Read and Translate #3

Hola everyone and welcome to the site :)

Today I have another read and translate post. I will share with you a casual conversation - a story about me - and give you some vocabulary and explain some expressions.

Let's begin:

Pues, todos los días digo que me voy a ir a dormir temprano, y entonces enciendo la computadora por la noche y me entretengo, de modo que se hace tarde y termino acostándome tarde de nuevo. Esta noche voy a hacer todo por acostarme temprano. (En otras palabras, no voy a encender la computadora por la noche.)

Ok, so now here is the translation:

So, everyday I say I'm going to bed early, and then I turn on my computer at night and get entertained (*sidetracked), so it gets late and I end up going to bed late again. Tonight I'm going to do my best (*lit. do everything) to go to bed early. (In other words, I won't turn on my computer at night.)

I'll explain some of the expressions in here that you might find interesting (and useful):

1. Pues - Here this translates to 'So'. When you start telling a story and you go 'So... this and that happened', it's exactly the same. You start 'Pues... Pasó esto y aquello.'

2. En otras palabras - In other words

3. Me entretengo - This literally translates to 'I get entertained' but it's the same as saying 'I get sidetracked', or 'I get distracted', depending on when you're using it. You can say 'me entretengo' like about playing a game or reading and such, and it would translate to 'I get entertained'.

4. Voy a hacer todo para... - I'm going to do everything to... *This expression I don't know if it's used all over Hispanic countries, but I know I use it here in Puerto Rico. 'Voy a hacer todo' translates to 'I'm going to do my best', although literally it means 'I'm going to do everything.' Say it when you want to do your best to achieve something. 'Voy a hacer todo para viajar este año' - I'm going to do the best I can to travel this year.

5. Termino - I end up. * This one translates to 'end up (doing x)', but it also translates to 'I finish'.

Some vocabulary from this reading:

1. Dormir (dohr-meer) - to sleep

2. Temprano (tehm-prah-noh) - early

3. Cama (kah-mah) - bed

4. Noche (noh-cheh) - night

5. Computadora (kohm-poo-tah-doh-rah) - computer

6. Tarde (tahr-deh) - late

7. Encender (en-sen-dehr) - turn on

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 This is it for today :)

I hope you found this lesson useful and fun. If you have any doubt, just contact me in the comments, or on my Twitter or Facebook page.

Thank you for reading!

How to say you hate something in Spanish

Hello! And welcome to your daily pinch of Spanish :)

Everyone knows that everything is not perfect all the time. Sometimes we really don't like something, or even hate it! So, if you need to say it in Spanish, how do you go about it?

I'll give you several phrases.

(Remember I have pronunciation tables here if you need them.) (*Update: my pronunciation page is currently unavailable, until I rebuild my blog here. I had to delete my old website, so a lot of my links won't work until I reestablish them. Sorry!)

First, words for dislike:

1- Odio (oh-dee-oh) - Hate

2 - Repudio (reh-poo-dee-oh) - Repudiation, rejection

3- Asco (ahs-koh) - Revulsion

4- Disgusto (dees-goos-toh) - Disgust

5- Desagrado (deh-sah-grah-doh) - Dislike, displeasure

Now to the phrases:

1. No me gusta - I don't like it/I hate it

*Past tense: No me gustó

2. Lo odio - I hate it (stronger than saying 'no me gusta')

*Related:

Odio eso - I hate that.

*Past tense: Lo odié

3. Me desagrada - I dislike it/I dislike that (not too common)

4. Me asquea - I find it revolting (not to common, and for me it is stronger than saying you hate something)

5. Lo repudio - I repudiate it/I hate it (stronger even, and not common)

6. Me parece molesto - I find it annoying

*Past tense: me pareció molesto

You can add the words mucho (much, manu, a lot), and tanto (a lot):

No me gusta mucho: I don't like it very much

No me gusta tanto: AI don't like it very much

Lo odio mucho - I hate it very much

Also bien (very) muy (very, much) and tan (a lot, so) for this one:

Me parece bien molesto - I find it very annoying

Me parece tan molesto - I find it so annoying

Me parece muy molesto - I find it very annoying

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This is it for now :)

I hope you guys find this lesson useful and simple.

Until next time!

How to say you’re in a hurry in Spanish

surely find useful: How to tell others you're in a hurry.

