SIEMPRE QUE" can mean "everytime" or "as long as"

Ex. .
     *Recuerdos del pasado me llenan la mente siempre que entro en esta tienda.
      (Memories of the past fills my mind everytime I enter this store.)
     *Siempre que los empleados tenga pocas ausencias, el jefe no los echará.
      (As long as the employees have few absences, the boss won't fire them.)

"SIN EMBARGO" means "nevertheless", "however"

Ex.
     *Yo quiero ir a la heladería, sin embargo está lloviendo a cántaros.
     (I wanna go to the ice cream parlor, however it's raining very hard.)
     *Ya hay la decisión de echar a esos dos empleados, sin embargo ellos no quieren irse de la empresa.
      (A decision has already been  made to fire those two employees, nevertheless they don't want to leave the company.)

"SIN QUE"  means "without"

Ex.
     *Conseguí salir de la casa sin que mis padres me vieran.
      (I was able to go out of the house without my parents seeing me.)
     *Sometió el documento lleno de errores sin que el jefe percibiera.
      (He submitted the document that's full of errors without the boss knowing it.)


"SINO"  means "but rather"

Ex.
     *La visita no metió azùcar en su café sino sal. ¡Qué horror!
      (The visitor didn't put sugar in her coffee, but rather salt. Goodness!)
     *El jefe no pidió una copia del calendario sino de la carta.
      (The boss didn't ask for a copy of the calendar, but rather the letter.)

"UNA VEZ QUE" means "once"

Ex.
     *Una vez que aterricemos, te mandaré un mensaje de texto.
      (Once we've landed, I'll send you a text message.)
     *Le telefonaré una vez que el director haya llegado.
      (I'll phone you once the director has arrived.)


And the one-letter conjunction "Y" , which means "and".

Ex.
     *Yo barro el piso y tú limpias los muebles.
     (I sweep the floor and you wipe the furniture.)
     *El jefe tiene reunión hoy y sale a viajar a otro país mañana.
      (The boss has a meeting today and goes for a trip to another country tomorrow.)

"YA QUE" means "since", "seeing that"

Ex.
     *Ya que estás aquí, podrás ayudarme.
      (Since you're here, you'll be able to help me.)
     *La empresa no celebrará la fiesta de Navidad ya que le falta presupuesto para ello.
      (The company won't celebrate Christmas Party seeing that it lacks budget for that.)


S O   T H A T ' S   A L L!
I hope you enjoyed the two posts , and have learned something about the Spanish conjunctions.😀
 Use them in your speech and you'll be more fluent than before! ¡Yo lo prometo! ✋

Some common Spanish Conjunctions and how to use them (Part I)

Hi! How are you? I hope you're doing fine. It's fine here in the Philippines, how about there?

Anyways, we're gonna tackle the part of grammar called "conjunctions" today!

Conjunctions are words or group of words that serve to connect two clauses to make one whole sentence. There are so many different conjunctions. However we'll just be looking at some of them.

Are you ready? Let's go!!!

The first conjunction is "A CONDICIÓN DE QUE" which means "on condition that" or "provided that".  It is best if  we're gonna construct sentences with the conjunction in it.

Ex.
     *Usted puede irse a condición de que, cuando regrese, someta una nota justificativa.
     (You can go provided that you submit an excuse note upon your return.)
     *Los padres le dejarán jugar videojuegos a condición de que él nunca juegue hasta la madrugada.
      (His parents will let him play videogames on condition that he never plays until after midnight.)

Next, we have "A FIN DE QUE" which means "so that, in order that"

Ex.
     *Hay que cepillarse los dientes regularmente a fin de que los dientes siempre queden libres de cavidades. (One must brush the teeth regularly so that the teeth are always free from cavities).
      *Intento entregar todas mis tareas a mi jefe a tiempo a fin de que no me echen.
       (I try to submit my tasks to my boss on time in order that I won't get fired.)

