Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

Arañar la superficie – to scratch the surface
Bocón – a big mouthed person
Buen conversador – a good talker
Cotorra – a chatterbox
Cotorrear – to jabber away
Dos palabras – a short conversation
Tener mucha labia – to be a good talker
Hablar a gritos – to shout
Hablar a solas – to talk to one’s self
Hablar a todo pulmón – to talk at the top of one’s lungs
Hablar como lora hambrienta – to talk a lot
Hablar consigo mismo – to talk to oneself
Hablar en serio – to mean what one says
Hablar en voz baja – to lower one’s voice or talk softly
Hablar entre dientes – to talk between one’s teeth
Hablar hasta por el culo – to talk a lot (vulgar)
Hablar hasta por los codos – to talk one’s head off
Hablar por hablar – to talk for the sake of it
La sobremesa – an after dinner chat
Lengua de trapo – a gossip
Lengua larga – a gossip
Romper el hielo – to break the ice
Subir la voz – to raise one’s voice
Sus actos hablan por si solos – your acts speak for themselves
Tener pico de oro – to be a good talker or have a gift of gab
Volar lengua – to talk

Tiquismos:

• Hablando del rey de Roma y aquí se asoma - speaking of the devil
• Tener buena hablada – to be a good talker in Costa Rica
• Volar pico - to talk in Costa Rica
• Hablan cartas y callan barbas - actions speak louder than words (proverb)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the many uses of the verb echar. Pasar probably has more uses than echar. Some of the uses are exactly the same as in English while others are not.

Pasar a mejor vida - Pass away, to die

A José no se le pasa nada – You can’t get anything by José
¡cómo pasa el tiempo! – How time goes by!
De allí no paso. – That’s where I draw the line.
El médico pasará a visitarnos – The doctor will come by and visit us.
El río pasa por la ciudad. – The river flows through the city
Hacerse pasar por alguien - To pass yourself off as some or something.
Se hace pasar por médico. – To pass yourself off as doctor.
Ha pasado la crisis - The crisis is over.
Han pasado cuatro años. – Four years have passed.
Juan pasa por francés - John can pass for a French person.
La carne está pasada - The meat is bad (went bad or spoiled)
Me has pasado tu tos. – You have given me your cough.
¿Me pasa la sal, por favor? – Would you please pass the salt?
Me pasa las tuyas - The same thing happens to me as you
Lo pasamos bien - We had a good time
No hay paso. – The road is closed or blocked
No se puede pasar - You can’t enter
No se le pasa nada - Nothing escapes him.
Nos hiceron pasar. – They showed us in.
Nos pasaron a otra habitación. – They moves us to another room.
Nos pasaron a ver al presidente. – They took us to see the presidente.
Pasamos nuestras vacaciones en México. – We spent out vacation in Mexico.
Pasar a más - To get worse
Pasar al lado del enemigo - To go over to the other side
Pasar adelante - To go on or proceed
Pasar dinero falso - To pass counterfeit money.
Pasar el café por el colador - Strain the coffee.
Pasar el cepillo por el pelo - To brush one’s hair
Pasar el rato - to kill time
Pasar de – To go beyond.
Ella pasa de ser bonita. She is beyond beautiful Etc.
Pasar frío - To be cold
Pasar hambre - To go hungry
Pasar la bola - To pass a ball
Pasar la lista - To call roll
Pasar la mano por algo - To run your hand over something
Pasar por - To experience
Ya pasé por eso . – I already went through that.
Pasar por alto - To overlook or skip
Pasar revista a - To review the troops
Pasar un carro - To pass a car. Adelantar is also. Rayar is used Costa Rica.
Pasar una cosa - To pass something like  street or a floor when you are in an elevator.
Pasar por agua - to boil an egg
Pasar por su casa - To visit your house or drop in
Pasar por una crisis - To go through a crisis
Pasar una ley - To pass a law
Pasarse - Used when food goes bad
Pasarse de la raya - To go too far
Pasarse de listo - To be a smart ass or think one is smart.  Jugar de vivo is used in Costa Rica. A vivazo is a smartass.
Pasarse de moda – to be out of style
Pasarse de bueno - To be good
Pase lo que pase - Come what may.
¡pase Usted! - After you! (when entering)
Se me pasó el trago – I am drunk
Se me pasó el turno - I missed my turn.
Se me pasó la mano - I got carried away. Se me fue la mano is also used.
Se me pasó la oportunidad - I missed my chance
Se te pasa - You’ll get over it (problem or sickness).
¿Qué pasa? - What’s the matter?

There are a lot more…

Tiquismos of the week:

• Pasar a mejor vida - To die
• Pasar la brocha - To stroke someone
• Pasar la pelota - To pass the buck (figuratively)
• Pasar por muchos aros - To go through a lot of hoops (figuratively) or have a lot of experience
  

Esto sería mas divertido si no lo echaras como una niña.

