Last week, we explained when to use ser and when to use estar. Today, we’ll go over some words you can use with both ser and estar. Careful — this doesn’t mean that you can use ser and estar indiscriminately. Some words change their meaning depending on which verb you choose.

Read on to learn how you can change the meaning of a sentence just by changing ser to estar, or click here to read this post in Spanish.

As you can see, the meaning can change quite a bit if you mix up ser and estar. If you don’t pay attention, you might really confuse whoever you’re talking to! Sign up for one of our Spanish courses in Spain and Latin America and get all the ser and estar practice you need!

In the meantime, stay tuned for next week, when we’ll be posting the third and final part of our online guide to differences between ser and estar.

When you think about Spain, what are the first things that come to mind? Fiestas and siestas, bullfighting and flamenco, or maybe beaches and tapas? While all these things do exist in Spain, they also contribute to a stereotypical vision of the country.

So how can you scrape below the surface and get a deeper look at modern Spain? That’s a question Spain’s nation branding project has been trying to answer since 2000, when the Marca España (Spain Brand) campaign was launched to promote the country’s strengths and build its image at home and abroad. In November 2018, the project was renamed España Global or Global Spain.

This fresh take on Spain’s strong suits highlights 20 different fortes in 3 categories:

Full Democracy: Democracy, Equality, Justice, Freedom, Security

Modernity: Science, Competitiveness and Innovation, Infrastructures, Globalization, Healthcare, Sustainability, Technology

Citizenship: Culture, Health, Sport, Europeanism, Language, Solidarity, Tolerance, Tourism

That’s a lot of strengths! In today’s post, we’ll take a closer look at a few of them. Click here to read this post in Spanish.

The Healthiest Country in the World

Did you know Bloomberg’s Healthiest Country Index 2019 named Spain the healthiest country in the world? A top-notch universal healthcare system, the traditional Mediterranean diet, and the European Union’s highest life expectancy at birth were among the factors that helped Spain clinch the title.

Historic, Cultural, and Natural Heritage

Spain ranks third worldwide in number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. See how many of the 47 you can cross off your bucket list! From the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain and the Alhambra in Granada to the Old City of Salamanca and the Works of Antoni Gaudí in and near Barcelona, you can explore the many wonders of Spain’s millenary history all around the country.

As for UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Spain comes in fourth with 18, including Valencia’s Fallas festivity and the fiesta of the patios in Cordoba.

Beach lovers take note! In 2019, Spain earned 666 Blue Flag awards for beaches (566), marinas (98), and sustainable boating tourism operators (2) – that’s more than any other country in the world. Spain also has 49 natural spaces that UNESCO recognizes as biosphere reserves.

Star Athletes

Anyone who’s tuned into the world’s most popular sport knows that Spain is home to two of the most valuable soccer teams on the planet: Real Madrid and Barcelona. Soccer is far from the only sport with Spanish superstars: Rafa Nadal (tennis), Mireia Belmonte (swimming), Fernando Alonso (Formula 1), Marc Márquez (MotoGP), Carolina Marín (badminton) and Pau Gasol (basketball) are just a few Spaniards who have earned international recognition for their athletic prowess.

Commitment to Equality

Spain is a leader in building an equal society. In 2018, Spain made history with a new government boasting the highest percentage of female ministers (over 60%) in Europe and North America. Spain also has the parliament with most gender parity in the European Union, with 47% female representation in 2019.

Same-sex marriage and adoption have been legal in Spain since 2005, when Spain became the third country in the world to legalize gay marriage. Every year the country hosts many Pride festivities, with Madrid Pride in the lead as the biggest LGBTQ Pride event in Europe.

The Power of Words

According to a 2018 report by Instituto Cervantes, Spanish is the fastest growing language in the world. It’s an official language in 21 countries and has 577 million speakers. 480 million of those are native speakers, which means that 97 million people learned Spanish as a second language (or third, or fourth…)!! Currently, 7.6% of the world’s population can communicate in Spanish.

Spain also celebrates linguistic diversity. In addition to Spanish, some regions have co-official languages: Basque, Catalan/Valencian/Balearic, Galician, or Aranese.

