Today we are going to cover some characteristics of some indefinite adjectives and pronouns in Spanish. Are you familiar with any of them! ? Click here to read this post in Spanish. Let’s go for it!

Algún, alguno

They both express an undefined quantity somehow relatable to the speaker or an indeterminate fact.

1. Algún, as well as alguna/algunos/algunas, is a determiner (in this case masculine and singular). It refers to someone or to something and it precedes a noun that must be masculine and singular as well. It occupies the first position in the sentence.

¿Algún huevo para hacer la tortilla?

(Do you have) any egg to make a Spanish omelet?

 Algún año viajaré a Chile.

One day I will travel to Chile.

2. Alguno (not algún) is a masculine, singular pronoun that refers to someone and specifies the gender and number of the word that follows.

En Andalucía no todo el mundo pronuncia la “z” como una “s”. Yo sé de alguno que lo hace con el sonido “z” también.

In Andalusia, not everyone pronounces the letter “z” as an “s”. I know some people who do use the sound “z” as well.

3. Besides, alguno can also have the same role as algún + [pronoun]. It can be used this way when the speaker does not want to repeat the name.

- ¿Tienes algún libro de gramática?

- Aquí no, pero creo que tengo alguno (= algún libro de gramática) en casa.

- Do you have any grammar books?

- Not here, but I believe I have some (=grammar books) at home.

Ningún, ninguno

They are both indefinite adjectives. However, these two words have different meanings and they can’t be used in the same way. Let’s find out why:

1. Ningún and ninguna mean not one, and therefore they must be used in plural. You’ll find them always placed before a masculine, singular noun.

No queda ningún bombón en la caja. (There is not even one chocolate left in the box)

No hay ningún cliente en la tienda. (There are no customers in the store)

2. Ninguno has the same meaning as ningún + [nombre], but we use it when we don’t want to repeat the name we are referring to.

- ¿Tienes algún libro de gramática?

- No, aquí no tengo ninguno (= ningún libro de gramática).

3. When talking about people, we use nadie instead of ninguno. But we’ll get deeper into that in our next blog post.

We thank Lucas, Head of Studies at our Spanish school in Seville, for his contribution to our blog. Keep on learning with don Quijote!

The US writer and activist Rita Mae Brown said that “Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” Today, at don Quijote, we take advantage of this quote to share and celebrate the importance of the Spanish language and its presence in countries around the world.

Click here to read this blog post in Spanish.

Surely you already know that Spanish is the second most spoken language by native speakers, mainly because of the expansion of the Spanish Empire that began in the Golden Age. In the territories of the empire, the language of administration and commerce was Spanish. Consequently, the language gained importance and, with the passing of time, it was established as an official language in many countries of Latin America.

However, this was not the only reason for Spanish to travel all over the planet, the migratory movements that took place in the 20th century caused the tongue of Cervantes to move to remote places where we find important communities of speakers nowadays.

1. Algeria

Spanish arrived in Algeria in 1492, when Spain was declared a Catholic nation and the Spanish speaking Muslims who rejected conversion were expelled out of its borders. Thousands of them moved to Algeria. Moreover, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, many Republicans had to take up exile and went to Algeria too.  Thanks to these factors, we can find more than two hundred thousand of Spanish speakers in the city of Oran now.

2. Aruba

Aruba is a small island in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The official languages are Dutch and Papiamento, but Spanish is also spoken by 80% of the population. Spain controlled the island before the Dutch took control of it, but the language has also gained importance in the recent years because of the immigrants coming from Colombia and Venezuela. Moreover, the economic ties with Venezuela have forced many people to learn Spanish as a second language.

3. Belize

Although the official language of Belize is English since it was a British colony, the country also belonged to Spain in previous centuries. Hence, Spanish is spoken as a mother tongue by almost 50% of the population, mainly focused on the northern towns of Corozal and San Pedro.

