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Today we’re going to learn some new nouns to describe people, including some religious words such as “God”, “devil”, and “saint”, as well as how to say “ladies and gentlemen” in Spanish!
Damas y caballeros…
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Today we’re going to learn some new nouns to describe people, including some religious words such as “God”, “devil”, and “saint”.
To begin with, let’s learn the words for “ladies and gentlemen”. So we’ve already learned that señor is a common and polite way to refer to a man, and although it literally means “mister”, it’s used much more broadly than the word “mister” in English, almost like the word “gentleman”. For example:
Could you give this to the mister at the second table?
¿Podrías darle esto al señor de la segunda mesa?
But the literal word for “gentleman” is caballero. This is spelled c-a-b-a-l-l-e-r-o. Caballero. So for example:
What a young gentleman you are!
¡Qué joven caballero eres!
The equivalent word for a lady is dama. So for example:
Ladies and gentlemen, please listen carefully.
Damas y caballeros, por favor escuchen bien.
As a little bit of nerdy trivia, both of these terms have a slight relationship with royalty or gentry. So caballero is also the word for “knight”, as in “a knight of the round table”, and dama is sometimes used to refer to a queen or other woman in royal power. But the most common usage is more similar to the words “ladies” and “gentlemen”, in the semi-formal way that you’d use either one to get someone’s attention or maybe to label gendered restrooms.
Let’s practice these words.
He always felt like a gentleman.
Siempre se sentía como un caballero.
The lady and the gentleman have to sit down together.
La dama y el caballero tienen que sentarse juntos.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sorry, but we aren’t working tonight.
Damas y caballeros, lo siento, pero no trabajamos esta noche.
The lady wanted to know where that place was.
La dama quería saber dónde estaba ese lugar.
Our next word is muchacho, which doesn’t really have a proper translation in English. It means something like “teenager” or “youngster”, although it’s used more often than either of those words is used in English. You’ll often hear it used to single out a teenaged person out of a group of people. For example:
No, it wasn’t the little kid, it was the teenage boy.
No, no fue el niño, fue el muchacho.
The feminine version is muchacha. And then a group of teenage girls might be muchachas, and a group of teenage boys or a mixed group would be muchachos.
Let’s practice these.
Sit down with the teenagers.
Siéntate con los muchachos.
There are some teenage girls there.
Hay unas muchachas ahí.
(Formal) Sit down in front of the teenage boy and the teenage girl.
Siéntese adelante del muchacho y de la muchacha.
I told the teenage boy that he had to go straight home.
Le dije al muchacho que tenía que ir derecho a casa.
The teenage girl went out partying with her friends.
La muchacha salió de fiesta con sus amigos.
Next let’s learn nouns that refer to religious figures. The word for “God” is Dios, spelled d-i-o-s, and the word for “devil” is diablo, spelled d-i-a-b-l-o. So for example:
This book is about God and the Devil.
Este libro es sobre Dios y el diablo.
Now, to be perfectly honest, the reason that religious terms are so high on the frequency list is largely because of swearing, but we’re avoiding those uses on this show, so let’s get some practice with dios and diablo in some non-swearing uses.
I’ve always believed in God.
Siempre he creído en Dios.
He will see the gods when he sits down on the left.
Verá a los dioses cuando se siente a la izquierda.
If you believe in God, you believe in the Devil.
Si crees en Dios, crees en el diablo.
Now let’s learn some related terms that are also high on the frequency list. The word for “demon” is demonio. So for example:
It was because of the demons of her past.
Era por los demonios de su pasado.
And then the word santo means “saint”. For example:
What saint lived in this city?
¿Qué santo vivió en esta ciudad?
You can also use this word as a description before the name of a saint, to say things like “Saint John” or “Saint Mary”, but the word changes when you do; for a feminine saint, it changes to santa, and when it’s used right before a masculine name, it’s actually shortened to san. So for example:
The people of this city like Saint Juan and Saint Maria.
A la gente de esta ciudad le gustan San Juan y Santa María.
Let’s practice these words. In this first one, you’ll use a new idiom, dejar ir, which means “to let go of” something.
You have to let go of your demons.
Tienes que dejar ir tus demonios.
Saint Juan was a great saint.
San Juan fue un gran santo.
We feel like the saints on the right are here with us.
Sentimos que los santos a la derecha están aquí con nosotros.
We want to go to that place to see Saint Maria.
Queremos ir a ese lugar para ver a Santa María.
If you sit down here, that demon will be a problem.
Si te sientas aquí, ese demonio será un problema.
For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper using the free online flashcards here! Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.
I don’t want them to sit down near that saint.
No quiero que se sienten cerca de ese santo.
I used to feel like that lady was going to be my future wife.
Sentía que esa dama iba a ser mi futura esposa.
He feels the devil is near, so he went to see a saint.
Siente que el diablo está cerca, así que fue a ver a un santo.
I want the teenage girl to feel like a lady.
Quiero que la muchacha se sienta como una dama.
I’ll do it when you seat your children at the last table.
Lo haré cuando sientes a tus hijos en la última mesa.
You don’t see the devil? He is sitting right there.
¿No ves al diablo? Está sentado justo ahí.
You’re a gentleman and that makes me feel like a lady.
Eres un caballero y eso me hace sentir como una dama.
The teenage boy feels sad, because the teenage girl doesn’t talk to him.
El muchacho se siente triste porque la muchacha no habla con él.
I have to sit down here; this is the right place.
Tengo que sentarme aquí, este es el lugar correcto.
I feel like that now, but we didn’t feel like this before.
Me siento así ahora, pero no nos sentimos así antes.
The teenage boy went to a secret place.
El muchacho fue a un lugar secreto.
The right house is better than the left one because it’s more real.
La casa derecha es mejor que la izquierda porque es más real.
I have always felt this way.
Siempre me he sentido así.
The general idea is that you feel happy.
La idea general es que te sientas feliz.
I feel like God is near.
Siento que Dios está cerca.
I think I felt a demon when I was there.
Creo que sentí un demonio cuando estaba ahí.
God doesn’t want me to feel sad.
Dios no quiere que yo me sienta triste.
She can sit down there, there is no demon.
Puede sentarse ahí, no hay ningún demonio.
He always sits down afterwards because he is a gentleman.
Siempre se sienta después porque es un caballero.
They are sitting there, how do they feel?
Están sentados ahí, ¿cómo se sienten?
You feel the love of God every day.
Sientes el amor de Dios todos los días.
To get more practice with these sentences, join the free course here and quiz yourself with them until you’re acing this. Or tune in tomorrow for a big quiz to practice everything we’ve learned this week.
This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. Our music was provided by the Seattle Marimba Quartet, and I’m Timothy, encouraging you to do the hard work of learning Spanish. Acquiring a second language is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, so start your fluency journey today using ourfree course — join here.
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