True or false ?

Hi fellas ! 

Today I'm going to propose a little game to show you more English quirks. I will list some statements about the English language and you will have to decide if they are true or false. Then, you can see the answers down below. Ready, steady, go !

1. There is a word in English consisting of seven consonants and no vowels

2. The longest word in English has 20 letters

3. There is a word with five vowels together

4. There are no 'acentos" or "tildes" in the English language.

5. The sound [ñ] does not exist

6. In English there are words written in the same way, but pronounced differently

7. There are words written differently but pronounced in the same way

8. The most used vowel is 'i'

9. The least used consonant in 'x'

10. There aren't any palindrome (words read the same backwards and forwards) longer than three letters.

OK, now let's check the answers:

1. Surprising though it may sound, it's true. The word with seven consonants is 'rhythms' (letter 'y' is a consonant). Its singular has six consonants and the word 'gypsy' has five consonants and no vowels.

2. False. The longest word has way more letters than this. Technically, the longest word is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. This forty-five-letter word refers to a lung disease contracted through inhaling gases from a volcano. Another really long word is Antidisestablishmentarianism, the political thinking aimed at the removal of the Anglican church's status in the nineteenth century.

3. Of course there is. Have a look at what the people are doing in the picture above: they are 'queueing up'. Do you understand why I chose that picture now ? 

4. Yes, there are ! There are not properly English words, but words derived from other languages that have entered the English language without changing. Most of them derive from French. Examples are 'cliché', 'décor', 'résumé' (a synonym for Curriculum used in American English), 'fiancé' or 'café' 

5. Well, the sound [ñ] does exist as an allophone in English. In some parts of the UK, some speakers use this sound to pronounce 'onion' or 'companion'

6. True ! These words - as you might know - are called 'homographs'. 'Read' is pronounced [ri:d] in the infinitive or simple present and [red] when it refers to the past or past participle. Other examples are 'minute' (60 seconds) ['mɪnɪt] and 'minute' (tiny, very little) [maɪ'nju:t]

7. True as well ! These words are 'homophones'. There are countless examples in English: 'son' and 'sun' are both pronounced [s˄n], the same as 'bye', 'by' and 'buy' [baɪ].

8. False. The most used vowel is 'e'. What would the English language do without that vowel ? Have a look at this sentence here. As you will see, you wouldn't be able to write anything without the second vowel: 'the egg sent by the elf is the perfect element to serve the recipe'. By the way, in Spanish we need the vowel 'a' but as you will have seen the previous sentence was constructed without it ! 

9. False. Although letter 'x' is not used a lot, 'z' and 'q' remain the least used letters of the alphabet. think about it ! 

10. False. There are a lot of palindromes in the English language, including 'radar', 'level', 'civic', 'rotor', 'reviver', 'deified' or 'repaper'. However, my favourite one is a female English name: 'Hannah.' Isn't that lovely ?

Well, as you have seen, the English language is full of beautiful quirks and curiosities that make me love this language a bit more ! What about you ? Do you like these quirks ? Have you discovered any other quirk you would like to share with me ? Post it on a comment ! 

Frolicking in the water

When I was having a bath in Sanabria, near Zamora, my girlfriend made me reflect on one interesting English verb: frolic. If you happen not to know this verb, I will explain it to you: it means: 'to play merrily.' Children, for instance, usually frolic in parks. Aside from this, this verb has other sexual connotations that I will not proceed to explain - you can imagine. 

What made me think about this verb was how unusual it was. How many verbs ending in -c in the English language do you know ? Very little. While I kept on thinking, I began to wonder, what will the gerund form of this verb be ? This verb is pronounced [‘frɒlɪk]. However, when adding -ing for the gerund, or -ed for the past, it would lose its final [k] sound. You know that the letters <ce> and <ci> are pronounced [s] in English as in 'city' ['sɪti] or cent [sent]. This is clearly not possible, so as I imagined, these verbs need the letter <k> to keep the phoneme [k] when pronouncing the past. Have a look at my chart below:

