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Spanish Idioms 1 A-Z by LightSpeed Spanish

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Spanish Idioms.a to z

Probably many students of the Spanish language have had the shocking experience of having gone to a Spanish speaking country only to find that everything they had learnt in their lessons didn’t have any value to them. This happens for a couple of reasons:

1, In class, teachers normally talk slowly and clearly with good grammar. In the world outside of the classroom, people talk as they fancy. They break the rules constantly, they pronounce badly, they miss words out and, well, do just about everything that is prohibited.

2, People, and some more than others, like to talk using idioms.  An idiom is an expression that doesn’t translate into other languages yet is understood by most native speakers. The classic example of this is the high powered manager that talks in that mysterious idiomatic code to talk to his people:

Look guys, either we get this running on all four cylinders or it’s going to get wrapped around our necks and we’ll end up shooting ourselves in the foot. So it’s nose to the grindstone and backs against the wall and remember, it’s not over until the fat lady sings.

(I have no intention of translating that into Spanish!)

Get a mix of the two…

So, quite often, when you spend time in a native speaking country, you’ll come across someone who does a bit of both things. They speak badly (men much more than women) and they liberally sprinkle their conversation with idioms. (Men more than women, again in my experience.) Frankly, this can be the most frustrating experience for any learner.

I recall going to Murcia, Spain for a weekend and barely understanding anything of what was said to me. That was after spending two years in Mexico. I recall coming home very, very angry. “What language had I been learning, for God’s sake?” I remember asking myself .

Then, when Cynthia first moved to England after having spent 10 years learning English, she quite literally couldn’t understand what people said to her. I had to repeat, in English, the same thing that the person had just said  to her and only then would she understand it.

Then, of course, we come to the Spanish idioms. No matter how tuned in your ear is, unless you understand the meaning behind the Spanish idioms, it’s very unlikely that you will be able to grasp what the person is driving at. (This last sentence is a metaphor, by the way.)

I recall José, Cynthia’s father saying to me once, “En casa de herrero, cuchillo de palo.” I looked at him glazed eyed not making head nor tail of it. (Another idiom, too.) Of course, the best way to understand these expressions is just to ask.  You’ll be amazed at how difficult it is to explain them. That expression of just seven words took him about 50 to explain.

It means, “The people who should best be able to help themselves because of the skills they have, often do not do so.”

In the house of the blacksmith, wooden knives.

So, our advice is to learn the Spanish idioms. Read books, as it’s a great way to see them in use and then use Google to help with their explanation. Also, this series is designed to give you some of the more commonly used ones.

 

Buena suerte, chicos.

Gordon 🙂

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:00 — 13.7MB)

Past Subjunctive Spanish Guide 9 The IF Would Combination

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sierraPast Subjunctive Spanish Guide.

In this podcast we cover the very important distinction between the WOULD/IF trigger that demands the past subjunctive Spanish verb and the IF in present, which does not.

The Big Issue.

The problem that most students have with this construction is identifying when they should use the past subjunctive and when the present. We already covered this in the Subjunctive podcast/blog number 8. However, it will be worth reviewing it here. (Repetition is the mother of all learning.)

When you start a sentence with the word IF, then ask yourself this question about your English sentence.

After the IF is the verb that follows in present or in past tense?

Here is what we mean. Take a look at these examples:

If you want, we can eat there.

If you wanted, we could eat there.

If the verb that follows IF/SI is in present, then that’s what you use in Spanish.  You simply use the Present Indicative, or as in the above example, QUIERES.

Si quieres, podemos comer allí.

If the verb is in the past then you use the Past/Imperfect Subjunctive. Why? Because we are using a past tense word to talk about a possible future event. THAT’S WEIRD! So, in this case we would use QUISIERAS.

Si quisieras, podríamos comer allí.

Which is Imperfect Subjunctive and which is Conditional?

The other issue that many students have is understanding whether the Imperfect Subjunctive follows the SI or if the Conditional follows the SI.

This issue comes in sentences like this:

If you could, would you be the president if the United States?

Would you be the president of the United States if you could?

The reason it’s a problem is because in English both the word COULD and WOULD are conditional. So which is which?

