My Spanish Notes

At least once a year I try to go to Mexico (Baja California) for a little R&R. This trip is pura fiesta - nothing but partying . There's no better way to learn and practice your Spanish then by walking the streets all day and night, hanging out in bars and restaurants talking to anybody and everybody.
With that in mind, I thought I'd share some things I've learned about having a good time. Para que tu sepas (just so you know), some of the things in this post may be very Mexican, but are probably understood by many.

Let's get started.

Ir de parranda

To go partying. Just that simple. A parranda is a party.  This is one of several ways to say party besides fiesta. In fact, most of the people I talk to rarely (if ever) use the word fiesta when they talk about going partying.

Manaña voy de parranda para celebrar mi cumpleaños
Tomorrow I'm going partying to celebrate my birthday

A Parrandón (parrandona for the ladies) is someone who likes to party. You can also say Qué parrandón to talk about a great party. Parrandero (parrandera) is also a term for someone who likes to party.

Ir a Pachanguear

Yep, another way to say you're going to party. I don't recall where I picked up this expression, but here are some examples:

¿Vamos a ir a pachanguear verdad?
We're going to go partying right?

Estoy pachangueando
I'm partying

El sábado me fui de pachanga con mis amigas
I went out partying with my girlfriends on Saturday

Es muy pachanguero
He likes to party

Panchanguero (pachanguera) is a someone who likes to party. In English we'd probably say party animal. A pachanga is a party.

Let's not forget about Ir de fiesta. It works the same way the other expressions do.

¡Vamos de fiesta!
Let's go party!

Manaña voy de fiesta para celebrar mi cumpleaños
Tomorrow I'm going partying to celebrate my birthday

Fiestero/fiestera is another way to talk about being a party animal.

I've got one more for you, and this might come as shock.

Ir de party

Vamos de party
Let's go party

While it may sound strange, this is a very, very common way to talk about going out to party. I've heard the expression vamos de party more times than I can count. And that's good news for you, because if you can't remember the the other options you will most certainly remember this one. And you'll sound authentic to boot.

Well, know that we've established that we ready to party, what kinds of places can you party at?

Un bar. Yes, a bar, just we like we say in English, but give it your best Spanish accent. You can also go to "un club".   Again, just use your Spanish accent and you're golden. If you want to sound a little more Mexican, you can use the word "antro".

¿Hay un buen antro por aquí?
Is there a good club around here?

I will warn you that antro might have a different meaning in other countries.   I mentioned that I like to go to antros to my friend from Peru, and she gave me a strange look. Turns out that to her an antro was not a club, but a bar, and a dive bar at that.   Go figure. I think the word discoteca is probably more universal.

Well, after all of that, I'm sure you've figured out what today's expression means.

No estaba muerto, estaba de parranda
I wasn't dead, I was partying

You can also say:

No estaba muerto, andaba de parranda

This is a nice phrase you can use to get a few laughs if you haven't seen someone in a while and they ask you where you've been. Or why you haven't posted anything to your blog in almost a month.

Well, that's it for now. I've got some more party and drinking related vocabulary and phrases to share with you all in a future post, so stay tuned!

¡Hasta la próxima!

Write this date down, because today I'm going to do something I promised I would never do on this blog - talk about grammar. But bear with me, I think you'll find this to be one of the most enjoyable grammar lessons you'll ever have. And quite possibly the only one you'll get on this blog.

Encontramos de nuevo nos

I'm sure many of you already know this sentence makes no sense. But mistakes like this are common for beginners, because those Spanish pronouns can be pesky when you're first starting to learn Spanish.

Do they go at the begining of the sentence, or at the end? To make matters worse, sometimes they can go either at the begining or the end. For someone new to the Spanish language, learning the do's and don'ts can be a nightmare.

But don't worry, today I'm going to share a video with you that will help you out by giving you some advice about where these pesky pronouns go.

The video is in Spanish, so get those Spanish ears of yours ready. It does have English subtitles, so don't worry too much.

Today we'll be visiting with our friends the Huevo Cartoones. You may remember I first introduced you to them with Huevo Santa. This episode is a parody of Star Trek, or as it was titled in Spanish "Viaje a las Estrellas".

In case you weren't able to catch all of that, let's do a recap of the more relevant parts.

Despite being in some serious danger, our starship captain finds it necessary to correct the grammar of his nemisis.

The Evil Captain:
Encontramos de nuevo nos
We meet again
(Said incorrectly)

Starship Captain:
Quieres decir que "nos encontramos de nuevo"
You mean we meet again

The Evil Captain:
Eso dije
That's what I said.

Starship Captain:
No, es que pusiste el nos al final de la frase y debería ir al prinicipio
No, you put nos at the end of the sentence and it should go at the beginning

The Evil Captain:
Tus escudos estan a punto de fallar y te mos destruire!!!!
Your shields are about to fail and we're going to destroy you!
(Also said incorrectly)

Starship Captain:
te destruiremos

The Evil Captain:
¿Que no va al principio de la frase?
What, it doesn't go at the beginning?

Starship Captain:
No, en este caso no

After our heroes come up with a plan to save themselves from being destroyed, we find ourselves back aboard the enemy vessel...

Evil Crew Members:
Pueden destruirnos
They can destroy us

The Evil Captain, now thinking he has an excellent grasp on those pesky pronouns decides to try and correct his crew members about their pronoun usage....

The Evil Captain:
Nos pueden destruir. El nos va al principio de la frase
They can destroy us. The nos goes at the begining of the sentence.

Evil Crew Members:
En este caso es igual el principo o el final
In this case is the same at the begining or the end

The Evil Captain:
No, pues asi no puedo hablar este idioma a veces si , a veces no
I can't speak this language, sometimes yes, sometimes no

Evil Crew Members:
¿Que hacemos con las minas?
What do we do about the mines?

The Evil Captain:
No se si se dice nosotros o otros nos
I don't know if you say nosotros or some other nos

That's all of the dialog pertinent to us today, and sadly, despite being a grammar guru, things didn't work out so well for our starship Captain.

Personally, I got a real kick out of that video. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did, although I have to admit it loses something in translation.

¡Hasta la próxima!

You've likely figured out that pulgar arriba means thumbs up. It's not much of a stretch to figure out that pulgar abajo means thumbs down. Not to knit-pick, but the proper way to say pulgar arriba/abajo is pulgar hacia arriba and pulgar hacia abajo. But anyone who knows me also knows that I like to speak how the people speak, so I'll be following the crowd and going with pulgar arriba. You may also hear manita arriba.

I'm sure your Spanish book taught you the word for hand, la mano, and even the word for fingers, dedos de la mano, or simply dedos or deditos. But as always, those pesky Spanish books are focused on grammar, and often leave out some important details.

Any Spanish speaking five year old can look at their hand and ramble off the names of their deditos. Imagine my surprise when after 5+ years of studying Spanish I couldn't do the same.

Let's do a quick run down of los nombres de los dedos, starting with the thumb, dedo pulgar. You can also say dedo gordo. Next we have the índice, or as we call it the index or pointing finger. The middle finger is called dedo medio or corazón. The ring finger is dedo anular and last, but not least we get to the pinky, or little finger, dedo meñique. FYI, you can drop the word dedo and just refer to each finger by it's name: pulgar, índice, etc.

