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Let’s learn some fun nouns for physical items, including the words for “bed”, “fire”, “coffee”, “telephone”, and “dog”.
Hablemos del tiempo.
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Let’s learn some fun new nouns, including the words for “coffee”, “dog”, and “phone”.
We’ll start with two words that you kind of already know, but with new meanings. We’ve already learned the word tiempo to mean “time”, as in the passing of time. But this word can also mean “weather”. To indicate this meaning, you’re typically going to use a very particular phrasing that doesn’t happen in English. In English, we say:
The weather is good today.
But in Spanish, you actually say “It makes good weather today.”
Hace buen tiempo hoy.
Try it yourself in this next example:
We took a walk because the weather was nice.
Dimos una vuelta porque hacía buen tiempo.
Next, let’s revisit the word bien. In general, you’ve been taught that bueno is an adjective that means “good”, whereas bien is an adverb that means “well”, referring to how people are doing. Well, bien also has a totally separate meaning, as a noun: un bien is “a good”, as in a product, such as a canned good or something that’s manufactured. Here’s an example that uses the plural bienes:
That place has food and other goods.
Ese lugar tiene comida y otros bienes.
So in this way, bien actually CAN mean “good”, but only in this sort of niche context.
Let’s practice these uses of tiempo and bien.
How sad! Today the weather is not good for doing that.
¡Qué triste! Hoy no hace buen tiempo para hacer eso.
We think that the goods aren’t where they should be.
Creemos que los bienes no están donde deberían estar.
Yesterday the weather was good, do you(all) think that today it will be, too?
Ayer hizo buen tiempo, ¿creen que hoy lo haga también?
I was thinking about the goods that we don’t have.
Estaba pensando en los bienes que no tenemos.
Next let’s move on to some more tangible nouns, and we’ll start with a couple of kind of scary ones. A common word for “fire” is fuego. For example:
We made a fire outside.
Hicimos un fuego afuera.
And then a word for “weapon” is arma. For example:
We were scared because they had weapons.
Teníamos miedo porque tenían armas.
A couple of notes about these words. First of all, arma is a feminine noun, but it sometimes takes the article el for the same reason that agua does; since it starts with a stressed letter A, it sounds better to say el arma instead of la arma. For example:
The weapon wasn’t ours.
El arma no era nuestra.
And then note that fuego isn’t the only way to say “fire” in Spanish. If a fire is causing an emergency, for example if a building is on fire or there’s a forest fire, there’s a different word for that. You’ll use fuego in more general-purpose scenarios, including if you’re talking about cooking or a flame that’s being used in any context other than an emergency.
Let’s practice arma and fuego.
Juan thinks of fire as a weapon.
Juan piensa en el fuego como un arma.
Perhaps the man thinks about that because there’s fire.
Tal vez el hombre piense en eso porque hay fuego.
I can’t believe it, what do you mean he has a weapon?
No puedo creerlo, ¿cómo que tiene un arma?
All right, now we get to our fun nouns. The word for “phone” or “telephone” is teléfono. It’s pronounced a lot like “telephone” in English, but make sure to stress the second syllable, “lef”. This word is spelled t-e-l-e-f-o-n-o, with a stress on the second E. teléfono. For example:
Wait a moment, I don't have the phone.
Espera un momento, no tengo el teléfono.
The word for “bed” is cama, a feminine noun. For example:
I had to spend all day in bed.
Tuve que pasar todo el día en cama.
The word for “dog” is perro. For example:
My dog, Leo, has a new bed.
Mi perro, Leo, tiene una cama nueva.
And the word for “coffee” is café, with an accent over the final E. For example:
Can we go to that place since it has coffee?
¿Podemos ir a ese lugar ya que tiene café?
Let’s practice teléfono, cama, perro, and café.
In this first example, we’ll see the word por being used to mean getting something or picking something up.
Do you have Laura's phone? I want to go with her for a coffee.
¿Tienes el teléfono de Laura? Quiero ir con ella por un café.
I don’t think I have the phone of that coffee place.
No creo que yo tenga el teléfono de ese lugar de café.
María has thought about having a dog.
María ha pensado en tener un perro.
Don’t think about letting the dog be on the bed.
No pienses en dejar que el perro esté en la cama.
This morning when I was in bed I thought about that.
Esta mañana cuando estaba en la cama pensé en eso.
Marcos believes that you thought that bed was his.
Marcos cree que tú creías que esa cama era suya.
Before we go on to our final quiz, let’s learn two new idioms. A very common way to say “anyway” or “anyways” in Spanish is de todas formas, literally “of all ways”. For example:
Anyways, it’s for that reason that we have two dogs.
De todas formas, es por esa razón que tenemos dos perros.
Try it yourself in this next example:
Anyway, he doesn’t believe in what he previously believed.
De todas formas, él no cree en lo que antes creía.
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.
The first example uses the English idiom “time will tell”, which translates into Spanish as el tiempo lo dirá, literally “the time will tell it”.
Maybe Ana thinks that that is fair; time will tell.
Quizás Ana crea que eso es justo, el tiempo lo dirá.
Believe me when I say that he will do it anyways.
Créeme cuando te digo que lo hará de todas formas.
It might be that he thinks that the fire will be ready fast.
Puede que piense que el fuego estará listo rápido.
Be careful with the phone, there is fire there.
Ten cuidado con el teléfono, ahí hay fuego.
Anyway, he believes in that and there is nothing to do.
De todas formas, él cree en eso y no hay nada que hacer.
The lady thinks that the boy is short.
La señora piensa que el chico es bajo.
She was thinking about that house; it’s a good(item) very dear to them.
Ella pensaba en esa casa; es un bien muy querido para ellos.
Laura is tall and her bed also is.
Laura es alta y su cama también lo es.
You never have time to do anything, not even to go for a coffee.
Nunca tienes tiempo para hacer nada, ni siquiera para ir por un café.
I thought that a bed and a weapon weren’t goods.
Pensaba que una cama y un arma no eran bienes.
We all think it’s not fair that you believe that.
Todos creemos que no es justo que creas eso.
I think about the weather — do you think it will be better tomorrow?
Yo pienso en el tiempo — ¿crees que estará mejor mañana?
Don’t give the dog coffee! Think about it, that is very bad.
¡No le des café al perro! Piénsalo, eso es muy malo.
Do you think fire can be a weapon?
¿Piensas que el fuego puede ser un arma?
Juan wants me to think that this dog is the same as the other.
Juan quiere que yo crea que este perro es igual al otro.
He thought that this good was his, and that is why he has it.
Creyó que este bien era suyo, y por eso lo tiene.
Anyways, we never thought about that that day.
De todas formas, nunca pensamos en eso ese día.
(formal) Don’t think about talking about the weather.
No piense en hablar del tiempo.
I thought I had to think about it well because it was very tall.
Creía que tenía que pensarlo bien porque era muy alto.
You have to think about the first man here.
Tienes que pensar en el primer hombre aquí.
Last month I thought that the short man had the book.
El mes pasado creí que el hombre bajo tenía el libro.
They want you to believe that you don’t have the phone, but it’s not like that.
Quieren que creas que no tienes el teléfono, pero no es así.
This book has a clear story, don’t think about the other one(book).
Este libro tiene una historia clara, no pienses en el otro.
You can believe many things, but not that one.
Puedes creer muchas cosas, pero esa no.
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 the final big quiz of the 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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