Palabras de fácil confusión

MATERIA, TEMA, SUJETO materia materia can mean "matter", and can also mean a subject in school Mis materias favoritas son historia y geografía. tema tema is used to indicate the topic or subject of a book, a presentation, a class, etc. This is the most common way to translate English "subject" ¿Cuál es el tema principal de este artículo? sujeto sujeto only means "subject" in the grammatical sense, as in the subject of a sentence; it can also mean "guy" in a somewhat pejorative sense Identifica el sujeto, el verbo, y el objeto en esta frase.   APUNTES, GRADO, NOTA apuntes apuntes "notes" is almost always found in the plural. tomar apuntes is "to take notes"; apuntar can also mean "to make a note of" Les recomiendo que tomen apuntes en clase. grado grado means "degree" (as in weather) or "rank", but only means "grade" in the sense of a year of school (3er grado = 3rd grade) La temperatura máxima es de 40 grados celsio. nota nota means "grade" as in the grade one receives on a test or in a class. sacar buenas/malas notas means "to get good/bad grades" Si quieres sacar buenas notas, debes estudiar mucho.   ÉPOCA, HORA, TIEMPO, VEZ época época means "time period", "era", or "season", and is used in the expression en esa/aquella época, meaning "at that time" En esta época hace frío en las montañas . hora hora literally means "hour", but is also is used to indicate "clock time"; horas extras means "overtime" -¿Qué hora es? -Son las once, ya es hora de dormir. tiempo tiempo can be used to mean "time" in a very general sense, and in certain expressions such as hace mucho tiempo, "a long time ago", tener tiempo "to have time", tiempo libro "free time", and tomar tiempo, "to take time". Remember that tiempo can also mean "weather" Perdóname, ahorita no tengo tiempo para hablar. vez vez means "time" in the sense of repeating an activity, so una vez is "one time" or "once", dos veces is "two times" or "twice", mil veces is "a thousand times" and a veces is "sometimes" Te he dicho mil veces que no me gustan las anchoas.   CITA, DATO, FECHA, HECHO cita cita means "date" or "appointment" Mañana tengo una cita con el doctor. dato dato means "fact" in the sense of "a piece of information"; datos is "facts" or "data" Los datos confirman que hablar dos idiomas es una gran ventaja a la hora de buscar trabajo. fecha fecha means "date" in the calendar sense -¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy? -Hoy es el 25 de mayo. hecho hecho can also mean "fact", often in the sense of "something that happened"; it is also used in the expression de hecho "in fact" Es un hecho que los blogs ahora son importantes fuentes de información .   COLEGIO, ESCUELA, FACULTAD, UNIVERSIDAD colegio colegio generally means "high school", although it is sometimes used for "college" among Spanish speakers in the U.S. Other words for "high school" include secundaria, liceo, and prepa. The term colegio mayor is used for "dorm" in Spain; residencia estudiantil is more common in Latin America. En los EE.UU. es obligatorio asistir al colegio. escuela escuela is the most general term for "school", and can be used for any level, though it is more commonly used for the elementary and high school levels. Algunas escuelas primarias cuentan con programas de educación bilingüe. facultad The word facultad is used to describe the different schools or departments that make up an institute of higher learning, so Facultad de Derecho is "Law School" Mi hermana estudia análisis de sistemas en la Facultad de Ingeniería. universidad universidad is "university", and is used for the most part just as in English. A common abbreviation in some countries is "uni" En América Latina, al igual que los Estados Unidos, existen universidades públicas y privadas.   DEJAR, SALIR dejar dejar means "to leave", in the sense of "to leave behind" or "to leave something", and can also mean "to stop doing something"; dejar de fumar means "to stop smoking" Puedes dejar tus libros en la mesa. salir salir means "to leave" as in "to exit" or "to go out". The noun salida, "exit" is derived from salir. Cuando suena la alarma de incendios, todos deben salir.   BUSCAR, MIRAR, PARECER(SE), VER buscar buscar means "to look for", "to seek". Remember that it is never used with por or para - the sense of English "for" is contained within the verb itself. Estoy buscando un CD del grupo argentino Babasónicos . mirar mirar means "to watch" or "to look", though it is sometimes used interchangeably with ver, "to see". ¡Miren, está nevando! parecer parecer means "to seem" or "to look like"; it can also mean "to look a certain way" (tired, happy): Pareces cansado = You look/seem tired. parece que is often used with me/te/le/etc. to mean "it seems to me/you/him/etc." Me parece que debes estudiar más. parecerse parecerse means "to resemble", "to look like" or "to be like"; it is more common to use parecerse (vs. parecer) for "to look like" when talking about physical similarity, as with family members. Verónica se parece mucho a su abuela. ver ver means "to see"; just as in English, it's sometimes interchangeable with mirar, "to watch", so one can say ver una película (see a movie) o mirar una película (watch a movie). verse can mean "to seem", and is sometimes interchangeable with parecer, so te ves triste = pareces triste = "you look/seem sad". verse bien "to look good" is a set phrase Anoche vi una película estupenda .   APOYAR, MANTENER, SOPORTAR apoyar apoyar means "to support" in the sense of backing someone up or giving moral support. Si uno quiere estudiar en el extranjero, generalmente la universidad lo apoya. mantener mantener is used to indicate material support; it literally means "maintain". Mis padres me mantienen mientras estudio. soportar soportar is a false cognate; it means "to put up with" or "to stand" and is often used in the negative (no lo soporto = I can't stand it) Mi compañero de cuarto es tan desordenado que no lo soporto más .   HACERSE, LLEGAR A SER, PONERSE, VOLVERSE hacerse hacerse means "to become", often when referring to a personal accomplishment of some sort. Thinking of the literal translation, "to make oneself..." may help you to remember this meaning. Mi tío acaba de hacerse ciudadano de los EE.UU. llegar a ser llegar a ser is somewhat similar in meaning to hacerse, meaning "to become" or "get to be". Llegar a ser often implies that what happened was not due to any conscious effort; it just happened. Yo no sé cómo llegó a ser tan famosa Paris Hilton. ponerse ponerse means "to become" in the sense of "to get a certain way", often with emotions. There are various individual verbs that can also mean "to get" with emotions, such as enojarse "to get angry". Recall that ponerse can also mean "to put on", and ponerse a means "to start", so se puso a bailar means "he started dancing". Cuando Angela recibió las buenas noticias, se puso muy contenta. volverse volverse can also mean "to become", often in the sense of "to turn" or "to turn into". La situación se vuelve complicada.   LLEVAR, TARDAR, TOMAR, TRAER llevar llevar means "to take" or "to carry", in the sense of taking something from one place to another. When used with clothing, llevar can also mean "to wear". No te olvides de llevarle esta comida a tu abuela. tardar tardar means "to take time"; it may help to remember that it is related to the adjective tarde, "late". El tren de Málaga a Madrid tarda unas cuatro horas. tomar tomar means "to take" in the sense of taking something from someone, so "Here, take this book" would be Toma este libro. Tomar is also used for "to take" in the sense of taking medicine, classes, or transportation. Vamos a tomar el próximo tren a Buenos Aires. traer traer means "to bring " and for the most part it is used like its English counterpart. However, in Spanish traer nearly always indicates bringing something towards whoever is speaking, so if you were asking someone what he/she was bringing to a party at a friend's house, you would not use traer, but rather llevar, since the friend's house is not where you are. Si tienes mi libro, tráemelo mañana. [Return to Unit 1]