Synergy Spanish Systems Blog

My son did his get-me-to-a-bathroom-quick-dance.

The young guy behind the counter saw the emergency. He quickly came to our aid and let us use the staff bathroom.

And there it was…

Oh Dios mío, (Oh my God!)

Oh the humanity.

There on the wall right next to the throne was … a chart of Latin verbs.

When we came out I had to ask what that chart of Latin verbs was doing on the wall.

It turned out the store manager was studying Latin at university. She was straining so hard to learn Latin that she had to study when she was…

Lets not get into it.

At first glance that chart looked very familiar. The Latin verb endings look a lot like Spanish verb endings.

But!

While studying charts every spare moment may help with Latin, Spanish is very different.

Studying Latin is an academic exercise. After all, have you met any ancient Romans lately?

En cambio (on the other hand) Spanish is a vibrant living language with 420 million native speakers. It’s the official language of 22 countries. If you plan on speaking with any one of those 420 million hispanohablantes (Spanish speakers) in real life, my advice is flush the verb charts.

If you’re studying Spanish verb charts in the bathroom, I promise you that you are not using the right methods.

If you relying on a chart you’ll always be at the mercy of the chart before you speak.

You want your Spanish to be natural.

The good news is it’s much easier to speak fluent Spanish than the typical verb charts the boring textbook and endless grammar rules.

There’s a sideways approach to Spanish verbs that make them dead easy. Once you know how to use this approach you can rip the verb charts off the wall.

I have a series of 4 free audios to show you how it works. The first two are on my blog right now

Sideways Spanish Parte Uno

Sideways Spanish Parte Dos

And the next two are coming in the next couple of weeks. I’ll drop you a line as soon as they are ready.

Hasta pronto.

P.S. One of the funniest movies of all time is an Australian movie called Kenny. Even Kenny would be surprised to find a Latin verb chart where I found it.

Is chili good or bad for you?

I’m not sure. Some reports say it helps blood circulation and digestion. But my father-in-law’s doctor told him not to eat chili. So, when we go to restaurants in Mexico Don Roman always asks the waiters,

¿La comida tiene chile?
Does the food have chili?

We have a running joke that the waiters will always answer a different question.

The waiter is guaranteed to answer, “No pica.”

What does, no pica, mean?

As far as I know we don’t have an equivalent verb in English.
The verb picar, means when the chili is hot/spicy and it burns your mouth.

The verb picar also means to sting, so, no pica, could also mean it doesn’t sting.

By the way, we often ask in English, “is the chili hot?” Or, “is the salsa hot?”

In Spanish that would mean is it hot as in not cold.

If you what to know if it’s spicy you can ask,

¿La salsa pica?
Does it “sting” the salsa?

Or

¿Es picante la salsa?
Is it spicy la salsa?

A word to the wise, in Mexico if they reply, “no, no pica”,

Cuidado!
Beware!

It doesn’t mean that it won’t burn/sting you. The waiter probably has a lifetime of build-in tolerance to chili. It doesn’t sting him, but it might sting you.

Here’s a recipe for a delicious salsa que no pica mucho.

Preparación

1. Quitar la piel a los tomates, moler con la mano los tomates
Remove the skin form the tomatoes, crush the tomatoes by hand.

2. Limpiar los chiles, picarlos de tamaño regular.
Clean and chop the chilies to a regular size.

3. Agregar a la salsa de tomate los chiles, la cebolla picada, el cilantro , orégano, sal y pimienta.
Add to the tomatoes salsa the chilies, the onion, the cilantro, oregano, salt and pepper

4. Poner a enfriar hasta el momento de servir.
Chill them until it’s time to serve them.