12/01/02 - Word of the Day: December
Learn a new word each day this month, then review those from previous months.

11/28/02 - Spanish or Bilingual Christmas CDs
Fill your home with the sounds of Christmas in Spanish from this selection of Christmas CDs.

11/15/02 - Which Preposition Goes with Reírse?
When used with the verb reírse (to laugh), the preposition con is used to mean "at." Learn some other verbs that are used with prepositions different than what you might expect.

11/13/02 - Hangman in Spanish
Have fun and learn or word or two as you play an online version of this game. Pick among games for beginners, intermediate students and advanced learners.

11/06/02 - Introduction to Ladino
When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, they took with them their language. Although that language has changed over the centuries, it still is easily recognizable as being a derivative of Spanish.

11/05/02 - Voters Have Their Say on Bilingual Education
Voters in Massachusetts were deciding measures that would limit the use of bilingual education for students who speak Spanish or other non-English languages.

11/01/02 - Word of the Day: November
Learn a new word each day of the month.

10/30/02 - Miguel de Cervantes, Pioneering Novelist: Part 2
Here is an overview of Cervantes' most famous novel and a look at why it has retained its popularity for more than 400 years since it was written.

10/25/02 - Uruguay
Historically, Uruguay has been one of the most progressive of the Latin American countries, although it struggled in the second half of the 20th century.

10/17/02 - Here and There
Learn how to use the adverbs aquí, allí and ahí, often used as the rough equivalent of "here" or "there" in English.

10/10/02 - Bestselling Spanish-Language Books
One good way to learn the vocabulary of contemporary written Spanish is to read those books that are popular in the Spanish-speaking world. Here's a list of recent bestsellers.

10/03/02 - Principles of Translation
When you're translating from one language to another, how do you decide which word to use?

10/01/02 - Word of the Day: October
Learn a new word each day of the month.

09/25/02 - Vámonos or Vayámonos?
Vayámonos is sometimes given as the way to say "let's go," but most people say vámonos. Which is correct?

09/19/02 - How Do I Increase My Vocabulary?
Here's advice from several Spanish learners on what has worked for them.

09/11/02 - Why Is Spanish Sometimes Called Castilian?
Once upon a time, Castilian was merely a dialect of Latin. Find out how it became the major language of Spain.

09/10/02 - Comparisons of Inequality
If you already know how to use adjectives to describe people are things, learn how you can use them when comparing one person or thing to another.

08/01/02 - Expressions Using Ir
Like its English counterpart "to go," the Spanish verb ir can be used with an incredible variety of meanings.

08/01/02 - Word of the Day: September
Learn a new word each day of the month.

08/28/02 - Soy Casada or Estoy Casada?
Usually, there rules are fairly clear as to which verb, ser or estar, should be used as the equivalent of the English "to be." When talking about marital status, however, the verbs are often used interchangeably.

08/27/02 - Native Spanish Speakers Make Mistakes Too
It isn't uncommon for native Spanish speakers to follow different rules of grammar than those who are taught as the way to speak proper Spanish.

08/21/02 - Miguel de Cervantes, Pioneering Novelist: Part 1
No name is more associated with Spanish literature — and perhaps with classic literature in general — than that of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. He was the author of El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, sometimes referred to as the first European novel.

08/15/02 - Ecuador
Named after the equator is straddles, Ecuador is a popular destination for people studying Spanish, in part because costs there are lower than in most of South America.

08/07/02 - Adjectival Present Participles
Some Spanish verbs can be made into adjectives by using an -ante or -ente ending. Learn how they are used and why such words are sometimes thought of as a type of present participle.

08/01/02 - Word of the Day: August
Learn a new word each day of the month.

07/31/02 - Getting the Most from a Language Class
Learning a foreign language should be more than just a way to earn a good grade in school.

07/26/02 - Why Don't I Hear Words Correctly?
"Elision" is the technical word for the process of omitting sounds as words are run together.

07/24/02 - Meet the Tener Family
Several Spanish verbs are formed by adding a prefix to tener. These verbs roughly correspond to English verbs ending in "-tain."

