¡Qué tiempos de locura! I’ve been largely away from this platform due to career changes and family health issues and, now, I return at a time when the whole world se está volviendo loco. The Spanish language, however, remains my passion and hobby and I figured, rather than simply watch telenovelas and skype with my […]
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El subjuntivo y frases que lo requieren
Hola… I’m back after recovering from my last case of subjunctivitis, a grammatical condition which causes frequent brain freeze and has impeded me from completing an effective post in the last two weeks. The thing is, I want to be totalmente seguro about what I’m writing before I submit it to the world, so I’ve spent […]
Mientras + indicativo / subjuntivo
Here’s a tricky situation which comes up often in Spanish, but which native speakers sometimes have a hard time explaining. The word “mientras”, which means while in Spanish, can take either the indicative or the subjunctive afterwards, but there are nuances of meaning which change depending which one is used. Today I’ll try to break this […]
¡No te incumbe!
In English, we don’t like people meddling in our business. Turns out, the same is true in Spanish-speaking world, even if it is a cultural thing in many places to gossip and pry. Spanish speakers have a word for people who do this kind of thing: metiche. It’s common to hear, “¡No seas metiche!” when […]
Fregar
The technical definition of fregar is to “wash” or to “scrub.” A wash basin, in fact, is commonly called a fregadero. Like many Spanish words, however, this one carries different meanings depending upon where it is used. Throughout much of Latin America, it serves as a synonym of molestar, which means “to annoy” or “to […]
Acoger / Recoger
You may be aware that the verb coger means to “to take” or “to grab” in standard Spanish, but in countries like Mexico and Argentina, this verb is considered vulgar and means “to have sex”. Its derivatives, on the other hand, like acoger, recoger and sobrecoger, do not have such connotations and can be used safely with strangers […]
Pleito
This isn’t exactly a slang term, but it’s a lot more common than its dictionary form would suggest. Strictly speaking, “un pleito” is a lawsuit or a legal action against another person. In many Latin American countries, however, the term describes any sort of confrontation or fight between two people. I once heard it defined […]