Reference · module 32
The words that go together
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Dar, hacer, tomar, echar
Pick the verb the noun expects.
- dar un paseo, dar las gracias, dar miedo, dar igual, darse cuenta. None of them is about giving anything.
- hacer una pregunta, hacer caso, hacer daño, hacer falta, hacerse el tonto.
- echar de menos is to miss somebody, echar una mano is to help, tomar una decisión is to decide.
The mistake you are about to make
hacer una decisión
tomar una decisión
"Make a decision" pushes hacer. A decision in Spanish is taken: tomar una decisión.
Tener with a feeling
Describe states the way Spanish does.
- Spanish has a feeling rather than being it: tengo hambre, tengo sed, tengo sueño, tengo prisa, tengo razón.
- The noun after tener takes no article, and mucho rather than muy: tengo mucha hambre, never muy hambre.
- Some feelings are given by the thing: Me da miedo. Me da pena. Me da igual. The thing is the subject.
The mistake you are about to make
Tengo muy hambre.
Tengo mucha hambre.
"Very hungry" pushes muy. Hambre is a noun, so it takes mucha.
Words that look alike
Keep apart the pairs that trip people up.
- actualmente means currently, not actually. realizar means to carry out. sensible means sensitive. constipado means having a cold.
- Near pairs: recordar and acordarse, esperar for hoping and waiting, mirar and ver, oír and escuchar.
- One letter apart: pero and perro, año and ano, casa and caza. The accent and the double r are not decoration.
The mistake you are about to make
Estoy embarazada. (= I am embarrassed)
Me da vergüenza.
Embarazada looks like embarrassed and means pregnant. Embarrassment is vergüenza.
Formal and informal
Match the words to the situation.
- Many ideas have a plain word and a formal one: empezar and comenzar, pedir and solicitar, decir and manifestar.
- A formal letter uses usted, Le escribo para, Quedo a la espera de su respuesta, Atentamente.
- What belongs to speech only: o sea, vale, pues nada, en plan. None of them should reach a formal page.
The mistake you are about to make
Un beso, Anna
Atentamente, Anna
The friendly sign-off becomes a habit and ends up in a formal letter. That one closes with atentamente.