Let's learn some common expressions to talk about being hungry or thirsty in Spanish (or to say we're not)!

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Saying "I'm Hungry" in Spanish 

The most common way to talk about "being hungry" in Spanish is with an idiomatic expression with the verb tener, which is tener hambre (literally "to have hunger"). So, if you wanted to say "I'm hungry," in Spanish, you'd say "Tengo hambre."

Fede, tengo hambre. Tengo hambre, Fede.

Fede, I'm hungry. I'm hungry, Fede.

Captions 34-35, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 1 - Part 7

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Now, let's listen to this verb in question form, conjugated with tú (the single familiar "you"):

An alternative way to talk about hunger in Spanish is with the verb estar (to be) plus the adjective hambriento/a(s). Remember that in the case of adjectives, they must agree in terms of both gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) with the subject in question. Let's take a look at an example with a single, female speaker:

Y yo estoy hambrienta.

And I am hungry.

Caption 7, Cata y Cleer En el restaurante

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Now, let's look at some more dramatic ways to say "I'm hungry" in Spanish (something more akin to "I'm starving"). 

Sí, ¿y viene la comida o no? Pues yo estoy muerto de hambre.

Yes, and is the food coming or not? I am dying of hunger.

Caption 35, Muñeca Brava 44 El encuentro - Part 6

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The adjective muerto/a(s) literally means "dead," of course, but the expression estar muerto/a(s) de hambre is roughly equivalent to the English "dying of hunger." Let's see a couple more:

¿por qué no me invita a desayunar algo que estoy que me muero de hambre?

why don't you serve me something for breakfast since I'm dying of hunger?

Captions 37-38, Tu Voz Estéreo Embalsamado - Part 5

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¿Pero será que podemos comer ya, por favor, que me estoy desmayando de hambre?

But could we please start eating since I'm passing out from hunger?

Caption 45, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 12 - Part 3

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Saying "I'm Thirsty" in Spanish 

Tener sed (literally "to have thirst") is probably the most common way to say "I'm thirsty" in Spanish. In the first person this would be: "Tengo sed" (I'm thirsty). Now, let's look at an example with tú:

Es muy útil si tienes sed y necesitas beber agua.

It's very useful if you're thirsty and need to drink water.

Caption 29, El Aula Azul Adivina qué es - Part 1

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And, in the same way you could say you are "dying with hunger," you could also use estar muerto/a(s) de sed to say you are "dying of thirst":

¡Estabas muerta de sed!

You were dying of thirst!

Caption 1, Muñeca Brava 47 Esperanzas - Part 5

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Another way to say "to be thirsty" in Spanish is estar sediento/a(s):

y yo... yo estoy muy, muy sedienta.

and I... I'm very, very thirsty.

Caption 42, Kikirikí Agua - Part 3

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To ask you if you're thirsty, someone might say "¿Tiene(s) sed?" (Are you thirsty?) or simply ask:

¿Quieres tomar algo, Pablo?

Do you want something to drink, Pablo?

Caption 28, Extr@: Extra en español Ep. 1 - La llegada de Sam - Part 2

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Although this might initially sound like "Do you want to take something?" to a non-native speaker, remember that the verb tomar additionally means "to drink" in Spanish. The common expression "¿Quiere(s) tomar algo?" is thus used to ask someone in Spanish if he or she would "like something to drink."

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Saying "I'm Not Hungry/Full" in Spanish

So, what if you want to say you're not hungry in Spanish? You can simply use the verb tener hambre with the word "no" in front of it:

Pero igual no tengo hambre.

But anyway, I'm not hungry.

Caption 58, Muñeca Brava 3 Nueva Casa - Part 6

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Another option would be the verb llenarse (to be full). So, if someone asks you if you're hungry, you might use this verb in the preterite (simple past) tense to say:

No, gracias. Ya me llené.

No, thank you. I'm full (literally: "I already got full"). 

Now let's listen to this verb in the present:

Se infla, como que se llena,

You get bloated, like, you get full,

Caption 44, Los médicos explican Consulta con el médico: la diarrea

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An additional way to say you are full in Spanish is with the verb estar (to be) plus an adjective. Although you might hear satisfecho/a(s) (literally "satisfied") or, in some regions, repleto/a(s), lleno/a(s) is the most common adjective that means "full" in Spanish, as we see in the following example:

Estoy lleno. No puedo comer más.

I'm full. I can't eat any more. 

This adjective might also be used with the verb sentirse (to feel):

y para mantenerte y sentirte lleno.

and to stay and feel full.

Caption 29, Natalia de Ecuador Alimentos para el desayuno

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This brings us to a popular Spanish saying that is reminiscent of the English idiom "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach": 

Barriga llena, corazón contento.

Full belly, happy heart.

Caption 36, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 2 - Part 1

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To learn a lot more fun Spanish phrases, check out this lesson on Yabla's Top 10 Spanish Idioms and Their (Very Different!) English equivalents. 

We hope that this lesson has helped you to learn several ways to talk about hunger and thirst in Spanish, and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments. 

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Are you preparing for your first conversation in Spanish? Learning how to introduce yourself properly is the foundation of making connections in any language. This comprehensive guide will walk you through all the essential Spanish introduction phrases you need to make a great first impression.

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Basic Spanish Greeting Phrases for Introductions

The first step in any introduction is the greeting. Spanish offers several options depending on the time of day and level of formality:

Common Greetings to Start Your Introduction

Like in English, you would often begin introducing yourself in Spanish by saying hello to the person:

¡Hola!

Hello!

Caption 66, 75 minutos Del campo a la mesa - Part 16

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This simple greeting works in any situation, but you can also use time-specific greetings:

¡Buenos días!

Good morning!

Caption 2, Amaya La historia de Lukas

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Note that in some countries, like Argentina, it is more common to hear the singular version, Buen día. If it's later in the day (from about noon to sunset), you'd more likely hear Buenas tardes (Good afternoon/evening):

Buenas tardes.

Good afternoon.

Caption 31, Cita médica La cita médica de Cleer - Part 1

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And later than that, you might hear Buenas noches (literally "good night"). Note that in contrast to "Good night" in English, Buenas noches can be used as a greeting rather than just to send someone off to bed or say goodbye. That said, "Good evening" might be a more appropriate translation in that context. 

Muy buenas noches, bienvenida. -Hola, buenas noches.

Good evening, welcome. -Hello, good evening.

Caption 32, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 5 - Part 2

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How to Ask "How Are You?" in Spanish Introductions

After greeting someone, it's customary to ask how they're doing. The phrasing depends on whether you're using the formal or informal "you":

Formal Way to Ask How Someone Is

¿Cómo está usted?

How are you?

Caption 25, Cleer y Lida Saludar en español

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Of course, because there are several ways to say "you" in Spanish (usted is the singular, more formal form), this phrase might be adjusted to "¿Cómo estás tú?" or "¿Cómo estás vos?" to address one person informally. And while there are additional ways to say "you" to more than one person in Spanish, for the purposes of today's lesson, we will stick to the singular forms.

Informal Ways to Ask How Someone Is

Let's see another way to say "How are you?"

¿Y cómo te va?

And how are you?

Caption 38, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 8 - Part 1

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The more formal alternative with usted would be: "¿Y cómo le va (a usted)?" However, regardless of the formality of the situation or to how many people you are speaking, you can always use the following simple phrase:

Responding to "How Are You?" in Spanish

As the person to whom you are speaking will most likely respond by asking you how you are, we should give you some common answers to the aforementioned questions. Let's start with an answer to "¿Cómo está(s)?" 

If you are addressing one another with usted, you would instead say "¿y usted?" 

In contrast, if someone asks you '¿Cómo te/le va?" you might answer: "Bien, ¿y a ti?" or "Bien, ¿y a usted?" 

Although bien (well) or muy bien (very well) are by far the most common ways to answer the question of how you are, particularly when meeting someone for the first time, if you are interested in learning more about ways to say you are just OK, we recommend this lesson entitled ¿Qué tal? Ni bien ni mal (How Are You? Neither Good Nor Bad).

3 Ways to Say Your Name in Spanish Introductions

Now that we have gotten some formalities out of the way, it's time to say your name! Here are three common ways to do so:

Yo me llamo Lida.

My name is Lida.

Caption 12, Cleer y Lida Saludar en español

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Mi nombre es Diego Velázquez.

My name is Diego Velázquez.

Caption 9, Adícora, Venezuela Los fisioterapeutas

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Hola, yo soy Cleer.

Hello, I'm Cleer.

Caption 1, Recetas de cocina Arepas colombianas

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How to Ask Someone's Name in Spanish

And now, the moment has arrived to ask the other person their name:

¿Y cómo te llamas tú?

And, what's your name?

Caption 11, Cleer y Lida Saludar en español

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¿Cuál es tu nombre?

What's your name?

Caption 10, Cleer y Lida Llegando a una nueva ciudad

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The usted form is: "¿Cuál es su nombre?"

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Spanish Phrases for "Nice to Meet You"

When introducing yourself in Spanish, as in English, you should probably say something along the lines of "Nice to meet you." Here are several options:

Mucho gusto, Samuel.

Nice to meet you, Samuel.

Caption 29, Conversaciones en el parque Cap. 3: ¿De quién es esta mochila?

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Un placer, Mónica,

A pleasure, Monica,

Caption 3, Escribiendo un libro Algunos consejos sobre cómo comenzar - Part 1

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Hola, guapa. -Hola. -Encantada. -Encantada de conocerte.

Hello, beautiful. -Hello. -[A] pleasure. -[A] pleasure to meet you.

Caption 8, 75 minutos Gangas para ricos - Part 2

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And, if someone says one of those things to you, you might respond by saying "Igualmente" or "Yo también" (Me too). 

Hola Cristóbal, encantada. -Igualmente.

Hello, Cristobal. Pleased [to meet you]. -Me too.

Caption 35, 75 minutos Del campo a la mesa - Part 2

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Putting It All Together: Complete Spanish Introduction Examples

Now let's see how to combine all these elements into complete introductions:

Example 1: Informal Introduction

"¡Hola! ¿Qué tal? Me llamo Carlos. ¿Y tú, cómo te llamas? [...] Mucho gusto, Laura. ¿Cómo estás? [...] Yo estoy muy bien, gracias."
Translation: "Hello! How are you? My name is Carlos. And you, what's your name? [...] Nice to meet you, Laura. How are you? [...] I'm very well, thank you."

Example 2: Formal Introduction

"Buenos días. Mi nombre es Ana Gómez. ¿Cómo se llama usted? [...] Encantada de conocerle, Señor Martínez. ¿Cómo está usted? [...] Estoy bien, gracias. ¿Y usted?"
Translation: "Good morning. My name is Ana Gómez. What is your name? [...] Pleased to meet you, Mr. Martínez. How are you? [...] I'm well, thank you. And you?"

Next Steps After Basic Introductions

Learning how to introduce yourself in Spanish opens doors to meaningful conversations and connections. Practice these phrases until they become second nature, and soon you'll be ready to move beyond introductions to having more in-depth conversations.

If you'd like to hear many of these phrases in the context of both informal and formal conversations, we recommend the video Saludar en español (Greeting in Spanish). We hope you have enjoyed this lesson on how to introduce yourself in Spanish, and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments.

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Let's talk about hobbies in Spanish! Hobbies, or pursuits in which one engages in his or her tiempo libre (free time), can range from things you do, to things you study, to things you collect... and more! 

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How Do You Say "Hobby" in Spanish? 

There are three main ways to say "hobby" in Spanish, one of which is the English word "hobby":

Pues, a mí me encanta bailar. Ese es mi hobby favorito. -OK,

Well, I love to dance. That is my favorite hobby. -OK,

Captions 7-8, Cleer Hobbies

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The Spanish word pasatiempo is another way to say "hobby." You might remember it as being similar to the English word "pastime":

Ya ustedes... Todo mundo sabe qué es béisbol. Pero no el profesional, solamente como pasatiempo.

You already... Everybody knows what baseball is. But, not the professional [kind], just as a hobby.

Captions 50-51, Peluquería La Percha Félix

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La afición is yet another way to say "hobby" in Spanish:

Vale... o sea que habéis conseguido transformar vuestra afición en vuestra profesión, ¿no?

OK... in other words, you guys have managed to transform your hobby into your profession, right?

Caption 72, Novalima Entrevista - Part 2

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Top 40 Hobbies in Spanish

Now that you know how to say "hobby" in Spanish, we'll introduce you to the Spanish words for a multitude of different pastimes you might take up with examples from our Spanish video library. Since some internet hobby lists include as many as 1,001 hobbies, we narrowed it down to Yabla's Top 40 Hobbies in Spanish.

1. Acting: la actuación

Also known as el teatro (theater), la actuación (acting) could be a fun thing to study, perhaps culminating in participation in una obra de teatro (a play). The verb associated with la actuación is actuar (to act).

En esta universidad afortunadamente tenemos grandes talleres de teatro, de actuación, de música

At this university, fortunately, we have big workshops for theater, acting, music,

Captions 14-15, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Ana

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2. Astrology: la astrología

Estudiar astrología (studying astrology) involves the observation of celestial bodies like the sun (el sol), the moon (la luna), the stars (las estrellas), and the planets (los planetas) for the purpose of predicting traits or events. 

porque el fin último de la astrología es ser una herramienta de autoconocimiento.

because the ultimate goal of astrology is to be a tool for self-knowledge.

Caption 18, Conversaciones con Luis Astrología

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As there is some terminology overlap with la astronomía (astronomy), this lesson on Astronomy 101 in Spanish might come in handy, while the above-cited video on astrology might pique your interest. 

3. Baking: la panadería

La panadería (baking) might be a fun (and tasty) pursuit! Alternative Spanish words for "baking" in Spanish include la repostería and el horneado, while the verb hornear means "to bake."

Estudié panadería profesional y pastelería moderna en dos universidades de allá. 

I studied professional baking and modern pastry making in two universities there.

Caption 6, Misión Chef 2 - Pruebas - Part 3

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If you love baking, Yabla videos about baking such delectable dishes as Colombian buñuelos, Leche asada (also from Colombia), Ecuadorian Chaqui Tanda, or even a good old chocolate cake, might be right up your alley. 

4. Bargain hunting: la búsqueda de gangas

Who doesn't love a good ganga (bargain)? If you find them particularly intriguing, la búsqueda de gangas (or "bargain hunting," which could also be conveyed with the verb buscar gangas) might be right for you!

Los ricos también buscan gangas

Rich people also hunt for bargains

Caption 13, 75 minutos Gangas para ricos - Part 1

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The above-cited caption is from a series entitled Gangas para ricos (Bargains for Rich People).

5. Birdwatching: la observación de aves

Many people find realizar observación de aves (the verb for "birdwatching") to be an interesting and educational activity to do al aire libre (outdoors).

La Unidad Operativa de Punta Norte, que es por excelencia, bueno, un punto de observación de aves

The Operational Unit of Punta Norte, which is, par excellence, well, a birdwatching point

Captions 24-25, Perdidos en la Patagonia Península Valdés

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6. Chess: el ajedrez

Popular mundialmente (worldwide), el ajedrez (chess) is both a fun and cerebral pastime. You can describe the action of "playing chess" with the verb jugar al ajedrez.

Este... mis pasatiempos, me fascina lo que es el ajedrez.

Um... my hobbies, I love chess.

Caption 27, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Manuel Orozco Sánchez - Part 1

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7. Collecting: reunir

The verbs reunir and coleccionar both mean "to collect" while una colección refers to "a collection" of some artículo (item). Popular items to collect include las camisetas (t-shirts), los sellos (stamps), las tazas (mugs), los postales (postcards), las tarjetas de beisbol (baseball cards), and even los coches (cars), although, unless they are carros de juguete (toy cars), the latter is most probably less accessible to the masses!

