The Spanish verb llevar has many different meanings – we’ve covered the most important for you (over 30 uses!) in this special report… but don’t worry, you don’t have to learn them all at once!

Download the PDF now with this link, and add it to your special Spanish learning collection:

	Totally Understanding Llevar! Become a llevar expert now!

Remember, you can get more of our best reports here.

Context

Ben and Marina take a trip to one of their favourite spots in Madrid, the Museo de Sorolla, the green city home of one of Spain’s least known, but most loved painters. Like our video from Monday on Spanish table manners, the second half includes key analysis in English again!

Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section

En pleno centro (de Madrid) – Right in the middle (of Madrid)
Se desnudó en plena calle – He took his clothes off right in the middle of the street
Qué gozada – How fantastic
Qué gozada bañarte en el mar – What a joy to swim in the sea
Están hechos en estilo arabesco – They are made in the Moorish style
Le gustaba retratar escenas cotidianas – He liked to paint everyday scenes
En mi vida cotidiana – In my everyday life
Retratos – Portraits
Voy a pintar un retrato – I’m going to paint a portrait
Su obra era caracteristica por la luz y lo llaman el luminismo – His body of work was characteristic for its use of light, they call it ‘luminismo’

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Context

More fun Spanish learning video from Ben and Marina! We look at the different customs at the Spanish dining table, and Spanish superstitions involving the salt! Do listen to the second half analysis in English to get the most from the video.

Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section

No se usa la servilleta – Serviettes aren’t generally used (in the UK)
En España se come mucha ensalada – A lot of salad is eaten in Spain
Otra cosa que se suele ver en la mesa española es una aceitera – Another thing you tend to see on the Spanish table is an olive oil bottle
Me resulta un poco violento pedirles una servilleta – I feel a bit uncomfortable asking them for a serviette
Cuando yo pongo la mesa – When I set the table
Soy un chapuza(s) – I don’t do things properly/I do things in half measures
Hacer chapuzas – To do some DIY
Hacerlo de manera chapuza – To do it not very well

More Great Spanish Learning Resources…

Gold 2, mentioned in the video, is available here
Watch more of our Spanish learning videos here
Sign up for our Spanish-boosting newsletter here

May 10, 2011

Here is a great email we got recently from a listener (when it was still cold here in Madrid!):

“Hola Ben, I’m a big fan of your website and podcasts. They definitely helped me make the leap and move to Madrid. I’ve been here for a year and am having a great time.

Some real Spanish for you that you might like to share with the other users. This morning, I left home at 7.30 and it was freezing cold. I saw my “portera” on the way out of my building and she said to me “¡Vaya mañana!”

I think this use of “vaya” is very common in Spain and can be translated as “What a morning!” in English. I don’t know if you’ve written about this already, if not it could be interesting. All the best, E.”

That is a great use of Vaya, we love it! You could also use ‘Vaya mañana’ (What a morning!) if it was pouring with rain, or incredibly hot, or just if you’d had a hard start to the day!

Vaya is also often used in response to bad news, to mean ‘oh dear’:

Enrique: Me han despedido – I’ve been fired
Ben: Vaya, lo siento mucho – Oh dear, I’m really sorry

Here is another typical use of Vaya, in this wonderful and common expression:

Vaya tela – What a nightmare

For example:

Vaya tela que tienes con tu trabajo, además de tener un jefe inaguantable te han asignado el cliente más complicado – What a nightmare you?ve got at work. As well as having an unbearable boss, they’ve given you the most difficult client!

Fill your life with more Real Spanish now! Listen to our Real Spanish Conversations and pick up one of the Real Spanish learning products in our store!

We wanted to share one or our favourite expressions, and other related vocab, from one of the episodes in our Gold Two program:

Hoy me he levantado con el pie izquierdo – I got up on the wrong side of the bed / in a really funny mood today.

You can also say the following two phrases, to mean the same thing:

Hoy me he levantado del revés – I got up in a really strange mood today
Hoy me he levantado un poco torcido – I got up in a funny mood today

“Torcido” literally means crooked, or bent, for example:

Ese marco está torcido – That frame is not straight (on the wall).

Tengo la columna torcida – My spine / back is a bit bent.

Here in Spain it is commonly used in other phrases to say that things haven’t gone quite right:

Después de hablar con mi jefe se me ha torcido el día – After speaking to my boss my day has gone completely wrong.

Se me ha torcido el viaje con la huelga de pilotos – My trip has gone out of the window due to the pilot’s strike.

Gold Season Two is full of real-life, organic Spanish like this, for upper intermediate and advanced learners.

We are constantly asked about how to translate the simple English verb ‘become’ into Spanish. And there is no simple answer!

The Spanish use other verbs, like ponerse, volverse, and many others, to do the same job.

We’ve put together a list of the top 23 ways ‘become’ is used in Spanish in this special report. Download the PDF here now:

	23 Ways to Translate “Become” in Spanish! PDF Dominate “Become” in Spanish from now on!

Remember, you can get more of our best reports here.

As well as our free Spanish learning audio and videos, we have produced a lot of great free reports over the years, packed full of valuable Spanish learning resources.

You can find them listed below. Feel free to download them and add them to your personal Spanish learning resources.

N.B. Sign up for our newsletter via the form top-right of this page, and you’ll get two more of our best ever reports too – our Super Simple Spanish Subjunctive Rule Book (the biggest, and best report we’ve ever made!) and Kick-Start Your Spanish, packed with ideas to improve your Spanish learning right now!

