‘Compromiso’
This one comes up a lot, especially if you do business in Spain, and it’s a nasty one to get wrong. It looks like ‘compromise’, but it actually means ‘commitment’, so you can see in a business context how that might cause problems!
A compromise in Spanish is ‘un acuerdo mutuo’
Architecture of Cartagena
Cartagena has a wonderful mixture of architecture – Punic and Roman remains, old military installations and Modernist buildings. Restoration projects are imaginative. Those invoved are remarkably good at preserving old facades and blending them in with newer buildings. I shall be including a huge array of photographs in this site. I intend to start with the moderner buildings and work back. It will take some time. Fresh photos will be added from time to time.
This is from my friends blog who lives in Cartagena, you can read more about it Here
‘Comer frijoles y repetir pollo’
To eat beans and to burp chicken (literally to have chicken repeat on you!)
Does anyone want to have a guess what the English equivalent might be? I’ll give you a clue, beans are cheaper than chicken.
Question & Answer
Hello Matthew,
How would you say to become dark? as in it gets dark early at this time of year. Is it se hace oscuro en esta epoca del año?
Hello Phil,
‘Se hace oscuro’ works well, but there are two verbs that are the second group of verbs.
‘Oscurecerse’ has the exact meaning.
‘Anochecer’ means ‘night to fall’ and usually has the feeling of ‘getting dark’ within it. It can also mean ‘to be somewhere at nightfall’.
Just as a matter of interest on this last one, you have ‘atardecer’ which also can have the meaning of getting darker, and ‘amanecer’ which means ‘to get light’ or ‘morning to break’.
‘Mucha tela para cortar’.
This literally means ‘a lot of cloth to cut’, but it is used idiomatically to mean that there’s a lot to do, or a lot to talk about. Very often it is used to mean that there’s more to do than you think. Here’s an example:
‘Vamos a centrar en esta cuestión porque hay mucha tela para cortar aquí’
‘Let’s focus on this subject for a while. There’s a lot to talk about here.’
‘Echar párrafos’
I love this one! ‘To chuck out paragraphs’ means ‘to talk a lot’!
Saying ´some´in Spanish
There are a couple of ways of saying ’some’ in Spanish. As we know, ’some’ is an adjective, and therefore it must agree with the noun that it is describing. ‘Alguno’ is the usual way of saying ’some’, and this has four forms: ‘algún’, ‘alguna’, ‘algunos’ and ‘algunas’.
In English we use the word ’some’ for singular uncountable nouns, for example ’some money’, ’some people’ etc., and for plural countable nouns, ’some chairs’, some cars’ etc., and this is why the Spanish needs the four forms.
Let’s translate these four phrases:
‘Some money’ – ‘algún dinero’
‘Some people’ – ‘alguna gente’
‘Some chairs’ – algunas sillas’
‘Some cars’ – ‘algunos coches’
For the last two, ‘unos’ and ‘unas’ could also be used.
Have a go at these phrases, translating them into Spanish:
1) Some bicycles
2) Some balls
3) Some rice
4) Some coats
5) Some coffee
6) Some water
False Friend – ‘Probar’
This actually does mean ‘to prove’ (when talking about a theory or innocence) , but it has lots of other meanings, and it is this that causes confusion!
You are much more likely to hear it to mean ‘to try’ when you are talking about food or drink, or ‘to try on’ when you are talking about clothes, or ‘to test’ when you are talking about a vehicle or a weapon.
On the other hand, ‘demostrar’ is a more usual verb for ‘to prove’.
Incidentally, the English verb ‘to prove’ used to mean ‘to test’, which is the Spanish meaning, and it is this meaning that it retains in idioms such as ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’, and ‘it is the exception that proves the rule’. If you replace the words ‘proves’ and ‘proof’ with ‘tests’ and ‘test’, the idioms make much more sense, don’t they?
Question on the use of apetece
Here is a question put to me by Jan, a student of mine. My answer is below.
I’ve used apetece in the sense of ‘fancying’ something to eat or drink – Is it correct to use it in this way?
Me apetece chocolate
Another question.
‘Me siento contento’ – ‘I feel happy’
Would it be OK to use feliz for happy, as in – Siento feliz if so, what is the difference between the two expressions?
Jan
Hi Jan,
Yes, ‘apetece’ is used in this way. Perfect! My sentence above could be translated as ‘I don’t fancy studying’.
‘Feliz’ and ‘contento’? Now you’ve opened up a can of worms! Are you feeling like a beginner to intermediate today, or an advanced student?
Beginner: They mean the same, use them interchangeably
Advanced: ‘Contento’ would be the more temporary emotion. ‘Feliz’ would be more permanent, and could be used to describe characteristics of a person or a thing.
‘Estoy contento porque hoy hace sol’ – ‘I’m happy because it’s sunny today’
‘Soy feliz con la vida que tengo’ – ‘I’m happy with the life I have’
‘Es una persona feliz’ – ‘he’s a happy person’
‘Alegre’ could also be used in this last example.
Translating ´to feel´ in Spanish
The obvious translation for this verb is ’sentir’ or ’sentirse’, but there are many instances where this is not appropriate. Let’s have a look at how to translate this verb into Spanish.
1) You use ’sentir’ for translating ‘to feel’ when you are talking about emotions:
‘Me siento contento’ – ‘I feel happy’
‘Se sintió un profundo sentimiento de odio’ – ’she felt a deep sense of hatred’
However, there are other verbs that can be used in this situation, for example:
‘Tiene miedo’ – ‘he feels fear’, ‘he is afraid’
2) ‘Tener’ is also used when you are talking about sensations:
‘Tengo hambre’ – ‘I feel hungry’
Tenían frío – ‘they were cold’
3) When ‘to feel’ means ‘to seem’, the Spanish use ‘parecer’
‘Parece que va a hacer sol’ – ‘it feels like it’s going to be sunny’
‘Parece áspero’ – ‘it feels rough’
4) When ‘to feel’ means ‘to touch’, use ‘tocar’
‘El médico me tocó el estómago’ – ‘the doctor felt my stomach’
‘Todos tocaron el cuero’ – ‘everyone felt the leather’
5) When ‘to feel’ is used to gve an opinion, the Spanish use ‘pensar’ or ‘creer’ or a similar verb
‘Pienso que no trabajas bien’ – ‘I feel you are not working well’
6) ‘To feel like’ means ‘to want to’, so the Spanish use a verb that has that meaning
‘No me apetece estudiar’ – ‘I don’t feel like studying’
Using these constructions, does anyone want to give us some sentences to translate?