Él ha conseguido reunir una gran variedad de modelos de las grandes marcas de automóvil:

He has managed to collect a great variety of models from the big automobile brands:

Captions 11-12, Málaga Museo del automóvil

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8. Cocktails: los cócteles 

A "cocktail" hobby might include simply tasting (probar) exotic drinks at various coctelerías (cocktail bars) or, alternatively, practicing la coctelería (which also means "bartending") or la mixología (mixology), the art of making alcoholic beverages oneself!

Mezclamos el hielo en todos nuestros cócteles y mucha azúcar.

We mix the ice in all our cocktails and a lot of sugar.

Caption 36, Otavalo Restaurante 'Carbón de Palo'

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You might kick off your cocktail hobby by making this simple recipe for Ponche Navideño (eggnog, or literally "Christmas Punch").

9. Cooking: la cocina

La cocina is the noun for "cooking" while the verb cocinar means "to cook."

Y también me gusta mucho cocinar. Ahora mismo, voy a un curso de cocina,

And also I really like to cook. Right now, I'm going to a cooking class,

Captions 37-38, Marta Se presenta

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For cooking aficionados, Yabla has many tasty recipe ideas, including Spanish crema de broccoli, Colombian pollo sudado, and Venezuelan arepas, just to name a few. You can also delve deeper into Spanish cuisine with the series La Cocina de María (María's Kitchen), while Misión Chef (Mission Chef) takes you behind the scenes of a Mexican cooking competition for underprivileged kids. 

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10. Cycling: el ciclismo

"Cycling" or "biking" are known as el ciclismo in Spanish, while the verbs to describe this action range from practicar ciclismo (literally "to practice cycling") to andar/montar en bici ("to bike" or "ride a bike"). Bici is, of course, short for la bicicleta (the bicycle). 

De por sí el ciclismo es un... es un deporte de.... del pueblo,

In itself, cycling is a... is a sport of... of the people,

Caption 34, Semilleros Escarabajos Chapter 2 - Part 1

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To glean more insight into the world of professional cycling, we recommend the above-referenced series entitled Semilleros Escarabajos from Colombia, where cycling is considered by many to be the national sport. 

11. Dance: el baile

El baile is the noun for "dance," and bailar (to dance) is probably one of the first verbs you learned when studying Spanish. Dancing provides a creative outlet as well as buen ejercicio (good exercise). 

Me encanta bailar,

I love to dance,

Caption 33, El Aula Azul Los profesores de la escuela - Part 1

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There are so many styles of dance you might choose to study, such as ballet, tap, jazz, and hip-hop, or Latin styles like salsa, bachata, cumbia, merengue, flamenco, and more. 

12. Dining out: salir a comer

Verbs like salir a comer, salir a cenar, or comer afuera describe the popular hobby of "dining out" or "going out to eat" at restaurants, enabling one to try una variedad (a variety) of cocinas (cuisines). 

¿Vamos a salir a comer, señor Urrutia?

Are we going to go out to eat, Mister Urrutia?

Caption 28, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 2 - Part 1

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13. Drawing: el dibujo

The hobby known as el dibujo (drawing/sketching) has been associated with improved self-confidence and mental health. The verb dibujar means "to draw," while the verbs bosquejar and bocetar mean "to sketch."

eh... primero que todo le doy gracias a Dios por haberme dado esta capacidad de expresión que es el dibujo.

um... first of all, I give thanks to God for having given me this capacity for expression, which is drawing.

Captions 75-77, Bucaramanga, Colombia Pintor callejero

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If drawing interests you, you might try this video about Mexican illustrator Antonio Vargas. 

14. Film: el cine

This hobby might entail the frequent viewing of películas (movies/films) at el cine (the movie theater), studying la historia del cine (the history of film/cinema), or perhaps even "filmmaking" (which can also be known as el cine or el rodaje) yourself. 

y me encanta ver películas en el cine.

and I love watching movies at the movie theater.

Caption 33, El Aula Azul Los profesores de la escuela - Part 2

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15. Geography: la geografía

Many people are passionate about estudiar geografía (studying geography), which examines both physical locations on la Tierra (Earth) and the relationship between people and their sociedades (societies).

Pero me di cuenta que cuando uno estudia geografía y estudia el mundo, en realidad eso es un reflejo de nuestra mente.

But I realized that when one studies geography and studies the world, that is actually a reflection of our minds.

Captions 50-51, Outward Bound Danny

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16. Gardening: la jardinería

"Gardening" can be known as la jardinería or el cuidado de un jardín (literally "the care of a garden"). Verbs for "to garden" include cuidar un jardín, cultivar, or plantar. 

Seguro que a muchas de vosotras y vosotros os gusta la jardinería

Surely many of you like gardening

Caption 2, Fermín La plumeria - Part 1

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Gardening fans might enjoy Yabla host Fermín's video on an interesting flower called la plumeria. 

17. Golf: el golf

We don't think you'll have a hard time remembering how to say "golf" in Spanish: el golf. Jugar al golf, on the other hand, means "to play golf."

son alumnos del instituto José Cadalzo de San Roque y son unos apasionados por el golf.

they are students from the José Cadalzo de San Roque Institute and they are golf enthusiasts.

Captions 4-5, Club de las ideas Biodiesel - Part 1

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If golfing is your cup of tea, try the video Pasión por el golf (Passion for Golf).

18. Horseback riding: la equitación

While the nouns la equitación and la cabalgata mean "horseback riding," the verb montar a caballo means "to ride a horse."

Recuerda también que tenemos cursos de música y cursos de equitación,

Also remember that we have music courses and horseback riding courses,

Captions 27-28, El Aula Azul Conversación: Los cursos de español - Part 1

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This clip references horseback riding as one of the many activities available in addition to learning Spanish at El Aula Azul language school in San Sebastián, Spain. 

30. Pottery: la cerámica

In the popular series Los Años Maravillosos (the Colombian version of The Wonder Years), Kevin's mom finds an escape from her everyday life by signing up for una clase de cerámica (a pottery class), and maybe you can too!

Es que me inscribí en el curso de cerámica de la parroquia.

It's just that I enrolled in the church's pottery class.

Caption 20, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 12 - Part 3

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31. Playing an instrument: tocar un instrumento 

Tocar un instrumento means "to play" or "playing an instrument."

y que quería aprender a tocar la guitarra 

and that I wanted to learn to play the guitar

Caption 18, Luis Guitarra Influencias musicales - Part 1

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To learn the names of musical instruments you might play in Spanish, try Spanish singer-songwriter Luis Guitarra's Instrumentos musicales or Karla e Isabel- Instrumentos musicales. Alternatively, the Curso de guitarra (Guitar Course) series can teach you how to play some simple chords and tunes. 

33. Running: correr

Interestingly, the word correr can be both a noun meaning "running" and a verb meaning "to run." Taken straight from English, el jogging is also used to talk about this hobby that relieves stress and builds endurance. 

En el próximo febrero quince, voy a correr la maratón de Austin, Texas, 

Next February fifteenth, I'm going to run the marathon in Austin, Texas,

Captions 28-29, Cerro de Ancón Entrenamiento

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34. Soccer: el fútbol

El fútbol is an internationally popular deporte (sport) with very enthusiastic fanáticos (fans), whether they prefer to simply watch los partidos de fútbol ​(soccer matches) or jugar al fútbol ​(play soccer) themselves.

Los viernes, juego al fútbol con mis amigas.

On Fridays, I play soccer with my friends.

Caption 21, Ariana Mi Semana

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35. Surfing: el surf

"Surfing" is called el surf in Spanish, and the verb for "to surf" is surfear.

Una de mis grandes aficiones desde niña es el surf, 

One of my big hobbies since I was a little girl is surfing,

Caption 4, Ana Teresa Yoga y surf

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For videos on surfing, try this one on the Costa Azul Surf Shop in Los Cabos, Baja, Mexico, and Ana Teresa's video on yoga and surfing as complementary practices.

36. Swimming: la natación

La natación is an excellent, low-impact way to get exercise, which many find muy relajante (very relaxing). The verb nadar means to "swim."

Para nosotros, que amamos este deporte, la natación es nuestro estilo de vida. 

For us, who love this sport, swimming is our lifestyle.

Captions 24-25, Víctor en Caracas La natación

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For swimming-related videos, try La natación or Socorrismo en Málaga (Lifeguarding in Málaga).

37. Tennis: el tenis

El tenis (tennis) could be an exhilarating and physically-challenging deporte (sport) to try. Jugar al tenis means "to play tennis."

38. Traveling: viajar

Traveling is known by the verb that means "to travel," viajar, whereas the noun los viajes refers to one's "travels" or "trips." We agree with the sentiment expressed in the following clip: 

Let's talk about the various types of fruits in Spanish. Do you know how to say the names of fruits like "apple" or "peach" in Spanish? If you don't know, don't worry! In this lesson, we will find out how to spell and say the names of different fruits in Spanish. Of course, we can't talk about all of the fruits of the world, but we will cover many of the most popular ones with the following list of fruits in Spanish and English. Let's take a look!

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Pome Fruits in Spanish

Manzana (apple)

Una manzana roja.

A red apple.

Caption 32, Cleer y Lida Picnic

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Pera (pear)

La palabra "pera" tiene dos sílabas:

The word "pera" [pear] has two syllables:

Caption 11, Lara enseña Tildes - Part 1

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Stone Fruits in Spanish

Albaricoque (apricot)

Lo único que, en vez de llevar mermelada de albaricoque,

The only one that, instead of having inside apricot jam,

Caption 29, Horno San Onofre El Chocolate

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Cereza (cherry)

A mí me recuerda... como si fuese una cereza.

It reminds me... as if it were a cherry.

Caption 58, Amaya Cata de vinos

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Ciruela (plum)

Durazno (peach)

Me volvió a gustar la compota de durazno

I started liking peach baby food again

Caption 4, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 7 - Part 1

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It is important to say that another Spanish term for the word "peach" is melocotón. This term is the prevalent term in Spain:

Por ejemplo con melocotón.

For example with peach.

Caption 53, Recetas Tortilla

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Nectarina (nectarine)

Citrus Fruits in Spanish

Lima (lime)

una lima, y se utilizan mucho para una bebida

a lime, and are used a lot for a drink

Caption 21, Otavalo Julia nos muestra las verduras

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Limón (lemon)

con un poco de sal y limón

with a bit of salt and lemon

Caption 14, Ana Carolina Receta para una picada

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Mandarina (tangerine)

Aquí están las mandarinas.

Here are tangerines.

Caption 75, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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Naranja (orange)

saben a naranja.

taste like orange.

Caption 34, Ariana Cita médica

 Play Caption

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Gourd Family Fruits in Spanish

Melón (melon)

Ahora le vamos a poner un poquito de melón.

Now we're going to add a little melon.

Caption 19, Desayuno Puerto Escondido Frutas

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Sandía (watermelon)

Le vamos a poner... sandía,

We're going to put... watermelon,

Caption 3, Desayuno Puerto Escondido Frutas

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Berries in Spanish

Fresa (strawberry)

Y me comí un heladito de fresa porque me daba antojos.

And I ate a strawberry ice cream because I was craving it.

Caption 14, Los médicos explican Consulta con el médico: la diarrea

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Frambuesa (raspberry)

lleva una mermelada natural de frambuesa

it has inside an organic raspberry jam

Caption 30, Horno San Onofre El Chocolate

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Mora (blackberry)

La mora es mi fruta favorita.

The blackberry is my favorite fruit.

Caption 59, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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Kiwi (kiwi)

Uva (grape)

Estas son las uvas.

These are grapes.

Caption 22, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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Tropical and Exotic Fruits in Spanish

Banano (banana)

Esto es el banano o plátano.

This is the banana or plantain.

Caption 38, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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As you saw in the video clip, this fruit is also known in some regions as the plátano. However, keep in mind that the word plátano can also refer to the plantain:

Por último, procedemos a freír el tradicional plátano venezolano,

Lastly, we proceed to fry the traditional Venezuelan plantains,

Caption 75, Recetas de cocina Pabellón criollo

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Coco (coconut)

El agua de coco es muy nutritiva y además te calma mucho la sed.

Coconut water is very nutritious and plus it quenches your thirst a lot.

Caption 84, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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Granadilla (passion fruit)

Esta es una granadilla.

This is a passion fruit.

Caption 40, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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Guanábana (soursop)

Se llama guanábana

It's called soursop

Caption 28, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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Guayaba (guava)

Esto se llama guayaba.

This is called guava.

Caption 54, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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Mango (mango)

Este es el mango.

This is mango.

Caption 21, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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Papaya (papaya)

Son unas papayas chiquitas

They are small papayas

Caption 11, Otavalo Conozcamos el Mundo de las Frutas con Julia

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Piña (pineapple)

piña en trocitos,

chunks of pineapple,

Caption 13, Cleer y Lida El regreso de Lida

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In addition to all of the fruits we have mentioned, we would like to add two more fruits that are often not treated as such:

Aguacate (avocado)

Vamos a conocer un poco sobre la historia del aguacate y sus beneficios.

We're going to find out a bit about the history of the avocado and its benefits.

Caption 3, Melyna El aguacate

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Tomate (tomato)

Por lo tanto, botánicamente hablando, el tomate es una fruta,

Therefore, botanically speaking, the tomato is a fruit

Captions 33-34, Fermín Ensalada de tomate

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List of fruits in Spanish and English

Now that we have seen how to write and pronounce the names of many important fruits in Spanish, we wanted to leave you with the following quick reference list of fruits in Spanish and English:

aguacate (avocado)

albaricoque (apricot)

banano (banana)

cereza (cherry)

ciruela (plum)

coco (coconut)

durazno (peach)

fresa (strawberry)

frambuesa (raspberry)

granadilla (passion fruit)

guanábana (soursop)

guayaba (guava)

kiwi (kiwi)

lima (lime)

limón (lemon)

mandarina (tangerine)

mango (mango)

manzana (apple)

melocotón (peach)

melón (melon)

mora (blackberry)

naranja (orange)

nectarina (nectarine)

papaya (papaya)

pera (pear)

piña (pineapple)

plátano (banana)

sandía (watermelon)

tomate (tomato)

uva (grape)

And that's all for this lesson. Before we go, we invite you to answer the following question: ¿Cuál es tu fruta preferida? We hope you've enjoyed this lesson, and we'd love for you to send us your suggestions and comments. ¡Hasta la próxima!

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Do you know how many vowels are in the Spanish alphabet? Are you able to pronounce the Spanish vowels? Do you know what strong and weak vowels are? Have you seen Spanish vowels with accents? Let's get some answers to these questions and more!

How Many Vowels are in the Spanish Alphabet?

The short answer is five! The following are the five Spanish vowels:

a

e

i

o

u

Do you want to hear how to pronounce the vowels in Spanish? Let's listen to our friend Sol from GoSpanish.Com:

En español, tenemos cinco vocales: "a", "e", "i", "o", "u".

In Spanish, we have five vowels: "a," "e," "i," "o," "u."

Captions 2-7, Español para principiantes Las vocales

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Now that we know how many vowels there are in the Spanish alphabet and how to pronounce them, it is important to mention that these five vowels can be divided into two main groups. Let's take a closer look.