You can do a lot of interesting things with fingers, let's talk about a few of them.

I can't remember the last time I needed to pinky swear, but in case you ever do the phrase you're looking for is promesa de meñique.

There may come a time when you need cruzar los dedos (cross your fingers) or mantener los dedos cruzados (keep your fingers crossed).

This next image is probably the most recognized gesture you can make with your fingers.

In Mexico it's called sacar el dedo or pintar el dedo. Maybe a kind reader can tell us what's it's called in other countries.

Well, that's all you can do with fingers that I'm going to talk about in this blog. I try to keep this blog family friendly, so if you want to read about some not so innocent things you can do with fingers click here.

That's it for today,

¡Hasta la próxima!

Settle down ladies, take a deep breath and try to stay focused. Guys, sorry, I've got nothing for you. The good news is you'll learn all the Spanish you'll need to find a picture more to your liking by the end of this post.

Today we're going to talk about being naked and how to get that way. And I am in no way responsible for the trouble you guys are bound to get yourself into with this info. There, I've made my disclaimer and I'm sticking to it. Let's get started!

The gentleman in our picture is medio desnudo or semidesnudo if you prefer. OK, he's probably a little more than half-naked. I'm pretty sure if we take away his leaf he'd be completamente desnudo - completely naked.

While desnudo is a perfect word for describing our friends wardrobe, it's certainly not the most creative or fun way to talk about it.

Here's a nifty phrase you can most certainly find a use for at some point.

Como tu madre te trajo el mundo
Like your mother brought you into this world

So, how did your mother bring you into to this world? In your Traje de Adán or Traje de Eva.

Adán and Eva are Spanish for Adam and Eve and a traje is a suit. The literal translation is your Adam or Eve suit. Figuratively speaking, we're talking about your birthday suit, which is what our friend is wearing in the photo.

I can't begin to tell you why our friend is in his Traje de Adán, but I can show you a few ways to talk about being naked and how to get naked in Spanish.

Estar desnudo is pretty standard.

No entres, estoy desnudo
Don't come in, I'm naked

To talk about the process of getting naked, you can use the verb desnudarse.

Me voy a desnudar
I'm going to get naked

You may find this next example more fun. I'll bet some of you will be using this one right away. This is the part where you refer back to my disclaimer.

¡Desnúdate!
Get naked!

Feel free to add mujer or hombre on the end of that.

Now that we have the standard boring Spanish out of the way, let's move on to the fun stuff.

Estar encuerado

¿Por qué estás encuerado?
Why are you naked?

And remember, if you're a woman you need encuerada. The verb encuerarse works just like desnudarse.

¡Encuérate!
Get naked!

Me encueré en la playa
I got naked at the beach

You may know the word for leather is cuero, which is pretty much Spanish101. What you may not know is that you can also use the word cuero to talk about being naked.

Estoy en cueros
I'm naked

En las playas nudistas todos están en cueros
At the nude beaches everybody's naked

¿Por qué estás en cueros en la sala?
Why are you naked in the living room?

I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that question.

There's also andar en cueros.

Me gusta verte andar en cueros
I like to see you going around naked

I've seen en cueros and encuerado translated as butt-naked or stark naked, and even just plain naked. While there probably is a slight difference in the meaning of these terms, the bottom line is you're talking about someone sin ropa, with no clothes on.

Oh, before I forget, there's one more word for naked, and this one is very, very Mexican. And that word is bichi. There's also andar bichi, which works exactly the same as the other expressions.

¿Te gusta andar bichi por tu casa?
Do you like to walk around your house naked?

Hold on, there's more.

Sácate la ropa
Take off your clothes

Quítate la ropa
Take off your clothes

Surprisingly (or maybe not) you can use quitarse and sacarse to talk about taking off your clothes. I don't know about you, but it came as shock to me when I first learned about this. Actually, those two verbs are not specific to taking off your clothes, you can use them to talk about taking off anything.

Who knew there were so many ways to talk about being, and getting, naked. And to tell you the truth, there are probably even more colloquial ways to say it, especially when you start talking about regional Spanish. If you know a nifty expression, please comment, sharing is always welcome, It's how we learn.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Let's start with the word kerida. If you don't recognize this word, it's not because you haven't been studying your Spanish, it's because you aren't spending enough time texting and hanging out on Facebook and Twitter. Kerida is a slangy spelling of querida, which we can translate as sweetie or dear, maybe even darling. Translation isn't always an exact science, but you get the idea.

Let's move on to the more interesting stuff.

If you look up the word pistear in the dictionary, you may be surprised at what you find....nothing. Yep, absolutely nothing. According to your Spanish dictionary, this word doesn't exist, but trust me, it does.

So I guess this is the part where I tell you what pistear means. Pistear means to drink and it's a nice alternative to tomar and beber, which get the job done when you're talking about drinking, but are pretty boring and routine when Spanish has so many other more colorful and fun words.

Vamonos a pistear que es sabado
We're going drinking because it's Saturday

Keep in mind we're talking Mexican Spanish here, although there are other countries that use pistear the same way. And in some countries pistear will mean something different altogether.

You can also use the word pisto to refer to bebidas alcoholicas - alcoholic beverages.

Te traes el pisto
You bring the alcohol

Guess what? There's more.

There's the verb chupar which officially means to suck (as is in to suck on) and unofficially means to drink.

Voy a chupar esta noche
I'm going drinking tonight

Deja de chupar tanto
Stop drinking so much

Now that you've decided to go drinking, you're probably going to order some cold ones, or frías.

Mesero, ¡traenos unas frías!
Waiter, bring us some cold ones

A beer is also called a chela. Substitute the word chelas for frías and you're in business.

For some people a regular size beer just isn't enough, and they need something bigger. Something like this...

Yes, a good old fashioned 40oz, or a caguama in Spanish. Well, at least it's caguama in Mexican Spanish.

In fact, if you're specifically going out to drink some chelas, there's a verb for that too.

Ayer estuvimos cheleando en el antro
Yesterday we were out drinking (beer) in the club

Vamos a chelear
Let's go drink some beers

Before I forget, antes de que se me olvide, these are all very informal phrases perfectly fine for hanging out with friends,but maybe not so much for more formal occasions and grandmothers.

Well, that's it for today. I could use some chelas right now, but tengo flojo - I'm feeling lazy, so I'm just going to sit at home thinking about my next entrada.

¡Saludos!

One of the first words you learn in Spanish is the word for hair - pelo. And if you're lucky, somewhere along the way you learn that cabello is the official Spanish word for hair, although pelo is the colloquial and most common way to refer to hair.

You probably also learned to describe hair colors:

Marrón, castaño, café - Brown

Negro - Black

Gris, canas - Grey

Rubio - Blonde

Blanco - White

Rojo - Red

To tell someone what color your hair is, you can say:

Tengo el pelo negro

I have black hair

And to talk about someone else, you can say:

Tiene el pelo rubio

She has blonde hair

Let's take a related, but short detour.

