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Archive for the ‘Spanish Words’ Category

Bathroom Spanish Vocabulary

by Jake Beus

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October 4th, 2011

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Bathroom Spanish

Many of you have been asking for some “bathroom Spanish vocabulary”. I have had a difficult time reading between the lines on the suggestions. Were you hoping that I would post some inappropriate bathroom humor in Spanish or merely wanting to learn how to say “toilet” in Spanish? Since this is a family friendly website and blog, I will not be posting “bad stuff” on the blog. Okay, here is a small vocabulary list for the bathroom.

shower | ducha
to shower | ducharse
to bathe (oneself) | bañarse
soap | jabón
toothpaste | pasta dental
sink | lavabo
toothbrush | cepillo de dientes
washcloth | toallita
mirror | espejo
hair dryer | secador
toilet | inodoro/excusado
toilet paper | papel higiénico
You need to take a shower. | Necesitas ducharte.

Challenge: Don’t take a shower until you learn these words. If you stink bad enough, you will do it for your sake, and because you care about others.

Winter Clothes – Spanish Vocabulary

by Jake Beus

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October 3rd, 2011

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Winter Clothes in Spanish

It is getting closer and closer to winter for many of you out there. If you are in need of buying new winter clothes, then I suggest you start shopping now. Save some money on winter clothes before winter. For those of you out there learning Spanish (and I imagine that you visit this blog because you are learning), you need to take advantage of any opportunity you can to practice. Try going shopping and practicing your Spanish whenever and wherever possible. Here is a small vocabulary list of winter clothes in Spanish:

gloves | guantes
parka | abrigo de invierno
earmuffs | orejeras
ski cap | gorro de esquiar
jacket | chaqueta
scarf | bufanda
overcoat | sobreabrigo
boots | botas
sweater | suéter
coat | abrigo
windbreaker | rompeviento
rain boots | botas de lluvia
winter | invierno
snow | nieve

Challenge: Go shopping for winter clothes and practice this vocabulary. Please tell me about it afterward.

Spanish Love Phrases

by Dave Clark

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September 28th, 2011

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¡Hola Amigos! Here are some fun Spanish love phrases you might want to learn to spice up your life a little. If you have a significant other, you can practice these phrases with them. If they don’t know Spanish, you can teach them. If you want to meet someone, these Spanish love phrases may come in handy.

Anyway, enough babbling, here the Spanish Love Phrases from us at Visual Link:

I have a boyfriend – Tengo novio

I have a girlfriend – Tengo novia

You are beautiful (said to a woman) – Tú eres hermosa.

You are good looking (said to a man) – Tú eres guapo.

Dear Paco – Querido Paco

Dear María – Querida María

Why don’t you write to me? – ¿Por qué no me escribes?

I love you – Te quiero (or) Te amo

(Te quiero is more of the friendship or parent/child type of love.)

I love you passionately – Te amo apasionadamente.

I’m in love with you – Estoy enamorado/a de ti

(If you are a male, you say “enamorado”. If you are a female, you say “enamorada”.)

Do you love me? – ¿Me quieres?

I love you with all my soul – Te quiero con toda mi alma

I want to kiss you. – Quiero besarte.

I want to hug you. – Quiero abrazarte.

I can’t live without you. – No puedo vivir sin ti.

Please write soon. – Por favor escribe pronto.

Hugs – Abrazos

Kisses – Besos

With love, – Con amor,

With affection, – Con cariño,

Hopefully those Spanish love phrases are enough to get you going and at least help you have a little fun. Remember to keep practicing your Spanish. The more you practice, the better you’ll get!

¡Hasta luego amigos!

Spanish Verbs List

by Dave Clark

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September 21st, 2011

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As I was working, a few years ago, with our linguists and software developers to create our Level II Introductory Verb course, I spent hours and hours researching a Spanish Verbs List that we could use in the course that would have the most common Spanish verbs.

Spanish Verbs List
162 Most Common Spanish Verbs
Spanish Verbs List
(Click image for verbs list)

This Spanish verbs list contains 162 of the most common Spanish verbs. It is organized first by “regular” verbs – “ar”, “er” and “ir” (alphabetically). Then, I’ve categorized them by all the types of irregular verbs in the present tense. I believe we’ve covered every category of irregular verbs in Spanish. The stem-changing verbs have the letters that change underlined with the letters they change into in parenthesis. Finally, the Spanish verbs list contains a great little list of the most common reflexive verbs – both regular and irregular.

If you want to try a 7-day trial download of our Level II verbs course, you should be able to learn all the present tense verbs (including irregulars) for free during the 7-day trial (if you push yourself). The software contains classroom-style lessons that teach you all the verbs and conjugations.

To learn how to conjugate all the verbs in the “Spanish Verbs List” in 5 major tenses in Spanish, try our free download below:

 

Spanish Introductory Verb Conjugation Download

Visual Link Spanish - Level II (Introductory Verbs)

Free 7-Day Trial

Topics Covered: Present Tense, Reflexive Verbs, Present Progressive, Present Perfect (Have), Preterite Tense, Direct Objects

Verbs Learned: 162 Most Common Verbs

Time to Download: 15-90 minutes depending on your modem speed

Start Free Spanish Download

 

 

Enjoy learning Spanish! I love sharing Spanish – ¡Es lo mejor! (It’s the best!)