There are so many other things Spain has to be proud of — we didn’t even mention its innovative chefs, its cutting-edge high-speed train network, or its position as the world leader in organ donation and transplantation. Learn Spanish in Spain and start peeling back the innumerable layers to find all the things that make Spain unique. 

If you’re interested in learning more about international brands, take a look at our video to see how brands change as they move across the world.

If you’re currently studying Spanish at our Spanish school in Cusco, get ready to celebrate! It’s time for Las Fiestas Patrias, Peru’s biggest national holiday.

In fact, Peru's Fiestas Patrias are two different holidays: July 28 is Independence Day and July 29 is the Day of the Armed Forces and National Police of Peru. With parades, fairs, fireworks, and festivities all over the country, it’s a good time to be in Peru!

Everybody likes a good fiesta, but what is this one all about? Read on in English or click here to switch to Spanish and find out how Peru wrenched free of Spain’s control.

There were many indigenous Peruvian uprisings in the latter half of the 18^th century. The first large-scale rebellion was led by José Gabriel Condorcanqui, also known as Túpac Amaru II. Condorcanqui was the great-grandson of Túpac Amaru, the last indigenous ruler of the Inca Empire, who had been killed by the Spanish in 1572.

From 1780 to 1781, Túpac Amaru II and his allies (including many women, notably his wife Michaela Bastidas, who many consider was more daring leader and a better strategist than her more famous husband) fought against the Spanish to improve the rights of indigenous Peruvians. The thousands of indigenous men and women who participated in the revolt were eventually defeated, and both Michaela Bastidas and Túpac Amaru II were executed. In 1781, Inca cultural traditions were outlawed.

Although his rebellion was unsuccessful, Túpac Amaru II inspired many indigenous and mestizo people across Latin America and beyond, both at the time and in the centuries that followed. One famous example is American rapper Tupac Amaru Sakur (1971-1996), who was named after Túpac Amaru II.

The criollos, Europeans born in Latin America, saw their chance to challenge Spanish rule in 1808, with the French invasion of Spain. With Spain’s government in crisis, and the ideas of enlightenment and the American and French revolutions in the air, El Primer Grito de la Independencia (“the first cry of independence”) was heard in Ecuador in 1809, marking the beginning of criollo revolutionary movements throughout Latin America.

When the War of Independence broke out in Argentina in 1810, the Spanish viceroy of the Viceroyalty of Peru reincorporated several provinces in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Ecuador back into the Viceroyalty of Peru. Peru became a center of Spanish military power and royalist attitudes.

Peru’s War of Independence began in 1811 with the Battle of Huaqui, in which the royalist troops of the Viceroyalty of Peru triumphed over the revolutionary troops of La Primera Junta (founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina). In the years that followed, many battles were lost and won around the viceroyalty.

General José de San Martín of Argentina was a decisive figure. He liberated Argentina and then Chile, which he used as a base to attack Peru by sea. San Martín occupied the Peruvian port of Pisco in 1820 and entered Lima in 1821. He declared Peruvian independence on July 28, 1821. Peru’s War of Independence continued until 1826, when the last royalists surrendered.

Now, almost 200 years later, the people of Peru celebrate their independence on the same date every year. When you are enjoying music, food, the joyful spirit that fills the country, remember the history that made this celebration possible.

One of the classic questions we’re often asked by our Spanish students is when to use ser and when to use estar. In today’s post, we’ll try to answer the main questions about ser vs. estar by looking at each verb separately to see how it’s used. In a future post, we will go over cases in which we can choose to use either ser or estar and see how the meaning of the sentence changes. Click here to read this post in Spanish. Let’s get into it!

We use ser in the following situations:

To identify:

• Our identity: “Soy Mandi” (I am Mandi)
• Our nationality: “Soy china/soy de China” (I am Chinese/I’m from China)
• Our profession or hobby: “Soy estudiante/Soy abogado/Soy deportista” (I am a student/I am a lawyer/I am an athlete)
• Our beliefs: “Soy musulmán/judío/católico/budista/…” (I am Muslim/Jewish/Catholic/Buddhist/etc.)