INFINITIVE          PAST TENSE     GERUND

frolic                         frolicked               frolicking

mimic                       mimicked              mimicking

panic                        panicked                panicking

traffic                       trafficked               trafficking

picnic                       picnicked               picnicking

You know when at school or at the university we are taught the irregularities when forming the gerund or regular past tenses, this rule is never mentioned (at least to me). The teachers always mention when the final consonant is doubled, or what happens to the final <e> or <y>. Maybe this particularity is not usually mentioned because there are few -and not usual- verbs to follow the aforementioned scheme. I also wondered why this irregularity happened and I came up with a solution (I do not know if it is the correct one, though). 'Frolic', 'mimic', 'panic', 'traffic' and 'picnic' were used as nouns at first. Then, they were transformed into verbs through conversion. Conversion is the process whereby a new word is created by changing its word class. 'Walk' is a noun ('paseo') but through conversion is also the action depicted in the noun ('pasear'). When nouns ending in c- were transformed into verbs, the phoneme and grapheme 'k' became necessary to maintain the original pronunciation of the words [‘frɒlɪkɪɳ] instead of [‘frɒlɪsɪɳ]

Isn't that fascinating ? Well, most of you will find this thing boring, but what I do find fascinating is that after many years of studying and speaking English, I keep discovering new things ! I hope you do the same ! Reflect on the English language and you'll keep learning. 

I'm off to the beach now to keep enjoying this wonderful summer and continue frolicking in the sea of Majorca. If you want to learn some vocabulary about holidays, click here. 

See you soon. 

The Old Man and the Sea

Hi fellows,

today I'm going to write my first blog entry about literature. I am forcing myself to read more, especially during the holidays, so I will be writing book reviews and adding them to the blog.

The first book I've read is Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. It is one of Hemingway's masterpieces. Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Havana,  it depicts  life at sea and the everyday adventures of fishermen really accurately.

The main character, Santiago, is an old fisherman, nicknamed "el salao" because he hasn't been able to catch a fish for eighty-four days. He has a young apprentice, Manolín. However, Manolín is forbidden by his parents to fish with the old man because of his bad luck at fishing. 

One day, the old man goes fishing on his own really far, convinced that his unlucky days will be over, and he is damn right. An enormous marlin bites the bait. However, it is such an enormous fish that it pulls the old man's skiff for three days. During that time, the old man, must survive, feed on the food he can find at sea, try to pull the marlin in spite of his backache, tired sight and a cramped hand to come back home where he expects to gain reputation and feed a lot of people. However, the way back home will be difficult...

The book explores different themes. The most important one might be the love for nature and the sea forces. Santiago loves all the fish. He conceives the sea as a powerful entity that can provide everything he needs: food, bait, pleasure and beauty. In fact, he describes the sea as being feminine: "the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours."

Santiago not only admires the sea, but all its creatures. Every time a fish appears, he uses the pronoun 'he' instead of 'it'. His fight with the marlin can be considered a fair fight; he admires him and he regrets killing him.He somehow creates a bond with the marlin stronger than the bond created with his fellow fishermen in the harbour. He even admires the sharks that attack him ! All the sea animals are like "brothers" to him. “It is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers.” However, not everything at sea is beautiful. Santiago is all alone; the book refers to the loneliness of fishermen. He is always speaking alone and wishing his apprentice to be with him. During all his voyage, he is isolated and erratic; it could be deemed he even begins to be insane. 

Another theme dealt with in the book is the relationship between Santiago and Manolín. There is a master-disciple connection. Manolín admires his mentor even though he hasn't fished anything for too long.  He stands by him, he helps him in the chores, provides him with food and drink and , what is more important, accompanies him. Santiago, in return, is humble and also admires his disciple. He misses him when he is not with him. Their relation reminds me of the old grandfather-grandchild relation, when grandchildren spent time with their grandparents and learnt from them. 

Another theme the book mentions is the treatment of the elderly. Santiago is an experienced fishermen with injuries and scars quite able to teach youngsters how to fish. However, most of the fishermen makes fun of him, This reflects the way in which the elderly are treated every day. They are considered burdens and obstacles instead of a source of wisdom and mastery; they are neglected, isolated and abandoned. Santiago lives in a little shack and he barely gets by to survive. Unfortunately, that is what we do with our elderly now: we lock them up where they cannot mess up with us. The only character that respects him is Manolin, who sees Santiago as a true, experienced fisherman. He prefers his company to anybody else's. 

