Learning Spanish takes time. To make learning easier and more entertaining, today we’re bringing you a list of the best TV shows to learn Spanish depending on your level.

Grab a snack, get comfortable, and get ready to binge on some of the best TV series in Spanish.

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First, for beginners, one of the best series is Cuéntame cómo pasó. It’s about the passing of time and the most important historical events that have happened in Spain from 1968 to 1986 (so far — the show’s still going). It’s the longest running Spanish TV show in history and revolves around what happens to the Alcántara family over the years.

Scene from Cuentame cómo pasó

Since it’s a show for the whole family, the dialogues are usually easy to follow and not too fast, with vocabulary that students of all Spanish levels can understand. It’s the perfect show to start learning Spanish or improve the level you already have.

If you want to hear what Spanish teenagers sound like, a good option is El internado. The story follows two orphan siblings, Marcos and Paula, who quickly discover that everyday life in an elite boarding school is anything but easy. Aside from not getting along with Iván, one of his classmates, Marcos starts to realize that strange things are happening at the school. Mystery, intrigue, high school crushes… this series has got it all, perfect for intermediate Spanish students who want to know how young people in Spain really talk.

Scene from El internado

To learn colloquial Spanish and listen to Spanish spoken by real people, both young and old, Los hombres de Paco is a very fun and entertaining show.

The series revolves around a typical police station. Paco, Lucas, and Mariano are a team of police officers who have big hearts but are clumsy and accident-prone. They complicate their cases, get tangled up in love affairs, show up at the wrong places… thanks to all the different situations they find themselves in, this is the perfect opportunity to hear Spanish as it’s spoken between friends, between adults, between young people, between work colleagues, and in the most common types of everyday situations. Watching this show is a good way to put the Spanish you already know into practice.

Scene from Los hombres de Paco

If you’re more interested in Spanish from Latin America, your best option is definitely Narcos. It follows the true and very dangerous story of an illegal cocaine trafficking network in Colombia. The leading man is Pablo Escobar, one of the biggest capos in history. The dialogue usually follows a relaxed pace, with characters speaking slowly and pausing frequently, making this a great way to learn Latin American Spanish in its purest form.

Scene from Narcos

Can’t make up your mind? For a little bit of everything, our recommendation is El ministerio del tiempo.

It’s a very special storyline. A team from the Ministry is in charge of making sure nobody travels back in time to change anything. Every time the team receives an alert, they’ve got to time travel immediately to make sure the past stays the same and protect the future. Because of the action, the show sometimes has fast dialogues, but other parts are slower, so you can hear Spanish spoken in an office environment, Spanish from other times in history, colloquial Spanish… a winning combination.

Scene from El Ministerio del Tiempo

Now you’ve got five fun ways to learn Spanish or perfect what you already know while you spend your lazy afternoons watching TV in Spanish.

Today we’re going to talk about the Spanish tongue. More concretely, about expressions that use tongue.

In other words, we’re going to have a look at common Spanish sayings that mention tongues.

Oftentimes, what we say isn’t exactly what we mean.

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When you’re speaking in Spanish, sooner or later there will come a time when someone will tell you something serious or important that they don’t want you to tell anyone else. If someone says to you, “No te vayas de la lengua” (Don’t leave your tongue), they’re asking you not to tell anyone what they’ve told you.

I’ll give you an example.

One of your friends tells you that he’s going to give his mom the best present ever. He starts telling you every little detail about the gift and might even ask for your advice on how to buy it. At the end of the conversation, he says

• Y, por favor, no te vayas de la lengua

What does he mean by this? Simple: he’s asking you to keep this a secret so his mom doesn’t find out about the gift he is going to give her.

On the other hand, another expression with tongue is no tener pelos en la lengua (to not have hair on one’s tongue). This means the opposite of the previous expression.

If you meet someone who doesn’t have hair on their tongue it means they’re honest, direct, and will tell you what they think without sugarcoating it.

Here’s an example:

Two old friends run into each other on the street:

• Hey, how are you? Long time no see!
• Yeah, it’s been awhile! You look different.
• Different? Of course, we haven’t seen each other for a long time.
• No, no. You look older.

Even though the person really is older, the fact that their friend has been so direct in saying so means that the friend no tiene pelos en la lengua.

Now you have two new expressions to use when you speak in Spanish. If you want to learn even more, watch this video and write down all the sayings you haven’t heard before!

In Spanish there are hundreds upon hundreds of expressions about different topics, from food to love, the weather, friends…

There are lots of sayings about animals, but today we turn our focus to two very common expressions involving chickens.

