Transcript Using a Spanish-English Dictionary

Using a SpanishEnglish Dictionary
All dictionaries are not created equal!

Do not look up a word and assume that
the first one that you find is the one
you’re trying to find.

Many words have more than one possible
equivalent in the other language,
including synonyms, varying registers,
and different parts of speech. Expressions
and set phrases can be elusive, because
you have to figure out which word to look
up.
You cannot trust the dictionary.

When you find the word you think you are
looking for in one side of the dictionary,
look up the word you found in the other
side to be sure it means what you think it
means.
It’s always a good idea to
cross-reference.
When looking up a verb, you need to look
up the infinitive form of the verb. (the –ar,
-er, or –ir, form of the verb.)
 Conjugated forms of the verb won’t be in
the dictionary. (Except in a separate
section where conjugations are listed out
all together.)
 So if you want to know what “necesito”
means, you need to look up “necesitar”.

Looking up verbs…

The abbreviation “tr.” after a verb means
that it is transitive, it can take a direct
object. (ej: to love something, to need
something)

“intr.” means that the verb cannot take a
direct object. (ej: to arrive, to sit, to die)
(You cannot arrive something).
Looking up verbs…

When looking up an adjective only one
form will be given which is almost always
the singular, masculine form of the word.

So remember if you want to know what
“Las chicas son altas” means, for the word
“altas” you need to look up “alto”.
Looking up adjectives…
Nouns will be given in their singular form.
 The abbreviation “s.” denotes that
something is a noun (noun =sustantivo).

“m.” denotes a masculine noun.
 “f.” denotes a feminine noun.
 Some nouns may be either masculine or
feminine, such as dentista and will have
“mf.”

Looking up nouns…

When you want to look up an expression,
there are two possibilities: you might find
it in the entry for the first word in the
expression, but more likely it will be listed
in the entry of the most important word in
the expression.

The important word is usually a noun or
verb - pick a few expressions and look up
the different words to get a feel for how
your dictionary tends to list them.
Looking up expressions…

Online translators can be helpful, but they
can’t be trusted. They tend to be very
literal and if there is more than one word
that means the same thing in a language,
they will most likely not know the
difference.

They usually do not know the difference
between “ser” and “estar” (to be) for one
example.
A note on translators…

Unless you know the language well
enough to fix the mistakes made by the
translator, you are taking a great risk
because your teacher will know that you
used one. (Trust me, we know!)

Using a translator in a language class is
considered plagiarism because it is NOT
your OWN work!
A further note on translators…

Go forth and test yourself.

Try to translate some things and see how
well you do.

Surprise your Spanish teacher!
Have some fun!
Some of the information in this
presentation came from here (the rest
was personal experience):
http://french.about.com/od/vocabulary/ss/
dictionaries_3.htm


Two good online dictionaries:
◦ Spanishdict.com
◦ Wordreference.com
Links