Do you need help with counting in Spanish? You have come to the right place then! You probably already knew the basic numbers in Spanish (that is, from 1 to 10) even before taking your first formal Spanish lesson ever. But you would be surprised at how much you still can learn about counting in Spanish. After all, intermediate students sometimes get them wrong. And not to mention the ordinal numbers (that is, ‘first’, ‘second’, etc. in Spanish). What happens after 10? Even native speakers will struggle with those weird names such as vigésimo, trigésimo, quincuagésimo, etc. So are you ready to ..read more

What is the difference between Argentina Spanish and Uruguay Spanish? Today you will find it out! The truth is that both variants of Spanish sound actually the same for most native Spanish speakers, let alone Spanish learners. I’m Argentine and if I come across an Uruguayan, it would generally take me a few minutes to realize that they’re from the other side of the River Plate (yeah, they’re just a ferry away after all!). And it’s not so much about the accent, as it is about a group of very specific words that would give them (and us) away in an interaction. Are you ready? Let’s go! Argentina ..read more

Do you need help using this and that in Spanish! Today I’m going to teach you then! Of course, this and that are the forms for singular in English, so we should include these and those for plural. This, that, these and those are demonstrative pronouns, which in grammar refer to those words used to identify the person or thing that is being referred to. The problem is that while in English there are four, in Spanish there are 15 demonstrative pronouns in total! But it’s not as difficult as it seems. For instance, five of them are rarely used, and other two can be formed simply by adding an&nbs ..read more

Talking about shops in Spanish will be easier if you have the vocabulary you need! Or should I say ‘talking about stores in Spanish’ for my American audience? That’s actually one of those differences of vocabulary between American and British English that confuse English learners. But thankfully, in Spanish both words translate just as tienda. Although In Argentina we would say negocio actually, but we understand tienda just fine. We just like to be different haha! If you are curious, you can take a look at the list of Spanish words that are different in Argentina. Are you ready to learn the n ..read more

So you need to know the difference between bien and bueno? I can help you with that! I have noticed this is a very common mistake among Spanish learners, so you’re not alone. To start, it will be helpful for you to realize that there’s this distinction between ‘good’ and ‘well’ in English. It’s just the same in Spanish! Bueno is an adjective and bien, an adverb. That’s it! However, with some fixed expressions you can use them interchangeably, and there’s one special case where you probably don’t want to mix them up. Keep reading till the end! The difference between bien and bueno As I said, bu ..read more

What is vesre and why do Argentines speak backwards sometimes? Today I’m going to give you the answer! Let’s get started with the basics: vesre is revés in reverse, which in Spanish means… ‘reverse’! According to the Diccionario of Americanismos, it’s a mecanism of word formation that consists in an alteration in the order of syllables. (And since we are here, this is a list of the best online Spanish dictionaries for students!). More precisely, vesre is informal language in which words are spoken as though they are spelled backwards. It’s the equivalent of back slang in English! Are you ready ..read more

Do you need help with the rules of accent marks in Spanish? Keep reading then! Even for native Spanish speakers it’s difficult sometimes to put the correct accent mark in a word. In fact, most of us don’t remember the rules we learned in school and we follow our intuition when we try to write properly! And as if it wasn’t already hard enough, the Real Academia Española, the institution that regulates the correct usage of Spanish, changed the official rules in 2010. That means something that used to be correct or acceptable before just isn’t anymore. But don’t worry! I promise I will make it ea ..read more

Are you looking for the best Spanish dictionaries for students? I can help you with that! Dictionaries are extremely useful when it comes to learning new words and expanding your vocabulary. And although it’s just as valid to use translators such as Google Translate, you can’t rely on them completely. It’s well known that they do fail sometimes, when the Artificial Intelligence isn’t intelligent enough to get the context right, something that could lead to confusion. Besides, a translator can’t give you the exact meaning of very specific slang and colloquialisms used by native speakers of a pa ..read more

Talking about weather in Spanish will be easier if you have the vocabulary you need! An advantage is that all of the nouns and verbs used for this purpose are the same across Latin America and Spain. That means you can use them knowing that you will always be understood! In such a rich language as Spanish, that’s not something that always happens. You can read the list of clothes in Spanish as an example of the variations among the different Hispanic countries. This vocabulary is also useful for small talk, to start a conversation or when you don’t know what else to talk about, so you had bett ..read more

Why are there so many expressions with the word pedo in Argentine Spanish? Well, I don’t know exactly why. But let me tell you that the word pedo in Spanish doesn’t mean what you think, especially if you speak North American English! Pedo in Spanish means basically ‘fart’. It sounds kind of… unpleasant, right? But just as it happens with other words of few letters, the meaning of pedo in Spanish can be really versatile. In many countries it’s just a colloquial (and vulgar) word for ‘drunkenness’. We Argentines, however, take it to a different level! We use it colloquially to express not only d ..read more