Someone with blonde hair can also be referred to as güero or güera. A red head, or pelo rojo, can be referred to as pelirojo, or peliroja. What this means is instead of saying:

Tiene el pelo rojo

You can say:

Es güera

She's a blonde

Es peliroja

She's a redhead

If you want to talk about a guy, just use güero or pelirojo instead.

And I went on for years with that knowledge thinking I knew everything was to know about hair color in Spanish. And then it happened. I came across the word pelinegra.

My first thought was peli what?

Pelinegra? How is possible I've never seen this word before? A few quick Google searches confirmed what seemed to be obvious, that pelinegra refers to a woman with black hair. Being overly curious about things in Spanish (meaning obessive) I figured I'd ask my amigos about this. My amigos, actually in this case they're amigas, are from Venezuela and Spain. I asked them about the word pelinegra and the answer they gave me was pretty shocking. They had never heard of it. I don't know, maybe I was butchering the pronunciation. But then again, all Spanish words are not used in all Spanish countries, so I suppose I really shouldn't be that surprised. Anyway, I decided that I would have to do some research of my own.

Peliroja and pelinegra are not the only other peli~ options available.

Peliazul - Blue hair

Pelirubia - Blonde hair

Pelichino - Curly hair

Pelilacio - Straight hair

Pelicastaña - Brown hair

Peligris - Grey hair

Pelinaranja - Orange hair

And my personal favorite:

Soy pelimorado a rayas

Is a translation really necessary? Although an explanation for such an atrocity might be nice.

Be sure to remember to use the correct o/a ending for male and female, and have fun with these!

Saludos

Yes, that's an ojo. An eye for those of you who are truly Spanish newbies.

And as we all know, eyes come in all different colors. If you want an extensive list of eye colors (color de ojos) in Spanish, here's a link to Wikipedia:

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_de_ojos

But you can do that later. Here's a quick listing of common eye colors.

Marrón, café o castaño - Brown

Azul - Blue

Verde - Green

Negro - Black

One way of talking about the color of someone's eyes is to simply say...

Tienes ojos verdes

You have green eyes

You just conjugate the verb tener to it's appropriate form, throw in the word ojos, the necessary color and you're good. Here's one more example.

Tengo ojos azul

I have blue eyes

You get the idea. But it turns out there's another way to talk about eye color.

Soy flaco pelo negro oji negro

I'm thin, black hair, black eyes

Did you catch the "oji negro"? I've seen this written a few different ways:

Ojinegro, oji negro and oji-negro

I have no idea which one is correct, and on top of that, I had to look through a few dictionaries before I could even find the word ojinegro. When you're talking it won't make a difference, and I doubt anybody really cares anyway.

Some other colors:

Ojiazul - Blues eyes

Ojimoreno - Brown eyes

Ojiverde - Green eyes

Ojigris - Grey eyes

We have just one thing left to talk about. Our expression for today.

Para los ke pidieron fotos ojicafe

For those of you who asked for brown-eyed photos

If ke doesn't look familiar to you, don't worry, it's basically chat speak, or shorthand if you prefer. You may also see just plain k, or even q.

That's all for today. Don't hesitate to go out and start using your new found vocabulary!

Saludos

I always read about people's travels through Mexico and South America and get insanely jealous, wishing I had my own travel experiences to share. But a few days ago I realized that while I may not have visited some of the more charming, exotic and popular destinations, I have had the pleasure of traveling to Baja California and spending time in a few cities there. So today's post is going to be part Spanish lesson, part travel story and much longer than usual, so get comfortable.

One of the cities I visit in Baja California is Tijuana. Yes, I know that because of the all the bad publicity our news media gives the city many of you are thinking "Are you nuts?". Well, believe it or not, Tijuana is a modern metropolitan city comparable to many cities here in the US. One of my favorite places to go when I'm there is Zona Rio. It's an nice part of town with lots of upscale restaurants, bars and nightlife. Oh, and did I mention shopping? Well, there's a nice place to do all your shopping in an outdoor mall called Plaza Rio.

I'm going to give you all a brief recorrido (tour) of Plaza Rio. Here's a few photos for your viewing pleasure.

FYI, Comercial Mexicana is a HUGE grocery store along the lines of a super Wal-Mart, maybe even bigger. You can find everything in there.

Notice that last picture was taken from the top of the escalators. What's at the top of the escalators you ask?

You'll find an incredibly nice movie theatre, which brings us to the point of today's post.

¿Que esta hoy en la cartelera?

If you've never heard the word cartelera, it's because the people who write our Spanish books seem to think we don't need to know any words beyond cine and película when it comes to movies.

Here's another photo.

I'm guessing you now know what a cartelera is. Cartelera not only referees to a physical marquee, but also to any type of movie listing, like online or in a newspaper.

Once you've picked your movie off the cartelera, you'll need a boleto (ticket) to get in. And FYI, you may hear the word entrada used instead of boleto. And of course you buy your tickets at the box office, or taquila.

Once you get in the cine (theatre) you may want to stop by the dulcería (concession stand) to buy some golosinas (candy), palomitas (popcorn), refrescos (sodas) or even hot dogs. And yes, you would actual ask for a hot dog, but with your best Spanish accent.

Next you proceed to the sala (theatre room) that your movie is showing in and hope you can find a good asiento (seat). And that thing holds your soda that we call a cup holder is called a portavaso (de cine) in Spanish.

When I went to the Cinepolis in Tijuana, I was looking forward to the opportunity to watching a movie in Spanish, even though I knew it understanding it would be difficult. Well, I was in for quite a surprise.

I was expecting the movie to be dubbed, but instead it was in English with Spanish subtitulos (subtitles). The subtitulos were flying by on the screen, I can't even begin to tell you how hard it was to keep up, although I didn't do too bad.

Let's translate today's phrase.

¿Que esta hoy en la cartelera?
What's showing today?

Here's a few other things you'll find useful.

You use the word salir to talk about movies being released.

No voy al cine mucho, pero no es que no salen buenas peliculas
I don't go to the movies a lot, but it's not because there are no good movies are coming out

To talk about movie opening or premieres you need the word estreno.

Estrenos de cine
Movie openings/releases

Próximos estrenos
Upcoming releases

Gran estreno mundial de la última película de la saga Harry Potter en Londres
The wold premier of the last movie of the Harry Potter saga in London

La película esta en 4 salas
The movie is in 4 theatres

You know, until I typed that last sentence I never noticed that we use the word theatre to talk about the entire building, but yet we also refer to each room as a theatre as well. And people say Spanish is confusing. But I digress, so let's move on.

The movie screen itself is called a pantalla, and you can use the phrase gran pantalla (the big screen) just like you do in English.

No me gusta sentarme demasiado cerca a la pantalla
I don't like to sit too close to the screen

And although you may see the verb mirar used to talk about watching movies or TV, the correct verb is ver.

No pude ver la película anoche
I couldn't see (watch) the move last night

Whew! With the execption of a few loose ends, we're finally done. Let's tie up these loose ends so you can get on with your day.

