My video. UA175. 09/11/2001.
20110911 (spanishNY.com) top
Video: HMS Queen Elizabeth 2 greets the World Trade Center
Cunard's HMS Queen Elizabeth 2 greets the World Trade Center from spanishNY on Vimeo.
This is my own video. I used to live there. It was my neighborhood. So I was there in the good times, not only in the bad times,
20110908 (spanishNY.com) top
Video: Mexican Holiday
MEXICO lindo from MOLOKOSO on Vimeo.
http://www.gadling.com/2011/09/06/video-of-the-day-mexican-holiday/
20110906 (spanishNY.com) top
El Rey
El Rey is a song that everybody who visits Mexico should know. If you attend a party, if you listen to the radio, more lilkely than not you will hear this song. Everybody knows it by heart, everybody will sing it along, and you will have to do it too.
Here is a web page containing the lyrics and the translation.
20110901 (spanishNY.com) top
10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out (26)
Here are 10 more common random idioms, expressions, words, you may have trouble with if you hear them for the first time:
| Expression | Approximate literal translation (what you might think you actually heard) | Explanation |
| chorrocientos (MX) | bunchhundred? | a very large number. |
| ¡al agua pato(s)! | what? Ducks to the water? | An expression said right when you are about to jump in the water (to have fun). |
| hacerse pato | what? to make oneself a duck? | to play dumb |
| pagar el pato | to pay for the duck? | to get the blame |
| me vale, te vale (MX) | it's worth X to me.., to you. (a peanut, etc.) | I don't care, I don't give a peanut. |
| 60 y pico (70, 100, etc.) | what? 60 and peak? | 60 something. |
| error de dedo (MX) | Lit: error of finger, mistake of finger | a typo |
| echar de cabeza | what? to throw someone head on? | to report someone (to some authority, parents), to reveal a secret about someone, to denounce |
| con todo y todo | lit: with all and all | everything included, all included, all things considered |
| estar de buenas, estar de malas (MX) | what? to be of good ones, to be of bad ones? | to be in a good mood, to be in a bad mood. |
al agua patos
20110820 (spanishNY.com) top
Rayos
Rayo is a Spanish word that has many different meanings and it's used in many everyday expressions. Let me show you some of them:
| rayos X, rayos equis | ray | X-rays |
| rayo de luz | ray, beam | beam of light |
| rayos del sol | ray | sun's rays |
| rayo láser | beam | laser beam |
| rayo de luna | beam | moonbeam |
| cayó un rayo | lightning bolt. Lit: A lightning bold fell. | a bolt of lightning struck |
| los rayos de mi bicicleta | spokes | tire spokes |
| sabe a rayos | expr: lit: it tastes like rays. | it tastes horrible, foul. |
| huele a rayos | expr. lit: it smells like rays. | it smells horrible, foul |
| ¡rayos! | expr: lit: rays! lightning! | damn! |
| como de rayo | expr: lit: like of ray. | like greased lightning |
| está echando rayos | expr: lit: he's throwing rays | he is fuming |
| ¡que te parta un rayo! | expr: lit: May lightning strike you! | You can go to hell. |
| salió como un rayo | expr: lit: he left like lightning | he shot out like greased lightning |
Le cayó un rayo a la Estatua de la Libertad
rayos láser
rayos de sol
rayos de la rueda de la bicicleta
20110817 (spanishNY.com) top
White and Black
There are many expressions in Spanish and English that mean exactly the same,
but they are reversed! Here are some of them:
| agua y aceite | oil and water |
| arroz con pollo | chicken with rice |
| blanco y negro | black and white |
| de pies a cabeza | from head to toe (lit: from feet to head) |
| ir y venir | come and go |
| perros y gatos | cats and dogs |
| sano y salvo | safe and sound (lit: sound and safe) |
| tarde o temprano | sooner or later (lit: later or sooner) |
| tenedor y cuchillo | knife and fork (lit: fork and knife) |
| vivo o muerto | dead or alive |
But wait! Some other expressions are said in the same order in both languages!
| sal y pimienta | salt and pepper |
20061003 (spanishNY.com) (Last update: 20110815 ) top
Cantinflas 100
(August 12, 1911 – April 20, 1993)
Cantinflas (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantinflas
Just look check out the cast of these two Cantinflas movies (cameos):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_80_Days_(1956_film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepe_(film)
20110811 (spanishNY.com) top
Spanish verb tense names
In English, you say present perfect, but in Spanish we say pretérito perfecto, antepresente, and in the U. S. people also call it presente perfecto, These differences happen usually between Latin America and Spain, and sometimes between schools, like instituto Cervantes and Columbia or NYU. Here is a table showing these name differences.
