Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to recognize and use common Spanish idiomatic expressions that do not translate literally from English.

Lesson Explanation

Genuine fluency requires knowing expressions that cannot be understood by translating word-for-word. Common idioms built on already-familiar verbs:

Tener ganas de + infinitive — to feel like doing something (literally "to have wishes of"): Tengo ganas de bailar. (I feel like dancing.)
Echar de menos — to miss someone/something: Te echo de menos. (I miss you.)
Costar trabajo — to be difficult (literally "to cost work"): Me cuesta trabajo entender esto. (I find this hard to understand.)
Dar la lata — to be annoying/bothersome (literally "to give the can"): Mi hermano me da la lata. (My brother annoys me.)
Estar en las nubes — to be daydreaming (literally "to be in the clouds"): Estás en las nubes. (You're daydreaming.)

A genuinely common structure worth knowing beyond single idioms: tener combines with several nouns where English uses “to be” plus an adjective instead:

tener hambre — to be hungry (literally "to have hunger")
tener sed — to be thirsty
tener miedo — to be afraid
tener razón — to be right

Saying “Estoy hambre” instead of “Tengo hambre” is a genuinely common learner error — this pattern is worth memorizing as a set, not derived from any single rule already covered.

Practice Questions