To describe:

• Our physical characteristics: “Soy alto/bajo/delgado/grueso/fuerte…” (I am tall/short/thin/heavy/strong/etc.)
• Our abilities: “Soy inteligente/listo/tonto/...” (I am intelligent/smart/dumb/etc.)
• Our personality: “Soy alegre/abierto/extrovertido/tímido/…” (I am cheerful/receptive/extroverted/shy/etc.)
• Our relationships: “Sophie es mi hermana/Soy primo de Tomoyo/Soy novia de Giovanni” (Sophie is my sister/I am Tomoyo’s cousin/I am Giovanni’s girlfriend)
• The material something is made of: “La mesa es de madera/metal/plástico…” (The table is made of wood/metal/plastic/etc.)

To locate events:

• In a place: “El concierto es en el estadio de fútbol” (The concert is in the soccer stadium)
• On a specific date: “La clase sobre ser y estar es el martes/en abril/la semana próxima…” (The class about ser and estar is on Tuesday/in April/next week/etc.)
• In a period of time: “Las rebajas son en primavera/verano/otoño/invierno” (The sales are in spring/summer/fall/winter)
• At a specific time: “La conferencia es a la una de la tarde” (The conference is at 1 p.m.)

To talk about the price of something when the cost is stable: ¿Cuánto es el café? Es 1,20€ (How much is the coffee? It is €1.20)

We use estar in the following contexts:

To describe:

• Our mood: Hoy estoy contento porque he aprobado el DELE (Today I am happy because I passed the DELE exam)
• Our physical characteristics that can change: “Zoe ha ido a la playa y ahora está muy morena”/Katie ha hecho dieta y ahora está más delgada” (Zoe went to the beach and now she is very tan/Katie has been dieting and now she is thinner)
• Our marital status: “Tatiana está casada/soltera/divorciada” (Tatiana is married/single/divorced)
• The way in which something has been made/built: “El anillo está hecho en plata/con oro/a mano” (The ring is made in silver/with gold/by hand)

To locate physical spaces: “Nuestra escuela de español en Sevilla está en el centro de la ciudad, muy cerca del mercado” (Our Spanish school in Seville is downtown, very close to the market)

When using the preposition a or en to indicate:

• A date: “Estamos a 24 de julio del 2019” (Today is July 24, 2019)
• A season: “Estamos en primavera/verano/otoño/invierno” (We are in spring/summer/fall/winter)

To talk about the price of something when the value is not stable: “La gasolina está a casi cinco euros el litro”/Los tomates están a unos cuatro euros el kilo” (Gas is at almost five euros a liter/Tomatoes are at about four euros a kilo)

Esperamos que estéis contentos con la explicación, aunque como sois muy listos con un poco de práctica no vais a tener ningún problema para entenderla. (We hope you are happy with the explanation, although since you are very smart, with a bit of practice you will have no problem understanding it.)

A special thanks to Lucas, our Director of Studies in Seville, for this detailed explanation of when to use ser vs. estar.

If you ever walk through downtown Madrid, you’ll see two neon signs that have come to form part of the city: the Tío Pepe sign and the Schweppes sign. Located in Puerta del Sol and Plaza de Callao, respectively, these two advertisements have become symbols of Madrid, like the screens of Times Square in New York or Piccadilly Circus in London.

The fact is that these advertising platforms have gone far beyond their original commercial motivation. They are now an integral part of the city’s skyline and appear in all the postcards and tourist photos of the city center. Want to discover how these two brands became icons of Madrid? Keep reading in English or click here to switch to Spanish.

Tío Pepe: Just Another Madrileño

In Puerta del Sol, next to the statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree and the Casa de Correos, there’s a monument that’s much less conventional. But that doesn’t mean it inspires any less interest in tourists! The Tío Pepe sign features a bottle of fino wine dressed in a short jacket and matching hat and carrying a Spanish guitar. Its slogan? Sol de Andalucía embotellado (bottled Andalusian sunshine).

The González Byass winery erected the first Tío Pepe sign above the rooftop terrace of Hotel París in 1935 to commemorate the centennial of the winery. At first, the advertisement showed a glass of sherry above the winery sign; it wasn’t until years later that the sign took on its current form.

