Modismos: Learning Spanish with La Profesora

In today’s post we’re going to talk about modismos or idioms, those colorful phrases that can’t literally be translated. In English we have, “it’s raining cats and dogs”, “it cost an arm and a leg”, “get the lead out”. I often think about people who have come to Pittsburgh from other countries and are trying to learn English. I imagine them watching commercials on TV and they hear the phrase “BOGO”. I see them thumbing through their dictionaries, trying to figure out what the heck “BOGO” means. Such are the challenges of learning a second language.

 Since we want to learn “chunks” of language that are useful in conversation, we’re going to use a common idiom to talk about the weather, everyone’s favorite topic. To ask what the weather’s like, we say:

 ¿Qué tiempo hace? (k tee-em-poh ah-say)

 This is idiomatic because it really means, “What’s the weather doing?”

 We can answer:

 Hace calor (ah-say  kah-lore):  it’s hot

 To say “it’s very hot”, we add “mucho”:  Hace mucho calor.

 (Yes, “mucho” does mean “a lot” or “many” instead of “very”, but that’s why these are modismos!)

 To make the statement negative, we add “no”: No hace calor.  It’s not hot.

 The following phrases work the same way, adding “no” in front to make it negative, or inserting “mucho” to mean “very”:

 Hace sol (ah-say soul):  it’s sunny

 Hace frío (ah-say free-oh): it’s cold

 Hace viento (ah-say vee-en-toh): it’s windy

In these phrases, instead of “mucho”, use “muy” (moo-ee)

 Hace (muy) buen tiempo (ah-say bway-n tee-em-poh): it’s (very) nice weather

 Hace (muy) mal tiempo (ah-say mahl tee-em-poh): it’s (very) bad weather

 You can still put “no” in front to say “it’s not good weather” or “it’s not bad weather”.

 Living in Western PA, we can’t talk about the weather without talking about rain. Here you have two ways to say “it’s raining”, so pick one to memorize:

 Llueve (you-way-vay)

 Está lloviendo (es-tah yo-vee-en-doh)

 Again, you can add “no” in front to say “it’s not raining”:

 No llueve

 No está lloviendo

 If you want say “it’s raining a lot”:

 Llueve mucho

 Está lloviendo mucho

Some of these may seem confusing or contradictory, but don’t focus on that. These are complete phrases that you can memorize and start using today. Or if you’re keeping a journal (hint-hint), you can use them to write about the weather.

 Every week I’ll give you a new vocabulary word, phrase or modismo to expand your vocabulary. Today’s phrase relates to our topic of weather:

 Hay un aguacero (eye oon ah-gwah-sair-oh): There’s a downpour

Each week I’ll also try to give you a website or other resource. Today’s website is a great site aimed at native speakers of English learning Spanish. You can sign up to receive their newsletter which includes weekly topics, lessons, and a forum to ask questions. You can also register to receive a “word of the day”:

 http://spanish.about.com

Keep practicing!  ¡Nos vemos!