	11 Cool People Phrases in Spanish PDF The Spanish are gifted when it comes to describing their fellow human beings!

	Conversation Starters PDF 10 Ways NOT To Sound Like A Total Tourist In Spain…

	The Mighty Echar PDF Useful phrases with one of the most versatile verbs in Spanish, Echar

	The Most Amazing Spanish Learning Ideas Ever PDF – Put together with ideas from hundreds of Notes in Spanish listeners, this is a gold mine of ideas!

	10 Very Cool Spanish Verbs PDF – Some of these are pretty colloquial, but they’ll make you sound Super Spanish!

	Zero to Fluent in Spanish in 9 months PDF – The original steps Ben took to go from zero to pretty darn fluent in just 9 months!

	Spanish Wine Phrases Report PDF – We teamed up with our friends at Catavino to bring you both useful, and fun, wine phrases!

	False Friends Report PDF – How to avoid extreme embarrassment by not getting these mixed up!

	34 Uses of Dar PDF – 34 excellent ‘Dar’ phrases and expressions that are commonly used by Spanish speakers every day

	23 Ways to Translate “Become” in Spanish! PDF Dominate “Become” in Spanish from now on!

	Totally Understanding Llevar! PDF Become a llevar expert now!

Remember, if you’ve signed up for our newsletter you’ll get two more of our best ever reports too – our Super Simple Spanish Subjunctive Rule Book (the biggest, and best report we’ve ever made!) and Kick-Start Your Spanish, a real motivation booster full of ideas to improve your Spanish learning capabilities.

Just sign up for our newsletter via the form top-right of this page to make sure you get those two right now as well!

Welcome to 2011 at NotesinSpanish.com! Feliz año nuevo!

Many of you will have made improving your Spanish a New Year’s Resolution, and we aim to do our best to help you.

Hopefully you have already started to explore all the free Spanish learning audio and Spanish videos on these pages, and signed up for our newsletter – as usual we’ll be sending out frequent updates this year with our best Spanish learning language tips and advice.

Plus we’ll be making new audio and videos (starting with a great new video this week hopefully! Stay tuned!)

In the meantime, if I had to pick one free report from our archives to really encourage your big New Year’s Spanish-Learning Push, it would be our ‘Zero to Fluent in 9 months’ report.

Please download it here, and have a look at the ideas inside. Even if you do just one thing mentioned in the report, it could make a big difference to your Spanish.

Zero to Fluent in Spanish in 9 Months: PDF Download Link

Please note though, the report refers to my (Ben’s) learning experiences when I was young, free and single – I now know that things are very different when you are trying to fit learning in around a busy family and working life!

My biggest, best piece of advice today is to try and find consistency in your learning – try and do just 10 to 20 minutes a day if you like, but make sure those 10 to 20 minutes make you happy! Whatever learning method makes you feel comfortable, interested and relaxed – go with that!

What are you planning to do for your Spanish this year? Have you got any tips to share with us? Please leave us a comment, and once again, Happy New Year, and good luck with your Spanish!

Ben y Marina, 10 de enero, 2011

In one of our Notes in Spanish Gold Q and A sessions, we were asked the following common question:

When can I say that I am “fluent” in Spanish?

Our listener went on to clarify: When people hear that I travel to Spain or Mexico to study Spanish, they often say “so, are you fluent in Spanish?” My eyes glaze over as I contemplate the question and try to formulate an honest answer.

Here’s the problem: While I can converse with almost anyone, anywhere, I still make tons of mistakes. And while I can understand most of what I hear on the news, I understand very little of the morning radio show (mostly comedy) on my way to work. Even if I follow a joke, I often miss the punch line! So it seems misleading to say I am “fluent” when I have so many gaps, even though I can communicate in Spanish all day long.

Interestingly enough, I’ve heard many people at levels much lower than mine declare confidently that they are “fluent.” Obviously, they have different criteria than I do. When did the two of you start answering “yes!” to that question? What should be my criteria for knowing I’ve crossed the line into “fluency?”

The Answer…

First of all, it is common to make mistakes when it’s not your mother tongue, no matter what your level. We (Ben and Marina) make mistakes, but can communicate fine and consider ourselves fluent in each other’s languages. When you hear someone with a difficult accent, or if you still find it difficult to listen to the radio, don’t worry! You just have to keep working at it.

And if you communicate in Spanish all day long, you’re definitely fluent! With reference to the jokes on the radio, Ben and Marina have the same problem. The phone and radio are two of the trickiest places for comprehension.

So, what can you do to increase your chances of getting fluent fast?

Make sure you have a copy of our free PDF report:

Zero to Fluent in 9 Months (PDF) (Just click on the link to automatically start the download of the pdf document.)

And make sure you keep filling your life with real Spanish! Listen to our real Spanish audio conversations, and if you need help with getting every bit of language-goodness from them, pick up the worksheets in our store to follow along with the transcripts and drive it all home with the vocab analysis and exercises included.

- Ben y Marina

Can’t see the video here? You can see it direct at youtube.com here

Context

Another great Spanish learning video! Ben and Marina tell a quick story about why the Spanish never send ‘thanks’ a few days after a lunch/party etc, and why Ben is a ‘paleto’! Plus we thank all of you that have signed up for Gold Season Two on the first day!

Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section

Eres un poco paleto – You are a bit of a country bumpkin
Despiste – Absent-minded
Soy un poco despistado – I’m a bit absent-minded
Mi cuñada – My sister-in-law
Yerno – Son-in-law
Nuera – Daughter-in-law
Aqui hay tomate – There’s some juicy stuff to talk about here!

Muchas gracias once more to everyone that has joined us already in Gold Season Two!

Update: the above-mentioned Gold Season Two is now available as a complete season pack in our store:

Get the Gold Season Two Complete Pack Here.