Restaurant Spanish Lesson

by Jake Beus

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September 19th, 2011

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Restaurant Spanish

It can be a lot of fun to eat at a restaurant and practice your Spanish. More than likely there will be some sort of Central American, South American, or Spanish restaurant that you can visit. Your server will appreciate your efforts to speak in his/her native language. Here is some vocabulary to get you started:

cook – cocinero
waitress – mesera
waiter – mesero
menu – menú
booth – caseta/casilla
straw – popote/sorbeto
soft drink – refresco
tea – té
sugar packet – paquetito de azúcar
check (bill) – cuenta
to eat – comer
to drink – beber/tomar
to order – ordenar
to pay – pagar
Could you give us the check please? – ¿Podría darnos la cuenta, por favor?
We would like to order. – Nos gustaría ordenar.
I would like… – Me gustaría…

Challenge: Go visit a restaurant where you can practice your Spanish, practice your Spanish, and tell me about your experience.

Spanish at the Supermarket

by Jake Beus

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September 13th, 2011

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Mexican market

Speak Spanish at the Supermarket

If you are visiting a foreign country, it is likely that at some point you’ll need to buy some food unless you eat out every single meal. If you can be a penny pincher at times like me, it will be worth your time to learn some supermarket Spanish vocabulary so you can buy some food every once in awhile. Here’s a short vocabulary list:

receipt – recibo
check – cheque
cashier – cajero/a
shopping cart – porta compras
beverages – bebidas
bread – pan
milk – leche
shelf – estante
scale – escala/pesa
aisle – pasillo
How much does it cost? – ¿Cuánto cuesta?

Challenge: Visit a supermarket where you know you can practice your Spanish, practice Spanish, and tell me about your experience.

What do you want to learn? (in Spanish)

by Dave Clark

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September 8th, 2011

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Spanish Video Lesson – How to Talk About What You Want to Learn in Spanish.

With School Back in Session, as an Adult, What Do You Want to Learn?

With September here, fall weather in the air and school back in session a few weeks ago, many adults start having the itch to learn again. When we were in school, we couldn’t wait to get out because we felt like our brains were so full they would explode. But now, when we see kids going back to school, there is a part of many of us that misses learning. As proof of this, I just looked at our website traffic and it’s up 30% in September. People are conditioned to “end their summer vacations” and start learning again.

There is a satisfaction, and in some cases, a real thrill that comes from learning. Well, this week on our Facebook page, we want to know what you want to learn. Come let us know on “Facebook Fiesta Friday” as you practice using your Spanish. If you want to learn more words that aren’t in the video lesson, or list below, check out our Spanish words page on learnalanguage.com.

Here is the vocabulary from the video:

I want to learn… Quiero aprender…
…how to paint (don’t have to put “how to” after “aprender”, but you do
need an “a” in another verb is after)		 …a pintar
…how to play an instrument …a tocar un instrumento
…how to play the guitar …a tocar la guitarra
…how to swim better …a nadar mejor
…languages …idiomas
…Spanish …español
…history …historia
…more history …más historia
…more about history …más acerca de la historia
…more about politics …más acerca de la política
…more about music …más acerca de la música
…more about business …más acerca de los negocios
…more about science …más acerca de la ciencia
…more about the remote control …más acerca del control remoto

Come to Facebook on Friday and let us know what you want to learn. I will also be sharing what I like to learn. As a brief preview, I love learning from audio books on audible.com. (I didn’t get paid to mention that site, I just simply love it!! I’ve listened to over 100 books from Audible in the past 5 years or so.) Come on to Facebook on Friday and I’ll share my favorite topics…and, most importantly, I’d love to hear what YOU want to learn.

¡Hasta luego Amigos!

Future Facebook Fiesta Friday Topics:

September 16, 2011 – Personal Hygiene

September 23, 2011 – How to Boss Your Kids Around in Spanish

September 30, 2011 – What to Say to Your Parents in Spanish

How Do You Say in Spanish?

by Dave Clark

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September 7th, 2011

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“How Do You Say in Spanish?”

 The phrase, “How do you say in Spanish?” is “¿Cómo se dice en español?”

For example, if you are talking to a native Spanish speaker and you want to learn how to say “cat”, you would say, “¿Cómo se dice cat en español?”

This is a very useful phrase that can help turn any Spanish speaker into your personal tutor (provided they know some basic English words).

“How do you say in Spanish” is the same if you’re talking about plural words or singular words. For example, “How do you say cars in Spanish?” would be “¿Cómo se dice cars en español?”

If you want a literal breakdown of what it means, the word “cómo” means “how”, the phrase “se dice” means “is it said”, and “en español” means “in Spanish. So, if you said “¿Cómo se dice bike en español?, the literal translation would be “How is it said bike in Spanish?”

In summary, “How do you say in Spanish?” is “¿Cómo se dice en español?”

Now, for a related tip, if you hear a Spanish word and you want to know what it means, a super-useful phrase is, “¿Qué quiere decir?” For example, if you hear the word, “montaña” and you don’t know what it means, you could say, “¿Qué quiere decir montaña?” which means “What does montaña mean?” The literal translation is, “What does it want to say montaña?” (That’s one that really doesn’t translate well into English but native Spanish speakers use it all the time.)

Both of those useful phrases and many more are found in the Visual Link Spanish course, to get it free, just go to the free learn to speak Spanish download page.

Hopefully those language tips give you a little confidence in conversing with native speakers. Practice them and let us know how it goes when you try them out. We’d love to hear your comments on our blog.

New image!

by E

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July 15th, 2011

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Hi all, this week we released our makeover of SpanishPrograms.com. I think it’s pretty spiffy, what do you think?

E

Careful changing English words to Spanish

by E

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June 27th, 2011

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Adding the letter -o to the end of a word does not instantly change the word from English to Spanish.  This is a common mistake made by many.  We’ve heard people do it, and probably get a laugh or two out of it.  Just be careful as it can be both disrespectful and offensive.

Here are some instances where it actually does work.  

English                               Spanish

Active                                 Activo

Passive                               Pasivo

Massive                              Masivo

Notice how -ive ending changes to -ivo ending in Spanish.  Isn’t learning Spanish fun?

Signed

E


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