A Spanish Word for Today

[D. Allan]

empanada, noun:

pasty

Empanadas are a very popular food in Latin America, especially in Argentina and Chile, and the word can be translated roughly as pasty. But empanadas are generally a bit smaller than the British pasty, and the pastry is crisper. The ends of the pastry case are also folded over to make a decorative rim. Typical fillings are carne, pollo, mariscos, choclo, and verduras - beef, chicken, seafood, sweet corn and vegetables.

In Spain, empanada refers to a pie, typically una empanada gallega a sardine or tuna pie.

Empanada pictures and a receipe

[D. Allan]

hueso, noun:

bone; stone

Like so many words in English and Spanish hueso has two different but conceptually related meanings. It can refer to the bones of a person or animal, or to the stones of fruit and olives.

un corte de carne con hueso

a cut of meat on the bone

aceitunas sin hueso

pitted olives

Remember that hueso does not refer to fish bones. The word for these is espinas:

con las espinas puedes hacer fondos de pescado

with the bones you can make a fish stock

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[Dr. Shane]

In Mexico, Central America and hispanic-populated areas of the US, empanadas are often filled with something sweet like pumkin pie filling, pineapple or caramel. They are eaten in the morning with coffee - like Americans eat donuts. They are often baked and some places use whole wheat flour so they are much healthier than donuts. They are pretty much like Hostess fruit pies.

[D. Allan]

Quote:

They are eaten in the morning with coffee - like Americans eat donuts.

Cielos! :)

[D. Allan]

On a more serious note - thanks for the photo. And I look forward to your continued input to help us all know more about not only the language but the culture of Spanish speakers also.

[Dr. Shane]

Word: punto

Pronunciation: POON-toh

Meaning: point (most meanings), dot, spot or place, state or condition, a touch

Example: Un visitante me preguntó: "¿Qué puntos de interés puedo visitar mientras esté en la ciudad?"

Translation: A visitor asked me, "What points of interest can I visit while I'm in the city?"

[Guest gem]

I want one right now :)

[D. Allan]

I want one right now, also!

¡Quiero uno ahora, también!

[D. Allan]

Thanks, Shane, for the word.

Puntos de interés: Ciudad de México, México

Places (points) of interest: Mexico City, Mexico.

The Zocalo area,

The Palacio de Bella Artes,

The Plaza do Garibaldi,

Chapultepec Castle

Xochilmilco - like countryside within the city

Teotihuacan - home of the Aztecs - a city 30 miles north of Mexico City

- source of this list: http://www.hotellepanto.com/Epages/travel_mex.html

A big picture of Teotihuacan pyramids.

[D. Allan]

lunes, noun: Monday

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

todos los lunes

every Monday

Jugamos los lunes.

We play on Mondays.

To talk about last Monday you use pasado, and to talk about next Monday you use the article and que viene:

el lunes pasado

last Monday

el lunes que viene

next Monday

Notice that in the next example there is no ‘on’ in Spanish:

La vi el lunes.

I saw her on Monday.

It seems English speakers aren’t the only ones who don’t like Mondays. There’s a Latin American expression hacer San Lunes, which means to stay away from work on Monday.

- http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/es/

[D. Allan]

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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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006.

[Dr. Shane]

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)

[D. Allan]

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.

[D. Allan]

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.

[D. Allan]

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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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006

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

[D. Allan]

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

[D. Allan]

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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[D. Allan]

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!

[D. Allan]

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.

- www.dictionary.com

[color:#993300]

[D. Allan]

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

[Dr. Shane]

QUINCEAÑERA FIT FOR A PRINCESS

For $30,000 a latin débutante can have a quinceañera at Disneyland with 500 guests, sleep in the princess mansion and ride in the Cinderella coach. Since Disney offers it, we can assume there are people buying it. This goes to prove that not all hispanics in America are picking tomatoes.

In our area, here in South Texas, parents OFTEN spend as much on their daughter's quinceañera as they will later on their wedding! It also is a class issue. Teenage girls want to one up their classmates and parents use quinceañeras to impress their friends and family with their status.

[Dr. Shane]

Word: el trampolín

Pronunciation: trahm-poh-LEEN (Note that the Spanish r here is pronounced with a tap of the tongue against the front of the palate.)

Meaning: springboard (literal or figurative), diving board, ski jump

Example: La mexicana Laura Sánchez, actual campeona centroamericana y del caribe, calificó a la final del trampolín de 3 metros en la segunda jornada de actividades.

Translation: Laura Sanchez of Mexico, current Central American and Caribbean champion, qualified for the final in the 3-meter diving board during the second round.

Warning: The device known as a trampoline in U.S. English is usually referred to as "una cama elastica," although trampolín is also sometimes used because of influence from English.

[Dr. Shane]

Word: engañar

Pronunciation: eng--NYAHR (The Spanish r here is pronounced with a tap of the tongue against the front of the palate.)Listen

Meaning: to deceive, to defraud, to mislead, to lie, to cheat on

Example: El ladrón nos engañó a todos desde el principio.

Translation: The thief deceived all of us from the beginning.

[D. Allan]

atrevido participio pasado

1.adjetivo osado: daring, bold

2.adjetivo insolente: insolent, impudent

3.adjetivo indecoroso: daring, risqué

atrevidamente, adverbio: boldly

La ignorancia es atrevida. Ignorance is courageous (daring, bold). - Spanish proverb

[D. Allan]

uva, (ooba) feminine noun:

grape

At midnight of New Year's eve in Spain they have a custom:

"Tomar las uvas de la suerte"

"to eat the grapes of (the) luck"

Read about it at this page translated from Spanish.

To read the original Spanish text simply mouse over the English. Its a handy neat method of refreshing your Spanish!