I borrowed the photos in this post from the sites below, and there are many more photos of Plaza Rio and the Cinepolis theatre, so click around and take a look.

http://www.plazariotijuana.com.mx/galerianoche.htm

http://www.cinefis.com.mx/Cinepolis-Plaza-Rio/t/1596

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=39121202

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=325237

You can also go to www.Cinepolis.com if you want to pick up some more movie related vocabulary.

And if you're interested in movie reviews in Spanish, here's a good place to start.

http://www.blogdecine.com

Ya, eso es todo por hoy.

Hasta la próxima.

During one of my visits to Mexico, I was out looking for a gift for my daughter when I came across the perfect gift, a cobija, or blanket. After securing the sale of the cobija, the shop owner showed me some of the other merchandise she had. I really wasn't interested in anything else, so as a last ditch effort, she says to me...

Tenemos tequileros

Say what? I found myself thinking:

¿Qué rayos es un tequilero?
What the heck is a tequilero?

I had no idea what the heck a tequilero was, but as soon as she showed them to me it all made sense.

That's right, a shot glass is called a tequilero. A glass made for drinking tequila.

There were even tequileros that were even more, ummm, how shall we say, interesting.

A shot glass can also go by another name you may find surprising. And that name would be caballito. If you don't know,a caballito is a little horse, or maybe even horsey. Don't ask me why it's called a caballito, sometimes you just have to accept things and move on. But if any of you have the answer I'd love to hear it. You may also see it referred to as a caballito tequilero.

For those of you who drink, you'll also find it useful to know that you can order your tequila shot by saying...

Cantinero, un caballito de tequila

Bartender, a shot of tequila

You can actually put the liquor of your choice after "caballito de".

And since we're talking about the word caballito, it also has a few other meanings worth mentioning.

This is a caballito de mar.

These are also caballitos:

Remember those? Nothing like a flashback to the good old days right?

And lastly, this one should come as no surprise.

That cute little guy hugging his mom is also a caballito.

Well, that's it for today.

Espero que te sirva, chao.

Because I like pictures, and because I also think this picture is pretty cool, here's a guagua:

Dale que viene la guagua
Hurry, the bus is coming

That's right, guagua is another word for bus. Don't ask me about the origins of this word, because I couldn't tell you. This isn't a universal word for bus, but if you find yourself in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Canarias, Puerto Rico and who knows where else, you're likely hear it. But a word of warning, guagua doesn't mean bus everywhere, so know your audience.

Surprisingly (or maybe not), there also other names for buses, and each type of bus has it's own name.

This is a chiva.

Take a trip to Colombia and you'll see them all the time. Why these buses are called chivas is beyond me, but take a closer look at the photo. Notice that the passenger windows have no glass. According to my amiga from Colombia, that's the trademark of a chiva.

Here's another one. What we call a city bus, in Argentina would be referred to as a colectivo. In another country it might be called an ómnibus.

In Mexico, this would be a colectivo.

There's also the word micro, which in Mexico is technically more of a van, but it would look something like this:

Here's one more, a combi, also from Mexico. Doesn't look very different from a colectivo does it?

This list isn't meant to exhaustive. Each country has it's own word for bus or transportation vehicles, but don't worry. If you ever need to catch a bus in a Spanish speaking country and you don't know the local terms, you can't go wrong with autobús or bus. The locals will know you're a foreigner and will be happy to help you out. But you will sound a lot more native and a have a lot more fun if you learn the local terms.

¡Hasta luego!

If you're seeing the verb quedar for the first time you're in a for treat, because this post is going to give your Spanish a huge boost. For the rest of you, you may be surprised to learn that quedar has more uses than you realized. And for those of you who are already experts, don't hesitate to comment about things I may have overlooked.

Manos a la obra...let's get to work.

You can use quedar as a synonym for estar when it comes to location.

¿Me ayuda por favor? No sé dónde queda la tienda.
Can you help me please? I don't know where the store is.

Dobla a la derecha. Ahí queda, junto al banco.
Turn right, it's right there, next to the bank

You could just have easily used estar in place of quedar. Why use quedar instead of estar? No reason at all to use one over the other, except for personal or regional preferences.

Quedar can be used to talk about what's left, or what's remaining.

¿Queda más pan?
Is there any bread left?

¿Cuánto tiempo nos queda?
How much time do we have left?

Nos quedan 20 minutos
We've got 20 minutes left

The idea of having something, or even nothing left over doesn't just extend to food and time.

Y con eso, me queda sin palabras
And with that, I'm speechless

Oddly enough, you can also use quedar to talk about your level of understanding.

Gracias por contestar mi pregunta, pero todavía no me queda muy claro.
Thanks for answering my question, but it's still not clear to me.

¿Te queda claro o todavía necesitas ayuda?
Is that clear or do you still need help?

Change the context and your tone of voice and you get a slightly different meaning.

¡Te dije que no! ¿Te queda claro?
I said no! Is that clear?

If you need to make arrangements to meet with someone, guess what verb you can use? Yep, you guessed it, quedar.

¿A qué hora vamos a quedar?
What time are we going to meet?

¿Quedamos a las 8?
Can we meet at 8?

Here's where things can get a little messy. When you use quedar in the present tense, you're making arrangements to meet, as in the examples above. But things aren't always quite so clear when you use quedar in the past tense. Here's an example.

Quedamos ayer.

That could mean one of two things.

Quedamos ayer.
We met yesterday.

Quedamos ayer.
Yesterday we agreed to meet.

So how do you know the difference? Context. Here are some less ambiguous examples.

¿Hablaste con Victor? Sí, quedamos ayer.
Did you talk to Victor? Yes, we met yesterday.

Ayer quedamos en que vamos a ir a cenar hoy
Yesterday we agreed to go dinner today.

I found this next usage of quedar a little surprising.

Todos los días paso por la heladería porque me queda de camino a casa
Everyday I pass by the ice cream shop because it's on my way home

¿Te queda en camino?
Is it on your way?

I actually posted about this ages ago. You can read about it here.

OK, time for the next usage.

When it comes to talking about how clothes look and fit on yourself or someone else, quedar is your verb of choice.

Eso te queda muy bien.
That looks good on you.

Te queda preciosa
It's looks great on you

¿Cómo me queda?
How do I look?

Notice I translated queda as look. The truth is, when it comes to clothing you can translate quedar as "to look" or "to fit" depending on the context. Honestly, it's just something you have to get a feel for by using it and hearing it used.

Here are some more examples.

No te queda
That doesn't suit you

In this case our sentence could mean "that's not you" / "that's not your style", or maybe even "that doesn't fit". Context will make the difference in translation. If you're trying on a bright red suit with yellow shoes and you're generally a conservative dresser, I'd go with "that's not your style".

Here are some more examples.

Creo que la falda que tienes, con esta blusa blanca, quedaría muy bonita.
I think that the skirt you have with this white blouse would look very pretty.

Te queda un poco suelto.
It's a little loose on you.

Te queda un poco ajustado.
It's a little tight on you.

