Dar por is a verb + preposition combination that has several meanings. To take to A la gente le dio por hornear panes y bizcochos durante la cuarentena. (People took to baking bread and cookies during the quarantine.) Rosa siempre hacía platos españoles, pero ahora a ella  le ha dado por hacer platos franceses. (Rosa has always made Spanish dishes, but now she has taken to making French dishes.)   To take up Cuando se jubiló, a mi padre le dio por jardenería. (When he retired, my father took up gardening.) To presume dead or give up for dead Lo dieron por muerto en la guerra aunque no encontraran el cadáver. (He was presumed dead, although the body was not found.) Los soldados enemigos la dispararon y la dieron por muerta , pero sobrevivó. (The enemy soldiers shot her and left her for dead, but she survived.) To take for granted Di por hecho que encontraría el trabajo perfecto, así que seguí buscando. (I took it for granted that I would find the perfect job, so I ke...

¡Hola!  Do you know how to express the logical outcome of a circumstance or event in Spanish? First let´s remember what types of phrases we would use in English. Phrases such as  not surprisingly, no wonder, quite right too, with good reason, not without good reason,  and rightly so  all convey the near certain outcome of a situation. So, how do you put that into words in Spanish? The answer is  no es para menos . Look at this example.  Roger está muy preocupado  y   no es para menos . Tiene una hipoteca y acaba de perder su empleo.  (Roger is very worried  and with good reason . He has a mortgage y he has just lost his job.) So, how do we express the logical outcome of a circumstance or event? The answer is no es para menos . ¡Así que ya lo sabemos! Now we know! 😀  

  ¿Quieres que te sirve un poco más café? ¿Quieres que te ponga un poco más cafe? These are questions you might ask when you are offering to refill a cup of coffee for someone. The word for word translation of these sentences into English do not sound natural to me. I am assuming that the most common way to translate these sentences would be either of these three: Would you like a little more coffee?  or Would you like a refill?   It is always good to remember that the subjunctive follows querer + que when there is a change of subject . Clipart: Microsoft/Bing Creative Commons License

  This video from Real Fast Spanish gives examples of how to use ir vs. irse. Ir = to go. Irse = to leave.

In Spanish, there are 3 ways you can say Throw the ball to me . As you can see, these are in the tú form. Échame la pelota. Tírame la pelota. Lánzame la pelota.  I love synonyms!

 Today I became familiar with the Spanish term borrasca which means storm or tempest . I have just read an article at HUFFPOST titled Los 7 videos más exitosos que ha dejado Filomena . The borrasca   described in the article is Filomena , the historic snowstorm that slammed Madrid on January 9, 2021. Seven popular videos from social media are presented in the article. They are so cute! Before today, the only Spanish word that I knew to use for storm was tormenta , so I am glad to be able to expand my vocabulary! You can read the article here .

 I have always had some trouble remembering the meaning of the Spanish conjunctive phrase puesto que , which means because, given that, since . This morning I encountered this phrase twice while listening to Las rebajas de enero at Lawless Spanish . It is a short listening exercise that happens to use puesto que twice. I am going to do my best to integrate it into my speaking practice and hopefully get it to stick in  my memory. Below are the two sentences in the exercise that use this phrase. 1. Muchos artículos habrán sido vendidos para finales de este mes puesto que las rebajas están siendo condideradas como las principales protaginistas de enero.   2. A pesar de la crisis, millones de euros están siendo gastados durante estos días en las tiendas, y además miles de devoluciones ya han sido realizadas puesto que la calidad de los artículos no había sido comprobada antes de haberse vendido, y el cliente no estaba satifecho.    Here is a link to the exercis...

¡Hola!  If I like it and I know it I say me gusta , just like The Me Gusta Song says. But if I like you (and I know it), I say me gustas tú  . But, the song does not say that. I don't recall being taught the gustas form of the verb gustar in Spanish class. I have been under the impression that if I want to say I like you , I would say me gusta tú . But apparently that is not correct. Oh gosh, these reflexive verbs never cease to confuse me!  Here is a simple (and perhaps a little annoying 😊) song that teaches the basics of using gustar . https://youtu.be/bfHm-AKCoVY And here is a video of Manu Chao's  Me gustas tú .   https://youtu.be/AZ7oROlf5ys ¡Chao!

 Today is January 6, 2020. It is Epiphany, 3 Kings Day, 12th Night, the end of the Christmas season. While I have been a somewhat familiar with the customs regarding the celebration of this holiday in Hispanic cultures, I did not know that it is also celebrated in England. The 12th Night celebration across the pond includes theatergoing. This tradition began with the first showing of William Shakespeare's 12th Night on the 6th of January in either 1601 or 1602.  It was written as a 12th Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season.  The Brits also celebrate this feast day with a delicious fruit cake.  Cake and a trip to the theater. Sounds like great fun to me! 😀 Happy 3 Kings Day! (3 Kings Clipart: Bing Creative Commons Images License CC-BY-NC

 Here is an article from Language Magazine about Miguel A. Cardona. He is Connecticut's Education Commissioner and is nominated by Joe Biden to be the next U.S. Education Secretary. English Learner Slated to Lead U.S. Education - Language Magazine How Wonderful!

 ¡Buenos días! One of the methods that I use in my journey learning the Spanish language is to follow some of my favorite Spanish celebrities on Instagram. As they post about how they spend their weekends, the word that they often use for weekend is finde : a shortened version of fin de semana . I have just learned that shortened words in colloquial Spanish are know as acortamientos . I came across this information as I was watching a YouTube video entitled Spanish stories for beginners explained in English #10 - The weekend . Finde is used in a story in the video about how the narrator, Miguel, spends his weekends. Salo, the teacher and producer of this Spanish video lesson at Use Your Spanish , provides a list of acortamientos comunes . Here is the list: el frigo (refrigerator), el súper (supermarket), el boli (pen), el insti (institute), la facu (faculty), la uni (university), el/la profe (teacher), la tele (television), el/la compa or el/la compi (partner/mate), and, of cour...

 Hello! I enjoy watching and listening to the Spanish From Spain YouTube channel where Reyes teaches everyday Spanish as it is spoken in the street, as well as traditional grammar, vocabulary, and test preparation lessons. Today his video lesson is about words and expressions that young people are currently using. My favorite is cunde poga . It is used to express how much you really like something. So a young person might say  me   cunde poga   instead of  me gusta mucho.   Reyes was unable to explain the origin or use of poga , but he thinks that cunde is from the verb cundir . It is a new word to me. According to Word Reference.com, it is used to say that something goes well, goes fast, or goes a long way. Another of my favorite words in this video is mortimer . When you say estoy mortimer , you are saying I am dead tired. I love learning new words and expressions in Spanish. ¡Me cunde poga! Here is a link the the video.   Palabras que us...