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We’ll learn what it means to be a chicken (ser una gallina) and also what it means to have the skin of a chicken (tener la piel de gallina).

If you’ve ever spent any time around chickens, you’ll know that it’s very hard to catch one. If you creep up silently it probably won’t do anything, but the moment it hears your footfall it will start running as fast as its little legs will carry it.

Chickens are so easily frightened that if they feel the slightest hint of fear or see something that scares them, they take off running as fast as they can.

That’s why in Spanish, since we like expressions so much, when a person is quick to fear or afraid of confronting a situation, we say that the person is a chicken (es una gallina).

In fact, having the skin of a chicken (tener la piel de gallina) is also related to fear. It may be an expression, but it’s also a scientifically proven fact.

When a person feels afraid, experiences a change in the temperature, or has a good feeling run through their body (for example, when listening to music), they get what we call goosebumps — or, in Spanish, chicken skin.

It’s a way for the body to protect itself from sudden external changes. Under the skin, there are muscles that tense up, raising each one of the hairs on the surface of the skin. At one time, this reaction helped protect the body from cold temperatures, and today it’s what makes our skin look like la piel de gallina.

Although chickens aren’t an animal most people feel a great affinity for, people and chickens have a lot in common. From now on, you know that if someone is scared to face a situation and wants to run away you can call them una gallina, and if their hair stands on end you know they have la piel de gallina.

If you want to learn even more sayings about animals, enjoy our video about expressions with animals.

We’re already about halfway through August, so you’re probably about to fly away on vacation if you haven’t already done so. But here at don Quijote we’re not going anywhere; we’re sticking around to keep sharing ideas on how to improve your Spanish wherever you are. And since we’re talking about flying, today we’ll explain some expressions featuring birds.

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The first saying we’re going to talk about is something you can use on a cold winter night or a hot summer day. In Spain, even when it’s more than 100 degrees outside, it’s perfectly normal to hear someone in a classroom or restaurant say, “Could you turn down the air conditioning? I’m turning into a little bird.” As you’ve probably guessed, in Spanish, turning into a little bird (quedarse pajarito) has nothing to do with flying through the air or singing a little song; it’s actually about being cold.

But be careful! Don’t mix this up with another Spanish expression that’s very similar: quedarse como un pajarito. Pay attention, because there’s a very important difference: when we say that someone se ha quedado como un pajarito (or they’ve ended up like a little bird), we mean that they’ve died peacefully, without suffering.

Another expression related to birds is tener pájaros en la cabeza (to have birds in the head). Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with The Birds, the movie by Alfred Hitchock; it’s much more pleasant, although it can also have negative consequences for the person involved. When we say that someone has birds in their head, we mean that the person likes to fantasize, or that their head is full of ideas that aren’t very realistic: “Cuando era joven, emprendió un negocio muy arriesgado pensando que se haría rico enseguida. Tenía muchos pájaros en la cabeza.” (When he was young, he started a very risky business thinking he would get rich quickly. He had lots of birds in his head.)

It’s kind of like when the world looks pink, but having birds in your head is more serious because not only are you optimistic, you are also expecting or believing in things that are very unlikely to happen, and that often leads you to make unwise decisions because you think everything is going to work out perfectly.

Now you know two new colloquial expressions you can use when you speak in Spanish. And if somebody asks you where you’ve learned them and you want to be a bit mysterious, you can always say me las ha dicho un pajarito (a little bird told me them). Any Spaniard you say this to will have no problem understanding you, but if you’re talking to a classmate who’s also studying Spanish they might be a bit confused. Do Spanish birds talk?

Of course, in Spain and Latin America, as in most of the world, parrots are the only birds that can talk. People use the expression Me lo ha dicho un pajarito when they don’t want to disclose who they got their information from. So don’t worry, no one will think you’re a Disney princess who talks with animals.

Do you like learning expressions with animals? Here’s a video we’ve prepared so you can learn (and use!) a lot more of them:

We don’t know if it’s thanks to Spain’s more than 3,500 miles of coastline or the importance of fresh fish in Spanish cuisine, but it’s a fact that there are multiple Spanish expressions that revolve around fish. We already told you what it means to cut the cod, so today we’re going to explain some other expressions to make sure nobody tells you that estás muy pez (you are very fish).