Speaking of sherry, this English word is actually an anglicization of jerez, which in Spanish is both the name of the wine and the name of the place where it is made. Jerez is one of many Spanish wines with a Protected Designation of Origin.   

The Tío Pepe sign is one of the sights in the capital city that tourists most like to photograph, but it’s also beloved by Madrileños. So much so that in 2011, when the sign disappeared from Puerta de Sol for three years to be restored, lots of people missed it. When the sign returned in 2014, it was pushed out of its original position by the new Apple Store and relocated to the top of a different building in the same plaza.  

Schweppes: Presiding over Callao for 47 Years

This famous brand of tonic water is the star of another one of Madrid’s most emblematic neon signs. Crowning the Carrión building, the Schweppes logo appears in yellow letters over a blinking background of multicolored stripes and has been dominating the panoramic view of Gran Vía since 1972.

Like the Tío Pepe sign, the Schweppes sign marked a turning point in the history of Spanish advertising. As time has passed, it has gone from being just a creative ad to forming part of the city’s collective imagination, an added bonus for the brand.

The Osborne Bulls

Outside the hustle and bustle of the city, beside many a Spanish highway, one of Spain’s iconic advertisements come into view: the Osborne bulls. These black silhouettes of Spanish Fighting Bulls measure more than 45 feet high. Once again, a winery is behind this iconic advertisement; in this case, the Osborne company.

It’s a funny story. In 1987, the Spanish government banned the use of billboards on the highway to increase road safety. As a strategy to keep its signs up, Osborne decided to paint its already famous bull-shaped billboards completely black, leaving no trace of any reference to the brand. In the end, the bull billboards wound up being protected by the Spanish Supreme Court thanks to their “aesthetic and cultural interest.” In 2017, the Osborne bulls turned 60 years old.

We hope you found this post interesting. Now that you know the ins and outs of Spain’s most famous advertising spaces, we encourage you to watch the following video. In it, you’ll learn more about the world of brands in Spanish. Enjoy!

Let’s get the fiesta started!

Each summer, Spain turns into one big party. Cities and towns across the country take advantage of the summer months to hold popular celebrations that fill the streets with music, food, and tradition. From San Fermin in Pamplona, featured in Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises, to the religious pilgrimage of the Virgen del Rocío, the Malaga Fair, and the open-air dance of the Paloma in Madrid, these fiestas are a true reflection of the joyful and festive spirit of the Spanish people.

There are lots of different types of fiestas in Spain. Do you know the difference between a verbena and a romería? Can you distinguish a saint’s feast day from other popular celebrations? With all the festivities, we know it can be easy to feel a bit lost. Stick with English or click here to switch to the Spanish version of this post and read on to become a connoisseur of Spanish fiestas.

A tradition known by many names

Nowadays, there’s barely a distinction between verbenas and romerías. Both words are used to describe fiestas populares, outdoor celebrations where people enjoy music, food, and drinks in a festive atmosphere.   

However, in earlier times these two types of events had clear differences with respect to the time of day and activities included in the celebrations. Let’s learn more about them.

Romerías

Romerías are popular fiestas celebrated close to a shrine or chapel on the day of the saint or virgin to whom the temple is consecrated. On the day of the romería, participants embark on a pilgrimage to the sanctuary, which is usually located in the countryside.

This type of celebration happens during the day. After honoring the saint or virgin, people enjoy a bite to eat in the great outdoors, often with music and popular songs to set the tone.

Within Spain, romerías are especially popular in Andalusia, and the romería of the Virgen del Rocío is the most famous one of all. Each year, around a million people travel on foot, horseback, or in a horse-drawn carriage to the small town of El Rocío to take part in the celebration. Romerías are also celebrated outside of Spain, in countries like Costa Rica, Argentina, Mexico, and Chile.

Verbenas

Verbenas are popular fiestas with open-air dancing. Although the origins of verbenas also tend to be devotional and are dedicated to a saint or virgin, the main thing that differentiates a verbena from a romería is that the former is celebrated at night and has a more relaxed and festive atmosphere.

