Monday, 06 February 2012 07:55

The latest "problem" word we came accross in class was "own"
If you want to talk about owning something it is best to use the verb:

Pertenecer  - belong to.

Who owns this piece of land?   -   ¿A quién pertenece esta parcela?
I own the car  (The car belongs to me)  -   Me pertenece el coche.
If you want to say it is one's own.... use propio/a
Es mi propio dinero  -  It's my own money
En su propia casa   -  In his own house

If you want to say it is my own fault  -  Es culpa mía
It's your own fault  -  Es culpa tuya
It's his/her own fault  -  Es culpa suya

Then you may come across a situation where you  want to say you are doing
something for reasons of your own, you can say:
" Lo hago por razones personales"

To get one's own back is vengarse.
Voy a vengarme por lo que me ha hecho  -  I'm going to get back at him
for what he did to me.
To do something on one's own  : Hacerle uno solo
Lo hice yo solo  -  I did it on my own
Lo hizo él solo  -  He did it on his own
Tienes que aprender a hacerlo tú solo  -   You have to learn to do it on your own.
And in the unlikely event of your making a mistake you can own up by saying
Reconozco mi error  -  I own up to my mistake.

Hasta la próxima - Until next time.           Valerie

Valerie runs the Centro Idiomas Language School in Coin.
Her books, “The First Twelve Shortcuts to Spanish” , “The Second Twelve Shortcuts to Spanish”   & “The Third Twelve Shortcuts to Spanish” (€5 each) and  “The Verb Book” (€7) are available from The News office in Coin, Woody’s Cards and Books in Los Boliches, David’s Books in Los Boliches or by email from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Valerie's books can also now be bought from her website - www.cslspain.com or call  952 450 747.

Monday, 06 February 2012 07:55

The question arose in class recently as to how you say "mean" in Spanish.
Of course, it all depends which meaning of mean you mean.

The original question I was asked was "What does orgulloso  mean? Save
Which in Spanish would be ¿Qué significa orgulloso?
To which one might reply Orgulloso significa proud   -  Orgulloso means proud.

Equally one could say  ¿Cómo se dice orgulloso en inglés? 
How do you say orgulloso  in English?
And the reply would then be  Orgulloso se dice proud
which translates loosely as orgulloso means proud.

If you want to ask someone "What do you mean? 
it is best to  use  ¿Qué quieres decir?
What do you mean by that?  -  ¿Qué quieres decir con eso?
I didn't mean to do it would be Lo hice sin querer
(Literally, I did it without wanting to)
He/She didn't mean to do it  -  Lo hizo sin querer
To stress that you mean what you are saying use  -  Lo digo en serio (I mean it)

If someone is mean as in stingy or penny-pinching
they are tacaño  if male and tacaña if female.
If someone is mean as in mean-spirited or plain nasty we use malo/mala.

And if you want to say that someone means well - Tiene buenas intenciones.

Hasta la próxima - Until next time.   
Valerie

Valerie runs the Centro Idiomas Language School in Coin.
Her books, “The First Twelve Shortcuts to Spanish” , “The Second Twelve Shortcuts to Spanish”   & “The Third Twelve Shortcuts to Spanish” (€5 each) and  “The Verb Book” (€7) are available from The News office in Coin, Woody’s Cards and Books in Los Boliches, David’s Books in Los Boliches or by email from This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Valerie's books can also now be bought from her website - www.cslspain.com or call 952 450 747.