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Now that temperatures are climbing over 100 degrees in many parts of Spain, it’s the perfect time to understand what it means to be like a fish in water. Sounds refreshing and enjoyable, doesn’t it? When we say someone is como pez en el agua, we mean that they are feeling good, they’re in their element, they’re in an environment that feels natural and comfortable, or they’re doing a task that’s easy for them. Of course, since the expression doesn’t really refer to fish or an aquatic environment, you can use it any time, even on a cold, rainy day.

At don Quijote we want you to feel like a fish in the water when you speak Spanish, and to make that possible it’s essential for you not to have memoria de pez so you’re able to remember the vocabulary and grammar that you’ve learned. Can you guess what this expression means? Perhaps in your country the idea of fish having a bad memory hasn’t worked its way into the colloquial language, but you’ve probably seen Finding Nemo. In this animated movie, Dory is a fish who is incapable of remembering things that just happened, which leads to all sorts of funny situations.

This myth about fishes’ inability to remember things is behind the expression tener memoria de pez (to have the memory of a fish), which existed before the movie, and is used to refer to people who are scatterbrained or forgetful.

Now that you’re familiar with these two sayings, you’re probably wondering what we were talking about at the beginning of this article, when we said that nobody will tell you that you’re very fish (estás muy pez). Is this expression reserved for people who love swimming or scuba diving? Or does it describe those who are very good at something, something that makes them feel como pez en el agua? Well, we’re very sorry to tell you that it’s actually quite the opposite.

We say that someone está muy pez when they haven’t the slightest idea about something or they have very little experience. For example, it’s common to estar muy pez behind the wheel when we’ve just gotten our driver’s license, or to think that we’re not going to pass the math exam because estamos muy pez and we don’t know how to solve the problems correctly. Of course, this is an expression you’ll never need to talk about your Spanish abilities, we’ll make sure of it!

To help keep you feeling como pez en el agua when you’re speaking Spanish, we recommend you watch the video below, where we explain this and other expressions in which animals play a leading role:

In Spanish culture, the color pink is mostly associated with two ideas: on one hand, it’s linked to optimism and positive or pleasant things; on the other, as in many Western countries, pink is associated with girls and, by extension, women, and the products designed especially for them.

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Once you know this, you probably won’t have a hard time understanding why we say that someone ve todo de color rosa (sees everything pink) when we’re talking about a person who’s usually optimistic… oftentimes excessively or unjustifiably so. In contrast to the hardened pessimist, who sees everything black (ve todo negro), someone who sees everything pink has such an optimistic outlook on life that sometimes they seem a bit naïve or detached from reality.

Of course, you don’t have be the type of person who always looks on the bright side to say ves todo de color rosa: we also use this saying in specific situations that fill us with joy and good feelings about the future. For example, it’s common for everything to look pink when we fall in love or when we have something good on the horizon, like a trip we’re excited about or a new job. It’s when you feel like everything is going to turn out well even before it happens.

So what is the prensa rosa (pink press) all about? Do you think celebrity news is pink because it covers only happy events? In this case, the color pink comes from the second association we talked about: topics and products aimed at women. Despite the fact that in Spain, as in the rest of the world, men are increasingly willing to admit to flipping through prensa rosa or watching programas de corazón (TV shows that cover celebrity news or gossip), and more and more women do not identify with this type of media, the names haven’t changed because when they started, articles and shows about the rich and famous were made to entertain women.

The prensa rosa dates back to the mid-19th century, when the crónica de salones, as it was known then, began to find its way into newspapers and magazines. These articles were aimed especially at women, who were assumed to have no interest in politics or current events, and focused on the gatherings and celebrations of the aristocracy. However, they also attracted male readers because of their tendency to included veiled criticism: like today, the prensa rosa of the era also tended to poner verdes (talk badly about) certain people, with varying levels of discretion. And, as is true in many countries, in Spain sometimes it is that side (as opposed to the “pink” side) of things that readers find most entertaining.

Do you like learning new expressions? We recommend that you watch this video to see us explain different Spanish expressions with colors. You’ll learn something new, and you’ll see how your expectations about learning Spanish will start looking pink in no time!

Of all the colors, black is one of the most special.

It’s a color with its own personality, a color whose mere presence can carry a lot of meaning. In fact, in many Western cultures, black represents death and negative feelings. It’s the color most commonly used in funerals and times of mourning.

Black is actually the absence of other colors; in space it is the absence of light. It is the color of night and nothingness.

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That’s why when you hear a Spanish expression that mentions the color black, it’s usually not a good thing.