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Strong vs. Weak Spanish Vowels

1. Strong vowels

In Spanish, strong vowels are called vocales abiertas (literally "open vowels") because when you say them, your tongue stays in the lower part of your mouth, and the oral cavity must expand. These vowels are:

a

e

o

2. Weak vowels

On the contrary, weak vowels are known in Spanish as vocales cerradas ("closed vowels") because when you pronounce them, your tongue stays closer to the roof of your mouth, and the oral cavity need not expand. These vowels are:

i

u

Differentiating between strong and weak vowels will help you to improve your understanding of how to divide words into syllables. In fact, when doing so, we invite you to keep in mind the following basic rules:

* Strong vowel + strong vowel together = Two syllables

Una boa, una anaconda, ¡ay no!

A boa, an anaconda, oh, no!

Caption 49, Cleer y Lida Juego de preguntas y respuestas - Part 3

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The word boa has two syllables: bo-a.

* Weak vowel + unsetressed weak vowel together = One syllable

Detrás de mí podemos observar la ciudad antigua

Behind me, we can observe the old city

Caption 11, Ciudad de Panamá Denisse introduce la ciudad

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Notice how the i and the u of the word ciudad belong to the same syllable: ciu-dad.

* Strong vowel + unstressed weak vowel = one syllable

toda esa deuda acumulada

all that accumulated debt

Caption 10, Luis Guitarra Todo es de todos - Part 1

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Notice how the e and the u of the word deuda are both in the same syllable: deu-da.

Keep in mind, however, that when a stressed weak vowel is next to another type of vowel, the two vowels must be separated into two different syllables:

Y en invierno suele hacer mucho frío.

An in winter it tends to be very cold.

Caption 15, Clara explica El tiempo - Part 1

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The word frío has a stressed weak vowel next to a strong vowel. This combination creates a "hiatus," or break between two consecutive vowels that are not in the same syllable. For this reason, the word frío has two syllables: frí-o. Words like frío that contain accented vowels are quite common in Spanish. 

Finally, we would like to wrap up this lesson about the vowels in Spanish with a very simple question: Do you know any Spanish word that contains all of the five vowels? Although there are many, check out the following clip to see one of them in action:

La palabra más larga es murciélago. ¿Por qué? Pues porque tiene las cinco vocales dentro de la palabra.

The longest word is bat. Why? Well because it has the five vowels within the word.

Captions 43-45, Karla e Isabel Palabras

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And that's all for this lesson. We hope you've enjoyed learning about the Spanish vowels, and don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions. ¡Hasta la próxima!

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The Spanish future tense is one of the most straightforward tenses in Spanish, both in terms of knowing when to use it and how to conjugate it. Let's take a closer look at this tense.

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What Is the Future Tense in Spanish?

The future tense in Spanish corresponds to the English construction with "will" plus a verb and is used to talk about actions that are slated to happen in the future or that someone has the intention to carry out. Simple English examples of this concept include: "Tomorrow, I will go to the store," or "Next week, it will rain." With this in mind, let's examine several examples of the future tense in Spanish:

y hoy les hablaré de una de mis pasiones:

and today, I'll talk to you about one of my passions:

Caption 4, Ana Carolina La meditación

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Yo creo que esto lo venderemos súper bien. 

I think we'll sell this one really well.

Caption 44, Santuario para burros Tienda solidaria

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El botón [sic] la ayudará con su equipaje y lo subirá en un par de minutos a la habitación.

The porter will help you with your luggage and will take it up to the room in a couple of minutes.

Captions 61-62, Cleer y Lida Recepción de hotel

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Note that as English "will" constructions are often expressed with contractions (the personal pronoun plus apostrophe double l, such as "I'll," "we'll," etc.), many Spanish future tense verbs can be translated to English in this less formal fashion.

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Conjugating the Future Tense in Spanish 

Conjugating most verbs in the future tense in Spanish is quite simple. You just take the verb's infinitive ("to" form) in its entirety and add the corresponding future tense ending. So, using the verbs in our previous examples, we'd start with their infinitive forms: hablar (to talk), vender (to sell), ayudar (to help), and subir (to take up). You will note that these infinitive verbs fall into all three infinitive verb categories: -ar, -er, and -ir. 

Step two of the process of conjugating Spanish future tense verbs is to memorize the quite simple endings that correspond to their personal pronouns, which are as follows:

Armed with this information, let's conjugate some future tense verbs using different verbs and personal pronouns than the examples above.

1. Suppose we want to say that more than one person "will see" something (with the personal pronoun ustedes, or plural "you"). We would take the infinitive verb ver (to see) and add the appropriate ending (-án) to get verán:

Mañana ustedes verán si nos... si nos medimos a ese, a ese reto.

Tomorrow you guys will see if we... if we measure up to that, to that challenge.

Captions 36-37, Festivaliando Mono Núñez - Part 13

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2. Now, let's imagine that you want to tell more than one person in a familiar environment what they'll "need." Oh— and you're in Spain, where the personal pronouns vosotros/as are the way to address more than one person as "you" informally. We'd take the verb for "to need" (necesitar) and the corresponding ending -éis to get necesitaréis:

Para empezar a hacer la tortilla española, necesitaréis los siguientes ingredientes:

To start to make the Spanish tortilla, you'll need the following ingredients:

Captions 8-9, Clara cocina Una tortilla española

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3. And finally, what if you would like to say with the tú (informal "you") form to someone what he or she "will discover"? You'd start with the verb descubrir (to discover) and add the -ás ending that goes with tú to get descubrirás:

Pronto lo descubrirás

Soon you'll discover it

Caption 68, X6 1 - La banda - Part 2

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Irregular Verbs in the Spanish Future Tense

As with all Spanish verb tenses, there are some irregular verbs in the future tense in Spanish, many of which are extremely common. That said, it would behoove you to memorize the following stems, which are used in lieu of these verbs' infinitives to conjugate the "top twelve" irregular future tense verbs in Spanish: 

Now, let's conjugate a few of these irregular Spanish future tense verbs: 

1. How would we express "I'll say" in Spanish? Rather than the infinitive, we'd take the aforementioned stem for the Spanish verb decir, -dir, and add the ending that corresponds with yo (I), or -é, to get diré:

Primero, diré el verbo en infinitivo,

First, I'll say the verb in the infinitive,

Caption 38, Carlos explica El modo imperativo 1: Tú + vos

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2. How would we say "you'll have" in Spanish? Take the stem of the irregular verb tener (to have), tendr-, and add the ending for tú (you), -ás, to get: tendrás.

Sí, después de las clases en grupo, tendrás media hora de descanso

Yes, after the group classes, you'll have a half hour break

Caption 27, El Aula Azul Las actividades de la escuela - Part 1

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3. And finally, what if want to express that "we'll be able" to do something? We'll take podr-, the stem for the verb for "to be able" (poder), and add the ending for nosotros/as, -emos, to come up with podremos:

Con un poco de práctica, podremos aprender estas reglas muy fácilmente.

With a bit of practice, we will be able to learn these rules very easily.

Caption 55, Carlos explica Acentuación Cap. 3: La división en sílabas - Part 1

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An Alternative Use for the Future Tense

Although the translations for Spanish verbs conjugated in the Spanish future tense almost always involve the word "will," the future tense in Spanish can occasionally be used to express doubt or disbelief, and, in such cases, corresponds more closely with the English concepts of "would," "could," "might," or "may."  Such cases are typically quite clear from their contexts as inserting the word "will" would seem nonsensical. Let's take a look at a couple of examples: 

¿No tendrás unos pesitos para mí?

You wouldn't have a few pesos for me?

Caption 23, Muñeca Brava 8 Trampas - Part 14

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Favio, ¿dónde estarás?

Favio, where could you be?

Caption 44, Yago 1 La llegada - Part 7

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Having said that, in the vast majority of the cases you will come across, the future tense in Spanish can be translated with "will." 

We hope you've enjoyed this lesson on the future tense in Spanish. If you are interested in verb tenses, we recommend you check out our lessons on all of the Spanish verb tenses, beginning with the indicative verb tenses in Spanish and moving on to the Spanish subjunctive tenses. And, for an even deeper look into the future tense in Spanish with a plethora of example sentences, we recommend you check out this extended lesson by Javi on the future tense in Spanish as well as this lesson on an alternative to the Spanish future tense. 

That's all for today! Don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments, and estaremos en contacto (we'll be in touch).

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In the course of your Spanish studies, you may have noticed certain patterns that make "predicting" words you may never have even heard before possible in many cases. The focus of today's lesson is one such group of words.

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The -ation/-ación Connection

Due to their shared roots in the Latin language, many English words that end with the suffix -ation are cognates (words in different languages that share similar meanings, spellings, and pronunciations) along with their Spanish equivalents that end in a very similar suffix: -ación. Let's look at several, very common examples that you may have heard:

Justo el día de hoy le ha dado un mensaje a la nación 

Just today he's given a message to the nation

Caption 23, Yabla en Lima El Centro - Part 2

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y, por suerte, casi siempre hay mucha participación.

and, luckily, there is almost always a lot of participation.

Caption 78, Viajando con Fermín Asociación ProDunas Marbella

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What can we notice about these words? First off, most of them share virtually identical spellings in English and Spanish but for the replacement of the English suffix -ation with the Spanish -ación. The only minor exception in these examples is the inclusion of a double consonant (m) in the English word "recommendation" that does not appear in la recomendación (this is due to an English spelling rule that we won't delve into in this lesson). 

Another noteworthy feature of this class of -ation/-ación cognates (and, in fact, all words that end in -ación in Spanish) is that these nouns' gender in Spanish is feminine. 

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Applying the Formula to More Complex Words

That said, what if we were at a party, and we wanted to talk about more complex concepts such as "industrialization," "globalization," or "commercialization," and we weren't familiar with the correct Spanish terms? We might try to substitute the Spanish suffix -ación for -ation, just to see what we came up with:  

tenemos la... lógicamente, la industrialización,

we have the... logically, industrialization,

Caption 51, Los médicos explican Entrevista con el Doctor Suarez

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Y no te quiero hablar de la globalización

And I don't want to talk about globalization

Caption 47, Yago 6 Mentiras - Part 6

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Es una ruta a nivel turístico bastante joven que está en pleno proceso de comercialización.

It's a rather young route at the touristic level that is in the middle of the process of commercialization.

Captions 30-31, Europa Abierta Taller de escenografía en Olivares

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It worked! You will note that, once again, the spellings and meanings of these terms in Spanish and English are virtually identical except for the slight difference in their suffixes and the addition of the double "m" in "commercialization," again due to English spelling norms. That said, we suggest applying this formula to English words ending in -ation to make an educated guess about their Spanish translations since chances are you'll be right!

Exceptions to the -ation/-ación Rule 

Of course, as with all things in life, no formula is perfect, and there are always exceptions. Let's take a look at couple of them:

En los meses de verano, su población llega a multiplicarse por cuatro.

In the summer months, its population gets multiplied by four.

Caption 14, Fuengirola Mercado

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Although our formula would take us to the not-quite-correct word populación, we'd venture to guess that a native Spanish speaker would understand perfectly well what you meant by "En los meses de verano, su populación [sic] llega a multiplicarse por cuatro" and just might gently edify you as to the correct term. Let's look at another example:

porque justo salir del aeropuerto ya te encuentras con la estación de autobús.

because just leaving from the airport you come across the bus station right away.

Caption 28, Blanca Cómo moverse en Barcelona

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In this case, the word estación is extremely similar to the English word "station" except for the suffix and the "e" at the beginning, which is due, this time, to a Spanish norm whereby almost all words with an  "s" and a consonant at the beginning are preceded by an "e." And again, we're pretty sure that were you to inquire about the whereabouts of la stación de tren, someone would still direct you to the train station! 

Although there are some words that end in -ation in English whose translations are even less similar than the aforementioned examples (e.g. translation/traducción, explanation/explicación, etc.), we still suggest that our formula is a great place to start because, even if you aren't perfectly correct in your attempt to morph an -ation word in English into an -ación word in Spanish, chances are you'll be understood and/or corrected, which is how we learn. And, in many, many cases, as we've shown you... you'll be correct!

That's all for today. Have you noticed any other patterns that have helped you to make educated guesses about words in Spanish? Let us know with your suggestions and comments. 

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Just like any other language, Spanish has adopted many words from different languages and cultures. These words are known in Spanish as extranjerismos, a term that comes from the word extranjero (foreign). That said, let's take a look at some of the most common words in Spanish that come from other languages.

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Arabismos- Words from the Arab World

Throughout the Middle Ages, the Spanish language adopted several Arabic words. Let's see some of them:

Alcalde (mayor)- from the original word alqáḍi

Soy Miguel Ángel Herrera, alcalde de Genalguacil,

I'm Miguel Angel Herrera, mayor of Genalguacil,

Captions 2-3, Viajando con Fermín Genalguacil - Part 2

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Álgebra (algebra)- from the original word algĕbra

el álgebra, que estudia las estructuras abstractas,

algebra, which studies abstract structures,

Captions 48-49, Carlos explica Vocabulario de las matemáticas - Part 1

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Azúcar (sugar)- from the original word assúkkar

con media taza de azúcar

with half a cup of sugar,

Caption 25, Ana Carolina Ponche navideño

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Guitarra (guitar)- from the original word qīṯārah

aprendí a tocar la guitarra de una manera diferente

I learned to play the guitar in a different manner

Caption 55, Luis Guitarra Influencias musicales - Part 1

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Naranja (orange)- from the original word naranǧa

saben a naranja.

taste like orange.

Caption 34, Ariana Cita médica

 Play Caption

If you hear the way Ariana pronounces the word naranja, you can notice the strong sound of the letter "j," which is a sound that the Spanish language took from the Arabic language. 

Galicismos- Words of French Origin

Just like in the English language, Spanish has also adopted many words derived from French. Let's see some of the most popular ones:

Bulevar (boulevard)- from the original word boulevard

hasta lo que hoy es conocido como el Bulevar donostiarra,

to what is known today as the "Bulevar donostiarra" [Donostiarra Boulevard]

Caption 28, Días festivos La Tamborrada de San Sebastián

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Chofer or chófer (driver)- from the original word chauffeur

que Amalia se quedó con él y con el chofer, ¿sí?

because Amalia stayed with him and with the driver, right?

Caption 28, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 2 - Part 9

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Élite or Elite (elite)- from the original word élite

unas estructuras de poder muy basadas en la élite, en la exclusión.

some power structures [that were] very based on the elite, on exclusion.

Caption 12, Los Tiempos de Pablo Escobar Capítulo 1 - Part 1

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Indigenismos- Words from Indigenous Languages

Many words from various indigenous Latin American cultures were incorporated into the Spanish language after the arrival of the Spaniards to the Americas. The following are some of the most popular words:

Caucho (rubber)- from the original Quechua word kawchu

Ellos jugaban con una pelota de caucho

They played with a rubber ball

Caption 85, Guillermo el chamán La cosmología de los mayas

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Maraca (maraca)- from the original Guaraní word mbaracá

guitarra, cuatro, güiro, maraca, bongo,

guitar, cuatro, güiro, maraca, bongo [drum],

Caption 32, Sonido Babel La plena de Puerto Rico

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Papa (potato)- from the original Quechua word papa

En los Andes se usa mucha papa y muchas cremas.

In the Andes, many potatoes are used and many creams.

Captions 75-76, Recetas de cocina Papa a la Huancaína

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Tomate (tomato)- from the original Nahuatl word tomatl

¿Qué es realmente el tomate?

What really is the tomato?

Caption 30, Fermín Ensalada de tomate

 Play Caption

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Italianismos- Words from the Italian Language

Many Italian words made their way into the Spanish language during the Renaissance. Let's check out two of them:

Balcón (balcony)- from the original word balcone

Tomo unos mates en el balcón

I have some servings of mate on the balcony

Caption 7, GoSpanish La rutina diaria de Sol

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Novela (novel)- from the original word novella

basada en una novela de Paul van Loon

based on a novel by Paul van Loon

Caption 4, Europa Abierta Fucsia la pequeña bruja

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Anglicismos- Words from the English language

And last but not least, we have extranjerismos that come from the English language. Here a few:

Club (club)

que hagan un perímetro por dentro y por fuera del club, vaya.

that they should surround us inside and outside the club, come on.