To conclude, I have enjoyed this book because in such few pages, Hemingway manages to outstandingly describe life at sea in detail (it is clear that he knows the fishing world very closely), and he evokes sympathy for the main character, Santiago, a man that, old though he is, he thrusts his way to successfully achieve his goals, respecting the sea and the sea animals. I have also loved the subtle critique of the man's bestiality. The man is a creature that must endure: “ man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Hemingway somehow manages to keep us waiting to see what happens in the same way that fishermen await to catch the fish. Although the plot could be a bit more riveting in my opinion, this book fulfilled all my expectations and I strongly recommend you to read it.

P. S. Here you can have a look at the other reviews I have written : Golding's The Lord of the Flies; Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Onomatopoeic words

You all know what an onomatopoeia is: it is a word whose sound looks like the meaning it represents. A clear example of it might be: 'boom', which clearly represents the sound that a bomb makes. Animal sounds are also onomatopoeias per se, since they also represent in acoustic phonetics the sounds that animals make. Snakes hiss, bugs and insects buzz, cats meow, birds tweet, cows moo, ducks quack ... 

Onomotopoeias are also stylistic devices used by poems and writers to make their works more vivid and beautiful. Some onomatopoeias do not exist in themselves, they are simple interjections, such as "argh" to express disgust, or 'achoo' (the sound one makes on sneezing).  There are countless onomatopoeic words, words whose meaning can be easily identified if they are correctly pronounced. Let's examine some groups:

1) Violent sounds:

Bang: It represents an explosive noise, similar to the noise of a gun.e.g. 'He made the door bang on his way out.' 

Crash: It describes a colliding sound. One of its meaning refers to a vehicle colliding against something or someone, for example, 'the two cars crashed.'

Crack: It makes reference to a breaking sound, for instance, the earth cracks when a volcano erodes. 'The wall in that room cracks at night' or 'I like to crack my knuckles.'

Blast /boom: They refer to a loud noise (such as an explosion), e.g. 'He was killed by the blast of the explosion.'

Thump: It is the sound produced by a heavy object, e.g. 'in the zoo at night all you can hear is the elephants thumping'. 

Knock: This usually refers to a hit on a surface that makes a noise, as in 'he knocked the door but there was no answer.'

Pop: Short, quick, unexpected sound,e.g. the cork pops when you open a bottle of wine. 

2) Sounds produced by machines or artificial objects:
Beep: A short sound with high pitch. Computers usually beep. 

Clang/clink: A loud ringing sound produced by a bell or similar object.The bell clangs in villages.

Click: A sharp, mechanic sound. The keys click in the lock

Jingle/jangle/tinkle: To produce a loud, harsh sound.You all know the Christmas carol: 'jingle bells' or the famous fairy character in the Peter Pan story, Tinkerbell. 

Ring: It's the sound produced by a telephone or the bell of a bicycle, as seen in 'the phone rang all the afternoon'. 

Screech: To produce a harsh, annoying sound. The engines of cars or tree branches can screech.

Tick: a clicking sound. Clocks tick (in fact, they make tick-tock).

3) Animal sounds (I will be writing a post about this in the future).

Moo (cows), mew/meow (cats), quack (ducks), tweet (birds), hiss (snakes), buzz (insects), ...

4) Other sounds:

Burp: It is a synonym for 'belch'. What you do after a meal (with your mouth) you know, to release gases.

Chatter: It means 'talking loudly and fast'. When people gossip, you can hear them chatter.

Whisper: To speak in a quiet voice, as in 'he whispered the words in my ear.'

Splash: It refers to the sound made by the water. In summer, children like splashing in the water.

Boo: A disapproving sound. You usually boo at a lousy sportsperson, for instance. 

Well, there are far more onomatopoeias in the English language. What makes them interesting is that in English  some onomatopoeias have a true identity. They become nouns and verbs with full meaning beyond the sound they represent.they are not usually just sounds, they become verbs and nouns that we can use in conversation. In Spanish, we can use the word 'splash' to refer to the sound of the water, but in English, other than this, we can use it to refer not only to the sound but also to the action. English, as you have seen has a lot of quirks, remember the auto-antonyms entry I wrote some days ago ?

What can you do now after reading this post ? Go back to the words in bold and pronounce them, enjoy their sounds and reflect on their meanings. You'll find out that, at the end of the day, English is quite a logical and interesting language after all !

Many happy returns !

