From escalating political tensions to unprecedented global divisions, 2025 has been defined by extremes. Throughout the year, we've witnessed a world increasingly split between opposing viewpoints, where moderation seems to have taken a back seat. This reality has led us to select a word that perfectly captures the spirit of our times. Let's reveal Yabla's Spanish Word of the Year 2025.
The word radical is our Spanish Word of the Year 2025. Political polarization, extreme positions, and a growing divide in public discourse have made this term constantly appear in news headlines and everyday conversations across the Spanish-speaking world.
In Spanish, just like in English, radical functions as both an adjective and a noun. The word carries multiple meanings depending on context:
• Extreme or drastic (cambio radical - radical change)
• Fundamental (reforma radical - fundamental reform)
• In politics, describing extreme ideological positions
A person who holds extreme political or lifestyle views
El amigo neohippie radical salsapunk:
The radical salsapunk neohippie:
Caption 49, Juan Sánchez Personajes
Play Caption
The word radical in Spanish is pronounced rah-dee-KAHL, with the stress on the final syllable.
One of the most common expressions with radical is cambio radical (radical change), which refers to a profound or permanent transformation:
encontraron un cambio radical para su vida.
found a radical change for their lives.
Caption 7, Instinto de conservación Parque Tayrona - Part 5
Play Caption
The word radical belongs to a family of related terms that have also been prominent this year:
• Radicalización (radicalization) - The process of adopting extreme positions
• Radicalizar (to radicalize) - To make or become radical
• Radicalismo (radicalism) - The ideology or practice of radical politics
While radical captured the essence of 2025, several other words defined key moments throughout the year:
From military operations in conflict zones to airport disruptions and expanding delivery services, drones have been everywhere in 2025. The Spanish word dron comes from the English "drone."
cámaras, trípodes, palo selfie, drones, etcétera,
cameras, tripods, selfie sticks, drones, etc.,
Caption 30, Viajando con Fermín El Caminito del Rey - Part 1
Play Caption
Immigration policies and enforcement dominated headlines throughout 2025, making deportación a frequently discussed topic across the Spanish-speaking world.
This word describes the growing divide in societies worldwide, where finding common ground has become increasingly challenging.
Trade tensions and tariff policies shaped economic discussions in 2025, making aranceles a term frequently heard in business news and political debates.
So there you have it - our Spanish Word of the Year 2025. What are your thoughts on choosing radical? Can you think of other words that deserved this title? Share your ideas with us, and feel free to tell us what words defined your 2025!
Haber is definitely on the list of tricky Spanish verbs. In fact, even native Spanish speakers sometimes struggle with this verb, which can be used in different ways and forms to mean different things. Even though haber is most often used as the auxiliary verb, "to have," in the imperfect tenses (e.g. Yo he comido, or "I have eaten"), it is also used in cases in which we say "there is" or "there are" in English and in other cases, can mean "to be" or "to exist."
Let's look at an example:
Hay muchos problemas.
There are a lot of problems.
Caption 6, Adícora, Venezuela - El tatuaje de Rosana
Play Caption
Along these lines, some speakers use habemos to make a reference to a group of people. In this case, you can think of habemos as something along the lines of "we are," "we have," "there are those of us who," etc. Let's take a look at the following sentence:
Entonces, que todavía no lo hay pero entonces,
So, it doesn't exist yet, but then,
habemos gente que queremos hacerlo y... y, eh...
there are those of us who want to do it, and... and, um...
Captions 90-91, Playa Adícora - Chober
Play Caption
But, is it correct to use habemos in this manner? Let's find out.
As we noted in the example above, habemos seems to correspond to the first person plural in the simple present tense. But is that accurate? Let's take a look at how we conjugate haber in the simple present:
Yo he (I have)
Tú has (you have)
Él/Ella ha (he/she has)
Usted ha (you have)
Nosotros hemos (we have)
Vosotros habéis (you have)
Ellos/Ustedes han (they/you have)
As you can see, hemos appears, but not habemos. So, is habemos a sort of special, alternative manner of conjugating haber?
Long story short: No, we can't use habemos in this context. It's incorrect! Let's look at an example:
WRONG: Habemos pocos ingenieros en la empresa.
RIGHT: Somos pocos ingenieros en la compañía (There are just a few of us engineers at the company).
So, why do some people use habemos in error? The most likely reason is because habemos is the archaic conjugation of haber in the first person plural, which as we mentioned above, is now hemos. However, it shouldn't be used to mean "we are," "we have," "there are," etc. Let's take a look at this mistake in action in the following clips:
Aunque indiscutiblemente habemos [sic] más cubanos que nada.
Although undeniably, we have more Cubans than anything.
Caption 47, La Calle 8 - Un recorrido fascinante
Play Caption
Y donde no solo habemos [sic] cinco familias, sino hay...
And where there are not only five families, but rather there are...
Caption 25, Instinto de conservación - Parque Tayrona
Play Caption
And of course, we can also see in action the first example mentioned in this lesson:
Entonces, que todavía no lo hay pero entonces,
So, it doesn't exist yet, but then,
habemos [sic] gente que queremos hacerlo y... y, eh...
there are those of us who want to do it, and... and, um...
Captions 90-91, Playa Adícora - Chober
Play Caption
That's all for today. We hope you've enjoyed this lesson, and don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions.
French
German
Italian
Chinese
English
English 
Français
Deutsch
Español
Italiano
Português
