Used in Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Perú, this refers to an “all-american” individual. Usage is no longer pejorative in most countries, but just a shorter word than ‘estadounidense’
Negro’ [Black] is not a pejorative either. It is even used to show affection or love. Every country has such local terms to refer to aliens.
More simplifications: Some Spanish words are loosing a letter and both the old and modern form are correct, for example, all words beginning with ‘ps’ can also be written without the ‘p’: ‘psicología’ is one of them, ‘psiquiatra’ [psychiatrist] is another.
Also, when prefix ‘re-’ [re-] meets a word beginning with an ‘e’, the result might be a single ‘e’, as in old ‘reembolso’ [refund], now ‘rembolso’. Prefix ‘Sobre-’ is in the same case, as in ‘sobrentender‘ [be implied]
You can use ‘en’ as a wild card when you are in a hurry or just don’t remember the exact preposition to use when something is «on», «in» or «at» something.
Foreigners can take advantage of ‘en’ being acceptable as a substitute for ‘encima’ [on], ‘dentro’ [in] or even the adverb ‘ubicado’ [at]. English is clearly mucho stricter when it comes to these prepositions.
Most single-syllable Spanish words need no ‘acento’ [stress mark], but some do, and there are one or two very common, such as the pronoun ‘tú’ [you]. If you don´t use the ‘acento’, then you are talking about possessive ‘tu’ [yours]
Another interesting pair is ‘de’ [of] and ‘dé’ [give it], functioning as a preposition or verb, depending of whether the stress mark is used or not.
There are two meanings for the Spanish word ‘intérprete’. It could refer to an interpreter or to an artist of the performing arts, i.e. ‘Frank Sinatra fue el mejor intérprete de Paul Anka’ means that Frank Sinatra was the best singer of Paul Anka’s works.
Other performing arts where ‘intérprete´ is most used are theater and movie role playing, as in: ‘Mark Hamill fue el único intérprete de Lucas Skywalker’ means Mark Hamill was the only actor who played Luke Skywalker.
Artículo’ has more meanings in Spanish than in English, as in ‘Los artículos del diario’ [The newspaper articles], meaning a literary composition; ‘El artículo 3° de la constitución’ [Article 3rd of the constitution] meaning parts of a law.
It can also be used when referring to commercial objects, as in: ‘Artículos perecederos’ [perishable goods]
Most nouns ending in ‘o’ are masculine and those ending in ‘a’ are feminine, but sometimes you have to know origins, as not all nouns are created equal…
There are exceptions, as in: ‘Foto’, ‘polio’ and ‘radio’ [Photo, polio, radio and motorcycle]. This is because they all originate in longer feminine words: ‘Fotografía’, ‘poliomielitis’ and ‘radiodifusión’.
Most nouns ending in ‘o’ are masculine and those ending in ‘a’ are feminine, but sometimes you have to know origins, as not all nouns are created equal…
There are exceptions, as in: ‘Foto’, ‘polio’ and ‘radio’ [Photo, polio, radio and motorcycle]. This is because they all originate in longer feminine words: ‘Fotografía’, ‘poliomielitis’ and ‘radiodifusión’.
Be ware of look-a-like’s in Spanish, sometimes they don’t mean the same thing: ‘puerto’ and ‘puerta’ may seem the same thing, only different in gender, but…
the first means «a place where ships load or unload» and the second is a «movable structure at the entrance of a room». There are other instances, as ”paja’ [straw] and ‘paje’ [page]
Spanish Agreement: Concordancia: Las matemáticas y el cálculo son muy importantes
Pronunciation:Cohn-cohr-dahn-ceeah
Translation:Mathematics and calculus are very important
Function:Agreement
Agreement in Spanish can turn very tricky when talking about several subjects. Which one to follow if one is masculine and the other feminine? How about when one is in singular and the other ones in plural?
The rule of thumb: put the masculine at the end and use the verb plural form, as above.
Example:Me interesan la cultura y el arte españoles.
Translation:I am interested in the Spanish culture and art
In the so-called ‘zona rioplatense’ of Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, very close people ara addressed using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’
The associated verb conjugations change from one country to another, and they follow “rules” not found anywhere else, so ‘vos sabés’ [you know] is from Buenos Aires and ‘vos sabes’ is used in the rest of Argentina.
Spanish calls for ‘de’ to be added when verb ‘Deber’ is used as an auxiliary to other verbs, as in ‘Usted debe de escuchar antes de hablar’ [You have to listen before you talk].
On the other part, you shouldn’t add ‘de’ when it is not necessary.
More simplifications: You don´t have to make this verb agree with the subject, if another verb is not present. Rule of thumb: If there is no other verb, then just use ‘Hay’, ‘Había’ or ‘Habrá’, depending on Tense.
Examples: ‘Hubieron muchos truenos’ is wrong, ‘Hubo muchos truenos’ is right. ‘Habrán 3 comidas’ is wrong, ‘Habrá 3 comidas’ is right
Spanish ordinals are rather complex . For instance: I came in 115th place means: ‘Llegué en centésimo décimo quinto lugar’. Ordinals en English are clearly much more easier.
To get around in writing, you can always use an ‘o’ (for a masculine) or an ‘a’ (for a feminine) depending on what the context is. These vowels follow the cardinal as in: ‘el 4o lugar’ [in 4th place] and 1a vez [1st time]. Of course, when talking, you can always use ‘avo’ after the 20th, as in ‘treintavo’ [30th]
‘Echar’ is very useful as a ‘wild card’, so you can use it with many different meanings, as in: ‘échame la pelota’ [thrown me the ball], ‘échate una canción’ [play a song], ‘no me eches la culpa’ [don't put the blame on me]
Usage is done when something is thrown physically or as a figura of speech. Just don´t put an ‘h’ at the beginning, because ‘hecho’ is a noun -something done even by locals sometimes-
uerto, puerta