Hello folks,
Today it's my birthday, so I thought it would be an interesting idea to devote this post to lexis related to birthdays and birthday parties. Let's get started ! 
The first expression that probably comes to your mind when you want to wish someone a good birthday is the overused "happy birthday !" Who doesn't know the famous song ? Here you have it in case you are the only one on Earth that doesn't know it.
However, there is yet another fascinating expression used (although not quite): "many happy returns". This expression lays emphasis on the to fact that another year has passed since your last birthday and that, happily, it is your birthday again. It is mainly used by Britons and  it is difficult to translate into Spanish. Maybe an appropriate translation would be: " que cumplas muchos más y los veamos todos" or "que cumplas muchos más con salud" Here, we want the other person to live happily for one more year (at least he he he he) until their next birthday. It is another way to vary and avoid the repeated construction: "happy birthday." 

Other expressions used to wish someone a happy birthday

There are some other phrases that can be used to wish someone a happy birthday:
- Best wishes on your birthday
- I wish you the very best on this special day
- I hope you have a wonderful, healthy birthday
- I hope you have a great time today
- I hope today is the beginning of another wonderful year for you

Birthday vs. date of birth

Some Spaniards have problems to understand the differences between "birthday" (the exact day when you were born), and date of birth (the exact day and year when you were born). Thus, my birthday is on the 15th August, while my birth date is on the fifteenth of August in 1988. 

Birthday vs. birthday party

Another recurrent mistake is to use the word "birthday" (the day you were born) instead of birthday party (the celebration of the aforementioned day). In Spanish, we can say: "tengo un cumpleaños hoy" (that is, it is the birthday of one acquaintance of yours). However, in the English language, we would say: "I have a birthday party today" and not I have a birthday today. 

Other birthday songs

One of my favourite songs to congratulate someone for their birthday is "For He (or She) is a Jolly Good Fellow." This is a song that I'm sure you'll find familiar. Here are the lyrics:

For he is a jolly good fellow,

for he is a jolly good fellow,

for he is a jolly good fellow,

and so say all of us,

and so say all of us.

Why don't you listen to it and tell me its title in Spanish ? I'm sure you know this one:

Of course, "Porque es un Chico Excelente", that's the one. There are far more songs to wish someone a happy birthday, among them one of my favourites is this one:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEc8rGonrQw (I do love the animation !) 

Well, I wish you will have learnt some other formulas and ways to wish somebody a happy birthday. I hope you use them with your English-speaking friends ! 

Auto-antonyms

Today I'm presenting one of the most interesting quirks in the English language: auto-antonyms. As you know, antonyms are two words with opposite meanings. Antonyms are quite good for students to learn adjectives. The antonym of 'high' is 'low', the antonym of 'wet' is 'dry' and the antonym of 'cheap' is 'expensive'. 

An auto-antonym, however, is one single word but with different and contradictory meanings. There are several auto-antonyms in English as you can see ion my list down below:

• Back: As an adverb, the most common definition is 'in the past' as seen in the sentence: 'back in the eighties, people used to wear baggy trousers. However, it can mean 'the final part' as in 'he found the information in the back pages of the book'.
• Dust: As a verb, one of its meanings is 'to remove the dust from furniture or other objects' as in 'they dusted the tables of the living room because they were really dirty. However, it has another opposite acceptation: 'to apply dust particles to objects' as in ' he dusted the plants with insectide' or 'Paul likes dusting all his cakes with chocolate'
   
• Fast: You know this adjective and adverb pretty well. It is a synonym for 'quick' or 'quickly' as in 'Peter is a fast driver' or 'Peter drives fast'. In this case, 'fast' means 'in movement'. Nonetheless, on other occasions, 'fast' is associated with more static meanings. It can mean 'firm' as in 'the door was shut fast' (this latter sentence can be ambiguous).
  
  
  
  
• Clip: You are probably familiar with the meaning of this word due to the object we have in Spanish with the same name. It normally means 'to join together tightly' as in the sentence, the secretary clips documents every day. Nevertheless, it can have a meaning linked to separation 'to cut off or out (with clippers)'. Gardeners, for examples, often have to clip plants or flowers (thus, separating them from their hedge).
  
