SS: Flexibility, Grammar Hacks and The Clearest Spanish Accent
Be a Language Acrobat, Ser vs Estar… with Locations That Trick You, Why “Le” Turns into “Se” & Which Country Speaks the “Clearest” Spanish?
SPANISH SUNDAYS
📚 Study Tip – Be a Language Acrobat
Sometimes you just can’t remember a word. Or maybe you’ve never learned it. But the beauty with language is that it doesn’t matter.
If you don’t know the exact word, describe it:
La cosa para cortar pan → The thing for cutting bread
(🔪 knife → un cuchillo)
OR: Swap to simpler words instead of digging for the perfect one.
If you forget the word “great → genial”
🔁 You can instead use: “increíble”, “maravilloso” or “bueno/a”
🧠 This can also work for sentences; if you are unsure exactly how to structure a sentence, just find another way to say it. To prove it, here are some of the ways to refer to your childhood:
Cuando era joven → When I was young
Cuando tenía __ años → When I was __ years old
En mi infancia → In my childhood
En mi juventud → In my youth
Remember: Your mission is to keep the conversation moving, not to deliver a textbook-perfect line. So focus on being flexible with your language.
📈 Beginner Tip – Ser vs Estar… with Locations That Trick You
Most people think “ser = permanent” and “estar = temporary”, but it’s not always the case…
For example, you use estar for all locations, even if they’re permanent.
✅ Madrid está en España. → Madrid is in Spain.
✅ La casa está en la esquina. → The house is on the corner.
The only exception? When you’re talking about where an event takes place:
✅ La boda es en la playa. → The wedding is on the beach. (event = ser)
✅ La fiesta es aquí/acá. → The party is here. (event = ser)
Aquí or acá are both ways to say here. I wrote a newsletter on this, read it here.
🚀 Advanced Tip – Why “Le” Turns into “Se”
This week is a hard one for you advanced folk… feel free to read this again once or twice more throughout the week to make it stick.
What I want you to take away is that:
Spanish doesn’t allow le/les + lo/la/los/las together. Instead, le/les changes to se to make it smoother.
For example
Le dedico la canción a mi mamá. → I dedicate the song to my mum.
Replace “la canción” with la
You would think it is:
❌ Le la dedico a mi mamá
🧠 But remember, “le” + “la” doesn’t go together, you need to replace “le” with “ se”:
✅ Se la dedico a mi mamá. → I dedicate it to my mum.
Here’s a plural example:
Les di los regalos a mis amigos → I gave the presents to my friends.
🧠 Replace “los regalos” with “los”
✅ Se los di a mis amigos. → I gave them to my friends.
It’s not a special meaning of se, it’s just grammar tidying up an awkward sound.
🌎 Around the Hispanic World – Which Country Speaks the “Clearest” Spanish?
There’s no official answer, but many learners say Colombian Spanish from Bogotá feels slow, clear, and easy to understand. Which is known as the rolo accent.
Why?
🗣️ Pronunciation is crisp without heavy regional slang.
👂 The rhythm is steady: not too fast, not many words are chopped or abbreviated.
🎙️ Certain schools in Colombia place a lot of focus on “neutral” Spanish for broadcasting.
Of course, “clear” is subjective, but this is definitely up there as one of the clearest.
So if you’re trying to hear some clear Spanish, a podcast from some “rolos” (people from Bogotá) is a good place to start.
My book is also coming very soon! Can’t wait for you guys to see it!