We have developed a really easy way of knowing how to GET IT RIGHT.

SIERA (Sierra= Saw/Mountain range)

If you remember this word you will always get it right.  IERA is one of the optional endings of the Imperfect Subjunctive. Now, the Imperfect Subjunctive ALWAYS follows IF or SI.

Therefore, by keeping in mind SIERA, you will always know where and what to put. Let’s consider the above sentences.

If you could, would you be the president if the United States?

Notice that after the IF/SI appears the verb CAN/PODER. This is the one that takes the IERA. Thus the sentence would be:

¿Si pudieras, serías el presidente de los Estados Unidos?

However, notice that the order has beeen changed in the following sentence. This does not matter! You still follow the same SIERA rule.

Would you be the president of the United States if you could?

¿Serías el presidente de los Estado Unidos si pudieras?

So, now that you have that a little clearer (hopefully), listen in to the podcast and let us explain everything in more detail in this Past Subjunctive Spanish Guide.

Gordon 🙂

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:34 — 26.5MB)

Native Spanish Speakers Attitudes to the British with José Antonio

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Another of our Native Spanish Speakers.hamburger scale

José Antonio is an interesting guy from the heart of Spain in Guadalajara. In this interview he talks about his opinion of the British as well as other European people. As a truck driver, his experience of British food seems to have been limited to the layby cafés and Greasy Joes’ That said, he still has quite a positive opinion of them.

That apart, this is probably a great time to tell his story, albeit a sad one. At the time of the interview, José was a truck driver who delivered fresh fruit and vegetables from Spain to the UK and Germany as well as other countries. He owned his own enormous lorry and travelled through Europe with his wife who had also gotten her heavy goods vehicle licence so that they could travel together on the long journeys.

Their business was going from strength to strength and they had invested in a new truck which cost pretty much what a house might cost to buy. Life seemed like it couldn’t get better.

Terrible News.

Then one day, as José went to invoice the company that contracted his services he discovered that the company had gone bust. It had simply closed its doors the night before and disappeared. Worse still, they owed him many thousands of pounds.

This left José and his family in a terrible state. Their income had stopped suddenly, all of their resources had been invested in the business and the bank was asking for money. The company that owed him what was around three months salary was limited and so would offer nothing toward the outstanding payment.

What made matters worse was that right at that moment Spain was caught in the beginnings of the crisis and the financial climate  was on a severe downturn. There were no jobs to fall back on.

In the space of six months, they went from having a wonderful lifestyle to not knowing when the next euro would come through the door.

Getting By.

Right now, they live very much from day to day. Their two sons fall in and out of sporadic work and José’s wife has managed to secure a job as a cleaner.  Unlike here in the UK, the support in Spain for people in José’s situation is minimal and as a family they have had to make some significant changes in their life to cope with these events.

Despite everything, José remains chipper and upbeat about the future. He has many extra skills and does servicing of cars and any other handyman jobs that come his way. Personally, I admire his fortitude and dogged perseverance. He has even, in times of need, had to live off the land and find his food (in the shape of four legged running creatures) out in the countryside.

Their family are great friends of ours and we really hope that life picks up for them soon and that the Spanish economy gets back on its feet tan pronto como sea posible.

In the mean time, enjoy this native speakers interview with José Antonio and if you struggle a little, that will be because he’s down in our book as 3 stars out of 5 for difficulty.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:27 — 21.6MB)

Spanish Subjunctive Help 8 Using it with SI

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Spanish Subjunctive Help.possible

This is the last in the 8 podcast series on the Spanish Present Subjunctive. In this podcast we deal with the very strange way that Spanish behaves when faced with the word SI=IF.

Everything that Glitters.

This word IF is a classic example of how you can’t just use the idea that the subjunctive is all about uncertain futures. Were that the case than to start a sentence with if would be a dead certainty to have subjunctive in it.

And yet that’s not the case!

The SI non-subjunctive and the Si Imperfect Subjunctive.

Firstly, let us be absolutely clear what we are dealing with here. We must keep the kind of sentence we are focussing on separate from the other kind that also starts with IF and yet needs the imperfect subjunctive.

