Los Numeros DESPUES DE CIEN!

So you want to be able to learn and remember the numbers in Spanish that are greater than a hundred. You have studied them all but some how after a while you just forget.
What I am about to write is a bit of a strategy I use with my students to help remember the numbers that are greater than 100. Let's hope it helps you.

Some key ideas

1. In English we say 'one hundred and one' but in Spanish we don't add AND just 'one hundred one', so learn to not say this.
                    i.e. one hundred and one = CIENTO UNO

Reminder: One hundred in Spanish has two translations: CIEN and CIENTO, CIEN is for 'one hundred only' but CIENTO is for every thing else.

2. In Spanish we account for plural, in other words, if it is more than 'one hundred' then it is plural and we would be saying some thing like 'hundredS' or CIENTOS.
                   i.e. two hundred and one DOS CIENTOS UNO

3. Like English, in Spanish we say 'two hundred and five' or 'DOS CIENTOS CINCO in the same way (except for the AND and plural part).

4. The last key idea is to break numbers apart and put everything together.


238: 200 + 38 = DOS CIENTOS + TREINTA Y OCHO

864: 800 + 64 = OCHO CIENTOS + SESENTA Y CUATRO

2359: 2000 + 300 + 59 = DOS MIL TRES CIENTOS CINCUENTA Y NUEVE

13475: 13K + 400 + 75 = TRECE MIL + CUATRO + CIENTOS + SETENTA Y CINCO

215848: 215K + 800 + 48: DOS CIENTOS QUINCE MIL + OCHO + CIENTOS + CUARENTA Y OCHO

3659347: 3Mil + 659K + 300 + 47

(TRES MILLONES) + (SEIS + CIENTOS + CINCUENTA Y NUEVE MIL) + TRES + CIENTOS + CUARENTA Y SIETE

Do a lot more!

EL GANE una expresion

So I got a question about the sentence I posted in twitter: 'SIEMPRE NOS HACEN EL GANE'. Lets take a peek a bit.

As I mentioned in twitter, 'GANE' acts as a noun. 'El GANE' then means 'the grab', 'the abusive and advantageous behavior some times someone take over others', 'to have the eyes open and be opportunistic and act at the right time'. This is used widely and in many different situations.

For instance,

Let's say you want to buy something but don't have the money, you go to the ATM only to find that the item is sold, then you say 'somebody already got to it before i did' or 'somebody grabbed it already' 'somebody win me over for it' this is an expression that in Spanish we can say,

somebody me hizo el gane = somebody did me a win/beat me to it

Another example, something meaner, lets say that people send money to this old lady but the caretaker receives the money and steals some, for this we can say:

the caretaker grabs a bit of the money, or the caretaker takes advantage and bids away a bit of the money, or that the caretaker pulls away some of the money, this in spanish we can say: the caretaker le hace el gane with a bit of the money

In the sentence I wrote in twitter: SIEMPRE NOS HACEN EL GANE I was saying that 'they always beat us/take us for a ride

siempre = always

nos hacen = they do to us (hacen implies they do and nos to us)

el gane = the grab the win beat us to it, take advantage

EL GANE its an expression, practice it with with a Spanish speaker

The Weather

So here is a summary of common was to express the weather. Note that many of these will not make any sense! so you will have not memorize them. I will explain why in a bit.


The weather = El Clima or el Tiempo.

TIP: In Spanish we use 'HACE' to mean 'IT IS' whenever we want to say that 'it is cold'. This is confusing for a lot of students as they tend to translate 'IT IS' as 'es' which is by the way correct BUT not for this certain situation. So, here is my advise: just learn it this way: HACE=IT IS when it comes to the weather.

More Vocabulary:

Hace calor = it is hot*
Hace frio   = it is cold

These are the two most commonly used, but you can also say

Hace mucha humedad = it is humid, lots of it

Along with 'HACE' there is another word that is used a bit to express the weather: 'ESTA'. Esta means 'IT IS' and it is the third person conjugation of 'ESTAR'. We use ESTA in the following cases:

Esta frio = It is cold
Esta caliente = it is hot*

So when do I use 'esta frio' o 'hace frio'? NO DIFFERENCE! you can use either one. You just have to learn them well and not mix them, ie ESTA CALOR, bad!

Also, 'ESTA' is used to express the progressive or gerund as in 'IT IS RAINING' which means 'ESTA LLOVIENDO'. Remember that the 'ING' ending in English is expressed in Spanish by 'ANDO' and 'IENDO', ANDO for -AR ending verbs and -IENDO for -ER and -IR ending verbs. Because LLOVER end in ER then it becomes LLOVIENDO.

ESTA LLOVIENDO it is raining

ESTA NEVANDO it is snowing


*In Spanish we differentiate within the word 'HOT'.

HOT = CALOR: inside your car after the car has been exposed to the sun, it is 'heat like hot'

HOT = CALIENTE: this is when the heat, the sun or something is burning you up

For instance, if it is 50 degrees outside and you put on a few sweaters and a jacket you will feel the heat inside, CALOR, you will start sweating, but if youleaving that you sking is getting warm and hot and the temperature raises, now it is CALIENTE

I hope this helps, don't hesitate to connect

So feeling bad about when to add ACCENTS to SPANISH words? DON'T!

Many students of mine have asked me when to add accents to Spanish words. I tell them the same thing I want to tell every one reading this note: you have to memorize those words.

The thing is that rules on accents are derived from people speaking the language (for centuries) and not the other way around. For instance, as a consequence of us native speakers pronouncing a bit stronger the 'o' in CAJON Spanish language leaders (i.e www.rae.es) have created a rule stating that a word such as 'CAJON' must have an accent on 'o'. In other words, there is no way for non native Spanish speakers to know when a certain vowel has an accent unless they have studied it and practiced it.

That being said, there are some ways to figure out when a word has an accent but you have to know how to classify a Spanish word (there are several types: agudas, llanas, esdrujulas y sobresdrujulas) and a bit of experience with the language. I should be posting a note in relation to that here soon....

So how to create the Past Participle for verbs in the present perfect tense?

Anytime we have to say the following sentene in Spanish we need to convert the infinitve verb to its past participle form:

I have eaten here before

You have read my other Present perfect tense/past particple posting so you know that how to conjugate 'have' but what about 'eaten'?

Well, it boils down to this: Regular vs irregular verbs

Regular verbs follow the next rules:
1. remove the verb ending (ar, er or ir) and replace it with -ado or -ido: -ar ending verbs use ado and -er or -ir ending verbs use -ido

2. Example: Cantar converts to cantado, comer to comido and recibir to recibido

So if you want so say 'I have eaten here before' it would translate to 'yo he comido aqui antes'

Irregular verbs:
sorry, most irregular verbs have no specific conjugational process, you just have to learn them, for instance
hacer   hecho
abrir    abierto
escribir  escrito

I hope this helps