mano, noun: hand

Most Spanish nouns ending in the letter ‘-o’ are masculine.
Unfortunately, as with many rules, there are exceptions. The word mano is one of the few Spanish nouns ending in ‘-o’ but which are feminine.
So, you’ll need to make sure you use the correct article, la/las or una/unas:

¿Me echas una mano?
Can you give me a hand?

¿Te lavaste las manos?
Have you washed your hands?

When we’re talking about parts of the body in English we tend to use words like ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘his’. But in Spanish these words are usually used with the definite article, in this case la/las
Here are some other common words ending in ‘-o’ which are feminine:

la radio
the radio

la moto
the motorbike

la foto
the photo

Les saqué una foto a los niños.
I took a photo of the children.

setNote that it is la radio in Spain and southern Latin America, but elsewhere it is el radio.


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This is where Spanish gets butchered in North America. The wrong articles are often used without anyone even knowing they are wrong (speaker of listener)

As long as they understand each other, that is the main thing, i 'spose. If they butcher proper grammar then perhaps they are starting a new language or at least a dialect?

What is the purpose of 'gender' in language anyway? Wouldn't it make more sense to say La mano when speaking of a boy's hand and El mano when speaking of a girl's hand?

There is an interesting article on the topic here: Gender and Language.

martes, noun:
Tuesday

Like other Spanish days of the week, martes is not written with a capital letter and it is masculine. And like other days of the week ending in ‘-es’, such as lunes, martes is the same in the singular and the plural.

todos los martes
every Tuesday

Jugamos los martes.
We play on Tuesdays.

Many English-speakers feel that Friday 13th is unlucky. For Spanish-speakers the equivalent is martes y trece, Tuesday 13th. There is even a little rhyme to remind you:

En martes, no te cases ni te embarques.
Don’t get married or set sail on a Tuesday.


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The next martes y trece (tuesday the 13th) comes in May.

náhuatl (pronounced NAH-waht-l), noun:
the Nahuatl language

Náhuatl is the indigenous Mexican language which was spoken by the Aztecs. It is an important minority language in Mexico and certain areas of Central America today. From the náhuatl words ‘tomatl’, ‘aguacatl’, ‘chilli’, ‘xocoatl’ and ‘coyotl’ Spanish inherited the words listed below:

el tomate
tomato

el aguacate
avocado

el chile
chilli pepper

el chocolate
chocolate

el coyote
coyote

The very first book to be printed on the American continent was a catechism in Náhuatl edited by a Franciscan monk and published in 1539. Today the language is spoken by about a million people in the central plateau of Mexico, and has equal legal status with Spanish.


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Wow! Too cool! I didn't suspect that the Aztec language was still used. Still less that it gave us that most important, and delicious word: chocolate! which translated probably means 'bitter waters.'

links:
http://www.sil.org/mexico/nahuatl/00i-nahuatl.htm (excellent!)
http://www.indigenouspeople.net/nahuatl.htm (beautiful home page - some others don't work)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahuatl_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Spanish_words_of_Indigenous_American_Indian_origin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Spanish_origin
http://www.indians.org/welker/nahuatl.htm (a discussion list)
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~rjsalvad/scmfaq/nahuatl.html#grammars (dictionarys, grammars, texts, courses)
http://www.sil.org/americas/mexico/nahuatl/istmo/G020a-DiccNahIst-nhx.htm (dictionary for sale of the language as spoken around Vera Cruz, Mexico, )


Nahua art, painted on amate paper, collected 2003, Guerrero, Central Mexico

hasta mañana

gastar to spend (money)

Mi esposa gasta mucho dinero en el centro comercial.
My wife spends a lot of money at the mall.


.........sing......plural

First.......gasto.....gastamos
Second....gastas....gastáis
Third......gasta.....gastan

Check out the Spanish Audio Word of the Day! por favor!

hasta mañana

ojo, noun:

eye

Tengo algo en el ojo.
I’ve got something in my eye.

When we’re talking about parts of the body in English we tend to use words like ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘his’. But in Spanish these words are used by the definite article, in this case el or los.
There are lots of colorful phrases associated with parts of the body in English, such as ‘to cost an arm and a leg’, and so forth. The same thing happens in Spanish.
Sometimes the image is very similar:

ser todo ojo
to be all eyes

Es conocido por su buen ojo para los negocios.
He’s well-known for having a good eye for a business opportunity.

Other times it’s similar to English, but with a different twist:

¡Ojo! Es muy mentiroso.
Be careful/Look out! He’s an awful liar.

Ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente.
Out of sight, out of mind.

And often the image or idea is completely different.

Me costó un ojo de la cara.
It cost me an arm and a leg.

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prisa, noun:

rush; hurry

Prisa is often used with the verb tener:

Tengo prisa.
I’m in a hurry.

So it’s used in the same structure as phrases you probably already know, such as tener sed, to be thirsty and tener hambre to be hungry.
In another very common expression prisa goes with the verb dar used reflexively:

darse prisa
to hurry up

¡Date prisa!
Hurry up!

- dictionary.com

¡hasta mañana!

plaza de mayo, noun:

the Plaza de Mayo

All major cities have their iconic sites, such as Time Square and Red Square. One of the most famous places in Buenos Aires is la Plaza de Mayo, word for word: May Square.
It stands downtown, in front of the presidential palace. It is called Plaza de Mayo because it was in May 1810 that the events which led to the independence of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia from Spain were set in motion.
In recent history it is, sadly, most famous for las madres de la Plaza de Mayo and las abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo - the mothers and grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. These are the mothers and grandmothers of los desaparecidos - the disappeared - the thousands of people who were murdered by the military regime in the late 1970s. As a protest they demonstrated silently in the Plaza de Mayo.


- http://www.dictionary.com

quinceañero, noun:

teenager

This word is formed from:
quince - fifteen +
año - year +
-ero,a suffix which usually denotes a person belonging to a group or type.

Despite appearances, a quinceañero is not necessarily a fifteen-year-old, but a teenager of any age.

When Latin American girls reach the age of fifteen, it is a tradition for them to hold coming-out balls to celebrate. In Mexico, bands of musicians called los mariachis wearing the traditional costumes of sequin-studded cowboy-style suits and wide-brimmed Mexican hats, play serenades - mañanitas to entertain the guests. - dictionary.com


"Hispanic families, drawing upon an ancient indigenous custom, celebrate the fifteenth birthday of a child. The young person is called quinceañera if a girl; quinceañero if a boy. It is the recognition of the journey that a young person makes in the family, moving toward a rightful place in the community. It lifts up the dignity of the young as they grow in “wisdom, age and grace”." http://www.dioceseofpueblo.com/deaneries/Pueblo/Quinceanera2.htm

"The origins of Mexico's quinceañera celebrations remain obscure, although the roots may well lie in the era of the Aztecs. According to Bernardino de Sahagun, in his chronicle Historia de Nueva España, it was traditional for the parents of a young Aztec maiden to formally acknowledge her passage into womanhood. This included a stern but tender exhortation to observe acceptable modes of behavior. For a full English translation of the passage "Advice of an Aztec Mother to her Daughter" see William H. Prescott's The Conquest of Mexico." http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/dpalfrey/dpquince.html