Collins Dictionaries - Easy Learning Spanish Conversation

• When meeting someone socially for the first time, you usually shake hands – darse la mano– if it’s a man, or kiss if it’s a woman. In business and formal situations, everybody would shake hands.

• Men who are on friendly terms usually shake hands or pat each other on the back, while women kiss - darse un beso. Men also kiss female friends and in some cases other men, for instance when they belong to the same family. Spanish people usually kiss twice, once on each cheek.

• If you hear someone talking about their pareja( partner ), remember that, although it’s a feminine noun, it is used for both men and women.

Whether you’re hitting the road, boarding a train, catching a plane or heading for the high seas, this unit will help you check out the timetables and find the best routes using natural, confident Spanish.

In English we use I’m going to to talk about where we’re going and what we’re going to do. It’s just the same in Spanish. You use voy a( I’m going to ) before the name of a place or before another verb.

If you want to say what you’re planning to do on your travels, you can use tengo la intención de( I’m planning to ) followed by the infinitive. tengocomes from the verb tener( to have ). For more information on tener, see here.

To talk about things that you want to do, use quiero( I want ) followed by the infinitive. quierocomes from the verb querer( to want ). For more information on querer, see here.

If you want to say what you feel like doing, you can use tengo ganas de( I feel like ) followed by an infinitive.

When you want to explain what you’re hoping to do, use espero( I’m hoping ) followed by an infinitive.

When discussing your travel plans, you may want to say what you’d like to do. To do this you can use me gustaría( I’d like ) followed by a verb in the infinitive.

When planning your trip, of course you won’t just want to say what you like and what you’d like to do, you’ll want to say what you’d rather do. Use prefiero( I prefer or I’d rather) or preferiría( I’d prefer or I’d rather ) to talk about your preferences.

To make suggestions about what you could do, use podríamos( we could ) and podemos( we can ). They are both from the verb poder( to be able ). For more information on poder, see here.

You can also make a suggestion in the same way as English, simply by asking ¿Por qué no…?( Why don’t… ?).

To find out what someone wants to do, you can ask ¿Te gustaría…?( Would you like…? ) or ¿Te apetece…?( Do you fancy…? ) followed by an infinitive.