At school and in class
In your pencil case, el estuche de lápices, you have el lápiz (the pencil), la pluma (the fountain pen), el marcador (the marker), la goma de borrar (the rubber/eraser), el sacapuntas (the pencil sharpener) and la regla (the ruler). You write in el cuaderno (the exercise book) or on el bloc de notas (the notepad). At the front of the room is la pizarra (the board), and for tasks with numbers there is la calculadora (the calculator).
la asignatura is the school subject, for example las matemáticas (maths). los deberes is homework – the word is always pluralpluralThe grammatical form used for more than one person or thing.: Hoy no tengo deberes. In the book you look for la página (the page): Abrimos el libro en la página diez.
People and language
la gente means people – but the word is singularsingularThe grammatical form used for exactly one person or thing.: La gente es muy simpática. Several people together are el grupo (the group). When learning a language you need la palabra (the word) and la expresión (the expression). And when something is hard, la ayuda (help) makes a difference: Gracias por tu ayuda.
Beginning, break, end
el comienzo is the beginning, el fin the end – you already know it from el fin de semana. In between there is la pausa (the break): Hacemos una pausa de diez minutos. And to remember everything, la repetición (repetition) helps.
Problems, solutions and feelings
For el problema (the problem) you look for la solución (the solution), and at the end there is el resultado (the result). Careful: problema ends in -a but is masculinemasculineA noun's gender that typically takes el or un in Spanish.: un problema. la dificultad is the difficulty.
la vida is life, la esperanza hope. el disgusto is something unpleasant that makes you sad or annoyed – distress, upset: Mi perro está enfermo. ¡Qué disgusto!
la falta has two meanings, and the context shows you which one is meant: a mistake (En esta palabra hay una falta.) or a lack (En el pueblo hay falta de agua.).
Rules and chances
la norma is the rule: En clase hay normas. el permiso is permission: Necesito permiso para salir. la oportunidad is the chance, the opportunity: Es una buena oportunidad. And la lucha is the fight, the struggle: La vida a veces es una lucha.
More important words
You need la cosa (the thing) very often: Tengo muchas cosas en la mochila. la lista is the list, la línea the line. el mundo is the world, el fuego fire and la madera wood: La mesa es de madera.
el evento is the event, el premio the prize you win – not the price in a shop, which is el precio: Mi hermano gana un premio. And in class, el silencio (silence) and la atención (attention) are important: ¡Silencio, por favor! Atención, por favor.
Examples
- Hoy no tengo deberes.
- Gracias por tu ayuda.
- Hacemos una pausa.
- Tengo un problema.
- Es una buena oportunidad.
- La mesa es de madera.