Una paja por favor

Have you ever need to know how to ask for a straw in Spanish? Surprisingly, knowing how to say straw in Spanish can be more difficult than you might think.

I remember when I learned how to ask for a straw.  I considered this a victory and moved on.  Then I discovered there was more than one word for straw.  After that I discovered there were actually quite a few words for straw. 

Let's take a look at some of the words for how to say straw in Spanish:  Paja, pajita, caña, sorbete, cañita, pajilla, pitillo and popote.  

If you're wondering why there are so many words for straw, it's because they're all regional.  I'm not sure if there is a generally accepted word for straw, so if you have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment.

Let's revisit that list of translations for straw and I'll tell you what words are used in what country.  At least in general.

Catalunya (Spain) - caña

Rest of Spain - pajita

Argentina - pajita, sorbete

Peru- cañita, sorbete

Dominican Republic, Cuba - sorbete

Puerto Rico - sorbeto

El Salvador, Costa Rica - pajilla

Mexico - popote

Colombia, Venezuela - pitillo

This list is not meant to be exhaustive, those are just the words this gringo has heard of.  And the list comes with the additional disclaimer that it's based on my conversations, experience and opinion, so everyone may not agree with my list.  

I also want to point out that in certain parts of Spain a caña can also be a beer, so you really need to know your audience.

Now it's time to talk about the title of this post.

¿Una paja por favor?
A straw please?

Something as simple as asking for a paja can end up being a little embarrassing.  Yes, I know what you're thinking, how can asking for a straw be embarrassing? Let me explain.

It turns out paja has another not so innocent meaning.  And by not so innocent I mean vulgar.  It's also a way of referring to masturbation in some countries.  I won't go into detail on this blog, but you can read more about that here, on my blog about Swearing in Spanish.   If you're the paranoid type when you ask for a straw using the word paja you can clarify things by asking for a paja para beber.  Or you can simply avoid the word altogether by using pajita instead.

Let's get back to the real issue, straws.

For those of you who like pictures, here's a nice photo that also serves as a handy reference.  It was created by Veinte Mundos, which is a great (free) podcast site.  You should check it out.  

So what can you do to remember the right word at the right time?  My advice is to just learn the words the people you associate with use the most.  Beyond that you'll have to use good old-fashioned body language if you can't find the right word.

And that's it.  Now you're equipped with everything you need to know for how to say straw Spanish. 

Know any other words for straw or have some words of wisdom?  Leave your comments below!

¡Hasta la próxima!

¿Qué lleva?

Today I'm going to talk about the verb llevar.  It has many uses, some of which you might find surprising.  This post by no means covers every possible usage of llevar, but I talk about several, so let's get to it.

 

***UPDATE*** 

 

I now have a podcast on the verb Llevar that complements this post quite well, so be sure to check it out, it's free to listen to and also has a written transcript available. 

11 uses of the Spanish verb Llevar no one bothered to teach you

http://helpingyoulearnspanish.com/what-does-llevar-mean-in-spanish/

Now let's get back to the task at hand.

Llevar is the verb of choice when it comes to getting around. 

Llévame a casa

Take me home.

¿Me llevas a mi casa? 

Will you take me home?

¿A donde me llevas?

Where are you taking me?

Te llevo donde quieras

I'll take you where ever you want

¿Quieres que te lleve? 

Do you want me to take you?

Yo te llevo

I'll take you

Have you ever had a friend tell you they're going to eat at your favorite restaurant, go on a dream vacation or something of the like and you really want to go with them?  Well, put on your best puppy dog face and ask:

Will you take me with you?

Surprisingly, you can use the verb llevar to talk about the passage of time, like how long you've been living somewhere or have been doing something.

Llevo 8 años viviendo en Barcelona

I've been living in Barcelona for 8 years

Llevo dos horas esperandote

I've been waiting for you for two hours

Llevo tres años aprendiendo español

I've been learning Spanish for three years

Another usage that took me by surprise is that you can use llevar to talk about what you're wearing.  The expression is llevar puesto.

¿Qué llevas puesto?

What do you have on?

¿De qué color es la camisa que llevas puesta?

What color shirt are you wearing?

Llevo puesta una camisa azul

I have on a blue shirt

You can also talk about what you don't wear.

No lleva gafas

He doesn't wear glasses

Since we're on the subject, at some point you'll hear the verb tener used to talk about what someone is wearing as well.

¿Qué tienes puesto?

What do you have on?

Tengo puesto un blue jeans clarito y unos converse blancos 

I have on light colored blue jeans and white converse shoes

One more thing for you ladies.  If you find yourself wanting to ask a guy the famous question, boxers or briefs, you'll find this useful.

¿Usas boxers o briefs?

Do you wear boxers or briefs?

¿Qué te pones, boxers o briefs?

