English Vocabulary & Grammar for Spanish Learners

Financial Vocabulary: English to Spanish

• Banknote: billete
• Cash: dinero en efectivo
• Cash machine: cajero
• Cheque book: chequera / talonario de cheques
• Coin: moneda
• Credit card: tarjeta de crédito
• Currency: moneda / divisa
• Purse: monedero
• Wallet: cartera
• Receipt: recibo
• Till: caja registradora
• To afford: permitirse
• To borrow: pedir prestado
• To lend: prestar
• To cost: costar
• To owe: deber
• To pay for: pagar por
• To save: ahorrar
• To earn: ganar
• To spend: gastar
• To change: cambiar

Everyday English Phrases & Expressions

• To spend a lot of time: pasar mucho tiempo
• Don’t get me wrong / Don’t misunderstand me: no me malinterpretes
• Gooseberry: sujetavelas
• Actually: en realidad / de hecho
• The boy/girl of my dreams: el chico/chica de mis sueños
• I got his/her reply straight away: me contestó en seguida
• You don’t owe me anything: no me debes nada
• It’s your lucky day: es tu día de suerte
• Another time, maybe: otra vez, quizá
• I didn’t know what to do: no sabía qué hacer
• To pretend to be ill: fingir estar enfermo
• What should I do?: ¿qué debería hacer?
• I don’t want to offend him/her: no quiero ofenderle/herirle
• To give someone the wrong impression: dar a alguien la impresión equivocada

English Word Families: Nouns & Adjectives

• Care – Careful: cuidado/precaución – cuidadoso/prudente
• Cloud – Cloudy: nube – nublado
• Colour – Colourful: color – colorido
• Dirt – Dirty: suciedad – sucio
• Health – Healthy: salud – saludable
• Luck – Lucky: fortuna – afortunado
• Pain – Painful: dolor – doloroso
• Success – Successful: éxito – exitoso
• Wind – Windy: viento – ventoso
• Wonder – Wonderful: asombro/maravillar – maravilloso
• Rain – Rainy: lluvia – lluvioso
• Hope – Hopeful: esperanza – esperanzador
• Noise – Noisy: ruido – ruidoso
• Beauty – Beautiful: belleza – bonito/bello
• Sun – Sunny: sol – soleado

General English Vocabulary

• Currently: en este momento / actualmente
• The whole world: todo el mundo
• What would life be like if...?: ¿cómo sería la vida si...?
• Equally: equitativamente
• Shelter: refugio
• Comfortably: cómodamente
• Shortage of food: escasez o falta de comida
• Well fed: bien alimentado
• Hungry: hambriento
• Undernourished: malnutrido
• To sustain: mantener / sustentar
• Below: debajo

Asking for Advice & Expressing Opinions

• Can I ask your advice about something?: ¿Te puedo pedir consejo sobre algo?
• To be broken: estar roto
• He has offered to lend me the money: se ha ofrecido a prestarme dinero
• That’s nice of him: es bonito/amable de su parte
• Even so: aún así
• I suppose you’re right: supongo que tienes razón

Social & Economic Concepts

• A relative: un pariente
• To make a mistake: cometer un error
• First of all: en primer lugar
• To break down: arruinarse / venirse abajo / derrumbarse
• I wouldn’t spend money on myself: no me gastaría el dinero en mí mismo
• Flat screen: pantalla plana
• Broadband connection: banda ancha
• Homeless people: gente sin techo
• To donate money to a charity: donar dinero a una obra de caridad

Understanding English Modal Verbs

Must: Obligation & Certainty

We use must for strong obligation. The negative form, mustn't, indicates prohibition.

We also use must when we believe a situation is true or certain.

Have To: Impersonal Obligation & Necessity

We use have to to express impersonal obligation (e.g., es necesario).

The negative form indicates no obligation or necessity (e.g., It isn’t necessary to... / You don’t need to...).

Should: Advice & Opinion

We use should to give advice (e.g., It’s a good/bad idea to... / I think...).

We also use it to express an opinion about the right or wrong thing to do.

Can, Could, Be Able To: Ability & Permission

These verbs express ability or permission.

May, Might: Probability & Permission

May and might are used to talk about possible situations (probability).

• May: Stronger possibility (approx. 50%)
• Might: Weaker possibility (approx. 30%)

We also use may to ask for permission (more polite than can or could).

Conjugation: Can, Could, Be Able To

• Affirmative: Subject + can/could/will be able to + infinitive
• Negative: Subject + can’t/couldn’t/won’t be able to + infinitive
• Interrogative: Can/Could + Subject + infinitive? / Will + Subject + be able to + infinitive?

Conjugation: May, Might

• Affirmative: Subject + may/might + infinitive
• Negative: Subject + may not/might not + infinitive
• Interrogative: May/Might + Subject + infinitive?

Conjugation: Must, Should

• Affirmative: Subject + must/should + infinitive
• Negative: Subject + mustn’t/shouldn’t + infinitive
• Interrogative: Should + Subject + infinitive?

Conjugation: Have To

• Affirmative: Subject + have/has to + infinitive
• Negative: Subject + don’t/doesn’t have to + infinitive
• Interrogative: Do/Does + Subject + have to + infinitive?