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Let’s learn the Spanish nouns for “end”, “ending”, “number”, “couple”, and many others. We’ll also get lots of spoken practice putting these new nouns in real sentences.
¡Por fin!
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Today we’re going to keep practicing the verbs Hablar and Pasar, as well as the adjectives and interjections that we learned yesterday. But as we do, we’ll also learn a few new handy nouns that can be used to describe the amounts or parts of something.
In English, we sometimes refer to a small number of countable items as a “couple” of things. For example:
That was a couple of days ago.
Now, “couple” literally refers to two things, but sometimes we use it in an approximate way to refer to roughly two or three. Well, in Spanish, that’s exactly how the masculine noun par is used. So here’s that sentence in Spanish:
Eso fue hace un par de días.
Try it yourself in these next few examples:
They will talk about a couple of things.
Hablarán de un par de cosas.
Yes, in a couple of minutes!
¡Sí, en un par de minutos!
I want her to talk about a couple of ideas.
Quiero que hable de un par de ideas.
To talk about numbers in a more general sense, you’ll use the word número, which means “number”. This is spelled n-u-m-e-r-o, but with an accent mark on the U. Número. For example:
There were a great number of people at the party.
Había un gran número de personas en la fiesta.
Try it yourself in these next two examples:
You have to have the same number of things.
Tienes que tener el mismo número de cosas.
(Formal) Please, pass by house number 2.
Por favor, pase por la casa número 2.
Our next noun is the word punto, which literally means “point”, but also can mean “dot” or “period”. Very often it can refer to a point in a discussion; for example:
That’s a good point.
Ese es un buen punto.
But it can also refer to a point in time. For example:
At this point in my life, I want to have more friends(f).
En este punto de mi vida, quiero tener más amigas.
Notice that we don’t say punto en; we say punto de, literally “point of”.
Try using punto in a few examples.
He has a good point.
Él tiene un buen punto.
The point is that she doesn’t want us to talk.
El punto es que ella no quiere que hablemos.
At this point you spend way too much time here.
En este punto pasas demasiado tiempo aquí.
The word medio means “middle”. For example:
They were talking in the middle of the place.
Estaban hablando en el medio del lugar.
Let’s practice medio, and keep practicing punto, número, and par, using another quiz.
A couple of people were in the middle of that place.
Un par de personas estaban en el medio de ese lugar.
He talked about how he had passed the class.
Habló de cómo había pasado la clase.
That’s a good point, but we’re in the middle of this.
Ese es un buen punto, pero estamos en el medio de esto.
Let’s talk! But I don’t have your number.
¡Hablemos! Pero no tengo tu número.
When they talk they are going to see it.
Cuando hablen lo van a ver.
Next let’s learn two words that refer to the “end” of something: final and fin. The word final is spelled just like the English word “final”, and the word fin is just the first three letters, f-i-n. The words are both masculine, and they both mean “end” or “ending”, although they’re used in slightly different ways idiomatically.
If you’re casually talking about the “ending” of a story, you’re likely to use the word final. For example:
I want a book with a happy ending.
Quiero un libro con un final feliz.
But at the end of a story, sometimes in English you’d see the words “the end”; in Spanish, you’d see fin. I mean, in English we COULD say “the ending”, but that would be kind of awkward. “End” is kind of short for “ending” in this situation. And similarly, in Spanish, fin is short for final.
But fin can also be used to refer to the purpose of something, kind of like how in English, in some formal contexts, we can refer to the purpose of something as its “end goal”. For example:
What is the purpose of life?
¿Cuál es el fin de la vida?
Let’s practice a few simple examples of fin and final.
No, that wasn’t the end.
No, ese no fue el fin.
(formal) You were talking about the ending of the book.
Usted hablaba del final del libro.
She doesn’t want it to be the end.
No quiere que sea el fin.
They didn’t talk about the ending.
No hablaron del final.
Now one of the reasons that final and fin are so important is because they’re used in some idioms. Check out this English sentence:
She saw the house, but in the end, she didn’t want it.
In sentences like this, the idiom for “in the end” is al final. So here’s the Spanish:
Vio la casa, pero al final, no la quería.
And then the word fin features in two important idioms. Check out this sentence in English:
You finally came to my house!