Caption 13, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 5 - Part 12

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Fútbol or futbol (football/soccer)

El fútbol es un deporte que fue inventado en Inglaterra

Soccer is a sport that was invented in England

Caption 8, Sergio El fútbol en España

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In this translation, we used the word "soccer" instead of "football." However, the Spanish word comes from the original British term "football."

Líder (leader)

La India Catalina era la líder de la tribu indígena que habitó en la ciudad, anteriormente llamada la Isla Calamarí.

India Catalina was the leader of the indigenous tribe who inhabited the city, previously called Calamari Island.

Captions 26-27, Viajando en Colombia Cartagena en coche - Part 3

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Turista (tourist)

una ciudad cosmopolita, luminosa y que pone al servicio del turista una amplia variedad de infraestructuras.

a cosmopolitan, luminous city that puts at the service of the tourist a wide variety of infrastructures.

Captions 10-11, Málaga Semana Santa

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That's all for this lesson. We hope you enjoyed this list of foreign-influenced words in Spanish. Can you think of any additional extranjerismos in Spanish? Don't forget to let us know with your comments and suggestions. ¡Hasta la próxima!

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Today's lesson will take us through some Spanish vocabulary that might come in handy to talk about el otoño (the autumn/fall) and some of the phenomena associated with esta estación (this season). 

El tiempo (The Weather)

Let's start by taking a look at a quote from our Yabla Spanish library about el tiempo in autumn, which means  "the weather" (rather than "the time") in this context:

Pero en primavera y en otoño, el tiempo es mucho mejor

But in spring and in fall, the weather is much better

Captions 16-17, Clara explica El tiempo - Part 1

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The fall season is typically characterized by more moderate temperaturas (temperatures) as well as viento (wind) and sometimes lluvia (rain) or niebla (fog) (although there might be some sol (sun) as well!). Let's look at these autumn weather words in context:

Pasame las llaves y llamá un taxi ante' que venga la lluvia.

Give me the keys and call a cab before the rain comes. 

Caption 51, Yago 5 La ciudad - Part 9

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Ya está haciendo un poco de viento; ¿no te parece que hace frío? Sí, a pesar de que hace un hermoso sol.

It's a bit windy now; doesn't it seem like it's cold to you? Yes, in spite of the fact that it's beautifully sunny.

Captions 78-79, Sofy y Caro Entrevistar para un trabajo

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Ten cuidado cuando conduzcas hoy porque hay mucha niebla y no se puede ver bien.

Be careful when you drive today because there's a lot of fog, and you can't see well.

Captions 17-18, Clara explica El tiempo - Part 2

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The videos Clara explica el tiempo - Part 1 and Clara explica el tiempo- Part 2  (Clara Explains the Weather- Parts 1 and 2) as well as Aprendiendo con Karen- El tiempo (Learning with Karen- The Weather) can help you learn even more ways to talk about the weather in Spanish. 

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¿Cuándo es el otoño? (When Is Autumn?)

While some Spanish-speaking countries like Colombia and Ecuador have less climatic variation due to their proximity to the equator, others experience the autumn season in different months than North America. For example, fall in countries like Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, etc. takes place from approximately marzo a junio (March to June), while Spain experiences the fall in the same months as in the United States: septiembre a diciembre (September through December), as demonstrated in this video about the months and seasons in Spanish by El Aula Azul:

En septiembre, empieza el otoño. En octubre, caen las hojas.

In September, the fall begins. In October, the leaves fall.

Captions 22-23, El Aula Azul Estaciones y Meses

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And that brings us to las hojas (the leaves), which, along with their tendency to change colors, dry up, and fall off trees in the autumn, are arguably the most frequently-employed symbol of the fall season.

Símbolos del otoño (Symbols of Fall)

What other objects are associated with the fall? Let's take a look at a few: 

¡Soy un espantapájaros!

I'm a scarecrow!

Caption 95, 75 minutos Gangas para ricos - Part 15

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¿Adivináis qué animal come esta paja y este heno?

Can you guess what animal eats this straw and this hay?

Caption 6, Amaya Donkey Dreamland

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Comidas de otoño (Fall Food)

What other foods do we associate with the autumn season?

Si hay un olor típico en el otoño es el de las castañas asadas.

If there is a typical smell in autumn, it's that of the roasted chestnuts.

Caption 24, 75 minutos Del campo a la mesa - Part 1

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And speaking of apples, they can also be used to make sidra (cider) of both the alcoholic and non-alchoholic variety:

y la bebida más típica es la sidra de manzana.

and the most typical drink is hard apple cider.

Caption 57, Viajando con Fermín La Feria de Santo Tomás

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In this video, Fermín tells us in this about the Feria de Santo Tomás (Saint Tomas Fair), which takes place on the last day of autumn, December 21st, and is thought to be the first day of the Christmas season. 

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Fiestas de otoño (Fall Holidays)

To continue on the theme of fiestas (holidays), let's talk about the Spanish terms for some fall celebrations in both the United States and Latin America:

Y en el interior le decimos, eh... Día de Muertos. Eh... Quizás tenga un poco de relación en la fecha con el Halloween de Estados Unidos,

And in [places] inside the country we call it, um... Day of the Dead. Um... Perhaps it's a little bit related with the United States's Halloween in respect to date,

Captions 69-70, Yabla en Yucatán Don Salo - Part 2

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And, in addition to Halloween and the Day of the Dead, we have, in November, the important North American holiday of Thanksgiving, which is called el Día de Acción de Gracias in Spanish. 

Autumn Vocabulary in Review

Let's conclude today's lesson with a quick-reference review of the words we have learned:

el otoño (the autumn/fall)

la estación (the season)

el tiempo (the weather)

la temperatura (the temperture)

la lluvia (the rain)

el viento (the wind)

la niebla (the fog)

el sol (the sun)

hacer sol (to be sunny)

hacer viento (to be windy)

hacer frío (to be cold)

marzo (March)

abril (April)

mayo (May)

junio (June)

septiembre (September)

octubre (October)

noviembre (November)

diciembre (December)

las hojas (the leaves)

el espantapájaros (the scarecrow)

la cesta (the basket)

la paja (the straw)

el heno (the hay)

la calabaza (the pumpkin)

la quinoa (the quinoa)

la cosecha (the harvest)

cosechar (to harvest)

el maíz (the corn)

las castañas asadas (the roasted chestnuts)

la manzana (the apple)

la fiesta (the holiday)

el Día de Muertos/el Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead)

el Día de Acción de Gracias (Thanksgiving)

And that brings us to the end of our lesson on useful Spanish vocabulary for the autumn season. We hope you've enjoyed it, and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments.

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How do you say the names of the planets in Spanish? We'll start off today's lesson by telling you how and then follow up with some simple astronomical vocabulary. 

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The Names of the Planets in Spanish

The names of the planets in Spanish are as follows: 

1. Mercurio = Mercury

2. Venus = Venus

3. La Tierra = (the) Earth

4. Marte = Mars

5. Júpiter = Jupiter

6. Saturno = Saturn

7. Urano = Uranus

8. Neptuno = Neptune

Now that you know what the planets are called in Spanish, let's take a look at a few examples from our Yabla Spanish library where their names are mentioned:

El planeta Marte alguna vez tuvo ríos, lagos y mares.

The planet Mars once had rivers, lakes, and seas.

Caption 6, Yabla informa - Noticias con Cleer

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The clip you just heard is from a news segment by Yabla's Cleer which delves into the mystery of what happened to the water on Mars. Let's see another clip that mentions the name of a planet, this time from a song:

We shouldn't neglect to mention that, as you may know, what was formerly considered to be the ninth planet, Pluto, was reclassified as a "dwarf planet" in 2006. The name for Pluto in Spanish is Plutón.

Additional Astronomical Vocabulary in Spanish

And, speaking of the moon, we thought you might be interested in learning how to say "the moon," "the sun," and some other basic vocabulary related to our solar system:

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1. la luna = the moon

2. el sol = the sun

3. la estrella = the star 

4. el planeta = the planet

5. la galaxia = the galaxy 

6. la Vía Láctea = the Milky Way

7. el cometa = the comet

8. el agujero negro/el hoyo negro = the black hole 

9. la nave espacial = the spaceship 

10. la constelación = the constellation

11. el sistema solar = the solar system

12. la teoría del Big Bang = the Big Bang theory

13. el eclipse = the eclipse

14. la astronomía = astronomy

15. el telescopio = the telescope

Now, let's take a look at a several of these terms in action:

eh... finalmente viene el universo, que es la Vía Láctea.

um... finally comes the universe, which is the Milky Way.

Caption 31, Guillermo el chamán - Los rituales

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Se le llama Las Siete Luminarias porque hay siete volcanes

It's called The Seven Luminaries because there are seven volcanoes

que forman la Osa Mayor, que es la constelación de la Osa Mayor.

which make up Ursa Major, which is the Ursa Major constellation.

Captions 13-14, Guillermo el chamán - La tecnología maya

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Lo que no sabemos, es de qué planeta son estos niños.

What we don't know is from what planet these kids are.

Son del planeta Tierra.

They are from planet Earth.

Captions 5-6, Salvando el planeta Palabra - Llegada - Part 3

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La nave rusa Soyuz ha despegado desde el centro espacial europeo de Kourou

The Russian spaceship Soyuz has taken off from the European space center in Kourou

Caption 3, Europa Abierta - Galileo vs. GPS

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Note that la nave can be used as a shorter way to say "the spaceship" in lieu of la nave espacial. The clip in which this video is found deals with the history of the European space program, in case you are interested in checking it out!

That's alll for today. We hope you've enjoyed this lesson on basic astronomical terms in Spanish, and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments. 

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How do we talk about our emotions in Spanish? Although there are many different ways, this lesson will focus on three main categories of words that are typically used to express the whole range of emotions in Spanish while covering some of the major emotions in Spanish we might wish to talk about. 

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The Three Main Ways of Talking About Emotions in Spanish 

The three main word categories for talking about our emotions in Spanish are adjectives, reflexive verbs, and nouns. Let's take a closer look at some tendencies of each of these three parts of speech when describing emotions in Spanish.

1. Adjectives

Remember that adjectives modify, or describe, nouns, and to name a few simple ones in Spanish, we could take contento/a(s) (happy), triste(s) (sad), and enojado/a(s) (angry). As always, such emotional adjectives must agree with the noun they modify in terms of number and gender. You will note that the adjectives that describe emotions in Spanish are commonly used in conjunction with particular verbs, such as estar (to be), sentir (to feel), ponerse (to become/get), or quedarse (to become/get), to name a few. So, "Estoy contento," for example, would mean: "I'm happy."

2. Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive verbs in Spanish actually convey the action of feeling a certain emotion in and of themselves. As an example, since enojarse means "to get angry," one could say simply "Me enojé" (I got angry) in lieu of using an adjective/verb combination like "Me puse enojado," which conveys the same thing. 

3. Nouns

As a third option, nouns like tristeza (sadness) are additionally employed to talk about emotions in Spanish. Among others, one common manner of doing so is with the word "Qué..." in fixed expressions like, "¡Qué tristeza!" which literally means, "What sadness!" (but would be more commonly expressed in English with an expression like "How sad!"). Verbs like sentir (to feel) or tener (to have) are also commonly used with such emotional nouns in sentences such as "Siento mucha alegría" ("I feel really happy," or, more literally, "I feel a lot of happiness").

Conveying Common Emotions in Spanish

1. HAPPINESS

Adjectives: 

Adjectives that mean "happy" include feliz/felices, contento/a(s), and alegre(s). Let's take a look at some examples of these words in context along with some of the aforementioned verbs:

pues, que yo creo que él sí quiere formalizar algo conmigo y yo estoy muy feliz.

well, I think that he does want to formalize something with me, and I'm very happy.

Captions 40-41, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 5 - Part 9

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y, pues, me siento muy contento de que lo... lo pude lograr.

and well, I feel very happy that I... I was able to achieve it.

Caption 27, Rueda de la muerte Parte 1

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Y estoy alegre, alegre de que no sea cierto.

And I'm happy, happy it's not true.

Caption 31, Chus recita poemas Neruda y Pizarnik

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Remember that the verb estar is used to talk about emotions in Spanish rather than the verb ser because emotions tend to be temporary rather than permanent. That said, if someone (or something) permanently embodies a particular emotional attribute (e.g. a "happy person"), the verb ser can be used because this emotion becomes a trait, as in the following example: 

La Vela se caracteriza además por ser un pueblo alegre,

La Vela is also characterized as being a happy town,

Captions 16-17, Estado Falcón Locos de la Vela - Part 1

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Reflexive Verbs: 

Moving on to the verb category, a common reflexive verb that expresses the idea of "cheering up" or "getting" or "being happy" or "glad" is alegrarse. Let's see some examples of this verb:

Qué bien; me alegro de que estén aquí.

How great; I'm glad you're here.

Caption 42, Club 10 Capítulo 1 - Part 2

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A tal punto que yo me alegré mucho, mucho, cuando supe que ibas a pasar veinticinco años en la cárcel.

To the point that I felt very happy, very, when I found out you were going to spend twenty-five years in prison.

Captions 56-57, Yago 14 La peruana - Part 1

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Nouns:

Lastly, we will deal with the corresponding nouns that mean "happiness" or "joy": (la) alegría and (la) felicidad.

Ay, bueno, Don Ramiro, de verdad, qué alegría escuchar eso.

Oh, well, Mister Ramiro, really, what a joy to hear that.

Caption 33, Tu Voz Estéreo Laura - Part 10

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While "what a joy" was translated a bit more literally here, it could also be a rough equivalent of "how great" (to hear that) or, of course, "I'm so happy" (to hear that). Let's look at one more example:

Hasta el sábado, amiga. ¡Qué felicidad!

See you Saturday, my friend. [I'm] so happy!

Caption 83, Cleer y Lida Conversación telefónica - Part 1

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Again, while "What happiness!" would be the literal translation of "¡Qué felicidad!" in English, you will note that this and many of our other examples of expressions with the word "Qué" plus an emotional noun have been translated slightly differently to reflect what an English speaker might say in a similar situation. 

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2. EXCITEMENT

Adjectives: 

"Excitement" might be looked upon as an extension of happiness, and adjectives like emocionado/a(s) (excited) or entusiasmado/a(s) (excited/enthusiastic) express this in Spanish:

Estoy tan emocionado de volver a verte.

I am so excited to see you again.

Caption 53, Yago 11 Prisión - Part 3

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Ehm... Mi amor, estás muy entusiasmado con todo esto. -Mmm.

Um... My love, you're very enthusiastic about all this. -Mmm.

Caption 7, Yago 10 Enfrentamientos - Part 4

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Reflexive Verbs:

As you might have guessed, the verbs for "to be/get excited" are emocionarse and entusiasmarse: 

Ya me emocioné.

I already got excited.

Caption 22, Alan x el mundo Mi playa favorita de México! - Part 1

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¿Por qué no entusiasmarnos más?

Why not get more excited?

Caption 14, Natalia de Ecuador Consejos: haciendo amigos como adultos

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Nouns:

Although the noun (la) emoción can indeed mean "emotion," it can also mean "excitement":

Entonces... -¡Qué emoción! Qué emoción, y después... ¡oh!, ¿sí?