Here is an example of each one:

1, If you want we can eat in the dining room. (Non-subjunctive)

Si quieres podemos comer en el comedor.

2, If you wanted we could eat in the dining room. (Imperfect Subjunctive)

Si quisieras podríamos comer en el comedor.

How to easily identify them.

Despite what it may seem, these two sentences are easy to identify. All you have to do is to notice the verb that follows SI/IF.

Look at the examples. In number 1, the word is WANT which is present tense indicative In English, when you make your sentence and the verb that follows the IF is in present tense, then you DO NOT need to use anything except the present in Spanish.

In number two, the verb is in the past (Wanted) which is strange because if you think about it we are actually talking about a possible future event. This is your alarm bell that helps you realise that this is actually the English Imperfect Subjunctive.  When you see  this happen you must use the Spanish Imperfect Subjunctive.

Test your skills.

Look at the following sentences and see if you can tell if they need the Imp Subjunctive or just normal present tense.

1, If they come at six we’ll be finished by nine.

2, If you could come a little earlier we would be done by nine.

3, They would look better if they were in the hall.

4, If you tell me the name I’ll look for it on Google.

5, If I gave you a pound what would you do with it?

6, If they don’t call, what will you do?

 

The answers are just below.

So, now you should be able to identify the two kinds of IF statements in Spanish and English. It’s important to follow up this podcast with the next one which covers the use of the Imperfect Subjunctive and offers more Spanish Subjunctive Help.

Don’t worry, if you’ve learnt the Present Subjunctive you already know 90 percent of the Imperfect Subjunctive.

Also, you can check out our podcast where we force, unnaturally, a lot of Present Subjunctive into our conversation. jeje

Hasta la próxima vez,

Gordon 🙂

1, PT  2, IS  3, IS  4, PT  5, IS  6, PT

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:37 — 26.6MB)

How to make a Spanish Omelette / Tortilla Española

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Spanish Omelette / Tortilla Españolaeggsscaleagriculture-scale

 

 

 

 

 

The tortilla española stands alongside la paella as one of the most traditional and talked about Spanish  dishes that exists to date.

Also known as Spanish omelette, it is a dish made from  the base of potatoes, onions and eggs with additional ingredients added according to preference.

¡A que está rica!

The most unusual thing about the Spanish omelette, in my opinion, (Gordon) is the taste. What I mean by that is that despite the very simple ingredients and the short preparation time, it is absolutely delicious.

Now, you must understand, before we go any further forward, that I don’t mean delicious in the Spanish sense of the word. The Spanish, as great food fanatics, do tend to refer to everything as delicioso, riquísimo, divino, para morirse (to die for) etc.

As a Brit, I cannot bring myself to exude to such an excessive degree about food. (as it’s just not the done thing…stiff upper lip and all that.) However, when it comes to a freshly prepared, still warm Spanish omelette, I go slightly weak at the knees.

Hot or Cold?

Here we have another interesting question. Do you eat the tortilla hot or cold? The answer is: Whatever way you like!

Mainly, in Spain however, it’s eaten cold. In fact, steaming hot food isn’t in great demand in Spain. They seem to prefer their food to be cold or if it is a hot dish, to be templado/tepid.

Thus, the Spanish omelette is most times served cold. If you go into any Spanish bar worth its salt, you will find a tortilla waiting to be served to the customers. It’s a fundamental part of “la cocina española” and is a must to try for anyone visiting Spain.

Sauces…¿dónde están?

Sauces are not very popular in Spain and most times, the tortilla is eaten on its own or as they say, “a palo seco”.  Also, another very popular way of enjoying the great flavour is to squash a generous slice of Spanish omelette inside a baguette. It’s called, as you might imagine, “un bocadillo de tortilla” and it is delicious. (If a little dry without some additional sauce or accompanied by whopping cup of tea.)

The nicest sauce in my opinion to slather on top of a tortilla is mayonnaise. It seems to be a match, as I see it, made in heaven. Especially if the tortilla is still warm.

And, now I’m really hungry after talking about the wonderful Spanish omelette. Watch Mercedes make it on the video and then have a go yourself. You really can’t go wrong. And you’re sure to love it!

 

Buen provecho.

Gordon 🙂

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