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¿Que Marca?

Here is a chiste that plays on the word: “marca”

This is a conversation between two friends.

‘Oye José, me compré un reloj.’

‘¿Que marca?’

‘Pues, la hora, ¡Tonto!’

The word marca has two meanings: 1) brand or make, and 2) form of the verb marcar, which is to mark.

If you have to keep reading for more explanation, you may lose the humor but learn more Spanish.

In this chiste (joke), a friend tells another friend that he has bought a clock. His friend asks what brand or make is the clock (que marca) but he understands it to be ‘what does it mark’ (also translated que marca). So he responds ‘the time, dummy’.

Well, maybe the humor is not totally lost. ;)

Spanish Grammar

Spanish Vocabulary

Sometimes, Some Time – A veces, algun tiempo

“Sometimes I like to eat ice cream”

“We should get together some time”

“It was in fashion some time ago”

It is a tendency to translate “sometimes” or “some time” in each of those examples as “algún tiempo” or “algunos tiempos”, which is incorrect. What should be used is “a veces”, “algún momento” and “algún tiempo” depending on the context. (more…)

Pedir y Preguntar

Pedir y Preguntar.

In English the verb to ask has a wider range of usage than the Spanish verb generally considered its equivalent, preguntar.

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Verbs – Part 1

Another common mistake made by English speaking students of Spanish is that of adding “a” in front of infinite verbs when it doesn’t belong there. This is because that is what happens in English. For example, in English you say “I want to eat” or “she needs to sleep”. But in Spanish, saying “quiero a comer” or “necesita a dormir” is incorrect.

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Por y Para

Learning the difference in when to use POR and when to use PARA is tricky at first. Both mean “for” or “by” but have
distinct uses. The following outlines the most common uses for both words:

(more…)

Are You Satisfied? Contento y Satisfecho – When to Use Them

If you want to say: “I am satisfied with my pay” (as in salary) and “I am satisfied after a steak dinner” in Spanish you will use different words for ’satisfied’. Contento and satisfecho mean literally in English content and satisfied but carry with them additional connotations and have specific usage.

As you can see from our initial example, the two words are used in different situations where the English word satisfied is used. Here’s why: (more…)

Molestar

If someone tells you: Tú me molestas (too meh moh-leh-stahs) don”t panic, you”re not about to be slapped with a lawsuit. The person doesn”t mean you molest me. In Spanish molestar is not as strong a word as molest in English.

(more…)

Familiar

Familiar (fah-mee-lyahr) is one of those words that has a number of uses depending on the context. And, to boot, it is very similar (familiar?) to the English equivalent.

As already mentioned, Familiar can mean the same as familiar in English but also this:

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Correcto y Corregir

CORRECTO and CORREGIR


When you want to say that something is correct (or right) then say: algo es correcto. However, when saying that someone has to correct something then we need to use a form of the verb CORREGIR and say: alguien tiene que corregir algo.