So... -How exciting! How exciting, and afterward... oh, really?

Captions 31-32, Clase Aula Azul La segunda condicional - Part 2

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That said, while emocionado/a(s), emocionarse, and "¡Qué emoción!" can also be used to talk about "being moved" with emotion, context should usually let you know the speaker's intention. 

3. SADNESS

Adjectives:

Triste(s) is undoubtedly the most common adjective that means "sad" in Spanish:

nos dimos cuenta [de] que mi barco estaba partido. Candelario se puso triste. 

we realized my boat was split. Candelario got sad.

Captions 43-44, Guillermina y Candelario El Gran Rescate

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Reflexive Verbs:

The reflexive verb entristecerse, on the other hand, means "to get" (or "feel" or "be" or "become," etc.) "sad":

La alumna se entristeció mucho al saber que se había fallecido su maestro. 

The student became really sad when she found out that her teacher had passed away. 

Nouns:

The noun (la) tristeza literally means "sadness," but is utilized along with "Qué" to say, "How sad":

Qué tristeza, ¿no? Terrible.

How sad, right? Terrible.

Caption 5, Tu Voz Estéreo Feliz Navidad - Part 19

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4. ANGER

Adjectives:

While there are a lot of adjectives that mean "angry" or "mad" in Spanish, the two most common standard (rather than slang) ones are probably enojado/a(s) and enfadado/a(s). Let's take a look:

¿Qué te pasa? ¿Estás enojado conmigo? No, no estoy enojado, estoy cansado. Estoy cansado, ¿OK? 

What's going on with you? Are you mad at me? No, I'm not mad, I'm tired. I'm tired, OK?

Captions 42-43, Muñeca Brava 48 - Soluciones - Part 3

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Estamos muy enfadadas. Estoy muy enfadada.

We are very angry. I am very angry.

Captions 30-31, El Aula Azul Estados de ánimo

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Reflexive Verbs:

By extension, verbs that mean "to get mad" or "angry" include enojarse and enfadarse, although there are many more:

Se enojó muchísimo con el viejo

She got really angry with my old man

Caption 86, Muñeca Brava 2 Venganza - Part 6

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No me enfadé con él, ni le insulté,

I didn't get mad at him, nor did I insult him,

Captions 78-79, Cortometraje Beta - Part 1

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Nouns:

There are a lot of nouns that refer to anger in Spanish, and we bet you guessed two of them: (el) enojo and (el) enfado. Others include (la) ira, (la) rabia, and (la) bronca. Although it is not as common to hear these words in expressions with "Qué..." as some of the other nouns we have talked about, we can give you some examples of how a couple of these words are used to express anger in captions from our Yabla Spanish library:

Lo que yo sentía en ese momento era algo mucho más profundo que un enfado.

What I felt at that moment was something way deeper than anger.

Caption 81, Cortometraje Beta - Part 1

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porque claro, alguna vez siento mucha rabia y no me gusta sentir tanta rabia

because of course, sometimes I feel a lot of rage and I don't like feeling so much rage

Captions 42-43, Escribiendo un libro Algunos consejos sobre cómo comenzar - Part 1

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For a lot of additional standard and slangy manners of talking about anger, feel free to refer to this lesson on expressing feelings of tiredness or anger in Spanish. 

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5. SURPRISE

Adjectives:

Let's start with the adjective that means "surprised": sorprendido/a(s).

Profesores, la verdad es que me he quedado sorprendida; 

Professors, the truth is that I have been surprised;

Caption 19, Alumnos extranjeros del Tec de Monterrey

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Reflexive Verbs:

The reflexive verb that means "to be" or "to get surprised" is sorprenderse:

Es que... me sorprendí, querida. -¿Por qué?

It's just that... I was surprised, dear. -Why?

Caption 65, Muñeca Brava 18 - La Apuesta - Part 11

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Nouns:

And finally, the noun (la) sorpresa can be used with "Qué" to say "How surprising" or "What a surprise": 

Qué sorpresa. -Qué... Vale, qué lindo verte.

What a surprise. -What... Vale, how nice to see you.

Caption 15, Español para principiantes Saludos y encuentros

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6. DISAPPOINTMENT

Adjectives:

The common Spanish adjectives decepcionado/a(s) and desilusionado/s(s) both mean "disappointed":

Mi novia está desilusionado conmigo por haberle mentido.

My girlfriend is disappointed in me for having lied to her. 

No. Estoy decepcionada. ¿De mí? ¿Y por qué estás decepcionada?

No. I'm disappointed. In me? And why are you disappointed?

Captions 61-63, Muñeca Brava 41 La Fiesta - Part 6

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Reflexive Verbs:

Naturally, the verbs decepcionarse and desilusionarse mean "to get" or "be disappointed." Let's take a look at them in context:

Me decepcioné mucho cuando suspendí el examen. 

I was really disappointed when I failed the test. 

Nada. Tengo qué sé yo, miedo a desilusionarme, va.

Nothing. I have, I don't know, a fear of being disappointed, well.

Caption 38, Muñeca Brava 39 Verdades - Part 5

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Nouns:

So, of course, "Qué desilusión" or "Qué decepción" would be "How disappointing" or "What a disappointment":

Qué decepción.

What a disappointment.

Caption 82, Los casos de Yabla Problemas de convivencia - Part 3

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7. WORRY/ANXIETY/STRESS

Let's conclude today's lesson by talking about some more of what might be considered sentimientos negativos (negative feelings) in Spanish: worry, anxiety, and stress.

Adjectives:

Adjectives like preocupado/a(s)(worried), estresado/a(s) ("stressed" or "stressed out"), ansioso/a(s) (anxious), or nervioso/a(s), which often means "restless," "anxious," etc. in addition to "nervous," can be used to describe those unpleasant sensations in Spanish. Let's look at some examples:

Le noto un poco nervioso, ¿le pasa algo? -No, no, no...

I notice you're a bit on edge, is something wrong with you? -No, no, no...

Caption 9, Muñeca Brava 33 El partido - Part 6

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¿Hay algún pensamiento o algo que le mantenga a usted ansioso o desde cuándo... o algo que haya desencadenado todos estos problemas?

Is there some thought or something that keeps you anxious or from which... or something that has triggered all these problems?

Captions 32-33, Los médicos explican Diagnóstico: nervios y estrés

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Reflexive Verbs:

The reflexive verb preocuparse means "to worry," while estresarse means "to stress" or "get stressed out," etc.:

¿De verdad se preocupa por mi seguridad? Claro que sí me preocupo.

Do you really worry about my safety? Of course I worry.

Captions 36-37, Muñeca Brava 48 - Soluciones - Part 3

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un día tengo que pagar uno, otro día otro, y eso, la... la gente se estresa.

one day I have to pay one, another day another one, and that... people get stressed out.

Caption 67, Cuentas claras Sobreviviendo enero - Part 2

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Nouns:

The corresponding nouns for the verbs and adjectives we have talked about are: (la) preocupación (worry), (el) estrés (stress), (los) nervios (nerves), and (la) ansiedad (anxiety), which can be used in sentences in infinite ways to describe these nerve-wracking sensations. For example, we might say "¡Qué nervios!" or "¡Qué estrés!" to say something like "I'm so nervous/anxious!" or "How stressful!"/"I'm so stressed out!" Let's look at some additional examples of these nouns with the verbs tener (to have) and sentir (to feel):

Últimamente tengo mucho estrés y estar un poco en la naturaleza es muy bueno.

Lately, I've been really stressed out, and it's great to be in nature a bit.

Captions 68-69, Cleer y Lida Picnic

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Siento ansiedad, la necesidad de contar quién soy

I feel anxiety, the need to tell who I am

Caption 2, Monsieur Periné Mi libertad

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You will note that while the literal translation of the first example would be "I have a lot of stress," "I've been really stressed out" may be the more likely equivalent for English speakers in this context. On the other hand, while the translator opted for the more literal "I feel anxiety" in the second example, "I feel anxious" would also be a viable option in English. For additional insight into how to discuss anxiety and stress in Spanish, we recommend the video Diagnóstico: nervios y estrés (Diagnosis: Nerves and Stress) from our series Los médicos explican (The Doctors Explain).

We have covered a multitude of emotions in Spanish, and videos like this one from our Curso de español  [Spanish Course] series about Expresiones de sentimientos [Expressions of Feelings] and this one on Estados de Ánimo [Moods] by El Aula Azul can help you to express many more. And while most of the feelings we have talked about are pretty clearly negative or positive, the video Ni bien ni mal [Neither Good nor Bad] can help us to talk about some of those so-so emotions in Spanish. Are there any other feelings or emotions you'd like to learn to speak about in Spanish? Don't forget to let us know in your suggestions and comments. 

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Yo: mío, mío, míos, mías (my, mine, of mine)

 

Tú: tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas (your, yours, of yours)

 

Él/ella/usted: suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (his, of his, her, hers, of hers, your, yours, of yours, its) 

 

Nosotros/nosotras: nuestro, nuestros, nuestra, nuestras (our, ours, of ours)

 

Vosotros/vosotras: vuestro, vuestros, vuestra, vuestras ((plural informal) your, yours, of yours)

 

Ellos/ellas/ustedes: suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (their, theirs, of theirs, (plural) your, yours, of yours)

You may have noticed that, in comparison to short form Spanish possessive adjectives, there are more possible translations for long form possessive adjectives in Spanish, which will vary according to their context. 

Examples of Long Form Possessive Adjectives in Spanish

Let's take a look at the many translations of long form possessive adjectives in Spanish via a plethora of examples from Yabla's Spanish video library.

1. Mío, mío, míos, mías

Este sombrero es mío. Estos sombreros son míos.

This hat is mine. These hats are mine.

Captions 10-11, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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Esta botella es mía. Estas botellas son mías.

This bottle is mine. These bottles are mine.

Captions 15-16, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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We chose these two examples to illustrate that, as we mentioned, long form Spanish possessive adjectives always agree with the nouns they modify in terms of both number and gender. As with short form Spanish possessive adjectives, the number/gender of the person or entity that "owns" is insignificant. Additionally, you will note that the translation for these Spanish possessive adjectives here is "mine." Let's look at an example where their translation is slightly different: 

Y han venido unos amigos míos desde Mallorca, aquí hasta Málaga,

And some friends of mine have come here to Malaga from Mallorca

Caption 15, Amaya Voluntarios

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Not only do we see an alternative translation for the long form Spanish possessive adjective míos (of mine), we see that long form Spanish possessive can be accompanied an article, in this case, the indefinite article unos. 

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2. Tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas 

Now, let's look at some translations for the long form Spanish possessive adjective tuyo and its variants:

Así que, ¿no soy hijo tuyo?

So, I'm not your son?

Caption 68, Muñeca Brava 7 El poema - Part 2

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The interesting thing about this second example is that the long form Spanish possessive adjective tuyo has been translated as "your" instead of "yours" or "of yours," which is identical to the translation for the equivalent short form Spanish possessive adjective (tu). Hence, the same English sentence could have been written with the short form possessive adjective in Spanish, as follows:

Así que, ¿no soy tu hijo? 

So, I'm not your son?

So, we see that there are cases in which we could choose to use either the long or short form Spanish possessive adjective to express the exact same idea in English, although the long form is, perhaps, the slightly less common/more literary manner of doing so. 

3. Suyo, suya, suyos, suyas

As we saw in Part 1 of this lesson about short form Spanish possessive adjectives in regards to su and sus, this particular set of long form possessive adjectives can be confusing because they correspond with a lot of personal pronouns (él, ella, usted, ellos, ellas, and ustedes) and thus have a multitude of different translations, which we listed above. Context should usually help you to determine the meaning of these long form possessive adjectives in Spanish. Let's take a look: 

Estos sombreros son suyos.

These hats are hers.

Caption 31, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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While this example seems pretty simple at first glance, since the masculine plural form of the Spanish possessive adjective was chosen to agree with the noun it modifies (sombreros) rather than its corresponding personal pronoun (ella), this very same sentence could also mean "These hats are his," "These hats are yours" (one person or multiple people), or "These hats are theirs" (all males, all females, or a mixed group). So, let's hope that the text or conversation has given you some previous clues as to who the hats belong to and/or who is being spoken about (it usually does!). Let's see another example:

Efectivamente, era el rostro suyo

Indeed, it was his face

Caption 35, Aprendiendo con Carlos El microrrelato - Part 3

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What can we discern here? First, because the previous sentences in this flash fiction story by Carlos refer to the maestro de ceremonias, we know that "his" was the correct translation choice for suyo in this context. Second, remember that since the translation for the short form possessive adjective in Spanish su in English can also be "his," the very same idea could also have been conveyed with the sentence: "Efectivamente, era su rostro." Finally, we will reiterate that, although with short form possessive Spanish adjectives, the article is never used (it's simply su rostro), with the long form, they can be, as in the case of el rostro suyo. That said, this is a personal choice, and one might also omit the article and write simply "era rostro suyo" with no change in meaning. Let's look at one more variation of this long form Spanish possessive adjective.

Y también me gustó mucho la novela suya, eh, "Amor y pico"; me encantó.

And I also liked your soap opera a lot, um, "Love and Fortune;" I loved it.

Caption 41, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 2 - Part 1

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Here, since the speaker is consistently addressing a female actress with usted (formal "you") and talking to her about a soap opera she did, it is obvious that "your" is the intended meaning of the long form Spanish possessive adjective suya, which agrees in number and gender with the noun it modifies (la novela) and that, furthermore, the speaker chose to include that noun's definite article (la). We bet you're getting the hang of this by now! 

4. Nuestro, nuestros, nuestra, nuestras

Let's start off with some very simple examples:

Este sombrero es nuestro. Estos sombreros son nuestros. Esta botella es nuestra. Estas botellas son nuestras.

This hat is ours. These hats are ours. This bottle is ours. These bottles are ours.

Captions 35-38, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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Now, let's move on to a bit tougher one:

Padre nuestro, vamos a bendecir el alimento que vamos a comer.

Father of ours [or "Our Father], let's bless the food that we are going to eat.

Caption 55, Lecciones con Carolina Adjetivos posesivos - Part 1

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Through these clips, we can see not only the number/gender agreement we have been speaking about, but also some different translations for the long form Spanish possessive adjective forms of nuestro. 

5. Vuestro, vuestros, vuestra, vuestras

Let's conclude our lesson by looking at some clips of the long form Spanish possessive adjectives vuestro, etc.: 

Esta botella es vuestra. Estas botellas son vuestras.

This bottle is yours [plural]. These bottles are yours [plural].

Captions 41-42, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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¿Y el embutido es vuestro?

And, the sausage is yours?

Caption 57, 75 minutos Del campo a la mesa - Part 4

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In lieu of this translation, this last sentence might also have been translated as "And is the sausage yours?" or even "And is it your sausage?"

We hope that this lesson has helped you to understand long form Spanish possessive adjectives and how they are different from short form possessive adjectives in Spanish. As an additional source for learning about long form possessive adjectives in Spanish, we additionally recommend the lesson Clase Aula Azul- La posesión- Part 2, and no se olviden de dejarnos los comentarios y sugerencias tuyos (don't forget to leave us your comments and suggestions).

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What are possessive adjectives in Spanish? Most simply put, possessive adjectives in Spanish are the Spanish equivalents of words like "my," "your," "his, "mine," etc. that indicate ownership or possession. There are two types of Spanish possessive adjectives: long form and short form. In the first part of this lesson, we will deal with how to use short form possessive adjectives in Spanish. 