For example, one common saying is that a person me está poniendo negro (is making me turn black). If someone is making you turn black, it means they’re making you angry.

If you’re having a relaxed dinner at a restaurant and the people at the table next to you are speaking really loudly, or their kids are making a lot of noise, and you start getting more and more annoyed, te están poniendo negro (they’re making you turn black). Another thing that might make you turn black is if someone is constantly calling you on the phone about things you have no interest in.

So, now you know that if you’re angry or fed up with a situation, te estás poniendo negro.

But careful, if you spend a lot of time in the sun tanning, another way to say “to tan” is ponerse negro. The meaning of the expression changes depending on the context in which you use it.

There are other expressions with black, too: verlo todo negro (literally, to see something completely black) means to have a pessimistic outlook.

Since black is the color of nothingness, darkness, and the night, if a situation or an incident looks completely black to a person, it means they are not very hopeful that it will turn out well. In other words, they think something will turn out badly, even before it happens.

So if learning Spanish looks completely black to you, or if going to class makes you turn black, watch this video and learn some more Spanish expressions with colors:

Spanish speakers tend to use lots of sayings and colloquial expressions when we talk. To make matters more interesting, many of the expressions we use may not mean what you think.

For example, when we say something related to colors, the words we use often lack a clear connection with the ideas we want to communicate.

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Let’s get started. Do you know what the difference is between making someone turn green and saying that someone is very green (poner verde a alguien vs. alguien está muy verde)?

Generally speaking, we tend to associate green with things that are good, healthy, pretty, etc. Nature is full of green, and vegetables taste better the greener they are, to name just a few examples. However, oddly enough, the color also has negative connotations. Things that are green are often poisonous, such as snakes and lizards, which play nefarious roles in many stories.

In literature the color green is frequently used to indicate hope, but Federico García Lorca has also used it to symbolize death.

Since it’s difficult to know when green is good and when it’s not, we’ll give you a rundown of these two Spanish expressions so you can learn how to use them in the right context.

When we make someone turn green (ponemos verde a alguien), we’re not dressing them up in green clothes or painting them with green paint. Not even close! What we’re actually doing is criticizing the person; we’re bad-mouthing or speaking badly about them, usually when they’re not around.

The origins of this expression are unclear. The most popular explanation is that it has to do with bruises.

When someone is hit by something or someone, a bruise usually appears. The bruise is purple at first, but as the days go by, it begins to take on a greenish hue. This explains the metaphorical relationship between physically hitting someone and attacking them verbally.

So, if someone makes you turn green (si alguien te pone verde), it means they’re talking trash about you, usually behind your back.

On the other hand, saying that someone is very green (está muy verde) has nothing to do with making them turn green.

When a piece of fruit hasn’t fully ripened, it often stays green for awhile before taking on its final color. That’s why when we say that a person is still very green (está aún muy verde), it means that the person is immature or lacking experience in some area.

For example, let’s say a person starts a new job. The first few days, the person normally doesn’t know where things are, how things are done, what they have to do, etc. We would say that this person aun está muy verde.

If you want to master more Spanish expressions with colors, pay close attention to the following video and you’ll learn everything you need to know.

Like many languages, Spanish is full of common expressions that talk about colors. We’re going to start with our favorite color here at don Quijote: red. Here are a couple of expressions that you’re sure to come across in your day-to-day life in any Spanish-speaking country.

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We say something está al rojo vivo when it’s at its most interesting or highest point of tension. Let’s look at some examples:

• With the score tied and just 10 minutes to go, the game está al rojo vivo and the two teams are giving it their all to win the title.
• After the spokesperson’s harsh words, the debate se puso al rojo vivo and unleashed a flood of accusations.

As you can see, estar al rojo vivo can refer to something exciting (and therefore something positive, if we’re talking about a sporting event or a movie), or it can be used in a negative way to refer to a tense situation.

So, where does this expression come from? Like many sayings we use today, it harks back to something that’s been around for centuries: the work of a blacksmith. To forge iron and other metals, blacksmiths first need to get the metal red-hot (al rojo vivo) by putting it in the fire until it reaches a high temperature and becomes soft enough to shape. When this happens, as you may have seen for yourself at some point, the metal takes on that intense, glowing red color that the saying refers to.

Of course, we all know that you shouldn’t touch red-hot metal if you don’t want to get burned — that’s what this fiery expression refers to. In a similar way, you can also say that an issue or situation está que arde (is burning) or is candente (red-hot or white-hot).