The name verbena comes from a plant with same name, which has pink flowers. Back in the day, it was customary for people to go to this type of dance with a boutonniere of verbenas on the lapel of their shirt. From there, people started calling the celebration by the name of the flower.

One of Spain’s most popular verbenas is La Paloma, which takes place in Madrid in mid-August. The celebration takes place in the La Latina neighborhood, which comes alive as its balconies and courtyards are decorated with string flags, garlands, lights, and Manila shawls. When night falls, the verbena fills every corner of the neighborhood with music in a lively fiesta that feels like pure summer.

Outside of Spain, verbenas enjoy some popularity in Colombia and Venezuela, although each country has its own style of celebrating.

Fiestas patronales

Here’s another type of fiesta! Fiestas patronales (also known as fiestas mayores) are official celebrations held each year in a specific to a city or town to celebrate the local patron saint. The celebration usually lasts multiple days and includes religious events, outdoor activities, dances, concerts, bullfighting or other bull-related events, and fairs with carnival rides.

In many cases, the same city has two patron saints, a male and a female. For example, Madrid has fiestas dedicated to San Isidro and La Almudena. Both are public holidays in the capital city.

We hope this article has helped you understand what popular fiestas are all about. But when it comes to these traditional events, words don’t say enough. We encourage you to come to Spain in the summertime to learn Spanish and get a real taste of Spanish fiestas. We’ll be waiting for you!

The Spanish verb haber is a common source of confusion for many Spanish learners, but it’s easy to use once you get the hang of it. The best part is that haber has only one form in each verb tense: you don’t have to conjugate it! Today’s quick Spanish grammar lesson will teach you how to use haber and how it’s different from the verb estar. Read on in English or click here for the Spanish version of this post.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding the Differences Between Haber and Estar

1. Haber is an impersonal verb. This means that it doesn’t have the six usual forms for each person (yo, tú, él, nosotros, vosotros, ellos). It has only one form, which is hay in the present tense.
2. We use haber to indicate the location of people, objects, or places in a general way when we don’t know the people, objects, or places we’re talking about.
   • For example, in the sentence Hay un teléfono en la mesa (There is a telephone on the table), we don’t know what telephone it is or who owns it, and in the sentence Hay cuatro alumnos en la clase (There are four students in the class), we don’t know who the students are.
3. Estar can also be used to refer to the location of people, objects, and places, but in a concrete way, when we know the things we are talking about
   • For example, in the sentence Mi teléfono está en la mesa (My phone is on the table), we’re talking about a specific phone, my phone. In the sentence Pierre, Elena, Mohammed y Jennifer están en la clase (Pierre, Elena, Mohammed, and Jennifer are in the class), we’re referring not to four students in general but to these specific four students.

4. If we look at the examples above (2 and 3), we can see that haber doesn’t change (hay + singular subject; hay + plural subject), while estar does (está or están, depending on the subject).
5. We also use haber to talk about things that do or do not exist, especially when referring to abstract nouns: No hay tiempo, tenemos que salir ya (There is no time, we have to leave now) or uncountable nouns: ¿Hay café? (Is there any coffee?).
6. Up to this point, we have only used examples in the present tense. Hay is the impersonal form of the verb haber in the present. In other verb tenses, the third person singular is used to express the impersonal form: Hubo un acccidente en el centro (There was an accident downtown) or No había nadie en la clase (There was nobody in the class).

Si no hay preguntas (If there aren’t any questions), that brings us to the end of today’s Spanish grammar review. A special thanks to José Ramón Rodríguez, one of our teachers in Malaga, for sharing his expertise.

Call me by your name

There are few things more frustrating than arriving to your first day of work or meeting a new group of friends and finding that someone there has the same name as you. From that moment on, what’s most likely to happen is that you will stop being known by the name your parents racked their brains for during 9 long months. You will be renamed with any possible derivation of your first name, with a nickname, or with a pseudonym. And all of this because you were the second one to join the group. But at least they’ll call you by a different name to differentiate you.

However, there exists something worse. Think about the previous situation, you come to a new place, nobody is named like you, and yet, against all odds, everyone calls you by the name of someone who was there before you. This is something that happens to a lot of brand creators: after weeks or years of thinking up a catchy name for their “baby,” they come in second at the market and their product is forever known by the name of another, more famous brand.