Let's take a look at the short form Spanish possessive adjectives and how they correspond to the personal pronouns in Spanish: 

Yo: mi, mis (my)

Tú: tu, tus (your)

Él/ella/usted: su, sus (his, her, its, your) 

Nosotros/nosotras: nuestro, nuestros, nuestra, nuestras (our)

Vosotros/vosotras: vuestro, vuestros, vuestra, vuestras (plural informal "your")

Ellos/ellas/ustedes: su, sus (their/plural "your")

What did you notice at first glance? Allow us to point out a couple of our observations: 

1. The Spanish possessive adjectives that correspond to nosotros/nosotras (masculine and feminine "we") and vosotros/vosotras (masculine and feminine plural, informal "you") look a bit more complicated because there are more forms, four rather than two. This is because the forms of these Spanish possessive adjectives are affected by the genders of the nouns they modify, whereas the others are not. 

2. The words su and sus in Spanish correspond to a lot of personal pronouns (él, ella, usted, ellos, ellas, and ustedes) and can thus mean a lot of different things ("his," "her," "its," singular and plural "your," and "their"). We'll help you to learn to distinguish their meanings in context.

3. Regardless of whether a personal pronoun is singular (e.g. yo, tú, etc.) or plural (e.g. ellos, ustedes, etc.), they all have singular and plural possessive adjective forms. This is because, whether a Spanish possessive adjective is singular or plural or masculine or feminine has nothing to do with the number or gender of the personal pronoun it is associated with and everything to do with the number and gender of the noun it modifies. 

Keeping these points in mind, let's take a closer look at each of the possessive adjectives in Spanish, as well as some examples from our Yabla Spanish video library.

1. Mi and mis

Generally speaking, Spanish adjectives agree with the noun they modify in terms of number and gender. That said, the "good news" about the Spanish possessive adjectives for "my," mi and mis, is that they remain the same regardless of a noun's gender. For both masculine and feminine nouns, then, the singular form mi should be used for singular nouns, while the plural form mis should accompany plural nouns. Let's look:

A mi lado, tengo a mi amigo, Xavi,

Beside me, I have my friend, Xavi,

Caption 3, Carlos y Xavi Diferencia de pronunciación entre España y Colombia - Part 1

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nos encontramos con mi amiga, la rana.

we ran into my friend, the frog.

Caption 18, Guillermina y Candelario Una Amiga muy Presumida - Part 1

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Hoy os voy a hablar de mis amigos felinos, que también son mis vecinos.

Today, I'm going to talk to you about my feline friends who are also my neighbors.

Captions 3-4, Fermín y los gatos Mis gatas vecinas

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Los viernes, juego al fútbol con mis amigas.

On Fridays, I play soccer with my friends.

Caption 21, Ariana Mi Semana

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As you can see, the singular Spanish possessive adjective mi is used for both the masculine and feminine forms of the noun amigo/a, while the plural Spanish possessive adjective mis is used for the plural masculine and feminine nouns, amigos and amigas. Pretty simple, right? 

2. Tu and tus

The short form Spanish possessive adjectives tu and tus, which mean "your" when addressing someone informally, are similarly simplistic: tu is utilized for singular nouns, while tus is used for plural nouns, regardless of gender. Let's see some examples with tu and tus:

¿Qué es lo que más te gusta de tu casa?

What is it that you like the most about your house?

Caption 48, Cleer y Lida Juego de preguntas y respuestas - Part 1

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Déjame saber en tus comentarios

Let me know in your comments

Caption 59, Ana Carolina Conjugaciones verbales

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Although the noun casa is feminine, the same Spanish possessive adjective, tu, would also be used for masculine singular nouns (tu coche = your car, etc.). In turn, while the word tus appears with the masculine plural noun comentarios in this example, the very same possessive adjective would be used for feminine plural nouns, e.g. tus manzanas (your apples). 

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3. Nuestro, nuestros, nuestra, and nuestras

In contrast to mi/s and tu/s, the Spanish possessive adjectives for "our" do change in accordance with both a noun's number and gender. Let's take a look at the masculine/feminine and singular/plural forms of the nouns hijo (boy), hija (girl), etc. with their corresponding forms of the Spanish possessive adjective nuestro:

Nuestro hijo (our son)

Nuestros hijos (our sons)

Nuestra hija (our daughter)

Nuestras hijas (our daughters)

As you can see, this Spanish possessive adjective takes the ending -o for masculine singular nouns, -os for masculine plural nouns, -a for feminine singular nouns, and -as for feminine plural nouns. Let's view a couple of examples from Yabla's video library:

Para nuestro primer experimento utilizaremos algo que jamás creíamos que podría faltar en nuestros hogares:

For our first experiment, we'll use something we never thought could be lacking in our homes:

Captions 11-13, Ana Carolina Gérmenes

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¿Qué había sucedido con nuestra amistad, mmm? ¿Desde cuándo la mujer empezó a gobernar nuestras vidas?

What had happened to our friendship, hmm? Since when did women start to govern our lives?

Captions 17-18, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 8 - Part 3

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We can see in these examples all four versions of the Spanish possessive adjective for "we," all of which agree with the nouns they modify in terms of both number and gender. 

4. Vuestro, vuestros, vuestra, and vuestras

If you take the Spanish possessive adjectives for "we" (nosotros, etc.) and replace the "n" with a "v," you have the possessive adjectives in Spanish that mean "your" when addressing more than one person in a less formal situation. This form corresponds to the Spanish personal pronouns vosotros/as, which are primarily used in Spain. Let's take a look:

Vuestro hijo (your son)

Vuestros hijos (your sons)

Vuestra hija (your daughter)

Vuestras hijas (your daughters)

Let's examine a couple of video excerpts:

5. Su and sus

The "good news," once again, about su in Spanish and sus in Spanish is that there are only two forms, singular and plural, that modify both masculine and feminine nouns. The "bad news," though, at least in terms of their initial challenge for native English speakers, is that these possessive adjectives in Spanish can mean many different things depending on their contexts. Having said that, let's take a look at su in Spanish and sus in Spanish, which can mean either "his," "her," "its," "your" (in the case of either one or more than one person), or "their."

His:

Es su coche (It's his car). 

Son sus coches. (They are his cars). 

Es su motocicleta (It's his motorcycle).

Son sus motocicletas. (They are his motorcycles).

Her:

Es su coche (It's her car). 

Son sus coches (They are her cars). 

Es su motocicleta (It's her motorcycle). 

Son sus motocicletas (They are her motorcycles).

Your (formal, one person):

Es su coche (It's your car). 

Es su motocicleta​ (It's your motorcycle).

Son sus coches (They are your cars).

Son sus motocicleta​s (They are your motorcycles). 

Your (more than one person):

Es su coche (It's your (guys') car). 

Es su motocicleta (It's your (guys') motorcycle).

Son sus coches (They are your (guys') cars).

Son sus motocicletas (They are your (guys') motorcycles). 

Their:

Es su coche (It's their car). 

Es su motocicleta (It's their motorcycle).

Son sus coches (They are their cars).

Son sus motocicletas (They are their motorcycles). 

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Wait, what?! You might notice that the four sentences under each English possessive adjective category are all the same! And yet, their translations are totally different. So, how would we decipher the intended meaning of su in Spanish or sus in Spanish when these two possessives in Spanish can mean so many things? As always, context is key! Let's take a look at some examples to illuminate this:

El artista más importante es Gaudí. Hoy voy a visitar una de sus obras más conocidas, la Sagrada Familia.

The most important artist is Gaudi. Today I'm going to visit one of his most well-known works, the Sagrada Familia [Sacred Family].

Captions 45-47, Ariana España

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Since the previous sentence mentions the artist Gaudi, it is pretty obvious that sus in this context means "his," referring to "his works." And, just to reiterate, the plural form sus must be used here since obras is a plural noun, in spite of the fact that Gaudi is just one person since one person can own more than one thing, while more than one person can own just one thing (think nuestra casa). Let's take a look at a couple of additional examples of su/s in Spanish:

por ejemplo, para que usted practique con su novia, Cata.

for example for you to practice with your girlfriend, Cata.

Caption 17, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 2 - Part 6

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Here, the word usted tips us off that the speaker means "your girlfriend," as su in Spanish can mean "your" in the formal style of address. And, even in the absence of that explicit word, were someone to generally address you with the usted form, you would take for granted that they meant "you" when utilizing su in Spanish or sus in Spanish. Let's see one more:

In this example, sus in Spanish has been translated as "its" since the inicios "belong to" an inanimate object: the All Saints Hispanic Center. 

Although context can usually provide us with good clues about the meaning of su in Spanish or sus in Spanish, there are ambiguous cases that may require clarification. In a story or conversation involving both males and females, for example, a reference to su casa might cause confusion as to whose house it actually is. In such cases, it might be preferable to, in lieu of a Spanish possessive adjective, employ the preposition de ("of" or "belonging to") plus a personal pronoun (ella, usted, etc.) for the sake of clarity, as in the following example:

Since, had the speaker said su problema personal, that could theoretically refer to either la gente de la ciudad (and thus be translated as "their personal problem with me") or the person to whom he is speaking, it was a safer bet to go with de usted.

We hope that this lesson has helped you to better understand how to use possessive adjectives in Spanish in their short form. For more information on short form possessive adjectives in Spanish, be sure to check out Adjetivos posesivos- Part 2 from the series Lecciones con Carolina, which deals with agreement, as well as this useful lesson from El Aula Azul entitled La posesión- Part 1. And, as always, no se olviden de dejarnos sus sugerencias y comentarios (don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments).

Welcome to the second part of this lesson where we touch on all the different Spanish verb tenses! So... how many tenses in Spanish did we say there were? Sixteen! In the first part, we covered the ten "official" tenses of the indicative mood, which deals more with concrete facts, in addition to some "bonus" (non-official) tenses. Now, we'll move on to the other two Spanish moods: the subjunctive, where we will cover tenses eleven through sixteen of the Spanish verb paradigm, and the imperative. If you didn't already, we definitely recommend checking out Part 1 of this lesson. 

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The Subjunctive Tenses

While the indicative mood deals with facts, the subjunctive mood in Spanish, in a nutshell, deals with more abstract notions like wishes, desires, emotions, opinions, and more, which require a whole different set of tenses in Spanish. Although it would be impossible to delve too deeply into the multipronged usage of the subjunctive Spanish mood, we will try to illustrate several cases in which you might come across it. Let's get started!

11. Present Subjunctive (Presente del subjuntivo)

The present subjunctive is the subjunctive equivalent of the simple present tense. Let's take a look at an example from the Yabla Spanish library: 

Note that the reason the subjunctive form is employed here (we can tell it is subjunctive due to its conjugation, hable, which differs from its indicative form, habla) is because the sentence conveys that we want (queremos) for someone not to talk to us in a particular way, which doesn't mean that that person will actually respect our desire. Let's take a look at one more example: 

Here, the word mejor (better) tips us off that the subjunctive form (hablemos instead of hablamos) is in order due to the expression of someone's opinion about what should happen, which doesn't necessarily mean that it will. 

12. Imperfect Subjunctive (Imperfecto de subjuntivo)

The imperfect subjunctive is the past equivalent of the present subjunctive. We see in the following example that the verb hablar has been conjugated in the imperfect subjunctive (habláramos) instead of in the indicative (hablábamos) due to the expression of desire, once again with the verb querer:

No, no te dije que quería hablar con vos, quería que habláramos los dos. 

No, I didn't tell you that I wanted to talk to you; I wanted for us to talk, the two [of us].

Caption 46, Muñeca Brava 43 La reunión - Part 6

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Another very common use of the imperfect subjunctive is to talk about hypothetical situations. In this case, the imperfect subjunctive is often incorporated into a "si (if) clause" in conjunction with the conditional tense to communicate that "if" something were the case, then something else "would" happen, as in the following clip:

The hypothetical situation the teacher is going for here is: Si hablara ruso, viviría en Rusia (If I spoke Russian, I'd live in Russia). To learn more about this type of construction, we highly recommend the entire series of which this video is a part. 

13. Future Subjunctive (Futuro (simple) de subjuntivo)

We definitely couldn't come up with any examples of the future subjunctive tense in our Yabla Spanish library because this tense is all but obsolete and is almost never even taught in modern Spanish. For that reason, you may not recognize it due to its different and little-seen conjugations, although you may occasionally come across it in legal documents or literature. We came up with this example:

El que hablare fuerte se echará de lo biblioteca. 

Whoever talks loudly will be thrown out of the library. 

The future subjunctive could conceivably be used here because the sentence refers to "whoever," rather than known individuals, as well as alluding to a possible future event. However, in modern Spanish, this very same idea would be conveyed with the present subjunctive:

El que hable fuerte se echará de lo biblioteca. 

Whoever talks loudly will be thrown out of the library. 

14. Present Perfect Subjunctive (Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo)

The present perfect subjunctive is the equivalent of the present perfect indicative in situations that require the subjunctive, and the verb haber is thus conjugated in its subjunctive form. That said, we'll take this opportunity to mention another case that requires subjunctive: when expressing that something will happen "when" something else happens that hasn't yet, as in the following example:

Cuando se hayan hablado, se van a entender mejor.

When they've talked to each other, they are going to understand each other better. 

And, here's an additional example of the present perfect subjunctive from our Spanish video library with different verbs:

Espero que os haya gustado este vídeo sobre esta maravillosa planta y hayáis aprendido algo nuevo. 

I hope you've liked this video about this wonderful plant and have learned something new.

Captions 80-81, Fermín La plumeria - Part 1

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15. Pluperfect Subjunctive (Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo)

The pluperfect subjunctive is the subjunctive equivalent of the pluperfect tense and is also used to talk about hypothetical situations. It is formed with the pluperfect form of haber plus the participle, and, like the imperfect subjunctive, it is often used in conjunction with the conditional or conditional perfect to describe what "would have" happened if something else "had been" done. Let's see an example:

Si yo hubiera hablado con mi jefe antes, habría evitado cualquier malentendido. 

If I had spoken with my boss previously, I would have avoided any misunderstanding.

Let's look an additional example of the pluperfect subjunctive tense, which does not include the conditional:

Es como si nunca hubiéramos hablado. 

It's as if we had never talked.

Caption 28, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 8 - Part 6

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The Spanish phrase como si (as if) quite often precedes verbs in the pluperfect subjunctive tense. 

16. Future Perfect Subjunctive (Futuro compuesto de subjuntivo)

Like the future subjunctive, the future perfect subjunctive is rarely encountered and might only be employed in literary or legal contexts to talk about what will happen in the future if a hypothetical situation "has not" yet occurred. It involves the future subjunctive form of the verb haber plus the participle, as follows:

Si el demandante todavía no hubiere hablado ante el tribunal para la fecha especificada, se desestimará su caso. 

If the plaintiff still hasn't spoken before the court by the specified date, his case will be dismissed. 

However, the present perfect subjunctive would take the place of the future perfect subjunctive in order to say this today:

Si el demandante todavía no haya hablado ante el tribunal para la fecha especificada, se desestimará su caso. 

If the plaintiff still hasn't spoken before the court by the specified date, his case will be dismissed. 

Since different verb conjugations are rarely required in English to talk about emotions, desires, or hypotheticals, the subjunctive mood can initially feel quite confusing for English speakers, and we hope that this lesson has this shed some light on some of the possible subjunctive scenarios in Spanish. For more information about the subjunctive in Spanish, the following link with take you to several additional lessons on different aspects of this topic. 

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The Imperative "Tenses"

Let's conclude our rundown of all Spanish tenses by talking about the "bonus" tenses in the imperative mood (modo imperativo), which are not included in the official classification of the different tenses in Spanish. Also called commands, these Spanish verb tenses are those that tell someone to do something, and they fall into several categories:

1. Commands with tú (informal "you") :

Habla con la gente de laboratorio.