Te queda chica (grande)
It's too small (big)

There's at least one other usage of quedar that I can think of, but but I'll get to that in an upcoming post. I'll also take a look at the verb quedarse, so stay tuned.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Let's have some fun today.

One day you may find yourself wanting to express to someone how attractive they are, and while Spanish has words like guapa, guapo, bonita, atractivo and the like, it can be way more fun using "slangier" words.

There's going to be some good stuff in here for both guys and gals, so let's get started.

Ricky Martin es todo un galán
Ricky Martin is a complete hunk

A galán is basically your classic movie star, telenovela type of handsome. You'll see this word used quite a bit in entertainment news. While this isn't slang, it's definitely a word to boost a man's ego. If you're really trying to sweep a man off his feet, this is a good choice.

Next we have guapetón, or guapetona.

Mira que guapetón es mi novio
Look at how handsome my boyfriend is

Quiero presentarte a mi amiga, es bien guapetona
I want to introduce you to my friend, she's really pretty

Now, I translated guapetón and guapetona as handsome and pretty, but the truth is, that's not quite right. Guapo or guapa would translate to handsome or pretty. Guapetón and guapetona are a step above plain old handsome and pretty. It's like saying someone is incredibly handsome or pretty. So if you happen to be on the receiving end of this word, you can hold your chin high and walk with your chest poked out.

You could also substitute the words hermosisimo or hermosisima above, which is a variation on the word hermoso. It's like multiplying hermoso times two. You're saying this person is drop-dead gorgeous. This will definitely win you some bonus points.

In English you can tell someone they have the body of a God or Goddess. Spanish is no different.

Tienes cuerpo de un dios griego
You have the body of a Greek god

Eres una diosa
You're a Goddess

FYI, when some refers to a woman as a diosa, they're typically talking about the total package, a great body and a beautiful face.

While we're on the subject of nice bodies, you could also say:

Tienes buen cuerpo
You have a great body

And that's a great compliment, but if you're trying to say you think someone has a really great body, then go with this one:

Que cuerpazo tienes
You have an incredible body

Here's another one to compliment a pretty face.

Hola preciosa
Hey gorgeous

For a guy, you'd say precioso.

You're probably very familiar with the next few Spanish words, they've practically been assimilated into English.

Hola mamacita
Hello baby

Calling a woman mamacita implies that you find her attractive, not only physically, but sexually as well. Depending on who you're talking to, this may not be taken kindly. Think of it as calling a woman a hot mama in English. It could be considered just plain disrespectful.

Eres todo un papacito

Literally, papacito translates as little daddy, but that's nowhere near accurate.

At the moment I can't think of an appropriate word in English for papacito. But the translation isn't really important, what's important is she digs you. If a woman calls you a papcito, she's thinking you're pretty hot. Charming, sexy and attractive could be words running through her mind.

You may also here the word papi, which is really a term of endearment.

Hola papi
Hi baby

Let's keep going, we're almost done.

Eres una yegua

A yegua is actually a female horse, or a philly, as we say in English. It's another way of saying a woman is good looking, a voluptuous or sexy woman. But be careful, in some places calling a woman a yegua can be an insult.

Fear not ladies, you also have a way of comparing a man to a horse. And no, that's not what I'm talking about. Kudos to those of you who get that.

Eres todo un potro
You're a stallion

Officially a potro is a male horse, or stallion. At this point do I even need to say what it means unofficially?

Here's a joke for you.

¿En qué se parece el hombre a los caballitos de mar?
How are men like seahorses?

En que se creen potros y son unos pescados
They think they're stallions but they're just fish

Sorry, Let's get back on track and wrap this up.

You can tell someone:

Estás buenisima
You're hot

Buenisimo for a guy. Buenisima can have a sexual connotation, so be careful. In fact, the remaining things I'm going to share all have a sexual connotation.

Estas bien buena
You are really hot

Again, bueno for a man.

These are even more forward.

Te ves deliciosa
You look delicious

Yeah, I think you get it.

Te ves bien rico
You look delicious

Rico or rica typically applies to food, but as you can see it applies to people as well. I did mention this can have a sexual connotation right?

Wow, that's it for now. There are probably dozens of other ways to compliment someone informally, but this is more than enough to get you started.

¡Chao!

I remember when I first heard this word, apapacho. It was in one of my Spanish tutoring sessions oh-so long ago. I really didn't understand what it meant even after my tutor explained it, but I blew it off thinking, "when am I ever really going to see this word? Probably never". It turns out I was wrong. This word has popped up more times than I ever would have thought.

I'm pretty sure this is a very Mexican word, but if you listen to enough Mexicans speak, you're bound to run into it, so pay close attention and let's get to it.

Before we can talk about what an apapacho is, we need to take a step back and talk about the word apapachar.

To apapachar is to show someone affection, a little TLC. You know, hugs, kisses, caresses and just saying really sweet things, from a romantic perspective.

Yo no tengo con quien apapachar
I don't have anyone to be loving with

You can also apapachar your children. For example, your child hurts him or herself so you give them a hug to make them feel better.

The truth is apapachar covers giving someone any type of affection and TLC, and comforting them in their time of need whether it be a friend, significant other or a family member. For example, taking care of someone when they're sick, like bringing them breakfast in bed.

Estoy enferma, tengo mucha gripá y tos...
Necesito que me apapachen

I'm sick, I've got a bad cold and cough
I need you guys to take care of me

I translated that as to "take care of..", but it's really more like pampering someone. You know, getting their medicine, making them breakfast in bed, that kind of thing. Just being really sweet to them.

Let's take a look at other ways to say apapachar.

There's dar mimos (to spoil someone), dar cariño / muestra de cariño (show affection), abrazar con cariño (to hug someone with affection), acariciar / darle caricias (to caress someone), querer (to love), abrazar (to hug), and consolar (to console) someone. These are a lot more standard and well known.

Hopefully you've gotten an idea of what apapachar means. Now we can move on to apapacho.

Yo te mando un apapacho
I'm sending you a hug

I'm not sure the word hug is really a direct translation, but let's not get hung up on words. The idea we're trying to convey is that apapachar is to show someone affection, and an apapacho is a display of affection.

Here's some definitions of apapachar written by native speakers that I found on Google. The English translations are mine.

Apapachar es dar cariño, amor, apoyo, a una persona querida o que tu sientes que lo necesita
Apapachar is to show affection, love, support to a person dear to you or that you feel needs it.

Un apapacho lo da una madre a un hij@ que se ha caido de la bicicleta y se ha raspado.
An apapacho is the love (affection) a mother gives her child that's fallen off their bike and gotten bruised.

Un apapacho lo da el amig@ cuando tu pareja te ha dejado.
An apapacho is the support you give to a friend when their significant other has left them.

Un apapacho lo das a tu pareja en una noche de lluvia y l@s dos están abrazados sin decir nada mirando la lluvia caer sobre el cristal de la ventana.
An apapacho is what you give your significant other on a rainy night when you're hugging each other without saying a word while watching the rain fall on the window.

¿Claro como el agua, no?
Crystal clear, right?

Here's another picture for you. I don't know if it helps, but who can resist such a cute baby?