Another common expression you’ll hear anywhere Spanish is spoken is ponerse rojo or ponerse colorado. We're not talking about what happens to your skin if you stay out in the Spanish sun too long; it’s used when someone is blushing, usually because they feel embarrassed. You can use it in a lot of different situations, from the most mortifying, like when you make a mistake or something happens that makes you wish the earth would swallow you, to moments that fill your heart with joy, such as someone you like giving you a compliment.

There’s another saying with a similar meaning that also uses colors: me han subido los colores. You can use this expression when someone scolds you for something you’ve done (or haven’t done, if your Spanish teacher is admonishing you for not having finished your homework) or when someone flatters you and makes you ponerte rojo (blush).

Now that you know the meaning of these expressions with the color red, would you like to see more Spanish sayings that use different colors? We made a video to help you learn them:

One of the "tricky" questions related to Spanish culture is about Spanish names; along with all of the history and tradition involved in Spanish name culture. Imagine you’ve just arrived in Spain; now, imagine you’re introduced to someone named "Pepe García Paredes." You might think his name, based on the order it comes in, is: first name, Pepe; middle name, García; last name, Paredes. But after a week or so in Spain, you will have discovered that García is not his middle name at all, but rather part of his last name. Then you might think, "ok, his name is Pepe and his last name is García-Paredes," (one of those curious hyphenated last names). But no, after another week or so you realize that they are actually two different last names: one is García and the other, Paredes. And then, to complicate things even further, after another week in Spain, you realize that his given name is actually not Pepe, but rather José.

So what on earth is going on here? And are Spanish names really so complicated? The answer, lucky, is no. And actually, once you see what's behind it all, it will be easy to understand the Spanish name system.

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Two Last Names?

Let's start with the matter of the two last names. Spaniards have two last names: the first is our father's first last name and the second is our mother's. In Spanish speaking countries, women don't lose their maiden names; they continue using them for all legal purposes even after they're married.

Does that mean Spaniards collect a bunch of different last names? No. The first last name is passed on from generation to generation but the second is lost. Take a look at a practical example: José García Paredes marries María López Garrido; they have a daughter named Rocío, whose last names would be García and López. When Rocío García López has a son with Ricardo Benítez Gomez, named Manuel, his full name is Manuel Benitez García, or Manolo to his friends.

Spanish Nicknames and Diminutives: Pepe, Paco, Lola…

That last example brings us to the question of Spanish nicknames and diminutives. It seems almost everyone in Spain has a nickname, or a “short for” name. The most well known nickname in Spanish is for people named José; the nickname is Pepe, which comes from the abbreviation of the old form of José: "Josepe."  Another strange case is the case of Paco, Curro and Pancho, which are all short for Francisco. When it comes to Paco the name supposedly comes from the abbreviation of "Pater Comunitatis," the title given to San Francisco de Asís, the founder of the Franciscan religious order. Curro may come from the abbreviation of Pacurro since "-urro" is a diminutive suffix that's rarely used anymore. Another diminutive that many people think is a proper name, is the legendary Lola. In reality, Lola is just a loving way to call someone named Dolores. From Dolores comes Loles and from Loles, Lola.

Some nicknames or diminutives are simply abbreviations of compound names in an attempt to make these solemn names a little more comfortable to use and lively. Chema, for example, is actually José María; Juancar is actually Juan Carlos; and Juanra is actually Juan Ramón. These kinds of nicknames are especially common with women's names. For example, Rosario becomes Charo; Chelo is Consuelo; Maite is for María Teresa; and María Isabel becomes Merichel.

Some of these nicknames are given for more childish reasons, or to make a very serious name sound more endearing for a child. For example, Goyo is the familiar name used for Gregorio and Chayo for the more serious name Rosario.

And Names that Seem Like Nicknames!

On the other hand, sometimes confusion can happen in reverse; and we may think a given name is actually a nickname. Take the names Paloma, Henar, Pino, Montaña and Pilar for example. These names have nothing to do with birds (paloma means dove), or a place where hay grows (henar is hayfield or meadow), or with an evergreen tree (pino means pine tree), a landform (montaña means mountain) or a structural support (pilar is pillar). They are simply names inspired by religion; namesakes to virgins and the places where they were found or they are used to tell these stories.

That may be enough for now, we wouldn't want to make things too confusing... But, we also want to tell you not to worry if Spanish names seem just a little too complicated! You can't imagine the number of Spaniards who for example, don't know that John and Jack can be the same person, or that their Russian friend called Pasha is actually named Pavel!