The idiom for “finally” is por fin. So here’s the Spanish:
¡Por fin viniste a mi casa!
And then our last idiom is en fin, which means something like “anyway”, or “in a nutshell”, or “all in all”. For example:
All right, anyway, now we’re friends.
Bueno, en fin, ya somos amigos.
Let’s practice al final, por fin, and en fin.
But anyway, I didn’t do it.
Pero en fin, no lo hice.
In the end we’re spending more time here than at home.
Al final estamos pasando más tiempo aquí que en casa.
Finally we don’t have to do that anymore.
Por fin ya no tenemos que hacer eso.
In the end they only want love.
Al final solo quieren amor.
In a nutshell, I have to pass the class.
En fin, tengo que pasar la clase.
(formal) Finally! Yes, come in!
¡Por fin! Sí, ¡pase!
Our last word today is the opposite of vida, or “life”: It’s muerte, which means “death”. Like vida, this is a feminine noun.
Here’s an example:
She didn’t know about his death.
Ella no sabía de su muerte.
Let’s practice this word, along with our new idioms.
Anyway, don’t talk about death!
En fin, ¡no hables de la muerte!
Finally! She passed the class!
¡Por fin! ¡Pasó la clase!
In the end we’ll talk with her.
Al final hablaremos con ella.
I never talk about death.
Nunca hablo de la muerte.
For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper using the free materials here. Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.
Of course! That’s my point.
¡Claro! Ese es mi punto.
The more I talk, the more they talk.
Cuanto más hablo, más hablan.
Oh, I didn’t pass the class because of one point.
Oh, no pasé la clase por un punto.
Anyway, when I spend time with you it’ll be in the middle of the day.
En fin, cuando pase tiempo contigo será en el medio del día.
Yes, leave! See ya!
Sí, ¡vete! ¡Nos vemos!
Okay, she will pass as much time as she wants there.
Okey, pasará cuanto tiempo quiera ahí.
Finally! We don’t want you to talk anymore.
¡Por fin! No queremos que hables más.
Hmm, we’re talking, but anyway, what’s happening?
Eh, estamos hablando, pero en fin, ¿qué pasa?
Speak now and tell him we didn’t speak yesterday!
¡Habla ahora y dile que no hablamos ayer!
Ah, she won’t talk to him and won’t say goodbye.
Ah, no hablará con él y no dirá adiós.
We’re talking and she gives me her number.
Hablamos y ella me da su número.
I didn’t talk. You talked.
Yo no hablé. Tú hablaste.
If she talks she can do it as much as she wants.
Si habla puede hacerlo cuanto quiera.
Hey! We have a small number of people here.
¡Hey! Tenemos unas cuantas personas aquí.
Sorry! We have to be here until the ending.
¡Perdón! Tenemos que estar aquí hasta el final.
We can’t talk in the middle of this.
No podemos hablar en el medio de esto.
The less time she spends with this person, the better.
Cuanto menos tiempo ella pase con esta persona, mejor.
Well, I will talk to him and he’ll give me his number.
Pues, hablaré con él y él me dará su número.
I was talking to a couple of people.
Hablaba con un par de personas.
All right, in the end she didn’t put her things there.
Bueno, al final ella no puso sus cosas ahí.
Yikes, we’re spending time with them here.
Ay, no pasamos tiempo con ellos aquí.
Finally! I was here for a couple of hours.
¡Por fin! Estuve aquí por un par de horas.
Enough! (formal) Talk to him before the end of the day!
¡Basta! ¡Hable con él antes del fin del día!
We'll have it by the end of the party!
¡Lo tendremos para el fin de la fiesta!
I haven’t talked to them about death yet!
¡No he hablado con ellos de la muerte aún!
I always pass my classes.
Siempre paso mis clases.
He didn’t see the ending.
No vio el final.
With how many people will you talk?
¿Con cuántas personas hablarás?
In the end, death is a part of life.
Al final, la muerte es una parte de la vida.
Come in! What’s up, are you well?
¡Pasa! ¿Qué tal, estás bien?
Go ahead! You always speak about good things.
¡Dale! Siempre hablas de cosas buenas.
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 another 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 our free course — join here.
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