Hopefully you get the idea. If not, just start tossing around an apapachar here and an apapacho there and it will all start to make sense soon enough.

¡Chao!

I remember the first time I heard the verb quedarse. I was in Mexico leaving my hotel room for the day just as the maid was arriving. She asked me:

¿Cuántos días más te vas a quedar?

My mind went into overdrive and somehow I figured out what she was asking me. I really don't know how, because my Spanish really wasn't all that good at the time and quedarse hadn't yet become part of my vocabulary. In fact, at the time I didn't even realize the verb she was using was quedarse. But after a few days I got back home and found out that one of the most common meanings of quedarse is to stay.

¿Cuántos días más te vas a quedar?
How many more days are you going to stay?

Me quedo tres días más
I'm staying three more days

Quedarse is not just for staying in hotel rooms.

Tengo que quedarme en el trabajo hasta tarde
I have to stay late at work

Ve tú, yo me quedo
You go, I'll stay

Quédate aquí
Stay here

Me quedé en casa
I stayed at home

Quedarse con means to keep something.

Quédate con el cambio
Keep the change

Me ofrecieron el puesto, per lo más probable es que me quedé con el mismo trabajo
They offered me the position, but most likely I'll keep my current job

Ladies, you'll probably find this usage particularly useful. When you're out shopping quedarse is great for telling the salesperson what you want.

me quedo con esta camisa.
I'll take this shirt.

me quedo con este
I'll take this one

Quedarse sin means to be without something.

Me quedé sin trabajo, ¿Y ahora qué hago?
I don't have a job, what do I do now?

Me quedé sin ideas.
I'm out of ideas

¡Me quede sin gasolina y no arranca!
I'm out of gas and it won't start!

Mi celular se quedó sin batería
The battery on my cell phone is dead

Remember when I said there are some surprising uses of quedarse? Well, at least they were surprising to me.

Me quedé embarazada
I got pregnant

Me estoy quedando pelón
I'm going bald

me quedé dormida
I overslept

Interestingly enough, you can use the same sentence to say I fell asleep.

Me quedé dormida
I fell asleep

Context will help you figure out what's what, or you can just be more specific.

Me quedé dormida viendo la tele
I fell asleep watching TV

Me quedé dormido esta mañana
I overslept this morning

Me quedo en blanco
My mind went blank

These are the uses of quedarse that immediately come to mind, and while this list is probably far from exhaustive, it will expand your horizons immensely.

Espero que les sirva.

At some point we all learn the word embarazada means pregnant.

Estoy embarazada

I'm pregnant

That's fabulous, but every book I've ever seen leaves out how to answer all the questions that are bound to come after you tell someone you're "embarazada". But don't worry, today we'll clear all that up.

On several occasions I've struck up a conversation with complete strangers by asking...

¿Para cuándo esperas?
When are you due?

As usual, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

¿Para cuándo?

¿De cuánto tiempo estás (embarazada)?

You can also just shorten this to ¿de cuánto estás?

¿De cuántos meses estás embarazada?

¿Qué tiempo tiene?

¿Para cuándo estás?

¿Cuantos meses de embarazo tienes?

¿Cuanto meses tienes/estás?

While you have several options, I recommend you just choose one and stick with it. Now let's talk about the answer you can expect to hear, or give, should that be the case.

¿De cuántas semanas estás?
De 11.

How many weeks are you?
11.

Tengo 6 meses de embarazo
I'm 6 months pregnant

Estoy embarazada de 6 meses y no tengo casi nada de panza
I'm 6 months pregnant and I almost have no stomach

And of course you substitute semanas for meses in the examples above.

Estoy embarazada de dos meses aun faltan 7 meses
I'm two months pregnant and I've got 7 months to go

There's another phrase that will come in handy in this situation, Dar a luz.

¿Cuando vas a dar a luz?
When are you going to have the baby?

I actually blogged about this last year. You can read about it here.

Let's take a step back and figure out how to talk about getting pregnant in the first place. You need quedarse to talk about getting pregnant.

¿Cómo me quedo embarazada?
How do I get pregnant?

Me quedé embarazada
I got pregnant

If you need talk about who got you pregnant, use estar embarazada de.

Estoy embarazada de mi novio
I'm pregnant with my boyfriend's baby

Estoy embarazada de Carlos
I'm pregnant with my Carlos's baby

The word for pregnancy is embarazo.

Los primeros síntomas de embarazo
The first symptoms of pregnancy

¿Ya te hiciste la prueba de embarazo?
Have you already taken a pregnancy test?

And of course everyone wants to know if you're having a boy or a girl.

¿Conoces el sexo de tú bebe?
Do you know the sex of the baby?

Sí, va a ser un varón
Yes, it's going to be a boy

Other options can be mujer, mujercita, niño or niña.

¿Tienes alguna preferencía?
Do you have a preference?

¿Que prefieres, niña o niño?
Do you want a boy or a girl?

Ojala que sea niño
I hope it's a boy

A madre primeriza is a first time mother.

Soy madre primeriza
I'm a first time mother

You can also just shorten that to Soy primeriza.

Let's not forget the gentlemen.

Soy padre primerizo.
I'm a first time father.

You can also say Soy papá primerizo.

If you want to congratulate someone on their new baby, it's really easy.

Te felicito por el niño / la niña
Congratulations for the baby boy/girl

I think I put the cart before the horse. You may want to start off by asking if they're pregnant.

¿Estás embarazada?
Are you pregnant?

Once the baby's finally here, the questions just keep coming.

¿Cuando nacío el/la bebe?
When was the baby born?

Notice the el / la. The word bebe is the same for a boy or girl, so you need the el or la to clear things up.

¿Cuánto pesa tu bebé?
How much does your baby weigh?

¿Cuanto pesó tu bebe al nacer?
How much did your baby weigh at birth?

Mi bebé pesó 16 libras
My baby weighed 16 pounds

You might think 16 pounds is crazy, but I actually found this headline in Google.

Nació el bebé más grande de Texas, pesó 16 libras
The biggest baby born in Texas weighed 16 pounds

Sorry, let's get back on track.

¿Con cuanto mide?
How long is the baby?

Mi bebé mide alrededor de 7 a 8 centímetros de largo
My baby is around 7 to 8 centimeters long

The last thing we're going to cover is when a woman is blessed with more than bundle of joy.

Estoy embarazada de gemelos.
I'm pregnant with twins.

Gemelos actually means identical twins. Mellizos are fraternal twins.

Take a look at this picture. Aren't they adorable?

Anybody want to take a guess as to what vas a tener trillizos means?

Vas a tener trillizos
You're going to have triplets

That's it for today, ¡Chao!

So there I was in Mexico in desperate need of an ATM machine. Sadly I didn't know where to find one, or how to ask for one. I had a faint recollection of how to say ATM in Spanish because I had heard the word once before in a podcast, but I couldn't remember it to save my life. But desperate times called for desperate measures and I absolutely had to break down and ask someone where to find an ATM.

I walked into the closest building which just happened to be a casino and started talking. I don't remember what I said, but I remember the gentlemen I was talking to having a blank look on their faces (most assuredly because of my wretched Spanish) and me ending the conversation with...