• Fine: As an adjective, it may mean 'OK' as in response to the question 'how are you ?'. It may go far beyond that meaning. When we refer to a fine wine, we indicate that it is high-quality wine. It can possess a negative connotation: a fine glass is a delicate glass, a glass that will break easily; and if you receive a 100 euro-fine (for driving fast for instance), you won't be very happy.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• To weather: Well, most of you will know that 'weather' is a noun related to the climate, but it can also be a verb. As a verb, it is closely related to the verb 'erode', as in 'the rocks are usually weathered by the wind.' In the previous sentence, its meaning is associated to weakness, but in other cases, it means 'to withstand', 'to resist' as in 'writers often have to weather devastating critiques.'
• Ever: This adverb is quite confusing. It can mean 'sometimes' in interrogative questions (usually with the present perfect) as seen in the sentence: 'have you ever been to Paris ?'. In spite of this, it can have an opposite meaning, it can work as a synonym for never, as the lyrics of the famous song by Taylor Swift: 'we are never ever ever getting back together'. It can even mean 'always' as in 'he is an ever busy man.'
• Any/either: In negative sentences, they mean 'no', e.g. 'the students didn't have any questions' or 'he hasn't used either chair.' However, in affirmative sentences their meaning is linked to 'whatever' or 'every': 'either/any chair will do for the reception meeting'.
• Public: THIS IS MY FAVOURITE AUTO-ANTONYM. As an adjective, it usually means 'accesible to all people and citizens' as shown in the sentence: 'there will be a public meeting in the town hall.' However, in the UK, a public school refers to a private school, an expensive and exclusive school, open to all the public (with a lot of money, well understood !). To refer to a school financed by the state , the term 'state school' is used.  
• Then : This adverb may refer to the past as in 'my childhood was hard. I wasn't very happy then = at that moment = in the past. However, 'then' is frequently used to talk about the future, as in 'I went to the hairdresser and then I came back home'. 

As you have seen, the English language can be contradictory sometimes. However, it is precisely this that makes it appealing and interesting, isn't it ?. Can you think of any more auto-antonyms ?

The verb 'have' in seven stages

The verb 'to have' is probably one of the first verbs you come across when you start learning English. Simple though it may seem, it may, in fact, indicate your English level ! The verb 'to have' will accompany you during your learning process in all the stages: from the lower level, the intermediate level and, even, the advanced level. Let's have a look at them !

Stage 1: have = possess

At this stage, you are in a basic level. The verb 'have' is used to express possession. 'Have' is more used in American English, whereas 'have got' is generally used in British English. At this stage, we need to take into account the differences between both verbs and avoid mistakes as the ones in red down below. Take into account that 'have got' is only used to express possession and that it can only be used in THE PRESENT TENSE (not in the past): 

Have (Am. English)                   Have got (British English)

I have                                         I have got

I don't have  I haven't                 I haven't got

Do you have ? Have you ?         Have you got ?

I had                                           I had got

I didn't have  I hadn't                 I hadn't got

Stage 2: have = eat + drink

At this stage, you are still in a basic level. The verb 'have' here is followed by either food or drink and it means 'tomar' in Spanish. Have you ever heard a foreigner saying: "¿puedo tener un vaso de agua, por favor?". Well, he or she is certainly mistranslating the verb 'have' as 'tener' and not as 'tomar'. This use is quite useful in restaurants when you order for food, for example, in the sentence; "I'll have fish and chips."

Stage 3: expressions with have

Here you are in an upper low level. There are several expressions with the verb 'have' with different meanings. These expressions are widely used by English speakers, so you need to know most of them. Here you have them:

• Have breakfast = desayunar
• Have lunch = comer
• Have dinner = cenar
• Have a shower  (in American English 'take a shower) = ducharse
• Have a bath = darse un baño
• Have a swim = nadar un rato
• Have a walk/have a stroll = dar un paseo
• Have fun / have a good time = divertirse
• Have a bad time/have a rough time = pasarlo mal    
• Have a siesta = echarse la siesta
• Have a party = ir a una fiesta
• Have an X-ray= hacerse una radiografía
• Have a chat/have a talk (with someone) = hablar con alguien
• Have an argument with someone = discutir con alguien
• Have feelings for someone = sentir algo por alguien

Stage 4: have to/have got to/don't have to

Here you start to move towards an intermediate level. The verb 'have to' (or have got to) followed by an infinitive indicates obligation, as in "I have to work tomorrow". Here you have other possibilities such as 'I have got to work tomorrow,' or 'I gotta work tomorrow' in informal English. The negative of 'have to' is 'don't have to' and it indicates the absence of obligation, something which is not necessary, as seen in the sentence; "I don't have to get up early tomorrow because it's Saturday".