What do you wear, boxers or briefs?

And if you ladies want to know what he's wearing right now, well, we've already covered that.  

Guys, you're on own your own.  I won't be held responsible for any cachetadas or palmadas (slaps to face) you get from being a little too curious.  Besides, I've already told you everything you need to know, just substitute the appropriate words and you're in business.  

Now let's get back to llevar.

Llevar is also useful for going shopping.  

Compra una camisa y llévate otra gratis

Buy one shirt and get one free

Did the salesperson finally convince you to buy something?  Then you can say...

Me lo llevo

I'll take it.

Here are some more uses of llevar.

¡Cómo pesa este bolso! ¿Qué lleva acá?

This bag is heavy!  What do you have in here?

 ¿Qué llevo en mi maleta?

What should I take (pack) in my suitcase?

Cuando viajo sólo llevo una maleta

When I travel I only take one suitcase 

Llevo mi celular a todas partes

I take my cell phone everywhere

And lastly, llevar also has it's food related uses.

If you want to know what that tasty looking dish in the menu has in it, or you need to make sure it doesn't have anything you're allergic to, you can simply ask:

¿Qué lleva?

What's in it?

Remember, asking qué lleva will get you the list of ingredients of what you're thinking about ordering.  If you want know what comes with it,  then you need to ask:

¿Con qué viene? 

Quite often you'll want to take your food with you for one reason or another, and for that you'll need para llevar.

¿Para aquí o para llevar?

For here or to go?

¿Me lo puedes poner para llevar?

Can I get this to go?

Una caja para llevar por favor

A to go box please

Lo quiero para llevar

I want it to go

As you can see llevar is a very flexible verb.  Everything I talked about you'll hear on a regular basis and needs to become part of your everyday vocabulary if you're serious about your Spanish.  

That's it for today, and don't forget to check out the my podcast on Llevar on as well.

 

 11 uses of the Spanish verb Llevar no one bothered to teach you
http://helpingyoulearnspanish.com/what-does-llevar-mean-in-spanish/

 

¡Chau!

Favor de no tirar las canastillas

Once you start your Spanish studies, it doesn't take long to learn that "basura" means trash.   But that's where our Spanish book seems to stop.  But don't worry, I'm going to pick up where your Spanish book left off.

I'm going to translate this for you, on the off chance you don't already know what it means.  But you should know by now I'm go to take the scenic route to arrive at our translation.

Let's start with canastillas.

First of all, canastilla is a diminutive form of canasta.  And here's a picture of a canasta.

Yes, a canasta is a basket.  Although a search for pictures of canastas will bring up all kinds of baskets, not just the kind Yogi Bear likes.  And if you don't know who Yogi Bear is, the only thing I can say is enjoy your youth.

Getting back on track, now that we know a canasta is, here's a picture of a castanilla, or a little basket.

Technically, that's called a canastilla botanera. At some point you've probably been served food in one of these things. And if you have an overwhelming curiosity to know the names of restaurant supplies, take a look at this site:

http://www.bregosa.com/Hoteles-y-Restaurante.html

I actually found that site kind of interesting and bookmarked it.  But then again I'm a nerd with an unhealthy obession for Spanish. 

So now that we've covered that, let's move on to the verb tirar.  Among other things, tirar is used to talk about throwing out the trash.

Tira la basura
Throw out the trash

Now we can translate the message in our picture:

Favor de no tirar la canastillas
Please don't throw out the baskets

Pan comida right?  You probably figured out what the translation was once you saw the picture of the canastilla.  But this post is about more than canastillas, so let's keep going.

We've already learned that you can use tirar to ttalk about throwing out the trash.  But if you want to take out the trash, you need the verb sacar.

Tengo que sacar la basura
I have to take the trash out

There's also emptying the trash, using the verb vaciar.

Vacía la basura
Empty the trash

So now we have three options for getting rid of the trash, but guess what?  We're not done yet. 

No botes las bolsas plásticas de las compras, úsalas para botar la basura

Botes comes form botar, which is yet another way to talk about throwing out the trash.

Let's translate this.

No botes las bolsas plásticas de las compras, úsalas para botar la basura
Don't throw out the plastic shopping bags, use them to throw out the trash

There's one more thing we need to talk about.  Most of you have probably already guessed what the missing link is, now I just have to tell you what it's called.  Here's a picture:

We know this as a trash can, and in Spanish this is known as a bote de basura, or bote for short.  Just like trash cans come in all shapes and sizes in English, it's the same in Spanish.  If you search for pictures of "botes de basura", you'll find all kinds of great pictures.

Depending on what country you're in and who you're talking to, a trash can may also be known as a basurero, or cubo de basura.  I almost forgot papelera, which may be used to refer to your office trash can.  I can tell you that paperla is definitely what your deleted email folder will be called in Google Mail. 

