Spanish Vocabulary

Spanish word of the day / Spanish expression of the day / Spanish idioms / Spanish proverbs


Learn Spanish by watching movies and TV shows. Tips and tools.

If when you think about learning Spanish, you think about 1:1 lessons, conversation exchanges or classes and grammar books, and the prospect sounds a bit arid, think again. I am all for unconventional learning. I am also about adapting the learning to the specific needs of my students because: One […]


6 Best Movies on Netflix for Spanish Learners

In a previous article, I suggested five books written in Spanish to indulge in your Spanish language interest. In this article, I have 6 movies or TV series to put your listening skills into practice. “It’s funny how the colours of the real world only seem really real when you […]


5 must-read books to improve your Spanish 1

Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world. – Malala Yousafzai Learning Spanish at a low pace means taking fewer lessons and spend more time doing the activities you love in Spanish. If you are something like me, you are a bookworm […]


Practical Poetry. Hypothesis, Imperfecto Subjuntivo and Condicional through poetry

Writing poetry in your target language is – can be–, a way to more than increasing vocabulary and reaching accuracy. Although these reasons are already good in themselves. Writing poetry through guided prompts can help you nail down grammar structures in manner that involves your emotions and your experiences.  There […]


Why poetry is great to learn Spanish? 2

I recently sent a questionnaire to my audience asking them what their struggles were in Spanish and what they wanted or needed more of to improve and progress in their Spanish journey. One of the questions I asked was how interested they were in a poetry course in Spanish to […]


How to find the right words in Spanish?

How to find the words to say what you want to say, and how you want to say it? In other words, how to achieve accuracy in Spanish?  At the base of an accurate expression in Spanish – or any other language you are learning–, is an understanding of basic […]


Mindfulness in Spanish Learning - The Body Scan

Mindfulness in Spanish Learning – The body scan 1

Meditation in Spanish <blockquote><p style=”text-align: center;”>Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.</p></blockquote>I have talked extensively about the benefits of <a href=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/spanish-blog/meditation-and-language-learning/”>meditation for your language learning</a> practice. Having a calm mind will result in a more efficient Spanish practice, but what if you combine meditation […]


Journaling in Spanish

10 Journaling Prompts to Practice Ser and Estar in Spanish 4

Journaling is one of the best ways to improve your Spanish. Why? Because you not only put into practice what you have learned but also, and most importantly because you connect emotionally with what you are writing. “A personal journal is an ideal environment in which to become. It is […]


5 tips to sound like a native Spanish speaker

5 Steps to sound like a native Spanish speaker 4

Every language has its own prosody – the patterns of stress and intonation–. That’s why when we are in a foreign country we can recognise our compatriots by hearing them speaking even if we don’t hear what they say. In this post you will learn: The intonation in Spanish Five […]


How to pass the DELE oral exam

How to pass the DELE oral exam

This post focuses on the speaking tasks of DELE B2, DELE C1 and  DELE C2 oral exam. These tasks involve expressing an opinion and negotiating / arguing with the examiner in a formal / informal conversation. In this post we also cover the DELE exam topics for the DELE B2, […]


Spanish True Friends (Spanish Cognates)

The Spanish that you Already Know There is a lot you already know when you start learning Spanish, even if you haven’t studied it before.  First of all, languages are not isolated things. Each language has commonalities with other languages. They are all part of a family and influence each other, so […]


The aperitif and the Spaniards. Get this cultural way of life. 2

Whether you are inclined to a beer or a glass of wine, having a drink and a small bite is part of Spanish culture as much as eating paella on Sundays. Every neighbourhood is populated with dozens of bars, from the tasca de barrio to the new restobar or gastropub.  Almost every […]


Describe your morning routine in Spanish and create a successful Spanish routine 1

Cada día es un nuevo comienzo.(Every day is a new beginning)  <img width=”1170″ height=”350″ src=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1.png” alt=”” srcset=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1.png 1170w, https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1-300×90.png 300w, https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1-768×230.png 768w, https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1-1024×306.png 1024w” sizes=”(max-width: 1170px) 100vw, 1170px” /> There are multiple reasons why you should be comfortable describing your  morning routine, one of them being the DELE exam (as […]


Spanish Comics for Spanish Learners

Have you ever considered comics to improve or learn Spanish? Well, let me tell you if you haven’t, you should. Comics are a great way to access any language because they don’t have much text or long sentences and they show the current spoken language. History of the comic in […]


Vocabulary of the Senses

  As we advance in the journey of learning Spanish and we deepen in the Spanish language, we need resources to express with more and more detail our emotions, our surroundings, our views… These resources for advanced Spanish are at our disposal in books. Literature tends to be very descriptive […]