Stage 5: Perfect tenses

You are still in an intermediate level. Hadn't you noticed that the verb have is similar to the verb 'haber' in Spanish?  have = haber . Here 'have' is an auxiliary verb that must be followed by a past participle to express duration, among other notions as in "I have studied a lot today" or "Paul hasn't finished his homework yet". 

Stage 6: Causative have I: to pay someone to do something for you

It is here where you journey towards the advanced level begins. You use this structure to indicate that you have paid someone else to do a job for you. The structure is: personal passive subject + verb have conjugated + object + past participle. You have examples of this structure below:

I'm going to have my hair cut tomorrow = I'm going to pay the hairdresser to cut your hair.

I will have my car repaired by the mechanic = I will pay the mechanic to repair your car.

I had my house painted last year = I paid a painter to paint your house.

You can use this structure at the hairdresser's, at the dentist, at the mechanic,...

Stage 7: Causative have II: to make other people  do something (imperative)

This is probably one of the most complicated structures with the verb have. It's similar to the previous structure but instead of using a past participle, a bare infinitive is used:

subject + verb 'have' conjugated + direct object (person) + infinitive (without 'to'). Here you have some examples:

- If you are not a good boy, I will have you clean up your bedroom all day = I will make you clean your bedroom all day if you are not a good boy.

- I will have my friends pick up my stuff = I will make my friends pick up my stuff.

Conclusions
1. In most cases, the verb 'have' need an auxiliary verb like 'do' to make the negative and interrogative (except in 'have got' and in perfect tenses)
2. 'Have got' only means 'possess' and it can only be used in the simple tense. You can't say I have got a shower, for instance. 

3. The verb 'have' is an extremely important verb that will be with you all along your English-learning process. 
4. Sometimes, the verb 'to be' is preferred rather than the verb have (revisit my entry Lost in Translation for more details)
In which stage are you? Feel free to comment.

Dog days

Hi everyone,

If you expected this post to be about animals and dogs, I'm so sorry ! This post is about weather ! 

For the first time in years this summer is being really hot -as summers should be. However, at least for me, we are living one of the hottest summers ever. It is difficult to concentrate, write, think or sleep in this tremendously hot weather. It is precisely this that has inspired me to write this blog entry. In this blog entry I will be posting some of the most interesting expressions to refer to hot and sunny weather. Let's get started little by little:

The first expression would be 'it's warm'. We say this when it's hot but not too hot. Our closest translation from Spanish is 'cálido'. We take this adjective to refer to the expression ''global warming', you know, the current situation planet Earth is going through. The Earth's temperature is increasing dramatically and the Earth is 'heating up'!

Then we have the obvious expression 'it's hot and sunny' which refers to a general spring or summer day on average temperature.

Let's heat things up a little bit. When the temperatures start to rise we speak about a 'heatwave', this is a weather phenomenon consisting of the rise in temperatures lasting for several days. This phenomenon may produce a 'heat haze', an effect whereby the air will also be really hot such as the air in Madrid or Castilla La Mancha.

When the heat is impossible to bear and you sweat a lot, we have different expressions: we can talk about 'sultry days'  ('diás de bochorno), or we can use two adjectives to collocate with 'heat'. The first one is 'suffocating heat',  a heat that can get to suffocate you (calor asfixiante) and the second one is 'sweltering heat' (calor sofocante).

My favourite expression for extremely hot days is, however, the false-friend expression 'dog days'. In Spanish the expression 'días de perros' is often misused to refer to 'really cold days'. However, in English, it is exactly the opposite. An appropriate translation for this expression being 'días de canícula.' The expression that gives the title to this post, both in English and Spanish comes from the word 'dog' (or 'can' in Spanish). It is one of the hottest periods of all, its origin being in the Sirio star, the brightest star in the constellation called Canis Major. Isn't this interesting?

