How to say you have an itch in Spanish

Hello everyone! ¿Cómo están hoy? (How are you today?)

I haven't been posting new Spanish lesson blogs in a long time, partly because of the hurricances leaving me without electricity and internet (I live in Puerto Rico), and partly because I was a little disappointed that my website was stolen and is still being used by someone else (someone names Susan, apparently?) after I deleted it to pass all the content to this blog, which is free and easier to use. But not I hope I can make it work here. I don't know how many people follow the blog, but I like posting Spanish lessons. (I just wish I hadn't chosen the word "daily" since we all know how good I am at "daily" lol).

Ok, without further ado, here's today's short Spanish lesson! :)

I chose to make it about itch, because I've been crazy with allergies these days, and my eyes just won't stop itching. haha

Vocabulary:

Itch - Picor (pee-cohr)

To be itchy/ To have an itch - Tener un picor (teh-nehr oon pee-cohr)

(Something) is itchy - Da picor (dah pee-cohr)


Additional vocabulary (for the examples):

Camisa - Shirt (kah-me-sah)

Ojo - Eye (oh-hoh)

Todo - Everything (toh-doh)

Tener - To have (Teh-nehr) (Tengo - I have) (Ten-goh)


Examples:

Tengo picor - I have an itch

Esa camisa da picor - That shirt is itchy

Me pica el ojo - My eye is itchy

Eso da picor - That (thing) is itchy

Me pica todo - Everything is itchy


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I hope this short lesson was easy to understand. I hope I can come back with more lessons soon. Thank you for your support! I hope I can be at least of a little help for your Spanish learning journey. :)

~Maria

How to say you have a headache in Spanish

Hola a todos! (Hello everyone!) Welcome to Your Daily Pinch of Spanish :)

Today I have for you a short lesson: How to say your head hurts.

I had the most horrible series of headaches this last week. It lasted like three days! And it was just horrible. I couldn't spend much time on the computer, and sounds were just aggravating.

Headaches can be so annoying, and sometimes we need to tell the person being noisy next to us that we have a headache (Lol)

Let's begin!

Dolor de cabeza (doh-lohr deh cah-beh-sah) - Headache

Jaqueca (hah-keh-kah) - Headache

How do you say it?

1. Tengo dolor de cabeza - I have a headache.

*This is the most common one you will hear if you come to Puerto Rico. Also:

Me duele la cabeza - My head hurts

2. Tengo una jaqueca - I have a headache

This is seldom used in Puerto Rico, but it seems to be the most common in most other Hispanic countries. I hear it all the time on Television, and so it is the one you might be hearing the most learning Spanish and traveling to Hispanic countries.

*You can add the words: terrible, horrible, horrendo, and fuerte

Tengo un fuerte dolor de cabeza - I have a strong headache.

Tengo una jaqueca terrible - I have a terrible headache

*Terrible is written exactly the same as in English, but it is pronounced differently. Keep it in mind. It is: Teh-rree-bleh 

Tengo una jaqueca horrenda - I have a horrendous headache

Tengo un dolor de cabeza horrible - I have a horrible headache

More about headaches:

Sometimes when a person is annoying, or a child is very wild and energetic, people will say they are a headache. For example:

Él es un dolor de cabeza - He's such a headache

Ese nene es un dolor de cabeza - That kid is such a headache

*Nene is another word for niño (child). Nene translates as 'kid'. Nene is the masculine; the feminine is nena. *The word nene or nena is also used by couples to call each other sweetly, so it can also translate to something like 'baby', 'honey', or 'sweetie', in this context.

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 This is it for now. I hope you found this little lesson useful. :)

If there is any doubt, do contact me. I have a Twitter page and a Facebook Page. I also have a Tumblr where I post a link to every new lesson/post.

Until next time! :)

*This lesson was originally  posted on my now deleted website. The website was bought by someone else who remade it using my content without my permission. So please do not support the website, and if you like my content, please support this blog. Thank you. :) 

~Maria

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 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!

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!

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! :)

How to ask for help in Spanish

Hello everyone and welcome to the blog! :)

Today I want to show you how to ask for help in Spanish. This is one of the most important things you should learn when learning a new language.

As usual, I will write a pronunciation guide in parenthesis, but you can always check the tables I created to help you with Spanish Pronunciation. (*Update: The page with these tables doesn't currently exist, since I had to delete the spanish blog. I am remaking everything in this blog. I will update when I have the page ready again.)

Let's begin. I'll start by giving you the translations to both the noun and verb for 'help':

Ayuda (ah-joo-dah) - Help (noun)

Ayudar (ah-joo-dahr) - To help (verb)

Now I'll show you five phrases to ask for help:

1) Permiso, ¿me puede ayudar? - Excuse me, can you help me?

*Use this when you need to ask something in a place, like directions, for example. You can add 'por favor' ('please') too:

Permiso, ¿me puede ayudar? Por favor

Permiso, ¿por favor me puede ayudar?

Por favor, ¿me puede ayudar?

Casual variations:

¿Me puedes ayudar? - Can you help me?

¿Puedes ayudarme? - Can you help me?

¿Mira, me puedes ayudar? - Hey, can you help me?

* You can of course add 'por favor' to all of these.

2) Necesito ayuda - I need help

*Again, you can also add 'por favor', especially if you're approaching a person on the street in a place.

3) Ayúdeme por favor - Please help me

4) ¿Alguien me puede ayudar? - Can someone help me?

5) Ayuda - Help

*If you find yourself sick or in a dire situation in public, sometimes all you can say is just 'help'.

*Variations of this: (all of these translate to 'help me')

Ayúdenme

Ayúdame

Ayúdeme (*This is a formal version)

*You will often see these written with exclamation marks ¡Ayúdenme!

There are also the expressions:

¿Me puedes dar una mano? - Can you give me a hand?

*A more formal version can be: ¿Me puede dar una mano? Or ¿Me da una mano?

*More casual versions:

¿Me das una mano?

¿Puedes darme una mano?

Dame una mano - Give me a hand

*A more formal version: Deme una mano, or, Deme una mano, por favor (also 'Por favor, deme una mano)

Préstame tu ayuda - Lend me your help

*Also: Préstame ayuda

This one is more casual, and honestly, I rarely hear it.

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This is it for now! Al always, I hope you find this lesson useful, and easy to understand. If you have any doubts, contact me on my Twitter Page, or Facebook Page.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day :)

Until next time!