¿A qué distancia queda…?  - How far is…?
¿Dónde está…? - Where is…?
Tome la primera calle… - Take the first street
a la derecha - to the right
a la izquierda - to the left
directo/derecho - straight ahead
diagonal - diagonal to
a la par de - next to
¿Hay un…por aquí? - is there a …around here?
Doble a la derecha - turn right
Doble a la izquierda - turn left
una cuadra - a block
cien metros - a block in Costa Rica
cien varas - also a block in Costa Rica
entrada - driveway
la esquina - corner
cerca de - near
lejos de - far
frente a – across the street
en el cruce  - at the intersection
estoy perdido - I’m lost
Me puede dar las señas – Can you give me the directions?
¿Puede enseñarme el camino? - Can you show me the how to get to…?
norte - north
sur - south
este - east
oeste – west
a un costado de – to one side of

Tiquismos of the week:

1) Estar más perdido que el hijo de la Llorona – to be really lost
(2) Vara  is an old measurement which is the equivalent of a meter (2.8 feet). As I stated above “cien varas” and “cien metros” are also used for a city block. I have even heard “una teja” (slang for 100 colones)  used as slang for a city block.

Estar cansado/a de – to be tired of (very common phrase)
Estar harto/a – to be fed up with (very common phrase)
Estar hasta el copete – to be fed up with
Estar hasta el gollete - to be fed up with (Spain)
Estar hasta el gorro - to be fed up with (Mexico)
Estar hasta el moño - to be fed up with (Spain)
Estar hasta el tope - to be fed up with
Estar hasta la coronilla - to be fed up with (used widely in Latin America)
Estar hasta la madre - to be fed up with (used in Central America and Mexico); also means to be drunk
Estar hasta de cejas - to be fed up with
Estar hasta las narices - to be fed up with
Estar hasta los topes - to be fed up with
Estar hasta los ovarios - to be fed up with (very vulgar  and ONLY  used by women)
Estar hasta los cojones to be fed up with (very vulgar and used ONLY by men)
Estar hasta los huevos - to be fed up with (very vulgar and used ONLY by men)

Tiquismo of the week : Palmarse – to die

Mandar a freír buñuelos - to tell someone to get lost
Mandar a hacer gárgaras - to tell someone to get lost
Mandar a alguien a paseo – tell someone to take a hike
Mandar a alguien por el tubo – to tell someone to get lost
Mandar al demonio – to tell someone to go to hell
Mandar  al diablo – also means to tell someone to go to hell
Mandar a la goma – to tell someone to get lost
Mandar a freír esparragos - to tell someone to get lost

Careful!!!
Mandar a alguien a la mierda – very offense and vulgar
Mandar a algiuien a la eme – same as the last expression and also very vulgar
Mandar a alguien al carajo – very offense and vulgar
Mandar a alguien a la verga - to tell someone to get f**ked (very vulgar and dangerous to use this)
Mandar a la jodida or a la chingada – to tell someone to get f**ked (very vulgar and dangerous to use this)
Mandar a joder a su madre – to tell someone to go f**k his mother (you’ll virtually sign your death sentence if you use this)

Tiquismo of the week – Mandar güevo – an expression used for disbelief. Example: ¡Manda güevo que José no sepa manejar un carro! It’s unbelievable  Joe doesn’t know how to drive a car!

Here is the list of the most common shortened words.

El cole – from colegio (high school)
El compa – from compadre (pal)
El cumpli – from cumpleaños (birthday)
El profe – from profesor (teacher)
El celu – from celular (cell phone)
El abue y la abue – from abuelo (grandfather) abuela(grandmother)
El fut – from fútbol (soccer)
La peni – from penitenciaria (penitentiary)
La compu – from computadora (computer)
La bici – from bicicleta (bike)
La moto – from motocicleta (motorcycle)
El presi – from presidente (president)
El hospi – from hospital (hospital)
La tele – from televisión (television)
La U – from universidad (university)
La uni – from universidad (university)
La refri – from refrigerador (refrigerator)
El doc – from doctor (doctor)
La prosti – from prostituta (prostitute)
La muni – from municipalidad (municipality/city hall)
El wicho – from sanwich (sandwich)
El Pana – from Panameño (Panamanian)
El Nica – from Nicaragüense (Nicaraguan)
Guate – from Guatemala (Guatemala)
Por fa – from por favor (please)

Tiquismo or Costa Rican expression of the week: El wachi – from wachimán (watchman) Costa Rican Slang

Tiquismo – Cuando la rana echa pelos – never. El 31 de febrero is also used.

In the previous two lessons I introduced the subjunctive verb endings and told you to memorize the  verb endings for regular AR, ER and IR verbs. In the second lesson I included the most common irregular verb endings.

Now it is time to see how the subjunctive works. I am not going to mention a lot of grammatical terms into order to simplify the process.

I want you to look at this formula which applies to 90% of the cases where you use the subjunctive. The subjunctive has to do with uncertainty. It refers to something that has not happened.

Step 1) A + B = Subjunctive.

What does this mean? In most cases If you have elements A and B in a the first half of a sentence followed by “QUE (that)”,  the verb that comes after QUE HAS TO BE IN THE SUBJUNCTIVE TENSE and refers to an event that hasn’t happened.  Remember this.

