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 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!

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!

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!

Ten words to use in the morning

Hello! And Welcome to your daily pinch of Spanish blog! :)

Today it is a simple and short Spanish lesson. I'll give you ten words you use in the morning and its translation in Spanish.

Let's begin!

1 - Café (ka-feh) - Coffee

2 - Té (teh) - Tea

3 - Desayuno (deh-sah-ju-noh) - Breakfast

4 - Despertar (dehs-per-tahr) - To wake up

* To tell a person to wake up, say it like this: Despierta (dehs-pee-ehr-tah).

* This word like this can also mean to be awake, but this is the feminine form. Estoy despierta - I'm awake. (feminine) ; Estoy despierto - I'm awake (masculine)

5 - Periódico (peh-ree-oh-dee-koh) - Newspaper

6 - Tarde (Tahr-deh) - Late

* Tarde also means afternoon. 'La tarde'

7 - Temprano (Tehm-prah-noh) - Early

8 - Jugo de chinas (hoo-goh deh chee-nahs) - Oranje juice

9 - Escuela (ehs-coo-eh-lah) - School

10- Llaves (Jah-vehs) - Keys

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I hope you enjoyed this little lesson! There are many more words we use in the morning, of course, but these are ten good words for you, for now.

Have a good day today! Remember to share this lesson if you enjoy it :)

Thank you, and until next time!

Conocer y Reconocer (to know and to recognize)

Hello! And welcome to Your Daily Pinch of Spanish :)

Today I want to share a follow up lesson to my previous one, 'Saber' and 'Entender', and show you the words 'Concoer' and 'Reconocer'. These words are quite similar in meaning to 'saber' and 'entender'.

Conocer (koh-noh-sehr) - To know; to meet

Use conocer when you know a person. Or when you've come to know something and so you understand what and/or how it is.

Yo lo conozco a él - I know him

Quiero conocerla - I want to get to know her

(Yo) conozco bien este lugar - I know this place well

(Yo) conozco este tema bastante bien - I know this topic quite well

*I wrote yo in parenthesis because using the verb form conozco already points out that you're talking about yourself.

Reconocer (Reh-koh-noh-sehr) - To recognize; to understand

It's just like the English 'recognize'. It's used when you've seen someone or something before.

(Yo) reconozco este lugar - I recognize this place, or, I know this place

(Yo) no reconozco este lugar - I don't recognize this place, or, I don't know this place

(Yo) reconozco esa cara - I recognize that face

But also, it has a meaning very similar to 'understand', and I've heard it used more in this sense when you understand a flaw or something that you did wrong. I'll give you some examples:

Yo reconozco que está mal - I understand that it's wrong

Yo reconozco que pude haberlo hecho diferente - I understand I could have done it differently.

I'll give you now some basic conjugations, to finish this little lesson:

Yo conozco (koh-nohs-coh) I know

Tú conoces (ko-noh-sehs) You know

Ella/Él conoce (koh-noh-seh) She/he knows

Ellos/Ellas conocen (koh-noh-sehn) They know

Yo conocí (Koh-noh-see) I met, I knew

Tú conociste (Koh-noh-sees-teh) You met, You knew

Ella/Él conoció (Koh-noh-seeoh) She/He met, She/He knew

Ellos/Ellas conocieron (koh-noh-see-eh-rohn) They met, They knew

Yo conoceré (koh-noh-seh-reh) I will know, I will meet

Tú conocerás (koh-noh-seh-rahs) You will know, you will meet

Ella/Él conocerá (koh-noh-seh-rah) She/He will know, she/he will meet

Ellos/Ellas conocerán (koh-noh-seh-rahn) They will know, they will meet

Yo reconozco (reh-coh-nohs-koh) I recognize, I understand

Tú reconoces (reh-coh-noh-sehs) You recognize, You understand

Ella/Él reconoce (reh-coh-noh-seh) She/he recognizes, she/he understand

Ellos/Ellas reconocen (reh-coh-noh-sehn) They Recognize, They understand

Yo reconocí (reh-coh-noh-see) I recognized, I understood

Tú reconociste (reh-coh-noh-sees-teh) You recognized, you understood

Ella/Él reconoció (reh-coh-noh-seeoh) She/he recognized, understood

Ellos/Ellas reconocieron (reh-coh-noh-see-eh-rohn) They recognized, they understood

Yo reconoceré (reh-coh-noh-seh-reh) I will recognize, I will understand

Tú reconocerás (reh-coh-noh-seh-rahs) You will recognize, You will understand

Ella/Él reconocerá (reh-coh-noh-seh-rah) She/he will recognize, she/he will understand

Ellos/Ellas reconocerán (reh-coh-noh-seh-rahn) They will recognize, they will understand

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This is it for today. I hope you learned something with me today, and that you understand and find this lesson useful :)

Thank you for reading, Until next time!