Spanish
Word of the Day
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
cuidado, noun
care
care
One of the
basic meanings of cuidado is care.
Esta blusa hay que lavarla con cuidado
This blouse needs to be washed with care
This blouse needs to be washed with care
The phrase con cuidado often
translates as carefully:
Manejaba con cuidado
He was driving carefully
He was driving carefully
And you can
intensify cuidado with adjectives such as mucho or the more literary sumo:
Hay que estudiar la propuesta con mucho cuidado
We need to look at the proposal very carefully
We need to look at the proposal very carefully
Abrió la puerta con sumo cuidado para que
no lo oyeran
He opened the door very carefully so that they wouldn’t hear him
He opened the door very carefully so that they wouldn’t hear him
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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.
Spanish
Word of the Day
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
cumplir, verb
to carry out; to keep
to carry out; to keep
Cumplir is a very frequent and versatile verb, with lots of meanings.
Today we’re looking at two of them.
Los contratan para cumplir las misiones
más complicadas
They hire them to carry out the most complicated missions
They hire them to carry out the most complicated missions
In the
meaning of carry out cumplir is often used with the noun órdenes orders
Sólo cumplo órdenes
I’m just carrying out orders
I’m just carrying out orders
Cumplir una promesa means to keep a promise and cumplir su
palabra means to keep your word:
A ver si van a poder cumplir sus promesas electorales
Let’s see if they can keep their election promises
Let’s see if they can keep their election promises
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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.
Spanish
Word of the Day
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Thursday, August 15, 2013
dar, verb
to consider
to consider
Here’s a
relatively common meaning of dar that may be new to you. If you use dar in the structure dar + noun + por ... followed by an
adjective such as terminado, it means you consider that thing finished, and so forth. Here are some examples:
Lo podemos dar por terminado
We can consider it finished
We can consider it finished
Lo dieron por perdido hace tiempo
They gave it up as lost a while ago
They gave it up as lost a while ago
Quieren dar el asunto por zanjado
They want to consider the question settled
They want to consider the question settled
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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.
Spanish
Word of the Day
Friday, August 16, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
dos, number, pronoun
two
two
Dos is a number which has lots of idiomatic phrases associated with
it. Here are three.
en un dos por tres
in a flash
in a flash
Comida que está lista en un dos por tres
Food that’s ready in a flash
Food that’s ready in a flash
como dos y dos son cuatro
as sure as sure can be or as sure as eggs is eggs
as sure as sure can be or as sure as eggs is eggs
Como él no hay dos
He’s one of a kind or He’s special
He’s one of a kind or He’s special
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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.
Spanish
Word of the Day
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Saturday, August 17, 2013
estallar, verb
to explode; to burst; to break out
to explode; to burst; to break out
The key idea
behind estallar is an explosion of some kind, either literal or metaphorical.
La bomba estalló justo en medio de la
mezquita
The bomb exploded right in the middle of the mosque
The bomb exploded right in the middle of the mosque
Apart from
bombs, estallar is used to talk about a tyre bursting:
Las llantas traseras estallaron simultáneamente
The rear tyres burst at the same time
The rear tyres burst at the same time
... and also
to talk about events which can be explosive in one
way or another, such as revolutions, violence and wars.
al estallar la guerra en Europa
when war broke out in Europe
when war broke out in Europe
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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.
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