4. Philippines

The Philippines is a country located in the Southeast of Asia which was a Spanish colony for more than three centuries, being Spanish the official language during that period. But when the United States invaded the Philippines at the end of the 19^th century, the English language was imposed and the use of Spanish forbidden. Consequently, much of the Spanish language disappeared, and the newer generations speak mainly English and Tagalog (a mixture of English, Spanish and native languages). However, the Spanish language has resisted, and we can still find a community of more than 2 million speakers in these remote islands.

5. Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa, but what few people know is that one of its official languages is Spanish. In 1778, Spaniards gained control over Equatorial Guinea by means of the Treaty of El Pardo. The treaty meant an agreement between the Spanish Empire and the Kingdom of Portugal, an agreement in which both powers distributed the borders of their colonies and exchanged some territories in South America and Africa. Nowadays, Spanish is spoken by almost 90% of its population.

We hope you find this information interesting and, above all, that it helps you realize that Spanish can open a whole world of opportunities. If you find the topic interesting, we encourage you to watch the video “Lugares remotos donde se habla español” and tell us which country has surprised you the most.

"Dying is a wild night and a new road." (Emily Dickinson)

The celebration of death

The Halloween celebration is fast approaching, and with it all the preparations for the spookiest night of the year, a night at which we remember those who are no longer among us. At don Quijote, we want to take this opportunity to bring you some interesting facts about the origins of this tradition and its meaning.

You can also read this blog post in Spanish.

Although it is true that Halloween is especially commemorated in the US (or in Mexico, where the festival is known as Day of the Dead and consists of honoring deceased loved ones), the fiesta has been exported to the rest of the world in recent decades and it seems that has come for good. Decorated pumpkins and skulls, the game of "trick or treat" or the costumes of witches, ghosts and zombies have become part of our collective imaginary.

However, and contrary to what many may think, Halloween wasn’t invented in the US. Read on to find out more about the history of Halloween.

History of Halloween

No one knows what happens when we pass away, but death, as well as all the mystery around it, has always been a source of inspiration for artists of all ages and disciplines. But not only for artists, because if there is something that we all have in common, it’s precisely that the grim reaper awaits all at the end of our days.

Since time immemorial and to this day, death has been very present in the traditions and customs of many cultures and peoples around the world. In order to explain why Halloween is celebrated we must go back to the times of the Celtic communities in Ireland. Like most celebrations and traditions, this is a festival of pagan origin.

The ritual was known as Samhain ("the end of summer" in Gaelic) and it was meant to honor autumnal equinox and, which commemorated the end of the harvest, which coincided with the arrival of the Celtic New Year. However, this is not the only nor the most important reason, because what the Celts mainly pursued was to connect with the world of the dead. The belief was that the barrier that separated this world and the next one was thinner at this time of the year, maybe because nights are longer during this period.

It was also believed that evil spirits came from the other world to take the living, so the Druids made bonfires and spells to ward them off. People prepared food and sweets and left it at the door of their houses to entertain them.

But with the appearance of Christianity, the tradition underwent several changes, since it was considered that this kind of ritual could attract the devil. In this way, the party was transferred to November 1 and called All Saints Day.

The party arrives in the United States

It was in the 18th century, with the first wave of Irish immigrants, when the party is exported to the United States. Although at first the celebration was persecuted by the Puritans who lived in New England, after the second wave of migration in the late nineteenth century, they managed to establish the holiday permanently.

The tradition was mixed with the beliefs of the American Indians at the time of the conquest of the West. In this way and in these years, the custom of telling scary stories, the "trick or treat", the costumes of witches and ghosts begin to be included in the rituals of celebration.

Nowadays

The Halloween party became one of the most important in North America. And at the end of the twentieth century, in most European countries and possibly thanks to the influence of literature, film and television, young people began to celebrate this date in the style of the States.

Thus, the holiday has been moving away from the Judeo-Christian tradition year after year, being transformed into a night event full of mystery, ghosts, zombies, witches and sense of humor.