In case you don't feel like reading the whole post, I will summarize the expressions below with their translations:

• It's hot: hace calor
• It's sunny: hace sol
• It's warm: hace bueno (cálido)
• Global warming: Calentamiento global
• Heat: calor
• Heat up: calentar/recalentar
• Heatwave: ola de calor
• Heat haze: bruma de calor
• Sultry days: días de bochorno
• Suffocating heat: calor asfixiante
• Sweltering heat: calor sofocante
• Dog days: días de canícula

Are you suffocating right now with all this vocabulary ? Can you think of more interesting expressions ? Anyway, I promise I will soon be writing a post on more, you know, refreshing vocabulary. In the meantime, use these expressions to enrich your English and do not only limit yourselves to say: 'it's really hot.' 

I am finishing this post with a more optimistic idiom related to the sun: 'the sun always shines' which means that we have every reason to be optimistic. Who knows, maybe the rain, a less suffocating heat or a milder weather will soon arrive. 

Lost in translation

As you may know, in the past, people used to study English by translating word by word. Back then, high school students would write their essays by looking  every word  up in a dictionary, mistakenly thinking that this would lead to a successful essay. Nowadays, some people think the same thing and it is this that leads to funny statements and utterances.

The most common mistakes made by low-level students of English is the use of the verb 'have' every time the verb 'tener' appears in Spanish. English is quite logical in this aspect. It is perceived that the verb 'have' (or 'have got') means 'own' or 'possess' and is used to express possession. Thus, it cannot normally be used in contexts where that means otherwise. Therefore, some mistakes such as 'I have 10 years old', or 'I have luck' are constantly made. 

If I received a penny every time a student of mine has used the verb 'to have' to refer to their age, I would be wealthy!

Now, I'm going to list some of the most common expressions where the verb 'to be' in English replaces the verb 'tener'  . I hope you enjoy it:

• To be eighteen years old to have eighteen years old: tener dieciocho años
• To be hungry  to have hunger: tener hambre
• To be thirsty to have thirst: tener sed
• To be successful to have success: tener éxito
• To be unsuccessful not to have success: no tener éxito
• To be careful to have care: tener cuidado
• To be envious to have envy: tener envidia
• To be afraid to have fear: tener miedo
• To be right to have reason: tener razón
• To be wrong not to have reason: no tener razón/equivocarse
• To be lucky to have luck: tener suerte
• To be unlucky not to have luck: no tener suerte/tener mala suerte
• To be sleepy to have dream: tener sueño
• To be cold to have cold: tener frío
• To be hot to have heat : tener calor
• To be logical to have logic: tener lógica
• To be illogical not to have logic : no tener lógica
• To be tricky to have trick: tener truco/tener trampa
• To be in trouble/to have a problem: tener problemas
• To be in pain to have pain: tener dolor
• To be in control to have control: tener control

As seen in the previous examples, the verb 'to be' is used since we are not dealing with possession: we don't possess the age or the hunger. Spanish seems illogical in that aspect. 

The verb 'to be' in English can sometimes replace the verb 'hacer' in Spanish:

• It's cold it does cold: hace frío 
• It's hot it does heat: hace calor
• it's sunny it does sun: hace sol
• it's windy it does wind: hace viento

The verb 'to be' is also used to replace other verbs in Spanish. This is used with the structure: subject + verb 'to be' + number + measure unit + adjective (the same structure used to talk about our age):

• I am two metres tall: mido dos metros.
• This building is forty metres high: este edificio mide cuarenta metros.
• the lake is two metres deep: el lago mide dos metros de profundidad.
• my house is twenty metres long: mi casa mide veinte metros de largo.
• this car is 200 kilometres fast: este coche va a 200 kilómetros hora.
• my computer is one hundred centimetres wide: mi ordenador mide doscientos centímetros de ancho.
• the station is two kilometres far from my house: la estación está a dos kilómetros de mi casa/dista dos kilómetros de mi casa.
• my fridge is minus twenty degrees cold: el frigorífico tiene una temperatura de menos veinte grados

As seen in the examples, the verb 'to be' is used to express different states (heat, cold, age...), so the English language is quite logical here. Some people consider that the English language is difficult because it is different from Spanish. However, if English uses the same verb ('to be') for different constructions in Spanish, I may as well say that it is because English is much easier. 

To conclude, we cannot speak a second language if we are constantly thinking about the structures of our own mother tongue. The important thing here is not to translate from one language to another, but to understand the logic of the second language. You know, to speak English you have to think in English.