Echar: To throw something but almost always has to do with a forcible  casting out or expulsion or pouring. I could write pages and pages about the many uses of this verb. Here are some of the most common expressions using echar.

Echar a alguien – to throw someone out of someplace or expel them.
Echar a cara o cruz – to flip a coin. Echar un volado means the same thing.
Echar a correr – to start to run
Echar a perder –to ruin or spoil something
Echar a pique – to sink or send to the bottom
Echar abajo – to demolish
Echar algo en cara – to reproach or to rub something in one’s face (figuratively speaking)
Echar chispas – to be very mad
Echar de cabeza – to let something out of the bag
Echar de menos – to miss a person or something
Echar el caballo – to make a pass at someone in Costa Rica
Echar el cuento – the same as the last one
Echar el guante a alguien – to catch someone
Echar el ojo – to have your eye on something
Echar flores – to praise
Echar en saco roto – to forget about something
Echar ganas – to show enthusiasm
Echar indirectas – to drop hints or insinuate
Echar la casa por la ventana – to spend lavishly or go all out on a party
Echar la culpa a alguien – to blame someone
Echar las cartas – to tell someone’s fortune
Echar leña al fuego – to add fuel to the fire (figuratively speaking)
Echar mal de ojo – to give the evil eye
Echar para aldelante – to keep going when things are rough
Echar patas – used when something get stolen in Costa Rica. It grew feet and walked away.
Echar raíces – to settle down
Echar suertes – to draw lots
Echar tierra a – to keep something quiet or hush up something
Echar un polvo – to have sex (vulgar)
Echar un sermón a alguien – to give someone a lecture or scold.
Echar una carta – to mail a letter
Echar una mano – to give someone a hand (help)
Echar una meadita – to urinate (vulgar)
Echar una pestaña – to sleep
Echarse – to lie down
Echarse a la calle – to become a prostitute
Echarse para atrás  - to back out of a commitment
Echarse un solito – to play a musical solo.
Echarse un trago – to have a drink like a beer
Echarse una cana al aire – to have a fling
Echarse una siesta – to take a nap
¿Cuántos años le echa? – How old do you think he is?

Tiquismo of the week : Echar al agua means to tell or squeal on someone in Costa Rica

George, He notado que su informe más reciente se está convirtiendo demasiado en autobiográfico.

Spanish has no single word for the English verb ‘to become’. Below I am going to explain the different ways of expressing this verb. It takes a long time and a lot of practice to master this concept. Keep your eyes and ears opens and try to look for other examples of how these verbs are used in different situations and you will get the hang of using them. “La práctica hace al maestro.” Practice makes perfect.

(1) Ponerse is used to indicate a change in mood, physical condition and appearance.

Example: Se puso ronco de tanto hablar. He got hoarse from talking so much

Example: El arroz se está poniendo caro. Rice is getting expensive.

(2) Volverse is usually used to show an  involuntary mental or physical change. The change is more permanent than ponerse.

Example: El hombre se volvío loco . The man went crazy.

Example: María se volvío desilusionada con la política. She became disappointed with politics.

(3) Hacerse usually involves a voluntary effort and a longer period of time.

Example: Pedro se hizo arquitecto. Pedro became an architect.

(4) Llegar a ser usually involves a slow and gradual change.

Example: Jorge estudío mucho y con el tiempo llegó a ser médico. George studied a lot and in due time became a doctor.

(5) Convertirse indicates change which is usually due to external circumstances.

Example : El crimen se ha convertido en un verdadero problema. Crime has become or turned into a real problem.

(6) Quedarse means to become but usually when a loss is involved.

Example: María se quedó sin dinero. María was left without money

Example: El niño se quedó huérfano. The child became an orphan.

Example: Tomás se quedó sordo. Thomas became deaf.

Tiquismo of the week – Ponerse como tomate is to blush.
Quedarse sin el santo y la limosna is to be left without something or lose something.

There are literally thousands of Spanish words that are easy  for English speakers to to understand. All they have to do is concentrate on the English within these words, stress the correct syllable and pronounce them with a Spanish accent.

EASY WORDS:
béislbol - baseball
café - coffee, cafe
comercial - commercial
especial - special
estúpido - stupid
familia - family
fotografía - photography
limón - lemon
minuto - minute
nervioso – nervous
noviembre - November
operación - operation
refrigerador - refrigerator
teléfono - telephone
vacación - vacation

EASIER WORDS:
banana - banana
chocolate - chocolate
color - color
doctor - doctor
hotel - hotel
idea - idea
natural - natural
radio - radio
taxi - taxi

MORE WORDS:
diccionario - dictionary
dieta - diet
moderno - modern
música - music

Keep your ears and eyes open for more of these words and your Spanish will improve by leaps and bounds.

Costa Rican expression of the week:
The verb turistear means to tour the country. The correct verb is pasear.