Write a word that you know in Spanish

[LC143]

Sancocho=Stew.

My mother is always making this in the winter, but I never knew the English translation until a friend was making some and described it to me after a reference made to her mother. . Neat

[Cielosur]

Espectaculo = spectacle or show, show business

Es un espectaculo deplorable.  (It is a deplorable spectacle.)

Me gusta seguir las noticias del mundo del espectaculo.  (I like to follow show business news.)

[dylr88]

Boludo,  meaning jerk or stupid, it literally it translates to something like big balls, usually used in Argentina,  from what I've learnt,  it is used among friends too in a friendly way, like pal.

Grillo is a cricket. Pulpo is octapus.

[Rosa]

Amigo-friend

I learnt this word from a neighbor years ago, as a little girl. I started saying "mi amigo"(my friend) quite often too and this might have been what inspired me to study Spanish.

[joeldeperu]

There is a very known saying in spanish language and goes this way: "El que mucho abarca poco aprieta", which means that you should go accordingly to your capacities and do not try to exceed them or else you will fail completely, only do what you can and no more than that. The closest meaning to this saying could be: "Do not bite more than you can chew"

[TDev]

Vaso - glass (as in recipient for liquids)

I chose this word because it initially caused me some confusion. The Portuguese word for glass is "Copo". So, during my first time in Spain, I asked for a "Copa" - a word I knew existed - in a restaurant.

I was promply corrected by a friend that I wanted a "Vaso", not a "Copa", which is the word for alcoholic beverages in Spain. Since that time, I've never made that mistake again

By the way, in Portuguese, the word "Vaso" means plant pot.

[averyw]

Buenas! = Good! (used as a greeting)

Something I found interesting, being a native English speaker, is that when you great someone in colloquial Spanish, you can say buenas rather than buenas tardes, buenas noches, etc. The reason I thought it was so interesting is because rather than dropping the "good" and just saying "afternoon!" or "night!", as it is in English, you drop the "afternoon!" or "night!" and just say "good".

[Traveler]

palabra = word

I choose this because when I'm getting into a language, I like to learn the vocabulary that deal with language, writing, etc. because I am a writer and reader.

[Trellum]

Espejismo = It literally means mirage.

I really like this word, maybe because it ends in ''ismo''. Not sure, but it indeed is an interesting sounding word. There are some word that just have an interesting sound and amazing vibe related to them, this is one of them, at least for me

[Trellum]

Buenas! = Good! (used as a greeting)

Something I found interesting, being a native English speaker, is that when you great someone in colloquial Spanish, you can say buenas rather than buenas tardes, buenas noches, etc. The reason I thought it was so interesting is because rather than dropping the "good" and just saying "afternoon!" or "night!", as it is in English, you drop the "afternoon!" or "night!" and just say "good".

Yeah, I actually do that, but we only do it when we know the person or persons well, when we don't know someone that well we say the whole phrase. Most Spanish speakers attempt to ave a few words   I'm guilty of that   Specially in Mexico, there is a climate of colloquialism over there.  They try to keep it as colloquial and as informal as possible.

[alabala]

"burro" means donkey in Spanish and

"burro" means butter in Italian

Can you think how it would sound like if I asked for more "burro" in my boccadillo?

[zabina12]

My grandmother knows Chabacano which is a Spanish-based dialect or language spoken in the Philippines mostly in the part of Mindanao. I learned some words from her.

Mi Amor - My Love

Estrella - Star

Aqua - Water

[SpringBreeze]

Here's a word...

Enseñar = to teach

This verb used in a sentence would look like this: Te voy a enseñar a querer = I'm going to teach you to love.

"Te voy a enseñar a querer" is actually the name of a telenovela I'm watching now  :grin:

[OddVisions]

por favor- please

  This is one of the first words/phrases I learned when trying to learn Spanish. However, it's also one I'm sure everyone here knows.

la leche- milk

  I love this word. I learned it along with jugo de naranja. Jugo de naranja is the word for orange juice! These are two very important breakfast words!

[PotentialPolyglot]

sombra = shadow

I learned this word when I heard it in several songs from my favourite band. They have songs in English and Spanish and when listening to Spanish versions that word kept coming up every so often.

[OddVisions]

mal- meaning 'bad' in Spanish.

I learned this word when I had a bad tummy ache in high school. On my way into the class, the teacher said something that ended with mal. It was one of the first few days and we hadn't covered the word yet. At the time, it seemed like such an odd word but now I almost slip it into my English by accident that I'm so used to it.

[Verba]

Rapido - Quick

silla - chair

the numbers 1 - 10 in spanish - uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nieve, diez

and I can count on and on...

My daughter who's taking Spanish now was amazed when I recited the numbers to her up to 100 in Spanish. Lol! I told her it's because our some of our words have been influenced by the Spanish language. The spellings may be different but they mean the same.

[RedRose]

Llorar = To cry

I think it's interesting because the verb Llorar isn't always used in certain sentences. The phrase 'Cry out for help' translates to, 'Pedir a gritors por ayuda.' But, the phrase 'To cry one's heart out' translates to, 'Llorar desconsolademente.' It's a mouthful! Whenever you learn a word, learning also how to use it in a sentence is helpful.

[picklefingers]

Tonto - Dumb, idiot.

No mama. No soy un tonto.

I actually learned this from a friend. We were looking at a forest called tonto national forest and exclaimed "HA, dumb national forest".

[OddVisions]

Cocinar (to cook) or una cocina (a cook/ a kitchen) or una cocina principal (chef) are all pretty much exactly the same word with different meaning depending on how you use it in a sentence! Kind of like how read has a past tense in English that is spelled exactly the same.

[Marie92]

nadar - to swim

[Amy]

Largo means long

Tenedor means fork

Mesa means table

[kurdapia]

tomar means to drink

[AExAVF]

The word quiebra means bankruptcy. but it has other meanings too, such as to crack or break.

There is a song, Noche de Ronda, with the opening lyrics luna que se quiebra which means the moon "breaks", or shines.

[czarina84]

Juevos - eggs

 

But it's not always that innocent.  I was talking to a Mexican woman about her children and going on Easter egg hunts.  Para bus car juevos.  She got really quiet and the waitress next to us was giggling uncontrollably.  Apparently when used in conversation, juevos can also mean… well… man eggs (use your imagination) depending on where your from.  In some places they mean eggs more, but in others it takes on a more slang meaning.  So when in doubt my friends:

 

Blanquillos - eggs

 

Lord knows I'll never forget that one.

That gives me something to think about when I order Huevos Rancheros.