¿Cómo se pone?

It's not that this bit of Spanish is all that unusual, but for me, the context I heard it used in was.

I was having lunch in Puerto Nuevo, Mexico, speaking with a waitress about a few words in English, and she asked me how to spell one of them. I expected to hear "como se escribe", which we know means "how is it written/spelled". But instead she said "cómo se pone". At first I was taken by surprise and actually repeated the phrase "cómo se pone" back to her. Luckily I got over my shock fairly quickly and we continued on with our conversation.

Turns out "cómo se pone" is indeed a colloquial way to ask some how something is spelled. Go figure. At apparently this not just a Mexicanismo, as someone from Chile confirmed the meaning of como se pone for me at WordReference.

Now go and surprise your friends with yet another piece very authentic Spanish!

Aquí mis ojos

We've all had those conversations about "you know who".   Sometimes we need to be somewhat discrete about who we're talking about, and that leads us to the ever popular "you know who".  Well, now you're about to learn how to talk about "you know who" in Spanish.

Aquí mis ojos is the equivalent of "you know who".   And don't forget to add the appropriate body language...you roll your eyes toward "you know who", perhaps adding a slight nod of the head toward our "you know who".

Now it's time to look at some examples...

Aquí mis ojos no tiene vergüenza - You know who has no shame 

Aquí mis ojos ya me tiene harta - I'm fed up with you know who

I really like this phrase.  It's very easy to incorporate into your Spanish, because it's used exactly the same as we use "you know who".

I hope you enjoyed learning about  this phrase as much as I did.

¡Cuidense!

¿Te cae?

This is a bit of Spanish I picked up a long time ago, and rediscovered as I was going through my notes.

This is actually fairly colloquial Spanish.   Here's some examples:

A:  Micheal se murio.

B:  ¿Te cae?

A:  Sandra va venir.    

B:  ¿Te cae?

A:  Si, me cae.

After looking over the examples, you may have figured out that te cae translates to "really?"  or "are you sure?"  And me cae is "I'm sure".

A more "standard" version of te cae is "¿estás seguro?"  and me cae would be "estoy seguro".

I hope you found this useful.  These kinds of colloquial expressions are really useful in helping us understand Spanish as it's spoken by native speakers.   

¡Hasta la próxima!

¡Chócalas!

If you're shaking your head trying to figure out what ¡Chócalas!   means,  then I feel a whole lot better because I had no idea what it meant either.   The good news is the translation is both simple, fun and surprisingly universal...it's not just for México.   

It means.....High five!

You can actually say this a few different ways...

¡Dame esos cincos!

¡Chócala!

¡Choca esos cinco!

Technically speaking, chócalas implies that you'll high-five with both hands, while chócala only uses one.  But my always helpful Spanish tutor informs me that you'll hear chócalas even if you only high-five with one hand.

Now you're well prepared to go watch a game of futbol and celebrate that goal the right way!

¡Hasta luego!

Dar la gana

It's recommended that you read a lot when you're learning Spanish. Or any language for that matter. I think that's good advice. In fact, that's how I came across this little gem - ¡Puedes hacer lo que te dé la gana!

Before we translate this sentence, let's talk about a nifty little expression...Dar la gana.

Dar la gana means to feel like doing something. Let's look at some examples...

¿A dónde vas? ----- A donde me da la gana.
Where are you going? ------ Wherever I feel like.

No me da la gana hacer eso ----- I don't feel like (want to) do that.

Haz lo que te de la gana ---- Do whatever you feel like

¿Que vas a hacer? ----- Lo que me de la gana.
What are you going to do? ---- Whatever I feel like.

Now let's get back to our original sentence:

¡Puedes hacer lo que te dé la gana! ----- You can do whatever you feel like.

Antes de que se me olivido (before I forget), una cosita más. The dar in Dar la gana of course has to be conjugated, and there's a very interesting thread in WordReference that discusses the correct conjugations when using this phrase. Click here to read it. It's in Spanish, but I think a good read if you're able or up for the challenge.

I think this falls into that category of useful Spanish that I promised to occassionally touch on. Hopefully my explanation and the examples have given you enough to understand and start using this phrase.

¡Saludos!

¡No me quemes!

You may have translated the tittle of this post as "Don't burn me!". And you'd be right. But let's hope you never have to use it in that context.

In case you aren't familiar with the verb Quemar, it means to burn. Quemarse, it's reflexive cousin, would mean to burn yourself.

As slang it has a different meaning..."Don't make me look bad!". You may find that you need to use this meaning a lot.

The phrase is darse un quemón. Or you can just use Quemarse. Let's look at some examples....

Me queme hoy - I looked bad today. (While doing something)

Me di un quemón - I made myself look bad.

For more information, you can look at this thread in WordReference.

I found this piece of Spanish both fun and useful. I hope you enjoy it as much as did!

¡Hasta la próxima!