Become a fluent Spanish Speaker

Today I will be talking to you about the importance of not translate literally everything (that is not new, is it?) Because every language has its own personality and common day a day sentences in your language might not have a exactly translation in Spanish, but a lot of learners do not know that, except you have a Spanish friend helping you out with your language, you live in Spain or you are a super geek/fan of Spanish movies/books. But…do not panic, if you do not have anything of these, you are lucky, you got me!:) and I will be sharing with you some of the most common sentences in English in the daily conversations and their Spanish equivalent, that again, bad news…. you just need to learn….but once you do that you will be closer to the Spanish fluency and become a fluent Spanish speaker.

1-¿Con qué frecuencia?-how often?

Such a popular sentences but still a lot of people I know struggle everytime I ask them ¿con qué frecuencia hacen algo? –“how often do they do things”

So get your notebook and write this one down, it is a must.

2-De ninguna manera-no way

Again quite a typical one, when there is no way to do something, like there is no way you going to visit your in-laws during the weekend…-De ninguna manera vas a hacerlo” no way you will do it”

3-De todas maneras-anyway

A lot of time people get stuck when they have done a break from their speech and they realize they lost the plot and want to come back to the main point, imagine you are planning a trip with some friends and you are planning the transport but some of them starting to talk about everything you could see in your destination,  when he realized he would want to come back to his main point

in English is easy:

“Anyway as I was telling you I think travelling by train is better”

In Spanish too:“De todas las maneras, como te estaba diciendo, creo que viajar entren es mejor”

We use as well to make sure the other person gets the point we want to make:

In the party was a lot of people and it finished quite early but it was a good party anyway.

“había mucha gente en la fiesta y terminó bastante pronto, pero de todas maneras fue una buena fiesta”

4-No importa/da igual-never mind

To show that something is not important, if you go to see a friend for a coffee but they are busy and can not make it, they will apologized and if it is not a big deal for you you would say

Never mind, we will meet another day, I just passed by because I was close-“No importa, quedamos otro día solo he pasado porque estaba cerca”

5-Lo consultaré con la almohada-I will sleep on it

Pretty much the same, in English you sleep on it, in Spanish we consult it with the pillow.-

If you have an important decision to make, you can ask for more time saying

Ok, give me some time I will sleep on it-“Muy bien, dame un poco más de tiempo, lo consultaré con la almohada”

6-¿Cuál es el truco?-whats the catch?

If someone is telling you something too good to be real you will ask

What is the catch? It is impossible something is that good– “¿Cuál es la trampa, o ¿Cuál es el truco? Es imposible que algo sea tan bueno.”

7-Cuanto antes mejor-the sooner the better

If you want to get something done because is annoying, it will take time and you can not stop thinking about it, cuanto antes lo hagas mejor–“the sooner you do it, the better”

8-cara o cruz (sello)- Heads or tails

Here is a good one: If you are at home with your flatmates on a Sunday afternoon and you need something from the supermarket and you are too lazy to go you could play “cara o cruz (sello)”, heals or tails to see who is the unluckiest one.

“Juguemos a cara o sello (cruz) quién va al supermercado”

9-Aprender de memoria-learn by heart

A good example to describe what you need to do with these sentences.

“Tengo que aprender de memoria el modo Presente e imperfecto del Subjuntivo”

10-Que yo sepa-As far as I know

Useful if you want to give your opinion but you are not quite sure…

Que yo sepa el restaurante cierra a las 8, pero podemos ir-“as far as I know the restaurant closes at 8 but we can go”

11-Igualmente-likewise

If you meet someone you like and he or she is quicker than you saying “nice to meet you”, instead of “nice to meet you too” you can say “igualmente”-likewise , shorther!

12-¡No lo aguanto! -I can’t stand it

When something or someone is not your cup of tea, or let’s say you can’t stand them…time to use “no le aguanto”

Como lo he dicho anteriormente, “No aguanto a Donald Trump”

13-!Cuánto tiempo sin verte!-long time no see you!

Cuando te encuentras con un amigo que no veías desde hace mucho tiempo, lo usual en ingles es decirle –long time no see you- verdad? Su equivalente en español es !Cuánto tiempo sin verte!