First, the key word:

*Prisa (pree-sah) - hurry, rush, haste

Now, here are some ways to say you're in a hurry:

Tengo prisa - I'm in a hurry

Ando con prisa - I'm in a hurry (Literally, 'I walk in a hurry.')

*Use this when you meet a person you know in a place, but you can't stay to talk for too long.

If you want to say it like an excuse:

Es que tengo prisa - It's just that I'm in a hurry

*You can also add the word mucha (much, many) to these expressions, to say that you're really in a hurry:

Tengo mucha prisa - I'm really in a hurry/I'm in a real hurry

Es que tengo mucha prisa - It's just that I'm really in a hurry.

Now, how to tell others to hurry up:

Date prisa - Hurry up

Avanza - Hurry

No te tardes - Don't take long

*To make it more polite, add Por favor - Please

*You can add it before or after:

Por favor date prisa - please hurry up

Avanza, por favor - Please hurry

No te tardes, por favor - Don't take long, please

*To make this last one more polite or respectful (if you're talking to a stranger or someone older than you, for example, you say) say it this way: No se tarde/No tarde.

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 This is it for now :)

I hope you enjoyed this lesson and that you found it useful and simple.

Until next time!

How to express happiness in Spanish

Hello everyone and welcome to Your Daily Pinch of Spanish! :)

I was requested to make lessons on how to express emotions, and I thought it would be best to make it as a series, since emotions are many and in one post would be very long and I like to keep things simple so everything is easier to understand.

Today I start with how to express that you are happy.

Let's begin :)

First words for happiness:

Feliz (feh-lees) - Happy

*The strength of pronunciation is in the last syllable.

Felicidad (Feh-lee-see-dad) - Happiness

Alegría (ah-leh-gree-ah) - Happiness, joy

Alegre (ah-leh-greh) - Happy, cheerful, lively

Contento(a) (kohn-ten-toh(ah))- Happy, pleased

Now I will give you phrases to express your happiness:

1- First the super simple estoy feliz.

estoy means 'I am', so this phrase means 'I'm happy'. To say that others are happy, the verb estoy changes:

Estás feliz - You are happy

Está feliz - She/he is happy

Están felices (plural) They are happy

*You can add 'muy', 'tan', 'bien', and 'súper':

Estoy tan feliz - I'm so happy!

Estoy muy feliz - I'm very happy!

Estoy bien feliz - I'm very happy

Estoy súper feliz - I'm super happy

*You can add these words to contento(a), and alegre, too.

2- Me hace feliz - It makes me happy

*Hacer translates to 'do'.

You can also say- Me pone feliz - it makes me happy, Like 'eso me pone feliz' (that makes me happy).

*Poner - translates to 'put', so literally this translates to 'It puts me happy', but the way it is used in everyday Spanish the expression translates to 'it makes me happy'.

3- Me contenta - It pleases me, or, it makes me happy

*I really don't hear this too often, unless the person had been previously sad or down, and somebody cheers them up.

*You can also say 'me pone contento' (if you identify as male) or 'Me pone contenta' (If you identify as female). This translates to 'it makes me happy' (literally 'it puts me happy').

*Me contenta, even if it sounds and looks exactly as the the example above that a girl would use, is a different word when connected to me; it's for everyone to use. It's a form of the verb 'contentar', meaning 'it makes me happy'.

*You can also say estoy contento (if male; if female: contenta) to say 'I'm happy'.

4- Me alegra - it makes me happy

*This one I usually hear it here as a reply to good news. Like me alegra escuchar eso - I'm happy to hear that.

*You can say estoy alegre for 'I'm happy', as well.

*You can use 'tanto' and 'mucho':

¡Me alegra tanto escuchar eso! - It makes me so happy to hear that!

Me alegra mucho ver que todo está bien - It makes me very happy to see that everything is okay.

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This is for now. There will be many more lessons to come about expressing feelings and emotion. I hope you can understand well, and if you have any doubt, just contact me on my Twitter or Facebook, or my Tumblr too and I'll answer.

I hope you find this lesson useful :)

Thank you for reading! Until next time!

Ten words about food

Today it is a super simple 'lesson'. It's a vocabulary list; I will give you ten words that have to do with food. Or more like, eleven, since I will also give you the translation to the word 'Food' xD

The word 'Food' translates to - Comida (koh-mee-dah).

Also alimento (ah-lee-mehn-toh), but this one is more for nourishing food, at least to my understanding in how we use it here.

