Vocabulary

“I am having a lot of difficulty with how to express lending and borrowing in Spanish.” – Real Fast Spanish Subscriber.

While both ‘lending’ and ‘borrowing’ are common verbs in English, part of the challenge with these verbs in Spanish is there is no direct translation for the English verb ‘to borrow’.

If you want to express the idea of ‘borrowing’ in Spanish, you’ll either need to rearrange the sentence to use the verb for ‘lending’ or combine the Spanish adjective for ‘borrowed’ (prestado) with one of the Spanish verbs pedir or tomar. [Read more…] about How to Express Lending and Borrowing in Spanish – Prestar vs Prestado vs Préstamo

Knowing how to use ser & estar is important for your Spanish.

Knowing how ser & estar behave with Spanish adjectives demonstrates how well you understand one of the most important nuances of the language. [Read more…] about 25 Common Spanish Adjectives and Their Use with Ser & Estar

Perder is commonly used in the context of ‘losing something’ in Spanish.

And, just as the English verb ‘to lose’ applies in a number of different situations: losing money, losing a sporting match, and losing weight, you can also use perder in Spanish to describe losing something physically or metaphorically.

But, in Spanish, the verb perder also applies to wasting time, missing something, and even letting meat or vegetables go bad. [Read more…] about 5 Uses of Perder – How to Lose, Miss & Get Lost in Spanish

Translating the English verb “to be” into Spanish presents you with 3 options: ser, estar, or not to use ser or estar.

While the choice between ser and estar can cause enough headaches, this third choice provides a number of situations in Spanish where you need to pick another verb for the translation of “I am…”, “you are…”, “she is…” etc. [Read more…] about When NOT to Use Ser or Estar – How to Translate “To Be” to Spanish in All Contexts

“An area I’m struggling with is how to say I’m wrong, I’m confused or I’ve made a mistake” – Real Fast Spanish Subscriber.

After receiving this question from a reader, I thought this would make for a wonderful topic for an article because the abstract idea of ‘being wrong’ isn’t easy to translate into Spanish.

Moreover, the English word ‘wrong’ could refer to a technical error, an error in judgement, or unethical behaviour. You might also need to say ‘I’m wrong’ in the present or ‘I was wrong’ in the past. And, importantly, each of these ideas will need a different word or construction in Spanish. [Read more…] about How to Say You Are Wrong, Mistaken or Confused in Spanish

Lo is one of the most versatile words in the Spanish language.

Similar to another very functional two-letter word se, we can use the Spanish pronoun lo in several structures for replacing or creating new ideas in Spanish. [Read more…] about 6 Ways to Use “Lo” to Replace or Create Any New Idea

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