Spanish Word of the Day

Spanish Word of the Day

Spanish Word of the Day
Sunday, August 18, 2013

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igual, adverb
maybe; anyway

Igual as an adverb has some interesting uses. If you really don’t mind about something, you use the phrase me da igual or me esigual

Me da or Me es igual hoy o mañana
Today or tomorrow, I don’t mind

Colloquially it can have the meaning maybe:

Igual no lo saben
Maybe they don’t know

And in South America, especially in countries in the south such as Argentina and Chile, it can mean anyway:

Igual voy, quieras o no
I’m going whether you want me to or not

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© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.

Spanish Word of the Day Monday, August 19, 2013 Yesterday's Word - Previous Words - Help importar, verb to mind Importar is a very useful word to describe howpeople feel about something. No me importa tener que levantarme temprano I don’t mind having to get up early Apart from being used with the infinitive, as in the previous example, you also use it with que and then the subjunctive: No le importa que su hijo no trabaje He doesn’t mind his son’s not working Importar is very often used with either of these structures when you want to make a polite request: ¿Le importa cerrar la ventanilla? Would you mind closing the window? ¿Te importa que fume? Do you mind if I smoke? Content By  © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved. Spanish Word of the Day Tuesday, August 20, 2013 Yesterday's Word - Previous Words - Help jamás, adverb never You probably already know the word nunca for never. Jamás is an alternative way of saying never, used in more formal or literary contexts. It is used differently from nunca, and often comes at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis. Peter Pan prometió que jamás crecería Peter Pan promised that he’d never grow up Jamás he visto cosa igual I’ve never seen anything like it Notice also that in examples like the following you don’t use no with jamás He descubierto obras que jamás había visto I’ve discovered works of art that I’d never seen Compare this with: He descubierto obras que no había visto nunca Content By  © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved. Spanish Word of the Day Wednesday, August 21, 2013 Yesterday's Word - Previous Words - Help medida, noun as A medida que is a time conjunction that you use to talk about two actions going on at the same time: Saludaba a los invitados a medida que iban llegando He greeted the guests as they came in The actions linked by a medida que are often both in the imperfect, as in the previous example and the next one: A medida que avanzaba la jornada, iban disminuyendo los embotellamientos As the day progressed, the traffic jams decreased You can also use a medida que to link two future events. In that case, the verb after a medida que needs to be in the subjunctive: A medida que se extienda el uso de estas energías, resultarán más baratas As the use of these types of energy spreads they’ll become cheaper Content By  © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2006. All rights reserved.