07/19/02 - Would I Offend by Speaking Spanish?
"I work at a store, and sometimes I come across people who I hear speaking Spanish. When I ring up their purchases, I always want to speak Spanish to them, but I am afraid to."

07/17/02 - Prepositional Phrases
Like simple prepositions, prepositional phrases connect the noun that follows with other words in the sentence.

07/10/02 - Review: Way-Cool Spanish Phrase Book
If you're traveling to a Spanish-speaking country and want your kids to try speaking Spanish, here's a book they'll enjoy that can encourage them.

07/09/02 - Augmentative Suffixes
Augmentative suffixes — word endings added to nouns (and sometimes adjectives) to make them refer to something that is large — are less common than the diminutive endings, but they nevertheless provide one way that the Spanish vocabulary can be flexibly expanded.

07/03/02 - Changes in the Past
For a handful of verbs, the meaning is different when they are used in the preterite tense than when they are used in the imperfect tense.

06/18/02 - Pronouncing the R
When you see the Spanish letter r, you may be best off thinking of the English "d" when it comes to pronunciation.

06/12/02 - Diminutives
Diminutive suffixes such as -ito and -cito are used not only to indicate that something is small, but also to give a friendly tone to a sentence or indicate the speaker's attitude toward the object.

06/05/02 - Using the Pronoun Se
Se is one of the most flexible pronouns. It is the same in the singular and plural, and it can be used as both a reflexive pronoun and as an indirect object.

05/29/02 - Using Gustar
The Spanish verb gustar is usually used to indicate that someone likes something. However, it is not used in the same way as the English verb "to like."

05/29/02 - Does Spanish Have Fewer Words than English?
English may have twice as many words as Spanish does. But that doesn't mean that Spanish speakers are short on ways to express themselves.

05/21/02 - Interrogative Adjectives?
The interrogative adjectives of Spanish are similar to the interrogative pronouns, but there aren't as many.

05/14/02 - Body Parts
Names are used in Spanish in much the same way as the are in English — but with one significant difference.

05/08/02 - Objective and Subjective Pronouns
Where you place a descriptive adjective (before or after the noun it modifies) can make a difference in how it is understood.

05/08/02 - Using Por
Prepositions can be particularly challenging when learning Spanish. Here's an introduction to the preposition por, which often means "for" or "by."

04/30/02 - Asking for Directions
Do you fear getting lost in a place where Spanish is spoken and you don't know the language well? Before you travel, print a copy of this quick guide to asking for directions, then take it with you.

04/23/02 - Introduction to the Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive mood can seem perplexing to those who speak English as a first language, since English speakers seldom have a need to use it. But the subjunctive mood is essential to speaking proper Spanish. This lesson for beginners provides a background on how the subjunctive mood is used.

04/17/02 - Why De-emphasize Vos?
The pronoun vos is commonly used, at least in some areas, yet many textbooks fail to mention it.

04/16/02 - Reflexive Verbs
Reflexive verbs are used in both Spanish and English. The problem for beginning Spanish students is that Spanish uses them in many cases where English does not.

04/09/02 - The Mysterious Initial E
Spanish words such as especial and estudiar begin with an e, which isn't present in English or in the Latin words from which they came. Why did Spanish add the e?

04/08/02 - Que and Other Relative Pronouns
Spanish has a fair number of relative pronouns, but as a beginner the one you need to learn best is que.

04/02/02 - Translating "Let"
The English word "let" has a variety of meanings and thus can be translated to Spanish in numerous ways.

04/02/02 - Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are pronouns such as "many" (muchos) and "some" (algunos) that don't necessarily refer to specific nouns. Learn the indefinite pronouns of Spanish and how they're used.

04/01/02 - Chart-Topping Spanish-Language Albums in 2002
Find out which Spanish-language albums have been the most popular in 2002.

03/27/02 - Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are used in both Spanish and English where the subject of the sentence is the same person or thing as the object of the verb.

03/25/02 - How Do You Say "What"?
Most of the time, "what" can be translated as qué. However, cuál, lo que and cómo can also be used.