Talk to the people from the lab.

Caption 36, Confidencial: Asesino al Volante Capítulo 1 - Part 11

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2. Negative commands with tú:

A ver. Sebas, mi amor, no le hables así a tu papá.

Let's see. Sebas, my love, don't talk to your dad like that.

Caption 30, La Familia Cheveroni Capítulo 1 - Part 2

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3. Commands with vos (informal "you" in certain regions):

por favor hablá con Andrea; necesito encontrar a mi nieto. 

please talk to Andrea; I need to find my grandson.

Caption 59, Muñeca Brava 48 - Soluciones - Part 9

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4. (Negative or positive) commands with usted (formal "you"):

Hable más despacio.

"Hable más despacio" [Speak more slowly].

Caption 40, Carlos explica El modo imperativo 2: Irregulares, Usted + plurales

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5. (Negative or positive) commands with ustedes (plural "you"):

Pues no me hablen de costumbre porque luego en vez de ganar, pierdo.

Well don't talk to me about habits because then instead of earning, I lose.

Caption 7, La Banda Chilanguense El habla de México - Part 3

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6. Commands with vosotros/as (informal plural "you"):

Con vosotros o vosotras: Hablad más despacio.

With "vosotros" or "vosotras" ["you" plural informal masculine/feminine]: "Hablad más despacio" [Talk more slowly].

Caption 25, Carlos explica El modo imperativo 1: Tú + vos

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7. Negative commands with vosotros/as:

No nos habléis de esa forma.

Don't speak to us in that way. 

8. (Negative or positive) commands with nosotros/as (we): 

Hablemos de otra palabra.

Let's talk about another word.

Caption 19, Carlos comenta Confidencial - Jerga típica colombiana

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While we won't get into the norms for conjugating all of these types of commands with -ar, -er, and -ir verbs, we recommend Yabla's four-part video series entitled El modo imperativo (The Imperative Mode), beginning here, which explores this topic. 

And that wraps up our lesson on all of the verb tenses in Spanish. We hope you've enjoyed it (and learned a lot)! And don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments. 

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In this lesson, we will talk about the diaeresis or dieresis in Spanish. But, do you know what a diaeresis is to begin with? Let's take a look at the following clip:

El pueblo de Izamal fue un importante centro urbano maya en la antigüedad.

The town of Izamal was an important Mayan urban center in ancient times.

Caption 26, Mérida y sus alrededores Izamal Pueblo Mágico

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Did you find the dieresis in that clip? If not, please keep reading this lesson, as we are going to tell you how to use the dieresis in Spanish.

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What Is a Diaeresis?

In English, a diaeresis is a mark placed over a vowel to indicate that the vowel is emphasized or pronounced separately from the other vowels (as in "naïve" or "Brontë"). In Spanish, a diaeresis is represented by the same symbol (two little dots above a letter). That said, we will now highlight the word that has the diaeresis in the previous clip:

El pueblo de Izamal fue un importante centro urbano maya en la antigüedad.

The town of Izamal was an important Mayan urban center in ancient times.

Caption 26, Mérida y sus alrededores Izamal Pueblo Mágico

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However, as using a dieresis in Spanish is slightly different than in English, let's learn the golden rule for employing this unique symbol. 

The Golden Rule for Using a Dieresis in Spanish

The rule is quite simple: a diaeresis must be placed over the vowel "u" to indicate that said vowel must be pronounced in words that have the combinations -gue and -gui (since in most Spanish words with these letter combinations, the "u" is silent). For example, in words like guerra (war) and guerilla (guerrilla), the gue- is pronounced more like the English word "gay," while in words like guía (guide) and guisante (pea), gui- sounds like "ghee." The addition of the diaeresis, on the other hand, would transform the sound of the letters gue- to "gway" and -gui to "gwee." Let's take a look at a couple of examples:

todos bastante negativos, humillación, vergüenza, dolor,

all quite negative, humiliation, shame, pain,

Caption 55, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 8 - Part 3

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Los pingüinos se parecen a las gallinas

Penguins are like chickens

Caption 24, Guillermina y Candelario Nuestro Amigo Pinguino

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Additionally, please keep in mind that the diaeresis must be used in words that are written in capital letters. Also, if you are wondering how to spell diaeresis in Spanish, it is written as follows: diéresis (an esdrújula word with the graphic accent on the third-to-last syllable).

Are there a lot of Spanish words that require a diaeresis? Although there are not that many, let's take a look at some of the most common palabras con diéresis (words with a diaeresis) in Spanish.

5 Palabras con Diéresis in Spanish

1. ambigüedad (ambiguity)

Me muevo mucho entre la ambigüedad.

I move a lot within ambiguity.

Caption 12, María Marí Su pasión por su arte - Part 2

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2. bilingüe (bilingual)

Justo encima del diccionario bilingüe

Right above the bilingual dictionary,

Caption 5, Tutoriales de Yabla Características adicionales Yabla

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3. cigüeña (stork)

Más bien. ¿Quién se piensa que me trajo, la cigüeña de París?

Of course. Who do you think brought me, the stork from Paris?

Caption 16, Muñeca Brava 48 - Soluciones - Part 8

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4. lingüística (language / linguistics)

o sea, programas de inmersión lingüística en Barcelona.

I mean, language immersion programs, in Barcelona.

Caption 10, Escuela BCNLIP Presentación de la directora - Part 2

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5. sinvergüenza (shameless)

Mírelo tan sinvergüenza.

Look at how shameless he is.

Caption 27, Los casos de Yabla Problemas de convivencia - Part 2

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And that's all for today. We hope that this lesson has helped you to understand how to use the dieresis in Spanish. By the way, do you know more palabras con diéresis? Let us know, and don't forget to send us your suggestions and comments. ¡Hasta la próxima! 

Today, we will embark on a brief journey that encompasses all the Spanish verb tenses. However, rather than focusing on how to conjugate the verb tenses in Spanish, which you may or may not have already learned, we'll take a closer look at when to use each one, using the extremely common verb hablar ("to talk" or "to speak") to illustrate them whenever possible, as well as plenty of examples from the Yabla Spanish video library. 

How Many Tenses Are There in Spanish?

How many different tenses in Spanish are there in total? According to the Real Academia Española, there are sixteen Spanish verb tenses. There are also some "bonus tenses," which aren't officially included in their classification, which we will also cover in this lesson. Let's get started.

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Indicative Tenses

To make matters just a bit more complicated, Spanish verb tenses fall into three categories called "moods," which are the indicative, the subjunctive, and the imperative. Generally speaking, the indicative verb tenses in Spanish are the first Spanish verb tenses learned, and, in contrast to the Spanish verb tenses in the other moods (subjunctive and imperative), they tend to deal with facts and objective reality. Let's take a look:

1. Present (Presente)

Let's start with the present tense in Spanish, also known as the "simple present." This tense is primarily used in two ways, the first being to talk about a present action that is habitual, repeated, or ongoing. Let's take a look:

Aunque soy extranjero, yo hablo español muy bien.

Although I'm a foreigner, I speak Spanish very well.

Caption 56, Clase Aula Azul Información con subjuntivo e indicativo - Part 4

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Since it is an ongoing fact that the speaker speaks Spanish very well, it is appropriate to use the present tense. We can also use this tense to talk about an action that is actually in progress at the moment:

¿Hablo con la Señora Pepa Flores, la manager de Amalia Durango?

Am I speaking with Mrs. Pepa Flores, Amalia Durango's manager?

Captions 37-38, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 1 - Part 5

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***BONUS TENSE: Present Progressive (Presente Continuo)*** 

Notice that the second example of the present tense was translated to the English present progressive tense. This is the tense with a form of the word "to be" and the gerund, or -ing form of a verb ("I'm eating," "He's swimming," etc.). The present progressive tense in Spanish, which is similarly formed with a present conjugation of the verb estar (to be) and a verb's gerundio (gerund, which usually ends in -ando or -iendo in Spanish), is always translated in this fashion and really emphasizes that an action is in progress at this very moment. Let's take a look:

OK. Xavi, ahora que estamos hablando de... de comida, de alimentos, quisiera hacerte una pregunta.

OK. Xavi, now that we're talking about... about food, about foods, I'd like to ask you a question.

Captions 23-24, Carlos y Xavi Part 3 Diferencias de vocabulario entre España y Colombia

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For more information about and examples of the present progressive tense in Spanish, check out this lesson as well as this video that contrasts the use of the simple present with the present progressive. Now that we've seen a couple of the present verb tenses in Spanish, let's check out some of the Spanish past tenses. 

2. Imperfect (Pretérito imperfecto)

The imperfect is one of the Spanish past tenses and talks about an action that was ongoing or habitual in the past or that was in progress and/or interrupted in the moment described. Translations for the imperfect in Spanish for the verb hablar could thus include "used to talk," "would talk," or "was talking." Let's take a look at couple of examples:

Bueno, cuando yo era pequeña hablaba con la ficha de Einstein.

Well, when I was little, I used to talk to the Einstein card.

Caption 36, La Familia Cheveroni Capítulo 1 - Part 3

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Ya que estás, contanos a los dos... ¿De qué hablaban?

Now that you're here, tell us both... What were you talking about?

Caption 2, Muñeca Brava 45 El secreto - Part 6

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To learn more about the imperfect tense in Spanish, check out this lesson entitled: The Imperfect Tense in Spanish: The Past That Just Won't Quit. 

***BONUS TENSE: Past Progressive (Pasado continuo)*** 

The past equivalent of the present progressive tense is the past progressive tense, which emphasizes that an action in the past was in progress. As with the present and present progressive tenses, while the imperfect tense in Spanish can sometimes be translated with the past progressive in English ("I was eating," "You were running," etc.), the past progressive tense in Spanish is always translated in this fashion, with "was" or "were" plus a verb's gerund. It is formed in the same way as the present progressive except that the verb estar is conjugated in the imperfect tense:

3. Preterite (Pretérito indefinido)

The preterite is another one of the Spanish past tenses. In contrast to the imperfect tense, the preterite tense in Spanish describes past actions that have been completed. It could be compared with verbs ending in -ed in English (e.g. "He fished," "We traveled," etc.). Let's see an example:

Pero claro, en Televisión Española me hablaron de Gastón Almanza

But of course, at Spanish Television they talked to me about Gaston Almanza

Caption 13, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 3 - Part 10

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The preterite is also used for past actions that interrupted other actions in progress, which would often be conjugated in the imperfect, as in the following example:

Yo hablaba por teléfono cuando mi novio me habló con una voz muy alta. 

I was talking on the phone when my boyfriend talked to me in a very loud voice. 

To find out more about the preterite tense, we recommend this lesson from our Yabla lesson archives. 

4. Future (Futuro simple)

The future tense in Spanish is pretty straightforward; it talks about something we "will" do in the future. Let's take a look: 

Hoy hablaremos de las preposiciones de lugar.

Today, we will talk about prepositions of place.

Caption 9, Ana Carolina Preposiciones de lugar

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Interestingly, sometimes the Spanish future tense is used in situations where English speakers would employ "would" to imply disbelief: 

¿Y tú me hablarás de esta manera?

And you'd talk to me like that? 

5. Simple Conditional (Condicional simple)

So, what about the Spanish conditional tenses? The simple conditional tense is the typical Spanish equivalent of saying one "would" do something in English, often in a hypothetical situation:

Bueno, si yo fuera tú, hablaría con él.

Well, if I were you, I would speak with him.

Caption 24, El Aula Azul La Doctora Consejos: Subjuntivo y condicional

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This tense is often, but not always, seen in conjunction with the imperfect subjunctive tense (fuera, or "I were" in the example above), which we will cover in part two of this lesson, to specify that if some hypothetical situation "were" in place, something else "would" happen.  

6. Present Perfect (Pretérito perfecto)

Although this tense is called the present perfect in English, its Spanish name is préterito perfecto ("preterite perfect" or "past perfect"), and it is the Spanish past tense used to say that one "has done" something within a specific time period, which could be anything from that day to one's life. It is formed with the verb haber, which is translated as "has" or "have" in English, along with the participle form of the verb (which will typically have the suffix -ado or -ido in Spanish and -ed or -en in English). Let's take a look:

El día de hoy, hemos hablado de artículos que utilizamos al día a día

Today, we've talked about items we use every day

Caption 41, Ana Carolina Artículos de aseo personal

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Interestingly, in Spain, the present perfect is often used to describe things that happened in the recent past in situations in which English speakers would use the simple past and Latin Americans would more likely use the preterite. This usage can be seen quite clearly throughout this video from El Aula Azul. Let's take a look at an excerpt:

Pero cuando ha salido de clase, cuando hemos terminado la clase, ha ido a coger el coche, y resulta que la ventanilla estaba rota.

But when she's left class, when we've finished the class, she's gone to get her car, and it turns out that the window was broken.

Captions 12-14, El Aula Azul Conversación: Un día de mala suerte

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Although the translators at Yabla chose to translate this tense literally in this video to facilitate the learning of the present perfect tense, this sounds quite awkward in English, where a native speaker would probably say: "But when she left class, when we finished the class, she went to get her car, and it turns out that the window was broken."

In this video, Carlos provides an even more thorough explanation about when to use this tense as part of a useful four-part series on the different past tenses in Spanish. 

7. Pluperfect (Pretérito pluscuamperfecto)

The pluperfect is the past equivalent of the present perfect tense. It is formed with the imperfect conjugation of the verb haber and the participle form of the infinitive. It is often used to describe things we "had" already done when something else occurred.

que no era tan escandalosa como... como la gente había hab'... había hablado al principio.

That it wasn't as scandalous as... as the people had sa'... had said in the beginning.

Captions 41-42, Los Juegos Olímpicos Pablo Herrera

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8. Past Anterior (Pretérito anterior)

Also known as the preterite perfect, the past anterior tense is extremely similar to the pluperfect tense but employs the preterite conjugation of the verb haber plus the participle. It is used more commonly in literature and less in everyday speech. While we couldn't find an example of this tense with the verb hablar, we did find one with the verb coger (to grab): 

Apenas lo hubo cogido, el niño se despertó.

He'd barely grabbed it, the little boy woke up.

Captions 46-47, Chus recita poemas Antonio Machado

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Just in case you were wondering, an example sentence with the verb hablar might be: Yo ya hube hablado con mi maestra antes del examen (I had already spoken to my teacher before the test), and there would be no difference in translation between this sentence and the same sentence with the verb conjugated in its pluperfect form (Yo ya había hablado con mi maestra antes del examen).

9. Future Perfect (Futuro compuesto)

If one said, Yo ya habré hablado con el chico por teléfono antes de conocerlo cara a cara (I will have already spoken to the guy on the phone before meeting him face to face), he or she would be employing the future perfect tense, which includes the future tense conjugation of the verb haber plus the participle. This conveys the English construction "will have." Let's take a look at an example of this tense from the Yabla Spanish library:

Ay, ¿por qué se me habrá ocurrido comer bandeja paisa antes de que me encerraran, ah?

Oh, why would it have occurred to me to eat "bandeja paisa" [a Colombian dish] before they locked me up, huh?

Captions 27-28, La Familia Cheveroni Capítulo 1 - Part 3

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In this example, we see that, similarly to the future tense, the future perfect tense can also be used to express disbelief, and it is translated with the English word "would" (rather than "will") in such cases. 

10. Conditional Perfect (Condicional compuesto)

The conditional perfect tense in Spanish is the equivalent of saying "would have" in English. It utilizes the conditional form of the verb haber plus the participle to talk about what one "would have" done or what "would have" happened in a hypothetical situation:

Seguro que a él sí le habrían aceptado las invitaciones.

Surely they would have accepted his invitations.