Here we always call things by their name, and this phenomenon is called lexicalization. To discover more about it, keep reading in English, or click here to switch to Spanish.

This process of brand lexicalization happens when a corporation, brand, or company is so famous, or it was the first to become popular, that its name is used to refer to all other products of the same genre. The curious thing about this concept is that you probably use this it daily and, like our friend Robert, you haven’t noticed it.

The other day, when Robert headed home in his jeep, he stopped by in a nearby gas station to buy Scotch tape and kleenex. He seized the opportunity to refuel with diesel. When he got in the car again, and took out his thermos to take a sip of coffee, he realized that there was a post-it on the dashboard and stopped to read it. The car that was waiting behind him honked. Startled, Robert hit his head and, sore, started driving. The road home was longer than a day without bread, and when he finally arrived, he had to take an aspirin. Then he thought that it was the best time to use his new jacuzzi for the first time while he enjoyed of a bit of music with his old walkman.

As you may have imagined, the products that appear in this little story starring Robert are examples of brand lexicalization. These brand names have worked their way into everyday language, and can often be used interchangeably in both English and in Spanish. 

Jeep

All four-wheel drives (made by any company) can be called jeeps in English and Spanish despite the fact that the name Jeep is a trademark registered by the Chrysler company.

Scotch tape

In the United States and Canada, transparent pressure-sensitive tape is commonly known as Scotch tape because of 3M’s trademark. In Spain the lexicalized name for clear tape is Celo, which comes from the British brand Sellotape.

Kleenex

The Kleenex brand name is used in English and Spanish to refer to disposable tissues. Surprisingly, the product’s first aim was to alleviate the shortage of cotton in U.S. hospitals during World War I. After the war many units were left, and they were repurposed, without much success, as women’s sanitary products. In 1924, the company Kimberly-Clark began selling Kleenex as disposable makeup remover wipes. In 1930 a study revealed that 60% of women used them to blow their noses.

Diesel

This kind of fuel is named after the German mechanical engineer Rudolf Diesel, famous for the invention of the Diesel engine.

Thermos

The vacuum flask was created in 1892 by James Dewar for scientific uses in the field of cryogenics. The glassblower Reinhold Burger discovered the commercial use of the product and, in 1904, he announced a contest to put a name to it. The winner was a student who suggested "thermos," which means “hot” in Greek. In Spanish, the word is termo.

Post-It

The Post-It brand name is often used in English and Spanish to describe brightly colored sticky notes. The Post-It was invented by Arthur Fry, a 3M worker who found a use for the low-quality glue created by his friend Spencer Silver. The glue turned out to be enduring and residue-free, despite the fact that it wasn’t a very strong adhesive.

Claxon

In Spanish, a car horn is called a claxon, which comes from the Klaxon brand.

Aspirin

Acetylsalicylic acid is known around the world as Aspirin (Aspirina in Spanish), a trademark registered by the German multinational pharmaceutical company Bayer after its creation in 1897.

Its time as a trademark was brief because in 1917, after World War I, Bayer had to give up some of its patents and trademarks.

Jacuzzi

The hot tub, or whirlpool, was created by the Italian Cándido Jacuzzi in the ‘50s after he emigrated to U.S., where he worked manufacturing hydraulic pumps. Jacuzzi’s son suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and, to ease his pain, he decided to use one of his pumps to treat him with whirlpools.

Walkman

In 1978, Sony’s Honorary President, Massaou Ibuka, made an appearance in a meeting room with a compact device and headphones assuring his audience that it was the ideal invention to listen to music in private. After reducing the size of the headphones and the weight of the cassettes, the device was launched on the Japanese market with the Walkman name.

In this post we have told you about just a few examples of generic trademarks. From now on, we’re sure you will be more careful and you will call brands and their products by their proper name.

Although you may have learned a few new Spanish words with this post (¿tienes un Kleenex?), if you want to speak Spanish properly, you’ll need to take a Spanish course. And don’t worry, even if your class has another student with your name, for us you will always be unique.

If you want to learn more about how brands are around the world, don’t forget to take a look at this video we've put together.