03/19/02 - City Names
There's no easy way of guessing that London is known to Spaniards as Londres, or that Warsaw is known as Varsovia. Here is a list of the major cities whose names are different in Spanish than what they are in English.

03/18/02 - Possessive Pronouns
If you've learned the long form of the possessive adjectives, you already know the possessive pronouns.

03/13/02 - Pronouncing the X
The pronunciation of the letter x varies somewhat across the Spanish-speaking world.

03/12/02 - Indefinite Adjectives
Indefinite adjectives in English includes such as "any," "some," and "other." Learn about their Spanish equivalents and how to use them.

03/12/02 - 10 Grammatical Mistakes You Can Avoid
Making mistakes when learning a foreign language is inevitable. Here are some you may catch yourself making if you don't study this lesson first. Modified 04/08/02.

03/04/02 - Possessive Adjectives (Long Form)
In Spanish, long-form possessive adjectives are those that come after the noun they describe.

03/04/02 - Defective Verbs
A few Spanish verbs have been labeled as "defective" because they aren't conjugated fully.

02/26/02 - Interrogative Pronouns
As their name implies, interrogative pronouns are used when asking questions.

02/26/02 - Origins of the Letter Ñ
The Spanish letter ñ doesn't come from Latin and is the only letter of the Spanish alphabet with Spanish origins. Updated 01/01/04.

02/20/02 - Telling Time
If you can count to 29, you can tell time in Spanish.

02/18/02 - Sometimes Masculine, Sometimes Feminine
A few Spanish words can be either masculine or feminine without any change of meaning. Here's a list of the common words of ambiguous gender. Updated 12/15/02.

02/12/02 - Adjectives of Quantity
How many? How much? To answer those questions without using numbers, you'll need to know adjectives of quantity.

02/04/02 - Counting: Cardinal Numbers
Although Spanish numbers can be memorized in a straightforward way, their use can be confusing for persons new to Spanish. Numbers made up of more than one part are often formed differently than they are in English, and some Spanish numbers change according to the gender of the nouns they apply to.

01/29/02 - Doubly Gendered
Most nouns in Spanish are fixed in gender, that is, they are either masculine or feminine. But Spanish has a few nouns whose meanings vary with their gender. For example, el cometa means "the comet," but la cometa means "kite."

01/28/02 - Colors
The most common colors in Spanish are treated like other adjectives. But for more unusual colors, you may have to resort to using nouns.

01/21/02 - Using Adverbs
Like adjectives, adverbs are words that often are used to provide needed details in speech and writing. Although we could make grammatically complete sentences without them, we would be severely limited in what we could convey.

01/16/02 - Asking for Help
You can shout "¡auxlilio," or you can say "ayúdenme." Either one of them is a request for help, but only one conveys a sense of urgency.

01/15/02 - Product Review: "Puerta del Sol" Audiomagazine
Even for those who understand grammar and have a large vocabulary, learning to understand spoken Spanish can be a challenge. Here's our review a product that's designed to help meet that challenge.

01/14/02 - Stress and Accent Marks
Knowing how the letters pronounced isn't all you need to know about Spanish pronunciation.

01/09/02 - Possessive Pronouns (Short Form)
Possessive, as their name suggests, indicate who or what owns or possesses the nouns they refer to. In some cases, English uses a possessive adjective where Spanish does not.

01/08/02 - How Much Does Spanish Vary?
There are significant differences among the Spanish of Spain, Mexico, and other countries. But the differences are minor enough that they should not be an obstacle to effective communication.

01/07/02 - 2002, the Year of the Palindrome
The year "2002" is written the same backward and forward, and so are palindromes. Here's a sampling of palindromes in Spanish.

01/02/02 - Is Spanish Spoken Faster Than English?
The differences in the rate of speech between the two languages seem to be more subjective than objective.

01/02/02 - Demonstrative Pronouns
If you've already learned the demonstrative adjectives, you'll find the demonstrative pronouns to be straightforward.

01/01/02 - Out with Pesetas, In with Euros
Spain has a new currency, the euro, and with it comes at least one linguistic oddity.