¿Saben donde esta un cajero?

I went in the direction they pointed to and there was no ATM machine in sight. I did however, find a bar with a cash register, which is exactly what I asked for, a cajero. A cajero is actually a cashier, not an ATM machine. While I did eventually find an ATM, it wasn't until much later that I was able to find out how to ask for an ATM machine in Spanish.

¿Hay un cajero automático por aquí?
Is there an ATM machine around here?

Cool, now we know how to ask for an ATM. But guess what? That's only half the battle, because the ATM machine you have to use might not have English as a language option. And that my friends, is what we're going to talk about today.

I'm going to walk you through withdrawing your hard earned cash from an ATM in Spanish. It's not as hard as you might think, but it certainly won't hurt to have a "how to" lesson on doing it before you do it for real the first time.

Let's get started. BTW, this is probably going to be a bit long, so I recommend you get comfortable.

Marque su PIN
Enter your PIN

That should be pretty straight-forward. You may also see codigo secreto for PIN. FYI, marque comes from the verb marcar.

Ver Saldo de Cuenta
Account balance

I'm not going to translate everything, so anything I don't cover you can consider it to be your homework assignment.

Of course you have to press OK after entering your PIN, but the button was on the machine and not the pantalla - screen.

OK, so now we're ready to get down to business.

If you don't already know it, efectivo is cash. I first learned that from reading the Spanish on a gas station pump.

Retiro de Efectivo
Withdraw Cash

Reciba Saldos y Estados de Cuenta
Get Balance and State of your Account

Saldos means balance and cuenta is account. I selected Retiro de Efectivo.

This screen should be pretty self-explanatory. I went with...

Ingrese otra cantidad
Enter a different amount

Borrar means to erase. This is the button you want when you punch in a wrong number.

This is the screen you get when you don't put it the nice round numbers these machines like.

Este ATM utiliza billetes de $20 para los retiros. Ingrese una cantidad diferente.
This ATM uses increments of $20 for withdrawals. Enter a different amount.

Once you've finally entered everything properly, the ATM gives your efectivo and asks...

Sin Recibo
No receipt

Imprimir Recibo
Print Receipt

And that's it, así de facil.

Now keep in mind that your ATM might translate things a little differently, but we talked about all the key words that you need to know, so consider yourself armed and dangerous, ready to take another step down the path to fluency in Spanish.

Oh, one last thing. You probably noticed the pictures I posted here showed amounts in dollars. Well, in a Spanish speaking country those amounts will almost always be pesos, so be prepared. And as for dealing with conversion rates, that my friends, I leave up to you!

¡Hasta Luego!

I'd be willing to bet you haven't seen the word chesco in your dictionary or any other dictionary for that matter. I really don't remember where I came across this word, but never mind that, let's talk about what it means.

Like so many other words I talk about on this blog, chesco is mexican slang. The standard word is refresco. And if you've never heard the word refresco, you'll be glad you read this post. Here's a photo:

Yes, a refresco is a soda.

While chesco is mexican slang, the word refresco is universal. It's not hard to use, here's an example:

Dame dos tacos y un chesco
Give me two tacos and a soda

Quiero un chesco, una coca
I want a soda, a coke

Notice that you can say coca to order a coke. Coca seems to be pretty universal, I've used it with Dominicans and Puerto Ricans as well as Mexicans.

Since we're on the topic of refrescos, Mexico has it's own very popular (and delicious) brand of refrescos called Jarritos.

Personally, I love these things. They come in many different sabores (flavors) such as:

Tamarindo, mandarina, tuttifruti, jamaica, limón, toronja, guayaba, piña, fresa, mango
Tamarind, Orange, Fruit Punch, Jamaica, Lime, Grapefruit, Guava, Pineapple, Strawberry, Mango

My personal favorite is fresa. You can find Jarritos in any Mexican grocery store or authentic neighborhood Mexican restaurant.

While we're on the subject let's talk a little more about a refresco.

A refresco can come in a botella (bottle) or a lata (can). If it comes in a botella, then you're going to need to destapar the corcholata.

Destapar means to uncover or take the bottle cap off of our botella. You'll need a destapador for that.

And a bottle cap is called a corcholata. At least that's what it's called in Mexico. If your Spanish speaking friends are from another country, ask them what they call it, as I suspect each country has it's own name for it. In fact, share it in the comments section when you find out.

That's it for today. Now go out and enjoy your refesco of choice!

I love Mexican food. And as you all know, there are a ton of great Mexican restaurants that can be found all over the country. But there are also some great places that serve Mexican food that you may have overlooked.

Have you ever seen one of these?

We typically call these mobile restaurants taco trucks, but they're actually called loncheras. I'm not sure if this a Mexican term or not, but don't be afraid to use it. If your friends aren't familiar with the term you can have the honor of teaching them some Spanish.

On a side note, this is also a lonchera:

That's right, a lonchera is also a lunch box. We're not here to talk about that type of lonchera today, but if you want to take a walk down lunch box memory lane, click here to see a great collection of loncheras retro - retro lunch boxes.

Let's get back on track.

If you've never eaten at a lonchera, you've been missing out. Depending on where you live, finding a lonchera can be like searching for hidden treasure, but once you find one you won't be disappointed.

So what does a lonchera serve you ask? A little bit of everything. Here's a fairly typical menu:

Personally I almost always go for a torta or a trio of tacos - lengua, pollo and barbacoa.

Enough about my food interests. Maybe I'll talk about that in another post.

A lonchera may also be called a taquería, but a taquería can be a lot more than a taco bus.

In general, a taquería is a restaurant that specializes in tacos. The taquerías that I've seen often offer other items, but tacos are their primary business. Here in the US a taquería typically looks like a regular restaurant, but when you're walking the streets of Mexico they might look something like this:

There's also another kind of restaurant you can find in Mexico, a lonchería. A lonchería is a place you can go to have lunch.

When you're on the go in Mexico and don't have time to sit down and eat, don't worry, you don't have to go hungry. A quick stop at a puesto de tacos (taco stand) will take care of that hunger.

OK, now I'm getting hungry so it's time to wrap this up. But before I go I want to share one more thing.

Our Spanish books only give us two options to tell someone that we're hungry.

Tengo hambre
I'm hungry

Tengo mucho hambre
I'm very hungry

Well, yeah, those work and get your point across, but here are a few more ways to say you're hungry that are a lot more fun.

Me muero de hambre
I'm starving

Me estoy muriendo de hambre
I'm starving

The second version of "I'm starving" is a more literal translation, but I think the first version is more common. Either way, they both work.

Tengo tanta hambre que puedo comer una vaca entera
I'm so hungry I could eat an entire cow

Con esta hambre me puedo comer una vaca entera
I'm hungry enough to eat an entire cow

Yo con esta hambre y hay fila en la cafeteria
I'm so hungry and there's a line in the cafeteria

Traigo un hambre que parecen dos
I have a hunger that seems like two

This last one just doesn't make sense when you translate it literally. With that in mind, I'll give you a translation that more or less expresses the same idea.