The third one is, "A MENOS QUE" which means "unless"

Ex.
     *No toques nada en ese mostrador a menos que tú sepas para qué son o cómo funcionan.
      (Don't touch anything in that counter unless you know their purpose or function.)
     * Nosotros no podemos salir todavía a menos que los jefes nos digan que sí.
      (We can't go out yet unless the bosses tells us to do so.)

So, how is it going so far?

The next conjunction to learn is "A PESAR DE QUE", which means "in spite of" or "despite"

Ex.
     *A pesar de la tormenta ayer yo fui al trabajo.
      (In spite of the storm yesterday I went to work)
     *La niña comió muchos dulces a pesar de que le dolieran las muelas.
      (The girl ate a lot of candies despite her teeth were hurting.

Having fun now? Let's move on to the next conjunction which is "ANTES QUE", meaning "before".

Ex.
     *Antes que te acuestes, repasa todas tus lecciones.
      (Before lying down in bed, review all your lessons.)
     *Ya estábamos en la oficina antes que el jefe llegó.
       (We were already at the office before the boss arrived.)

Then, we have the conjunction "AUNQUE", and this means "even if", "even though"

Ex.
     *Aunque el jefe está, las parlanchinas no dejan de hacer ruidos con sus cuentos.
     (Even if the boss is in, the chatterboxes don't stop telling stories loudly.)
     *¿De verdad lo comprarás aunque es muy costoso?
      (Will you really buy it even though it's very expensive?)


The next conjuction is "CADA VEZ QUE", which means "each time that"

Ex.
     *Cada vez que nos vemos, nos saludamos.
      (Everytime we see each other, we greet each other.)
     *De niño recibía muchos regalitos cada vez que fuera la Navidad.
       (When I was young I received many gifts everytime it's Christmas)

Another conjunction is "COMO", meaning "as", "since"

Ex.
     *Como no estaba lloviendo, los amigos fueron a divertirse en el centro.
       (Since it wasn't raining, the friends went downtown to have fun)
      *Imprimí el archivo como me mandó el jefe.
       (I printed the file as the boss ordered)

The next one is "COMO SI", which means "as if"

Ex.
     *Aquel empleado le gritó al jefe como si fuera el jefe.
       (That employee shouted at the boss as if he was the boss).
      * Mi amigo en coche me pasó como si yo no estuviera allá esperándolo.
       (My friend drove past me as if I wasn't there waiting for him).

Then we have "CUANDO" which  means "when".

Ex.
     *Cuando salga el jefe, te contaré aquel ocurrido.
      (When the boss leaves, I'll talk to you about what happened.)
     * Vosotros no podéis tocar este aparato cuando no estamos aquí.
      (You cannot touch this appliance when we're not here.)


"DESDE QUE" is a conjunction that means "since"

Ex.
     *Tú estás comportando raramente desde que llegaste de tu estancia en aquella ciudad,
      (You're behaving weirdly since you arrived from your stay in that city)
     *Yo no he tomado nada de merienda desde que llegué al oficina.
      (I haven't taken in any snacks since I arrived at the office.)

"DESPUÉS QUE" means "after"

Ex.
     *Después que cenó, mi marido agarró su móvil y escuchó su música favorita.
      (After he ate dinner, my husband took his mobile phone and listened to his favorite music.)
     *Tuve mucha hambre después que terminó la larga entrevista.
      (I was so hungry after the long meeting was ajourned.)

"EN CASO QUE" means "in case that"

Ex.
     *Pueden llamar mi atención en caso que tengan dudas sobre el examen.
      (You can call me in case you have questions regarding the exam.)
     *En caso que el presidente no está, el vice presidente puede presidir.
      (In case the president is not around, the vice president can preside).

To be continued in the next blogpost ... See you! :)

Conjugating and constructing sentences with the Spanish word: ERIGIR

Hi, I'm writing this post just to practice my sentence building in Spanish. And for you to gradually familiarize with conjugation and sentence constructioon in Spanish as well. I hope you learn something from this kind of posts! 😎

So the verb we're gonna conjugate and use in sentences today is the verb "ERIGIR".

