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Spanish (Spain)

### Familiar words, news meanings

You have already met these words with another meaning. In the news they usually mean something else.

| you know | in the news |
|---|---|
| **la tasa** the fee | **la tasa** the rate |
| **la reforma** the renovation | **la reforma** the reform |
| **regular** so-so | **regular** to regulate |
| **la escala** the layover | **la escala** the scale |
| **retirarse** to retreat | **retirarse** to retire, to withdraw |

**La banca** is banking, the banks as a whole. (In a casino it is also the house: *la banca siempre gana*.)

{{item:1253759}}

You pay a *tasa* at an office, but a *tasa de paro* goes up and down:

{{item:1253749}}

A *reforma* at home brings builders; a *reforma* in parliament is passed or protested:

{{item:1253763}}

**Regular** as a verb conjugates and takes an object (*regula*, *regulan*), so it is easy to tell from *regular* 'so-so':

{{item:1253767}}

### Going down, and roughly how much

**Descender** is usually a more formal *bajar*. Figures, prices and planes descend:

{{item:1253753}}

**En torno a** gives an approximate number. With *el* it contracts to *en torno al*:

{{item:1253756}}

It also means 'around' a topic:

{{item:1253762}}

### Retiring

**Retirarse** is what athletes and politicians do. For an ordinary job at pension age, Spaniards usually say *jubilarse*:

{{item:1253774}}

{{item:1253776}}

The economy in the news (la tasa, la reforma, la banca)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular subjects and 'ser' (yo soy, esto es)

Plural nouns and definite articles (los, las)

Plural pronouns and 'ser' (somos, sois, son)

Adjective agreement (-o, -a, -os, -as)

Indefinite articles (un, una, unos, unas)

Simple negation (no)

Yes/no questions

Regular '-ar' verbs (-o, -as, -a...)

Regular '-er' verbs (-o, -es, -e...)

Regular '-ir' verbs (-o, -es, -e...)

Locative adverbs (aquí, allí)

Question words (quién, cómo)

The verb estar (estoy, estás)

The preposition en (en)

Ser vs. estar

The verb tener (tengo, tienes)

Possessive determiners (mi, tu, su)

Origin and possession (de, del)

The verb ir (voy, vas)

Destination (a, al)

The personal 'a' (a)

Stem-changing verbs: e to ie

Stem-changing verbs: o to ue

Irregular first-person verbs

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, dos, tres)

Numbers 11 to 20 (once, doce, trece)

Counting by tens to 100 (treinta, cuarenta, cien)

Compound numbers up to 99 (veintiuno, treinta y uno)

Days of the week (el lunes, el martes)

The family and the personal 'a' (a mi tío, a mi prima)

Months of the year

Telling time (es la, son las)

Verbs of liking (me gusta)

Plural agreement with verbs of liking (gustan)

Degree modifiers (muy, mucho)

Formal address (usted, ustedes)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

Obligation (tener que)

Present continuous (-ando, -iendo)

Affirmative commands (tú, vosotros)

Basic Food and Drink

The Human Body: Head and Arms

The Human Body: Legs and Health

Wardrobe Essentials

Fresh Produce

Meals and Proteins

Public Transport

Hello and goodbye (hola, ¿qué tal?)

Thank you, sorry, OK (gracias, vale)

There is, there are (hay)

My building (la escalera, el ascensor)

Describing people (moreno, rubio, tímido)

Land and sea (el mar, el río, el norte)

Sightseeing (la plaza, la catedral)

Asking the way (cerca, a la derecha, todo recto)

In class (¿puedes repetir?)

Verb + infinitive (quiero comer, sé leer)

What's your name? (me llamo, encantado)

Phone, computer and email

Hundreds and thousands (doscientos, mil)

What do you do? (¿a qué te dedicas?)

Personal details (la edad, la fecha de nacimiento)

Me neither (también, tampoco, ni)

How much is it? (el precio, la vuelta)

What's the weather like? (hace sol, nieva)

Free time (el concierto, el tenis)

At the bar (¿qué vas a tomar?)

The Natural World

Demonstratives (este, ese, aquel)

Prepositions of place (encima de, debajo de)

Prepositional pronouns (para mí, contigo)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero to décimo)

Adverbs of frequency (a veces, nunca)

Exclamations (¡qué...!)

Indefinite pronouns (algo, alguien)

Indefinite determiners (algún, ningún)

Indirect object pronouns (le, les)

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

Double object pronouns (se lo, se la)

Verbs of preference (encantar, interesar)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Starting and finishing actions (empezar a, terminar de)

Adjective comparatives (más que, menos que)

Comparatives of equality (tan como)

Noun comparatives (tanto como)

Question	Answer
the rate (unemployment rate, birth rate)	la tasa
The unemployment rate has gone down this year.	La tasa de paro ha bajado este año.
Spain has a very high unemployment rate.	España tiene una tasa de paro muy alta.
to descend, to go down (figures, a plane)	descender
This year, the price of housing has not gone down.	Este año, el precio de la vivienda no ha descendido.
The plane has already started to descend.	El avión ya ha empezado a descender.
The number of tourists went down last year.	El número de turistas descendió el año pasado.
around, about (approximately); concerning	en torno a
The inflation rate is around 3%.	La tasa de inflación está en torno al 3 %.
The rent costs around a thousand euros.	El alquiler cuesta en torno a mil euros.
the banking (sector), the banks	la banca
My father worked in banking all his life.	Mi padre trabajó en la banca toda su vida.
The Spanish banking sector has earned a lot this year.	La banca española ha ganado mucho este año.
the reform	la reforma
The debate revolves around the reform.	El debate gira en torno a la reforma.
The government has passed the reform this week.	El Gobierno ha aprobado la reforma esta semana.
Many young people are protesting against the reform.	Muchos jóvenes protestan contra la reforma.
to regulate	regular
The government wants to regulate banking.	El Gobierno quiere regular la banca.
A new law regulates the price of rent.	Una nueva ley regula el precio del alquiler.
It is necessary to regulate the use of social media.	Es necesario regular el uso de las redes sociales.
the scale (range, size)	la escala
They manufacture cars on a large scale.	Fabrican coches a gran escala.
The survey uses a scale from one to ten.	La encuesta usa una escala de uno a diez.
This map has a very small scale.	Este mapa tiene una escala muy pequeña.
to retire (from sport, politics); to withdraw	retirarse
The politician retired after the elections.	El político se retiró después de las elecciones.
Today the candidate (female) has withdrawn from the elections.	Hoy la candidata se ha retirado de las elecciones.
My favorite footballer is retiring this year.	Mi futbolista favorito se retira este año.

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