1) Mesa (Meh-sah) - Table

2) Utensilios (oo-ten-see-lee-ohs) - Utensils

3) Desayuno (Deh-sah-joo-noh) - Breakfast

4) Almuerzo (Al-moo-ehr-soh) - Lunch

5) Cena (seh-nah) - Dinner

6) Postre (pohs-treh) - Dessert

7) Aperitivo (ah-peh-ree-tee-voh) - Apetizer, snack

8) Merienda (Meh-ree-ehn-dah) - Snack

*In the UK, this could be translated to 'tea', as well.

9) Apetito (Ah-peh-tee-toh) - Appetite

10) Sabor (sah-bohr) - Taste

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This is it for this short lesson post :)

Thank you for reading, until next time!

Dia de las madres. Mother’s Day in Spanish

Hello everyone! And Welcome to Your Daily Pinch of Spanish :)

Today I bring you a simple and short lesson post in which you will learn how to congratulate a mom on mother's day and also some Hispanic countries' names.

So, how do you say 'mother's day' in Spanish? 

Día de las Madres - Mother's day (literally, Mothers' day; in Spanish it's in plural.)

Here's how you congratulate a mom! :)

¡Feliz día de las madres! - Happy mothers' day!

Some Hispanic Countries that celebrate mother's day today:

I wrote a pronunciation guide in parenthesis in case you want to know how we pronounced these in Spanish.

(The second Sunday of May)

Honduras - (ohn-doo-rahs)

Perú - (Peh-roo)

Puerto Rico - (Poo-ehr-toh ree-koh)

Colombia - (koh-lohm-bee-ah)

Cuba - (coo-bah)

(The tenth of May)

México - (mehk-see-koh) (*more commonly pronounced: meh-hee-koh)

El Salvador - (ehl sahl-vah-dohr)

Guatemala - (goo-ah-teh-mah-lah)

The Vocabulary List!

I know, by this point you probably can translate all this, but to make it more complete, I include the words:

Feliz (feh-lees) - Happy

Madre (mah-dreh) - Mother

Día (dee-ah) - Day

Mayo (mah-joh) - May

De (deh) - (*Indicates possession) Of, from, by

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This is it for today! A short little lesson post for Mother's day. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something with me today :)

Until next time!

How to say you’re hungry in Spanish

Hello! Welcome to Your Daily Pinch of Spanish :) 

As the title shows, I'll show you today how to express that you're hungry. Plus, I'll show you some exaggerations and slang.

Let's begin! This will be a short and very simple lesson. First, the word for hungry:

Hambre (ham-breh) - Hunger, hungry

How to say you're hungry:

- Tengo hambre - I'm hungry

*The one you will hear the most, and use the most. Can be used in any setting, both casual and formal.

- Estoy hambriento/Estoy hambrienta - I'm hungry

*This one is less common than the example above.

(*ending in 'o' is the masculine, and in 'a' the feminine)

Casual exaggerations:

*Me muero de hambre - I'm starving

*Estoy verde de hambre - I'm starving (literally: I'm green with hunger)

*Estoy muerta de hambre/Estoy muerto de hambre - I'm starving

Other related expressions:

Tengo el estómago vacío - My stomach is empty/I'm on an empty stomach

Estoy en ayunas - I'm fasting

No he comido nada - I haven't eaten anything

No he comido nada todavía - I haven't eaten anything yet

To end, Puertorrican slang for hungry!

(It's super casual, so you shouldn't use it in public; just use it among friends and family)

Estoy esmayao/Estoy esmayá - I'm starving

(ehs-mah-jah-oh) (ehs-mah-jah)

(Ending in 'a' is the feminine form, and ending in 'o' is the masculine)

*I think this word came from the word 'desmayado' which means unconscious (from fainting), but we use it to express that we're very hungry. And you will usually hear older people using it (older people here use it more than 'tengo hambre' to express they are hungry, so for them most of the time it's not an exaggeration).

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This is it for now :)

As usual I hope you find this useful. Any doubt, you can always contact me on my twitter page. 

See you next time!

Read and Translate: Wildfire

Hello and Welcome to Your Daily Pinch of Spanish! :)

Today I want to talk about something that's been going on near where I live, and it's actually very annoying: a fire. More like a wildfire.

It's not particularly big, an it's not that out of control, you could say (as in it doesn't seem to be spreading much), and it is far enough so that everyone in this neighborhood is safe, but the smoke still gets here and it is annoying, especially at night.