Traigo un hambre que parecen dos
I'm hungry enough to eat for two

That's it for today! Go out and grab yourself a bite to eat at your favorite lonchera and enjoy!

Yes, it's that time again where I share some Spanish with you that I learned while I was out and about stuffing my face.

I just recently got a new job, and luckily there's a Mexican restaurant just a few minutes down the street. Only this isn't just any old Mexican restaurant.

So what's different about this place you ask? Well, let's start by explaining what a few of those words on the letrero (sign) mean. A taquería is a place that specializes in tacos, although many of these restaurants (including this one) sell much more than tacos. I actually talked about taquerías in my last post. If you missed it, click HERE.

Now let's talk about what a paletería is. A paletería is place were they sell paletas. OK, sorry, I know that didn't explain much of anything, but this probably will:

And yes, those are my fingers, just in case you were wondering.

Now you know a paleta is a popsicle. But paleterías don't just serve popsicles, they serve popsicles made of fresh fruit, and man do they taste good! You'll find all different kinds of flavors, like durazno (peach), sandia (watermelon), fresa (stawberry), melon (melon), mango (mango), mango con chile (mango with chile - it's supposed to be spicy but I've never tried it) and a ton of other flavors. Sandia is my favorite. Take a look at what's in the fridge:

To actually order one of these tasty treats, you can say something like:

Quiero una de fresa
I want a strawberry one

Deme una de sandia
Give me a watermelon one

Una paleta de melon
One melon popsicle

Don't forget the "por favor", you can never be too polite.

It's also fairly typical for a paletería to sell helado, which is ice cream for us English speakers. And it should come as no surprise that Spanish also has a word for an ice cream shop - heladería.

Speaking of ice cream, here are a couple of other words you should know if you plan on ordering ice cream in a paletería or heladería. But first, take a look at this video. I probably won't need to explain much of anything after you watch it.

Cono - You've probably guessed that this means cone.

Vaso - Technically this means glass. It could also be used to ask for a cup made of plastic, styrofoam or otherwise. And obviously for a cup of ice cream, even if the cup is actually a bowl. And you will probably see the words taza or copa as well.

And just to be thorough, an ice cream scooper is called a cuchara para helado. Or a pala para helado. Don't be surprised if there are other words for it as well. It's not uncommon for different Spanish speaking countries to use different words.

That's it for today. If you're still dealing with those hot summer days, run out to the nearest paletería or heladería and use your new Spanish vocabulary to get a nice refreshing helado or paleta to cool off!

And no, Burger King is not giving me a kick back for posting their video. I wish they were.

¡Hasta la proxima!

I just recently took a trip to la República Dominicana. It wasn't my first time there, but it was my first trip to Santo Domingo. Actually, the cities full name is called Santo Domingo de Guzmán. But hey, no need to get all technical and stuff, Santo Domingo will do.

I was only there for a few days, and there was a lot to take in. While I didn't get to do and see everything I wanted, I managed to squeeze in a few things. A few of the touristy things to do in Santo Domingo are to walk along the Malecón, visit the Acuario Nacional, La Catedral Primada de América, and walk and shop on El Conde. I'll write about those a little later. Today I'm going to tell you about what you really come here for, the Spanish.

Let's get to it.

My Spanish adventures started well before I arrived. It was a pleasure to land in the Miami airport and immediately being able to start speaking Spanish. There was nothing out of the ordinary to report though, until I got on the plane.

The sobrecargo or asistente de vuelo (flight attendant) was serving drinks and I asked for a coca, short for coca-cola. I picked that habit up from my experiences with Mexican Spanish, it's a very common way of asking for a coke. Anyway, he paused for a moment and then asked "coca-cola?", to which I replied "sí". It wasn't until a few days later that I found out why he asked.

It turns out that in Dominican Spanish the word coca is short for cocaina, not coca-cola. Imagine my surprise. Needless to say, for the rest of my time there I made sure to ask for a coca-cola. In fact, I'll probably use the full name from now on.

The weather in Santo Domingo is really nice in the morning before the heat really kicks in, so every morning I actually did quite a bit of walking, and along the way I would always greet people with the ever-so famous buenos días. Funny thing is, everyone greeted me with buen día. It didn't take me long to catch on and get with the program.

The next thing I noticed is that they use aló to answer the phone. Given that I'm accustomed to hearing bueno, this stuck out like a sore thumb.

Now let's talk about colmados. Colmados can be found all over the Santo Domingo. A colmado is something like a store at a gas station, where they sell things like sodas, snacks and basic groceries. The true hallmark of a colmado is that you'll find several chairs out front where you can just pull up a seat, chit-chat, relax and even drink a beer. Here's a photo:

Moving right along, let's talk about getting around the city. A very popular and economic way of getting around is via a mototaxi, also known as a motoconcho.

Mototaxi's are everywhere in the city. While I never personally saw a mototaxi with that many passengers, it wouldn't surprise me. Got luggage, bags or something else to carry? No problem. These guys are experts and can transport you and your belongings with no problem. Although notice I didn't say safely. These mototaxi's weave in and out of traffic like crazy. I'm surprised I didn't witness any crashes. One of the cab drivers I rode with confirmed my suspicions that crashes do happen every so often. I like to experience the local culture, but riding a motoconcho was too much for me. Also, a mototaxi is typically a moto, or motocicleta (motorcycle), but it can also be a pasolo, which is a scooter. Don't quote me on this, but pasolo might be a Dominican word. I'm working on trying to confirm that.

Like most countries, you can also catch a taxi. But like me, you probably wouldn't take this taxi.

This particular taxi (and yes, people actually ride in cabs like this) is called a publico. A publico is a shared cab. Multiple people get in and pay the fare to their destination. I didn't try a publico, maybe next time.

There didn't appear to be a standard for cabs, One time I rode in what was a fairly recent and well kept Honda Accord that seemed brand new. And the next day I saw this. Go figure.

Since we're on the subject of transportation, here's a phrase for you.

Hay mucho tapón

Didn't catch that? How about if I rephrase it?

Hay mucho transito

Still no luck? OK, let me explain.

Hay mucho tapón
Hay mucho transito
There's a lot of traffic

Don't ask me, I just report the Spanish as I learn it. While everybody knows the word trafico, which is standard Spanish for traffic, I never heard anybody use it.

I'm going to call this a wrap for today, but don't worry, there's more to come. I tried out some new foods (long time followers of my blog know I love to eat) and I still have more words and experiences to share with you.

¡Hasta la próxima!

No estaba muerto estaba de parranda

Encontramos de nuevo nos

¡Pulgar Arriba!

¿Por qué estás en cueros en la sala?

Pisteando en mi casa con mi kerida

Soy pelimorado a rayas

Para los ke pidieron fotos ojicafe

¿Que esta hoy en la cartelera?

Tenemos tequileros

Dale que viene la guagua

Y con eso, me queda sin palabras

Eres todo un potro

No hay mejor medicina que un buen apapacho

Me estoy quedando pelón

Vas a tener trillizos

Marque su PIN

Un chesco por favor

Vamos a una lonchera

¿Cono o vaso?

Bienvenido a la República Dominicana