____ cerca and ____ lejos are both handy phrases for travelers.
queda; queda ¿Queda cerca la plaza? No, queda lejos.
“on purpose” (querer)
con querer
“by accident” (querer)
sin querer
“Mommy, I put the cat in the swimming pool.”
“Was it on purpose or by accident?”
Mamá, metí el gato en la piscina.
¿Fue con querer o sin querer?
“to burp” “to provoke burps”
eructar (covers most every burp); repetir (for those little, barely perceptable, goodeatin’ burps)
“to break intentionally.”
romper
“I broke the glass by throwing it against the wall.”
Rompí el vaso tirándolo contra la pared.
“To break” (in the sense of an accidental act)
romperse
“The glass broke (on me) when I was washing it.”
Se me rompió el vaso cuando lo estaba lavando. (in this construction the literal meaning is “such-and-such broke itself to me (or to you, him, her, us, them).
“to break up with” (in the sense of lonely hearts)
Romper con
¿Conoces/sabes París? ¿Conoces/sabes dónde comen los parisinos?
conoces; sabes
¿Conoces/sabes de su historia?
Sabes.
An imperfect, but useful rule of thumb: use ___ with proper and specific nouns and ___ saber or saber de with the rest of them and most clauses.
conocer; saber (an exception to this rule are the names of languages)
¿Conoces/sabes inglés?
sabes
Conocer/saber is frequently followed by infinitives.
Saber (conocer never is)
The idea of “to know how”
saber (so you never have to say saber como)
“Do you know how to ski? “No but I know how to fall down.”
¿Sabes esquiar? “No, pero sé caerme.”
“Know what?”
¿Sabes qué?
“Who knows?”
¿Quién sabe?
“If I had only known!”
¡De haberlo sabido!
“What do I know?”
¿Yo qué se?
“a know-it all.”
un sabelotodo
“as far as I know”
que yo sepa.
“the soup tastes good.”
la sopa sabe bien.
“How do I taste?” (after kissing)
“You taste like pickles.”
¿Qué tal sé/sepa?
Sabes a pepinillos agrios.
For the transitive “to taste”- that is, to taste something- you need to use:
probar
“to lend”
prestar (works for just about anything you might want to borrow; like in English ‘to lend’)
“Lend me your pen.”
Préstame tu pluma.
“Hey, lend me a hand.” you should probably use (dar or echar)
Oye, échame una mano.
More tactful way to say, “Préstame.”
¿me prestas?
“Hand it over.” “Give it up.” (very slangy)
Presta para acá or Presta pa’cá (also has sexual overtones, as it does in English)
“to pay attention”
prestar
“Children, pay attention!”
¡Niños, presten atención!
“to lend oneself”
prestarse
“‘Do you think Juan will let us copy his exam?’ ‘No, he doesn’t lend himself to that.”
‘¿Tú crees que Juan nos deje copiar en el examen?’ ‘No, él no se presta a eso.’
“to stay” “to remain”
quedar
“I’m staying here.”
Aquí me quedo.
“Stay here.”
Quédate aquí
“I only have thirty dollars left.” (with quedar)
Sólo me quedan treinta dólares.
“I kept thirty dollars.”
Me quedé con treinta dólares.
For use in shopping, ___ is a lot like llevarse.
quedarse
“I’ll take the blue one.” (with quedar)
Me quedo con el azul.
Often ___ suggests a final or resultant state of affairs.
quedarse
“I was left frozen.”
Me quedé helado.
“I ended up blank.” or “I didn’t understand that at all” or “I spaced.”
Me quedé en blanco.
If someone asks you whether you understood an explanation of the theory of relativity, you could answer: (using quedarse)
Para nada. Me quedé en blanco.
“¿What’s the agreement, then?” (using quedar)
¿En qué quedamos? (use it toward the end of conversations to establish clearly the next step)
“to end up well with someone”
quedar bien
“to end up bad with someone”
quedar mal
“to get on someone’s good side” use: caer bien or quedar bien?
quedar bien
“He put on a tie to get on his in-aws good side.”
Se puso corbata para quedar bien con los suegros.
“I’ve gotten on his bad side because I didn’t say hello to him.”
Quedo mal con él porque no lo saludé.
“to fit” (for clothes and everything else)
quedar
“This coat doesn’t fit.”
“This coat is too big (or small) for me.”
Este abrigo no me queda.
Este abrigo me queda grande (or chico).
“Excuse me, where is the plaza?”
Perdon, ¿dónde queda la plaza?