Categories Learn Spanish Phrases

Quitameriendas, Spanish Compound Nouns, and call for help from Spanish teachers.

quitameriendas

This beautiful flower, springing up all over the sierras north of Madrid recently as the summer weather gives way to autumn, is called a quitameriendas, because it appears at this time of year, when the cold weather is going to quitar (take away) our meriendas (snacks, or in this case, outdoor eating). It’s a flower which says, “the cold weather is on its way!”

I love these compound nouns – like rascacielos (meaning skyscraper, from rascar – to scratch or scrape and cielos, skies), girasoles (meaning sunflowers, beacuase they turn – girar – as they follow the sol – sun).

There are plenty moresacacorchos (corkscrew), abrelatas (tin opener), apagavelas (candle snuffer), but my favourite is:

Aguafiestas – a party pooper, spoilsport or wet blanket – someone who literally throws water on your party!

Update: Check out all the wonderful compound nouns listeners have added in the comments on this post!

Call for help from Spanish Teachers

We are delighted that our Spanish audios and worksheets are used in classrooms all over the world. We recently had a request from a teacher in the States for information about how teachers use our materials in their classes – but we don’t know exactly, so we thought we’d ask!

Update: The full teachers report is now ready here!

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