I'll talk to you about it in Spanish now, and later give you the translation and notes:

Cerca de mi casa está quemando un fuego, en el tope de un monte. Lleva ya cinco días, y si veo el humo subir hoy, entonces ya serán seis. Está cerca de mi casa, pero no al punto que sea peligroso. El humo es lo más que presenta una molestia, porque la casa se llena de ese mal olor, en especial en la noche. A veces parece como si al fin se hubiera apagado el fuego, pero luego, en la tarde (quizá por el sol caliente y el calor) vuelve a encender, y el humo a subir. Espero que ya lo controlen los bomberos el día de hoy.

Now let me give you the full translation of this in English:

Near my house there's a fire burning, on the top of a hill. It's been burning for five days, and if I see the smoke coming up today, then it will be six. It's close to my house, but not to the point that it's dangerous. The smoke is the biggest annoyance, because the house gets full of that bad smell, especially at night. Sometimes it appears as if the fire finally extinguished, but then later, in the afternoon (perhaps because of the hot sun and the heat) it goes on again, and the smoke rises. I hope the firefighters control it today. 

Vocabulary and notes:

Vocabulary

(*I won't give you all of the words, since some I'm going to explain as a phrase in a moment.)

1- Cerca (sehr-cah) - Near, close to

2- Está (Ehs-tah) - to be (present form)

3- Quemando (Keh-mahn-doh) - Burning, to be burning (from verb 'quemar')

4- Tope (toh-peh) - The top

5-  Monte (Mohn-teh) - Hill

6 - Cinco (seen-koh) - Five

7- Entonces (ehn-tohn-sehs) - Then

8- Pero (peh-roh) - But

9- Peligroso (peh-lee-groh-soh) - dangerous

10- Humo (oo-moh) - Smoke

11- molestia (Moh-lehs-tee-ah) Annoyance

*Annoying translates to - molesto, or, molestoso; and also fastidioso.

12- Casa (kah-sah) - House

13- Mal olor (mahl oh-lohr) Bad smell, bad odor

14- Noche (Noh-cheh) - Night

15- Luego (loo-eh-goh) - Later

16-  Tarde (Tahr-deh) - Afternoon

17- Sol (Sohl) - Sun

18- Caliente (Kah-lee-ehn-teh) - Hot, warm

19- Calor (ka-lohr) - Heat

20- Encender (ehn-sehn-dehr) - To turn on, to switch on

21- Subir (soo-beer) - Rise

22- Espero (ehs-peh-roh) - I hope (from verb 'esperar'. It also translates to wait, in this form 'I wait'.)

23- Controlen (cohn-troh-lehn) - control (from verb 'controlar')

24- Bomberos  (bohm-beh-rohs) - Firefighters (*plural. Singular is: bombero) 

25- Hoy (oi) - Today

Notes:

Lleva ya - This expression translates to 'it's been' or 'it has gone on'. Literally, it would translate to 'it carries already'. Lleva ya cinco días - It's been five days, or, it has gone on for five days.

Si ___ entonces ___- The word si (without an accent) means 'if'. It's the conditional. Usually it will be followed by entonces, like in English 'if' is followed by 'then'. Si (something happens) entonces (outcome). Si veo el humo subir hoy - if I see the smoke rise today entonces ya serán seis (días) - Then it will be six (days).

Sometimes the word entonces won't be there, but as a conditional, it will usually have an outcome. An extra example: Si llueve hoy, no voy a salir - if it rains today, I won't go out.

Hubiera - This word causes confusion even to native Spanish speakers. (Well, it did to me for a long time lol). And why, you may ask? It's because there is another word that is used in the same context and means exactly the same thing: Hubiese (oo-bee-seh). The two are interchangeable; you can use it exactly the same. Now, I read that hubiese is more formal than hubiera, at least it originally it was. Today you can use both for the same purpose and in the same context. It translates to 'would have' or 'there was'. Extra examples: Hubiera/hubiese dormido más - I would have slept more.

Ella hubiese ganado - She would have won

*Update: I hadn't even finished writing this when I saw the smoke rising, so, yet ANOTHER day of smoke here. That fire just keeps going and going. (*Update: This was in 2015. That fire lasted for days!)

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This is it for today! This is quite a long one, isn't it? I hope you have enjoyed this post, and that you find it useful, which is the most important.

If you have any doubt, just contact me on my Twitter page or my Facebook page.

You can also go to my Tumblr Blog, too.

See you next time! :)