Caption 24, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 6 - Part 5

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An example with the verb hablar would be: Si lo pudiera hacer otra vez, habría hablado con el chico que me gustaba (If I could do it again, I'd have spoken to the guy I liked). Yabla's lesson, "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda," expands upon the conditional perfect tense and more.

***ADDITIONAL BONUS TENSES: The Progressives*** 

Once you know all Spanish tenses in the indicative mood, you could also conjugate the verb estar in its many tenses to come up with additional progressive tenses, as follows:

Preterite Progressive (Pretérito continuo): Yo estuve hablando (I was talking)

Conditional Progressive (Condicional continuo): Yo estaría hablando (I would be talking)

Future Progressive (Futuro continuo): Yo estaré hablando (I will be talking)

We could even apply this to the compound tenses we learned:

Present Perfect Progressive (Pretérito perfecto continuo): Yo he estado hablando (I have been talking)

Pluperfect Progressive (Pretérito pluscuamperfecto continuo): Yo había estado hablando (I had been talking)

Conditional Perfect Progressive (Condicional compuesto continuo): Yo habría estado hablando (I would have been talking)

Future Perfect Progressive (Futuro compuesto continuo): Yo habré estado hablando (I will have been talking)

That was a lot of Spanish verb tenses!!! And that was just the first ten verb tenses in Spanish! Part two of this lesson will deal with the verb tenses in Spanish in the other two "moods," subjunctive and imperative. In the meantime, we hope you enjoyed part one of this lesson on Spanish verb tenses... and don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments. 

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Do you know how to say years in Spanish? Whether you're discussing historical events or talking about recent years, knowing how to express years correctly in Spanish is essential. In English, we know that 1985 is written "nineteen eighty-five." What about saying years in Spanish? Let's explore the rules you need to know for writing and pronouncing years in Spanish correctly. Make sure you listen carefully to the clips in this lesson so you master how to say years in Spanish with proper pronunciation.

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Cardinal Numbers from 1 to 1,000: The Foundation for Saying Years in Spanish

If you want to learn how to say years in Spanish, you must first master cardinal numbers in Spanish from 1 to 1,000. There's simply no way around this fundamental requirement for expressing years in Spanish.

Do you want to refresh your knowledge of Spanish numbers from 1 to 100? If you do, please check out the following lesson:

Now, let's recall the hundreds in Spanish. For numbers from 101 to 199, you will need to use the word "ciento." Let's check out some examples of how to say these numbers in Spanish:

135

Madrid AB ciento treinta y cinco con destino Nueva York, John F. Kennedy.

Madrid AB one hundred thirty-five to New York, John F. Kennedy."

Captions 32-33, Raquel Avisos de Megafonía

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180

Cuenta con una vista privilegiada de toda la ciudad de alrededor de ciento ochenta grados.

It has an extraordinary one-hundred-eighty-degree view of the whole city.

Caption 65, Quito El Panecillo

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Spanish Multiples of 100: Essential for Expressing Years

For expressing years in Spanish from 200 to 999, you will need to use the multiples of 100 in Spanish. Let's review them:

doscientos (two hundred)
trescientos (three hundred)
cuatrocientos (four hundred)
quinientos (five hundred)
seiscientos (six hundred)
setecientos (seven hundred)
ochocientos (eight hundred)
novecientos (nine hundred)

And, of course, let's not forget about mil (one thousand)!

Now that we have reviewed these numbers, let's see how to write and pronounce some historical years in Spanish.

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Historical Years in Spanish: Examples from Past Centuries

Learning to say historical years in Spanish is crucial for discussing important events. Here are some examples of how to express historical years in Spanish:

1492

Cristóbal Colón descubrió América en mil cuatrocientos noventa y dos.

Christopher Columbus discovered America in fourteen ninety-two.

Caption 34, Carlos explica El pretérito Cap. 1: Perfecto simple o Indefinido

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1697

Mil seiscientos noventa y siete, invasión francesa a Cartagena,

Sixteen ninety-seven, French invasion of Cartagena,

Caption 12, Cartagena de Indias Fuerte de San Felipe de Barajas

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1728

El ingenio más antiguo de Europa, que data del año mil setecientos veintiocho,

The oldest factory in Europe, which dates back to the year seventeen hundred twenty-eight,

Captions 36-37, Viajando con Fermín Frigiliana, Málaga

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How to Say Years in Spanish After 1900: Twentieth Century Formula

The twentieth century was one of the most defining centuries in human history. For this reason, we often need to express years from that century in Spanish. If you want to write and pronounce those years in Spanish correctly, you will need to use the following formula for saying years in Spanish:

mil + novecientos + the number

Let's examine some examples of how to say twentieth-century years in Spanish:

1900

y fue construida en el año mil novecientos.

and was built in nineteen hundred.

Caption 77, Viajando con Fermín Mijas Pueblo

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1922

Fue realizado en mil novecientos veintidós

It was made in nineteen twenty-two

Caption 37, Marisa en Madrid Parque de El Retiro

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1985

En mil novecientos ochenta y cinco, sucedieron muchas cosas buenas.

In nineteen eighty-five, many good things happened.

Caption 2, Los Años Maravillosos Capítulo 1 - Part 2

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Expressing Years in Spanish After 2000: Simple Modern Formula

If you want to know how to say years in Spanish after the year 2000, you need to use this simple formula for modern years in Spanish:

dos + mil + the number

Let's look at some examples to see just how easy it is to express these contemporary years in Spanish:

2002

y murió hace algunos años en el dos mil dos.

and died some years ago in two thousand two.

Caption 9, San Sebastián Peine del viento

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2013

En dos mil trece, recibió más de cuatro millones de visitantes,

In two thousand thirteen, it received more than four million visitors,

Captions 6-7, Marisa en Madrid Parque de El Retiro

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2020

Y este dos mil veinte, que es un año bisiesto,

And this two thousand twenty, which is a leap year,

Caption 7, El coronavirus Introducción y vocabulario

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Master Saying Years in Spanish: Your Complete Guide

As you can see, learning how to say years in Spanish is quite manageable once you understand the patterns! By mastering Spanish cardinal numbers and these simple formulas, you'll be able to express any year in Spanish with confidence. We hope this comprehensive guide on how to say years in Spanish has been helpful, and please feel free to reach out with any questions or suggestions you might have! ¡Hasta la próxima!

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What are reflexive verbs in Spanish? A reflexive verb is a verb in which the subject (person or thing that completes the action) and object (person or thing that receives the action) are one and the same. In other words, the action "reflects back" onto the subject, or entails something one does to or for him or herself. It is no wonder then, that many of the things we "do to ourselves" in our daily routines (e.g. shaving ourselves, washing ourselves, etc.) fall into the category of reflexive Spanish verbs. 

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Recognizing Spanish Reflexive Verbs 

How can we recognize Spanish reflexive verbs? The main way to distinguish reflexive verbs in Spanish is by the fact that they all end in the pronoun se in their infinitive form. To take a very simple example, while the verb hablar means "to talk," hablarse is a reflexive verb meaning "to talk to oneself." However, the translations for reflexive verbs in Spanish aren't always so straightforward. 

As we often say just "I shave" or "I wash" in lieu of "I shave/wash myself," the English translations of Spanish reflexive verbs won't always include pronouns like "myself," "yourself," etc. In other cases, the meanings of verbs like parecer (to seem) completely change in their reflexive forms (parecerse means "to look like"). And so, as there are a lot more reflexive verbs in Spanish than in English, many of which may not "seem" reflexive, with increased exposure to Spanish, we will learn which English concepts are expressed with Spanish reflexive verbs.

Conjugating Spanish Reflexive Verbs: Reflexive Pronouns

To conjugate reflexive verbs in Spanish, we must memorize the reflexive pronouns that correspond to each personal pronoun: yo (I), tú (you), etc.. Reflexive pronouns are most often placed before the verb, which is conjugated "as usual" (in the same way as its non-reflexive form). To demonstrate this, let's take a look at the reflexive pronouns and the simple present conjugation of the regular verb despertar (to wake up). We will then show you the conjugation of its reflexive form (despertarse).

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Reflexive Verbs in Spanish for Your Daily Routine

Now that you know the Spanish reflexive pronouns and how to conjugate reflexive Spanish verbs, let's take a look at some examples of reflexive verbs in Spanish for describing things that many of us do on a daily basis, with lots of instances from our Yabla video library as always! Here is our list of Spanish reflexive verbs for your daily routine: 

3. Bañarse

The Spanish noun baño means "bath," and the verb bañarse can mean "to take a bath" as well. However, as bañarse can also be the more general "to bathe," a person might even use this verb to express the fact that they are taking a shower! Let's look at an example of this reflexive Spanish verb: 

Uno se baña todos los días, mijita.

One bathes every day, my girl.

Caption 41, Muñeca Brava - 33 El partido

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On the other hand, if a person at the beach expresses their desire to bañarse, rather than wanting to wash the sand off of themselves, they are letting you know they would like to take a dip! The Spanish reflexive verb bañarse can also mean "to go swimming," a translation that often comes as a surprise to English speakers:

No hay muchas olas grandes como en Atacames.

There aren't many big waves like in Atacames.

Es más tranquilo para bañarse.

It's more peaceful to go swimming.

Captions 62-63, Pipo - Un paseo por la playa de Atacames

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4. Ducharse

In the morning, at night, or after the beach, indeed, one might need to ducharse (to take a shower):

¿Qué está haciendo Silvia?

What is Silvia doing?

Silvia se está duchando.

Silvia is taking a shower.

Captions 11-12, El Aula Azul - Actividades diarias: En casa con Silvia

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Note that, in this example, the verb ducharse is conjugated in the present progressive tense. As with the present indicative and all other tenses, verbs are conjugated in the exact same way as they would be were they non-reflexive, with the addition of the appropriate reflexive pronoun. 

5. Lavarse

The reflexive verb in Spanish lavarse generally means "to wash (oneself)." Let's look at an example: 

Por ejemplo, "Yo me lavo".

For example, "Yo me lavo" [I wash myself].

La acción recae sobre la persona

The action falls back upon the person

que realiza la acción.

who carries out the action.

Pero, "Yo lavo los platos".

But, "Yo lavo los platos" [I wash the dishes].

Captions 45-48, Lecciones con Carolina - Verbos reflexivos

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In this informative video about Spanish reflexive verbs, Yabla fan favorite Carolina explains the difference between reflexive and non-reflexive verbs, in this case the verbs lavar (to wash) and lavarse (to wash oneself). Let's look at an additional example: 

Yo me lavo las manos. Tú te lavas las manos.

I wash my hands. You wash your hands.

Captions 19-20, Fundamentos del Español - 9 - Verbos Reflexivos

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Unlike in English, where we express the idea of washing one's hands or some other body part with a possessive pronoun (my, your, etc.), this is not the case in Spanish. Instead, we use the definite article for the noun in question, manos (hands), in this case, las (the). Because the reflexive pronoun already indicates that the action is something we do to ourselves, it would be redundant in Spanish to say: Yo me lavo mis manos. As the correct way to express this is "Yo me lavo las manos," it might help you to remember the literal but non-sensical translation: "I wash myself the hands."

That said, let's move on to something else that's expressed with the notion of "washing" in Spanish: lavarse los dientes (to brush one's teeth). 

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6. Lavarse/cepillarse los dientes

Lavarse los dientes (literally "to wash one's teeth") is one of saying "to brush one's teeth" in Spanish: 

Después, ehm... suelo lavarme los dientes en el baño,

After that, um... I usually brush my teeth in the bathroom,

Caption 3, El Aula Azul - Actividades Diarias

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Different countries, regions, or individuals might instead use cepillarse los dientes, which also means "to brush one's teeth." Let's check out an example in the preterite tense: 

Se cepilló los dientes,

He brushed his teeth,

Caption 20, Aprendiendo con Carlos - El microrrelato

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7. Cepillarse el pelo/cabello

By extension, the noun el cepillo means "the brush," and we might have a cepillo de dientes (toothbrush) as well as a cepillo de pelo/cabello (hair brush), as in the following caption:

Sí... -¿Qué necesitamos para ir allí?

Yes... -What do we need to go there?

El cepillo de dientes.

A toothbrush.

El cepillo del pelo.

A hair brush.

Captions 49-51, Un Viaje a Mallorca - Planificando el viaje

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So, you've probably surmised by now that the verb cepillarse el pelo/cabello means "to brush one's hair."

8. Peinarse

The verb peinarse can mean "to comb one's hair" with a comb (un peine), "to brush one's hair," or "to do" or "style" one's hair in general:

Por eso paró en la playa

That's why she stopped on the beach

para mirarse en el espejo y peinarse.

to look at herself in the mirror and comb her hair.

Captions 21-22, Guillermina y Candelario - Mi Amiga la Sirena

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9. Afeitarse

Afeitarse is the verb for "to shave" (oneself, of course)!

Vos sabés lo que es todas las mañanas...

Do you know what it's like every morning...

mirarse en el espejo cuando uno se afeita

to look at oneself in the mirror when one's shaving,

Captions 30-31, Muñeca Brava - 8 Trampas

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10. Maquillarse

The next step in one's morning routine might be maquillarse (to put on makeup):

Aquí, siempre me maquillo para mis conciertos.

Here, I always put on makeup for my concerts.

Caption 47, Ariana - Mi Casa

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Alternatively, one might say Aquí, siempre me pinto para mis conciertos, as pintarse (literally "to paint oneself") also means "to put on makeup." 

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11. Vestirse

Vestirse is the way to say "to get dressed" in Spanish. 

Yo salgo y... y te vistes.

I'll leave and... and you get dressed.

Caption 30, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 2

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Another way to say this might be ponerse la ropa (to put on one's clothes). 

12. Sacarse la ropa

Although sacarse la ropa is one manner of saying "to get undressed" or "take off one's clothes," there are many other examples of reflexive verbs in Spanish that mean the same thing, including: quitarse la ropa, desvestirse, and desnudarse. Let's look at a couple of examples: 

Si "Libertinaje" te saca...

If "Libertinaje" takes off your.....

te invita a sacarte la ropa,

invites you to take off your clothes,

Captions 4-5, Bersuit Vergarabat - EPK

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Y se desnuda poco a poco y se convierte en tu piel

And she gets naked little by little and she becomes your skin

Caption 6, Reik - Inolvidable

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As you can see, the more literal "to get naked" might be an alternate translation for desnudarse. 

13. Acostarse 

We're finally getting to the end of our daily routine, when it's time for us to acostarnos (go to bed): 

Tranquilícese, vaya a acostarse y deje de pensar en imposibles.

Calm down, go to bed, and stop thinking about impossible things.

Caption 31, Muñeca Brava - 48 - Soluciones

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14. Dormirse

And finally, once in bed, it's time to fall asleep! While the non-reflexive dormir means "to sleep," dormirse means "to fall asleep." 

Me dormí pensando en ti; pensando en ti, me desperté

I fell asleep thinking about you; thinking about you, I woke up

Caption 10, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa

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More Reflexive Verbs in Spanish 

Of course, this is just a partial list of reflexive verbs in Spanish that might be applicable to our daily routines. There are a lot more common reflexive verbs in Spanish that describe things one might do on a daily basis, including secarse (to dry oneself off), sentarse (to sit down), sentirse (to feel), emocionarse (to get excited), encontrarse con alguien (to meet with someone), acordarse de (to remember), olvidarse (to forget), sonreírse (to smile), reírse (to laugh), despedirse (to say goodbye), irse (to leave), and many, many more! 

For additional information on Spanish reflexive verbs, check out this video from the series Fundamentos del Español. And don't forget to leave us your suggestions and comments.