¡Hola! 👋🏻
Bienvenido/a de vuelta a Master Spanish Weekly. Every Friday: one clear lesson, a song to train your ear, and a few things to keep Spanish present in your week. ¡Vamos! 🧠
This week at home!
⚽ Esta semana en casa
This week, my family and I have been watching La Copa del Mundo en español, and it's some of the best listening practice out there.
The commentators talk fast, but the same expressions keep coming up. If you're watching too, listen for these:
Centro al área → a cross into the box
Meter un gol → to score a goal · ¡Qué golazo metió! = What a stunning goal he scored!
Eso es amarilla → That's a yellow (card)
¡Qué partidazo estamos viendo! → What a great match we're watching!
El árbitro dio cinco minutos de descuento → The ref added five minutes of stoppage time
Notice golazo and partidazo. That -azo ending means "a big, impressive one."
🎧 Song of the week
🎧 Canción de la semana
"Cómo Dónde y Cuándo" de Shakira
I like this one because it is a return to her Latin rock roots. It's about leaving the past behind and looking ahead with the people you love.
Easy to sing along to once the chorus comes around.
🎵 Listen on Spotify: Cómo, Dónde y Cuándo de Shakira
The song is also on Vokally’s playlist. Give it a listen too:
Lesson of the week
📘 Lección de la semana: cómo usar LO QUE
Lo que means what, but not the what from questions. It's the what you use to talk about a thing, an idea, or a situation without naming it directly.
Here are a few of the ways you'll use it every day:
To talk about a thing or an idea: Lo que necesito es tiempo. → What I need is time.
To start an explanation: Lo que pasa es que no tengo tiempo. → The thing is, I don't have time.
With todo ("everything that"): Hago todo lo que puedo. → I do everything I can.
To point to a whole idea: Eso es lo que quiero. → That's what I want.
I put together a full guide with all of this. The four main uses, a table of expressions you'll hear constantly (lo que sea, por lo que veo, lo que importa es…), and a few prompts to try it yourself out loud.
Download it, print it, practice it.
Can you understand Fast Speech in Spanish? Here’s Carla (lead instructor at Vokally) with a quick practice of “lo que” on Instagram:
Let’s test your knowledge!
✏️ Mini Quiz
Choose the best answer.
"What I need is time."
(a) Qué necesito es tiempo. · (b) Lo que necesito es tiempo.
“Lo que pasa es que…” means:
(a) The thing is… · (b) What I want is… · (c) Everything that…
“Hago todo lo que puedo” means:
(a) I can do anything. · (b) I do everything I can. · (c) I do what I can sometimes.
Which one means "whatever you want"?
(a) Lo que sea · (b) Por lo que veo · (c) Lo que tú quieras
Lo que is the "what" you use…
(a) in questions · (b) to talk about a thing or idea inside a statement
¡Gracias por leer mi newsletter!
🙏 Gracias por leer
Gracias por estar aquí una semana más, por tu curiosidad y por dedicarle un poco de tu tiempo al español. Nos vemos el próximo viernes.
¡Un abrazo! Alejandro, Founder and Director @ Vokally