There's one last thing I need to tell you about the word basura.  It works as an insult just like it's English counterpart.

Eres una basura
You're a piece of trash

Hey, you never know when you need to tell someone off.  And if you watch telenovelas, you're probably very familar with this insult.

That's it for today. Now you can go yell at your kids to take out the trash in two languages.  It probably won't help though.

¿Te regalo este plato?

You may already know that in Spanish you use the verb Regalar to talk about both giving and receiving gifts.  Here's an example:

Me regaló una falda
He gave me this skirt (as a present)

What you may not know is that you can use regalar in other ways.  Let's take a look at our phrase:

¿Te regalo este plato?

Meseros and meseras will commonly hear this, and contrary to our previous definition of regalar, they aren't being offered an actual gift.  Let's revist out translation.

¿Te regalo este plato?
Can I give you this plate?

Actually, in English we'd say "can you take this plate?", but you get the picture.  Another way to say this is:

¿Puede retirar el plato?

It's nice to have options.

And as you can see, regalar can also mean "to give", like the verb dar in Spanish.  So let's look at a few more examples. 

¿Me regala una caja para llever?
Can you give me a to-go box?

¿Me regalas un besito?
Can you give me a little kiss?

On an unlrelated note, if you'd like a great big kiss, then you can ask for besotote.  Ok, now let's get back to business.

¿Me regalas un hojo (de papel)?

Can you give me a sheet a paper?

That's it! Facilisimo, ¿verdad?

Hasta la próxima.

¿Vaso o copa?

At some point we all learn the words vaso and copa. Usually we're taught a vaso is defined as a glass or cup, and then we're told if you want a glass of wine, then you need to use the word copa. Easy enough, but they never even bother to explain why, much less what the difference is between a vaso and a copa.

Well, 5 years later, I finally got the answer to that question, which I stumbled across from sheer dumb luck. To be honest, it never occurred to me to the ask the question. Today we're going to talk about copas.


A copa is what we call a wine glass. In Spanish you order (pedir) a  "copa de vino", a glass of wine. It might a "copa de vino tinto" red wine, or "vino blanco", white wine.  The difference here is in Spanish you're specifically mentioning the type of glass wine is served in, while in English we're fine with just using the generic term "glass".

Let's take a closer look at what a copa actually is.   Not that you need one, but here's a photo:

A copa actually consists of several parts:

Recipiente de vidrio - This is the part you drink from.  

Cálliz, tallo or pie - The stem.

Base - The base.  Remember to use your Spanish pronunciation.

Copas have stems and bases, where as vasos don't.  There is actually more than one type of copa, such as:

copa de agua, copa de whiskey, copa ancha, and copa de vino

Those are just a few.  Click here if you want to see what other kinds of copas there are.  This page is in Spanish, and I found interesting.

Well, I think that's enough about copas. Let's move on to vasos.  And technically, a copa is still a vaso.   Really, there isn't a whole for me to say about vasos, except that a vaso doesn't have a pie (stem), and like copas, there are many different kinds.  Here's a few to get you started:


vaso largo 
A tall glass

vaso ancho
A short, wide glass

vaso de plastico
A plastic cup

There are several types of vasos, like a vaso de agua, water glass, but I won't torture you with any more photos.  I'm pretty sure you already what these things look like anyway.

Ya!  That's it for today!

¡Hasta la próxima!

¿Puedo retirar el plato?

This weekend I learned something that I had been wondering about for a long time - how to ask the waiter to pick up plates from the table.

Now, I learned a while back how the waiter will ask you if they can take away plates....

¿Puedo retirar? or ¿Puedo retirar el plato?

But it remained a mystery to me how to make that request of the waiter. Until this weekend, that is.

My amigo Mexicano asked the waiter to take his plate. Finally, opportunity was knocking, so I asked him what it was he said to the waiter.

It was "¿Me retiras el plato? "

I was thinking "Cool, problem solved". And for a brief second, it was.

Well, actually, that did answer the question, it's just that like so many things in Spanish, there's more than one way to say it:

¿Te puedes llevar este plato?

¿Te regalo este plato?

That wasn't so bad, but it's not exactly pan comido.

Since we were on the subject, we started talking about how to ask for a plate.

¿Me traes un plato?

¿Me puedes conseguir un plato?

And if you're in Mexico, or maybe speaking with someone born and raised in Mexico, you can say:

¿Me regalas un plato?

That expression is "muy mexicano", and if you use it with someone not familiar with it, they'll think you're asking if you can have the plate as a gift! So that's why I mentioned the disclaimer above.

You can also use encargar to ask for something.

¿Te encargo unos cubiertos? or ¿Me traes unos cubiertos?

Well, there you have it. Hopefully you'll find these sentences useful as you dine in your favorite Spanish restaurants.