Step 2) In our formula above A represents a PERSON (subject) or THING and B represents a VERB. NOT JUST ANY VERB but CERTAIN TYPES of VERBS that affect the outcome of the second half of the sentence after QUE. Confused? I bet you are. Now let’s look at the first situation where we can apply our formula

FIRST USE OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE:

(1) With Verbs of INFLUENCE + que (that). Verbs in the first part of the sentence before  QUE that influence the outcome of what comes after QUE: wanting, desire, ordering, causing, allowing, prohibiting, persuading, requesting, insisting, needing, preventing, advising, etc.

Note: the QUE (that) which separates the two parts of the sentence is seldom translated in the examples in English below.

Example: I want you to buy a car. Yo quiero que usted compre  un carro. (A) Yo + quiero (querer which is a verb of influence (B)  followed by que , so the verb that comes after que, which refers to another person has to be in the subjunctive. In this case it is “compre” from the verb comprar.

Example:

Mi esposa desea (to desire) que yo pinte la casa. (A) My wife (a person) desires (verb of influence) (B) that I (change of subject) paint the house.

More examples:

• Te sugiero que vayas (irregular of IR to go). I (first subject) suggest (verb of influence) that you (change of subject) go.
• La cajera nos recomienda que contemos el dinero. The cashier recommends (verb of influence) (that) we count the money.
• Marta nos pide que salgamos ahora. Martha asks us to leave now.
• El profesor recomienda que estudiemos. The teacher recommends  (that) we study.
• Yo prefiero que esperes. I prefer (that) you wait.
• Insisto en que pintes la casa. I insist you paint the house.

In all of these examples these is one subject using a verb of influence followed by “QUE” to change the out some of affect the subject that comes after QUE

Tiquismo of the week: Ser muy gallo – to be brave or hard working

We form the present subjunctive of most “ar, - er, and ir ” verbs by dropping the - “o” of the present indicative tense “yo” form and by adding the subjunctive verb endings.

AR VERB ENDINGS
Add o, as, a, amos, an

ER and IR VERB ENDINGS (note they are the same)
o, es, e, emos (imos), en

Below are some of the most frequently used irregular verbs that don’t follow the rule above. The good news is that ninety-nine percent of the verbs are regular.

Poner (to put or place) - Yo (I) pongo, tú (you familiar) pones, él (he), ella (she) pone, nosotros (we) ponemos, ellos (them-masculine), ellas (them-feminine), Ustedes (plural ..you all) ponen.

Tener (to have) - yo tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tienen.

Seguir (to follow) - yo sigo, sigues, siguen, seguimos, sigan.

Venir (to come) - yo vengo, vienes, viene, venimos, vienen.

Hacer (to do or make) - yo hago, haces, hace, hacemos, hacen.

Dar (to give) - yo doy, das, da, damos, dan.

Estar (to be……location or temporary conditions) - estoy, estas, está, estamos, estan.

Ir (to go) - voy, vas, vá, vamos, van.

Saber (to know a fact) - yo sé, sabes, sabe, sabemos, saben.

Conocer (to know people or places) - conozco, conoces, conoce, conocemos, conocen.

Ser (to be….permanent conditions) - soy, eres, es, somos, son.

*Haber (there is or there are) - Haya (NOTE there is only one form of this verb)

THERE ARE SOME MORE IRREGULAR ENDINGS THAT ARE LESS FREQUENLY USED. WRITE ME OFF LINE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO USE THEM.

MEMORIZE THE VERBS ABOVE AND NEXT WEEK I WILL SIMPLIFIY THE USE OF THE SUBJUNCTIVE “MOOD” BY GIVING YOU THE FIRST RULE OF HOW TO USE IT.

Tiquismos of the week

Bochinche is a type of dispute, argument or fight. A person who engages in this behavior is called a bochinchero.
Amarraperros - is someone who doesn’t pay a debt
Caco - a criminal

In this series of lessons I am going to try and simplify the subjunctive. When I was a Spanish teacher in the States I had the opportunity to teach this concept to thousands of students at both the high school and university levels. With a little time and effort most of my students mastered the basics of the subjunctive.

During the 27 years I have lived in Costa Rica I have only run across about twenty five foreigners who speak Spanish fluently (fluency is the ability to be able to let the language flow effortlessly). However, only a handful of them have really master the use of the subjunctive tense.

The first step in learning the subjunctive is to memorize the verb endings. The second step is to know when and how to use them.

Memorize the following REGULAR verb endings.

We form the present subjunctive of most  AR, - ER, and  IR verbs by dropping the - “o” of the present indicative tense “yo” form and by adding the subjunctive endings.

Ojo! (Be careful) If you are a beginning Spanish student or haven’t mastered the present tense yet, then save this series of articles for future reference.

AR VERB ENDINGS
Add o, as, a, amos, an

CantAR
(to sing)
Yo canto
Tú cantas
Usted, él, ella canta
Nosotros cantamos
Ustedes, ellos, ellas cantan

(for advanced students the vos form is cantas)

ER and IR VERB ENDINGS (note they are the same)
o, es, e, emos (imos), en

ComER (to eat)
yo como
Tú comes
Usted, él, ella come
Nosotros comemos
Ustedes, ellos, ellas comen

(for advanced students the vos form is comes)

VivIR (to live)
Yo vivo
Tú vives
Usted, él, ella vive
Nosotros vivimos
Ustedes, ellos, ellas viven

(for advanced students the vos form is vivis)