According to Barron's Spanish-English Pocket Dictionary, "erigir" is a verb that can means:

1. to build (synonym: construir)

2. to establish (synonym: fundar)

***********************************

First, let's conjugate the verb in the present, past and future tenses of the Indicative Mood.

Present 

Yo	erijo	Nosotr@s	erigimos
Tú	eriges	Vosotr@s	erigís
Él/ella	erige	Ellos/ellas	erigen
Usted	erige	Ustedes	erigen
Past
Yo	erigí	Nosotr@s	erigimos
Tú	erigiste	Vosotr@s	erigisteis
Él/ella	erigió	Ellos/ellas	erigieron
Usted	erigió	Ustedes	erigieron
Future
Yo	erigiré	Nosotr@s	erigiremos
Tú	erigirás	Vosotr@s	erigireis
Él/ella	erigirá	Ellos/ellas	erigirán
Usted	erigirá	Ustedes	erigirán

Then, let´s conjugate "erigir" in the present and imperfect/past tenses (both -RA and -SE forms) of the Subjunctive Mood.

Yo	erija	Nosotr@s	erijamos
Tú	erijas	Vosotr@s	erijáis
Él/ella	erija	Ellos/ellas	erijan
Usted	erija	Ustedes	erijan
Yo	erigiese	Nosotr@s	erigiésemos
Tú	erigieses	Vosotr@s	erigiéseis
Él/ella	erigiese	Ellos/ellas	erigiesen
Usted	erigiese	Ustedes	erigiesen
Yo	erigiera	Nosotr@s	erigiéramos
Tú	erigieras	Vosotr@s	erigiérais
Él/ella	erigiera	Ellos/ellas	erigieran
Usted	erigiera	Ustedes	erigieran

Its present participle(gerund) and the past participle are the following:

erigiendo

erigido

***************************

Now let's make some sentences containing the verb "ERIGIR".

Sense #1 TO BUILD/CONSTRUCT

Los albañiles erigen casas y otros edificios.  --> Masons build houses and other buildings.

La Gran Pirámide de Guiza fue erigida en el siglo XXVI a. C. --> The Great Pyramid of Giza was built in the 26th century B.C.

Sense #2 of "erigir" TO ESTABLISH/FOUND

Esa empresa se erigió hace más de veinte años. --> That company was founded more that twenty years ago.

SO, THAT'S ALL FOR TODAY!! I hope this post has been educational for you! And I'd like to challenge you...  On the comment below write down at least one sentence containing the word "ERIGIR"... OK?  😉

Buena suerte!! 🍀

Y hasta la próxima!! 👋

Spanish Vocabulary: Parts of the Body

Hi!
I wrote this post to introduce you to the parts of the human body in español! Just a simple post, for your reference :) Espero que you enjoy it! 😊

So here's the list of the Spanish names for the Parts of the body found on the image above:

SPANISH -> ENGLISH
las cejas -> the eyebrows
el cabello -> the hair  (also "el pelo" esp. in Spain)
la cabeza -> the head
los ojos -> the eyes
la nariz -> the nose
las orejas -> the ears
el cuello -> the neck
la boca -> the mouth
los hombros -> the shoulders
los brazos -> the arms
el codo -> the elbow
los dedos -> the fingers
las manos -> the hands
las piernas -> the legs
las rodillas -> the knees
los tobillos -> the ankles
los pies -> the feet

Example:
Tengo las cejas gruesas - I have thick eyebrows
Tengo el cabello negro y largo - I have long black hair
Tengo los ojos grandes - I have big eyes

Other examples:
Ella tiene las cejas gruesas así como el chico arriba - She has thick eyebrows like the guy above.
Tiene el pelo negro y corto - She has short black hair.
Tiene los dientes feos - She has ugly teeth.

Just a note:
You can use the verb "TENER" + the body part + adjective to describe yourself or somoeone else, just like the examples above!!

(Remember the conjugation of the verb TENER: yo tengo, tú tienes, él/ella/usted tiene, nosotr@s tenemos, vosotr@s tenéis, ell@s/ustedes tienen)

Now, can you describe yourself briefly in the comments below ↓↓↓↓↓??