Learning Spanish with TV shows: Tips and ideas 1

What can be a better way to learn Spanish than doing it while watching one of your favorite TV shows? Many of my students keep asking me suggestions about TV shows in Spanish that they could watch to improve their learning and also, and if watching a TV show really […]


Verbs of transformation (Verbos de cambio) 2

Spanish has many verbs that are used for specific types of change or transformation, and if the change is sudden or involuntary. Many of those verbs mean “to become” in English but in Spanish they are not interchangeable because they have very specific meanings for particular situations. The next four verbs […]


Talk about wine in Spanish

I like wine. Yes, I can`t deny it. I also know I am not the only one. So, if you are a bit like me, you will enjoy this post very much. In every country I have traveled, what I want to do is to soak in their culture, talk […]


Gerund in Spanish (form and uses) 1

Gerund. And what’s that? FORM We make it by replacing the endings “-ar, -er, -ir” of the infinitive with -ando (verbs that ends in -ar) or -iendo for the verbs that end in -er, -ir Note: if the stem of the verb ends in vowel, ie. caer — ca-er, the […]


“Echar”: 7 meanings + 7 common expressions

“Echar” is a very tricky but I’m here to help! 🙂 If you look for the meanings of “echar” in the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy Dictionary) you will find about 48 meanings and as many expressions that use this verb. But despite all this abundance of meanings, the idea of […]


False Friends (II): “to advise” in Spanish 1

In today’s post, you will learn how to translate the verb “to advise” in Spanish. This is a false friend in Spanish because the meaning of “to advise” has nothing to do with “avisar”. To advise: ‘aconsejar, asesorar’ Avisar: ‘to notify, to warn, to call’ Not the same, are they? […]


Uneven couples in Spanish

As you all know, all nouns in Spanish have a genre, they are masculine or feminine. The main trait to distinguish if a word is masculine or female is by the ending. If the word ends by -o is masculine and if it ends by -a is feminine, although there […]


False Friends (I): “to realize” in Spanish

In this short post you will learn how to translate the verb “to realize” in Spanish. This is a false friend in Spanish, because we have the verb “realizar” but it’s nothing alike “to realize”. To realize ➠ ‘darse cuenta’ Realizar ➠ ‘to make, accomplish’ See? Not the same. Now, look […]


Suggest, accept and refuse plans

Suggest plans How useful is it to find the ways to propose, accept and refuse plans? In this post you will learn how to do exactly that. There are several ways of suggesting plans. Here I’ll show you few: – ¿Porqué no vamos a la playa mañana? – Why don’t […]


“Ser bueno” and “Estar bueno”: not the same thing? 7

“Ser” and “estar” are not the same thing, as the Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz tells us is his song “No es lo mismo” (here you can have a look at the lyrics in Spanish and its translation into English)   In a previous post, I wrote about the differences between […]


Deal with computers and the Internet in Spanish

In this post we will see very useful vocabulary about Internet, social networks, computers… Ordendores (‘computers’) – Portátil (‘laptop’) – Ordenador de mesa (‘desktop computer’)                 Activities Clicar, hacer clic, cliquear, pinchar (‘to click’). We have different options, all valid, for this verb. […]


Uses of a nightmarish couple: “quedar” and “quedarse” 14

Today I’m determined to solve one of my students’ worst nightmare. (cheers and applauses…) When do we use “quedar” and when “quedarse”? What does it mean “quedar”? and “quedarse”? These two verbs have completely different meanings and uses, let’s take a look at them: Quedar Quedar has a few meanings: […]


Describing personality in Spanish 2

We will learn some vocabulary related to describing someone’s personality in Spanish. When we want to ask about the physical aspect and the personality of someone we don’t know, we ask a general question: ¿Cómo es? (How is he / she?) But if we are just curious about the personality […]


¿Qué tiempo hace? – Talking about the weather in Spanish 2

Talking about the weather is a very handy topic in every language when you don’t know what to say. Here, I am going to give you all the vocabulary necessary to solve any uncomfortable silence in the lift. But before we get into that, let me tell you that “weather” […]


One verb, multiple uses ¿Vale?

This verb, valer, has different meanings in Spanish. 1. It’s used to ask for the price. It’s is accorded with the item whose price we want to know. Valer = ‘To cost’ – ¿Cuánto vale este bolso? How much is this bag? – ¿Cuánto valen estos zapatos? How much are […]


Pedir o Preguntar: solving a confusing verb pair (II) 1

  As we saw in a previous post, there exist few confusing verbs in Spanish. In this post I will take the doubts out of “pedir” and “preguntar”. Both verbs express the idea “to ask” reason why they are often mixed up by the Spanish learners. The choice of one […]