| Example | English | Spanish (Bello) | Spanish (Academia) | Also |
| indicative | indicativo | |||
| yo hablo | present | presente | presente | |
| yo hablé | preterite | pretérito | pretérito perfecto simple | pretérito indefinido, indefinido, pasado |
| yo hablaba | imperfect | copretérito | pretérito imperfecto | imperfecto |
| yo hablaré | future | futuro | futuro simple | |
| yo hablaría | conditional | pospretérito | condicional simple | condicional, potencial, potencial simple |
| yo he hablado | present perfect | antepresente | pretérito perfecto | presente perfecto |
| yo hube hablado | antepretérito | pretérito anterior | ||
| yo había hablado | pluperfect | antecopretérito | pretérito pluscuamperfecto | |
| yo habré hablado | future perfect | antefuturo | futuro perfecto | |
| yo habría hablado | conditional perfect | antepospretérito | potencial compuesto | condicional perfecto |
| subjuntive | subjuntivo | |||
| yo hable | present subjunctive | presente del subjuntivo | presente del subjuntivo | |
| yo hablara / yo hablase | imperfect subjunctive | pretérito del subjuntivo | pretérito imperfecto del subjuntivo | imperfecto del subjuntivo |
| yo hablare | future subjunctive | futuro del subjuntivo | futuro simple del subjuntivo | futuro imperfecto del subjuntivo |
| yo haya hablado | present perfect subjunctive | antepresente del subjuntivo | pretérito perfecto del subjuntivo | presente perfecto del subjuntivo |
| yo hubiera hablado | pluperfect subjunctive | antepretérito del subjuntivo | pretérito pluscuamperfecto del subjuntivo | |
| yo hubiere hablado | future perfect subjunctive | antefuturo del subjuntivo | futuro perfecto del subjuntivo |
I prefer to refer to verb tenses by its English name. The possibilities of getting confused are less.... as you can see.
Bello refers to Andrés Bello (1781-1865), a Venezuelan scholar.
20110806 (spanishNY.com) top
10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out (25)
Here are 10 more common random idioms, expressions, words, you may have trouble with if you hear them for the first time:
| Expression | Approximate literal translation (what you might think you actually heard) | Explanation |
| estado de ánimo | state of what? | state of mind |
| fuera de serie | out of series | (something) out of this world. Usually something good, positive. |
| hacerle la lucha a algo (Mx) | to make the wrestling? To make the lucha libre? what? | to make an effort, to keep trying, (not to give up). |
| la plebe, la chusma | what? | the masses, the populace, the rabble |
| meter las manos al fuego por alguien, meter las manos en el fuego por alguien | to put your hands in the fire for someone | you would go to any length to defend someone or to support someone. (because you trust that person). |
| parado (LatAm) | what? | to stand, standing, straight up (In Spain it only means jobless, motionless). |
| planta de montaje | plant of montage ? | assembly line (in line, from here comes the concept in series, serial, consecutive, one product is manufactured right after another) |
| producción en serie | production in series | mass production (serial production) |
| quedar mal parado, dejar mal parado a alguien | what? to stand badly? | to look bad (in a situation), to make someone look bad |
| signo de interrogación | sign of interrogation? signal of interrogation? | question mark |
Meter las manos en el fuego, meter las manos al fuego
1) Don't mix with the rabble 2) yes mom, rabble, rabble (based on an old sitcom)
20110731 (spanishNY.com) top
Tornadoes
Tornado is a word with Spanish DNA:
- tornado
- 1550s, navigator's word for violent windy thunderstorm in the tropical Atlantic, probably a mangled borrowing from Sp. tronada "thunderstorm," from tronar "to thunder," from L. tonare "to thunder" (see thunder). Metathesis of -o- and -r- in modern spelling influenced by Sp. tornar "to twist, turn," from L. tornare "to turn." Meaning "extremely violent whirlwind" is first found 1620s. (from http://www.etymonline.com), I think this description is not 100% correct, but anyway.
We have some words in Spanish that share the same origin:
Torniquete /tor-ni-ke-te/ (MX). The plural is torniquetes
Do you see the similarities between a tornado and a torniquete?
Tornillo. /tor-ni-yo/ The plural is tornillos.
And to make the long story short, this is a tornado in English and, of course, in Spanish.
The plural of tornado in Spanish is tornados.
Again, do you see the similarities between a tornado, a torniquete, and a tornillo?
So now, can someone explain me why the English language media prefer tornadoes over tornados for it's plural? To a Spanish speaking person it looks awful! it sounds uneducated!
