When I was around 15, I read a classic of the language learning genre: How to Learn Any Language by Barry Farber. Farber’s tales of learning Indonesian on a cargo ship and interpreting for Soviet refugees lit a fire under my nascent interest in languages. More than 15 years after reading it, there’s one main … Read More
Have you ever been to a wedding where a toast goes on… and on… and on? Usually there’s one reason this happens: it wasn’t planned. They figured they could wing it. But it’s hard to speak off the cuff about something we’ve never talked about. I’m sure you’ve experienced this. The more you’ve spoken about … Read More
Haber is a Spanish verb with a lot of uses. But we don’t usually see it in that plain dictionary form — “haber”. Most of the time, we see haber in forms like hay, había, hubo, habrá, hay que, he, hemos and more. In this article, we’ll cover the most important uses of haber in … Read More
Que tengas un buen día is a shortened version of an implied fuller expression: [espero] que tengas un buen día — [I hope] that you have a good day. With verbs like esperar, which carry uncertainty, we use a verb form called the subjunctive. Verbs like desear or querer could theoretically also precede “Que tengas … Read More
Some people learn Spanish faster and more effectively than others. Why is that? What makes someone an effective Spanish learner? In my experience, it’s nothing too hard — it boils down to their habits. Here’s something I say often: Learning Spanish has less to do with how smart you are, and more to do with how consistently … Read More
Poder in Spanish is a funny one to translate. We don’t have a one-word-verb like that in English, but I used to translate it in my head as “to can”. Regardless of the translation, it’s one of the most useful verbs in Spanish. You can use it to ask and give permission, describe your abilities, … Read More
The simplest, most common way to say “no problem” or “no worries” in Spanish is “no hay problema.” Other common ways include no te preocupes, no pasa nada, and de nada. Let’s take a look at these and other ways to express the same idea. Click the audio next to each expression to hear a … Read More
No sé and no lo sé are the most common ways to say I don’t know in Spanish. They come from the verb saber (which means to know). When you’re learning Spanish, not knowing is an experience you have often. So to make it crystal clear, let’s break down this expression, and take a look … Read More