The same happens with potato (from Spanish patata).
Potatoes looks horrible!!! Tomatoes!!! Bufaloes!!! Mosquitoes!!! nooooooo!!!! Help us international grammar police!!!!!!!
In English, tornado has two accepted plurals, tornadoes and tornados. Why don't you guys stick to tornados? It looks much better! I swear!
Think about it, when you need to say the plural of cactus you say, "look mom, cacti!". (cactuses is also correct). When you want to say the plural of paparazzo, you don't say paparazzos, you use the proper Italian plural, paparazzi. So why don't you guys use the proper Spanish plurals as well? Like sombreros, luckily you don't say sombreroes!
20110725 (spanishNY.com) top
R and RR can make a big difference!
You have to be careful with R and RR, not only spelling words, but also pronouncing them! Here are some examples:
| with R | meaning | with RR | meaning |
| ahora | now | ahorra | save (money, time) from ahorrar. |
| boro | boron (Chem.) | borro | I erase, I delete. From borrar. |
| caro | expensive | carro | car |
| cero | zero | cerro | mount, hill |
| coro | chorus, choir | corro | I run. from correr. |
| foro | forum | forro | lining |
| mira | look! watch! | mirra | myrrh |
| para | for | parra | vine |
| perito | expert (legal) | perrito | puppy |
| pero | but | perro | dog |
perito
perritos
20110724 (spanishNY.com) top
10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out (24)
Here are 10 common random idioms you may have trouble with if you hear them for the first time:
| Expression | Approximate literal translation (what you might think you actually heard) | Explanation |
| ¡allá tú! | what? there you? you are there? | It's your problem!, that's your problem! |
| ¿A qué te dedicas? (Mx) | what do you dedicate yourself to? | What do you do for a living? |
| cayó el ladrón | the thief fell | the thief was arrested |
| despapaye (Mx) | what? papaya? | ruckus, a big mess |
| él no me supo decir | he didn't know how to tell me | he couldn't tell me (because he didn't know). |
| hace cosa de un mes (Mx) | It's a thing of a month ago? It makes thing a month? | About a month ago. |
| la letra de la canción | the letter of the song | song lyrics |
| las elecciones se celebraron ayer | the eleccions were celebrated yesteday? | the elections took place yesterday. (celebrar with this kind of events means to take place). |
| una cascarita (Mx) | cáscara= fruit peel | friendly, informal soccer game |
| Voy a llegar al Hotel del Prado. | I will arrive at the Hotel del Prado. | I will check in at the Hotel del Padro. |
At this point I hope I'm not repeating some of the previous expressions!
20110718 (spanishNY.com) top
¿Gustas?
So books teach you that gustar is a third person verb, and it's equivalent to to like in English. Not always. In Mexico we use it instead of ¿quisiera? ¿le gustaría?
Here are some examples:
| ¿gustas sentarte? | Would you like to sit down? |
| ¿gustas un refresco? (MX) | Would you like a soda? |
| ¿gusta pasar por favor? | Would you please come in? |
| Eduardo no se encuentra en estos momentos. Si gusta llamarle en 30 minutos. | (on the phone). Eduardo is not here at this moment. If you would like to call him in 30 minutes. |
| ¿gustan algo más? | Would you guys like something else? |
| ¿qué gustas de tomar? (MX) | What would you like to drink? |
| ¿gusta probar? | Would you like to try some? (usually a food sample at the supermarket) |
| ¿gustas un poco más? | Would you like a little more? (food, drinks) |
| ¿no gustas un cafecito? | Wouldn't you like a coffee? (sometimes it's used in the negative) |
Gusta is for formal you (Usted). Gustas is for familiar you (tú). Gustan is for plural you (ustedes).
¿gustas? is used, for example, when you are eating or drinking something in front of a friend, and you want to be polite and offer him/she some of your meal.
¿Gustas un refresco?
In Mexico and Spain un refresco is a soda.
20110709 (spanishNY.com) top
Mediados del Año
So we are already half way through the year. How do we say that in Spanish? How do we say beginning of the year? end of the year? or middle of the week?
| Expression | |
| año nuevo | New year. January 1st. |
| fin de año | probably December 31st. |
| fin de semana | weekend |
| finales de año | end of the year |
| finales de julio | end of July |
| mediados de año | middle of the year |
| mediados de julio | middle of July |
| mitad de semana | half of the week |
| mitad del año | half of the year |
| principio de semana | beginning of the week |
| principios de año | beginning of the year |
| principios de julio | beginning of July |
| principios de mes | beginning of the month |
20110701 (spanishNY.com) top
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