I can’t think of a better time to send you this Spanish Beyond The Textbook tip.
American Independence Day falls on a Thursday this week, which makes it a good day to hacer puente.
Can you guess the meaning of hacer puente?
We don’t have an exact translation in English.
Words or expressions like this without a single translation are a lot of fun. My favorite is consuegro.
My dad and my wife’s dad are consuegros.
In English we need a whole phrase to express that idea. In Spanish you just say “mi consuegro” in English “my son’s father-in-law”.
Regresando al tema. (Back to the topic)
Hacer puente.
When I was teaching in the factories in Tijuana and a holiday fell on a Thursday I’d hear hacer puente constantly.
“Vamos a hacer puente.” (“We are going to make a bridge.”)
If you haven’t guessed the meaning yet, the bridge is an extra day off. Friday is the bridge to the weekend and that becomes a day off, too.
A holiday Thursday off becomes a 4-day weekend.
If the holiday falls on a Tuesday, then Monday becomes el puente and yupi (yippee) it’s a 4-day weekend.
Where do I find your lesson on reflexive verbs?
This is my most popular lesson on Spanish reflexive verbs:
http://www.synergyspanishsystems.com/blog/sample-video/
Hola Marcus:
Thank you for the vidos I realy like them. I have been working very slowly and have completed
Shortcut to Spanish. Please send me a link where I can SUBSCRIBE FOR SHORTCUT TO
SPANISH LEVEL(2) .
I am looking to hear from you,
Fannie stewart .
This is the page for Shortcut to Spanish level 2:
http://www.how-to-speak.com/orderguidel2
Saludos,
Marcus
In German we use exactly the same expression “Brückentag” (bridge day, hacer puente)
Saludos de Munich
thanks for the language that everyday people use when conversing with friends. We need to learn how to talk with everyday people not all the formality.. I enjoy the way that you share the learning and teaching experiences. The majority of us just want to know the phases and the most commonly used words. And I thank you for helping us with the correct usage of them. Wish that I could afford more of your teaching library. Thanks again for all of your hard work and consideration.
Marcus:
Thanks for your courses. I am feeling much more at ease with Spanish. I trying to read all I can and what you have taught me so far has been great. The audios go well with the grammar I am trying to learn from books.
I am studying Castellano Spanish at E.O.I Torreviaja which is spoken clearly and precisely and I find, like Urdu,Arabic,French &,Hindi it is a beautiful language and I agree with Señor Felipe Ordoñez de Rivera’s comment. Manejar is never used with driving but “conduci” with all it’s highly irregular tenses, is what we use.
Saludos desde Orihuela, donde hoy hace buen tiempo, y mi profesor esta haciendo puente:).
Why not associate this expression with the countries that use this regularly eg.con España o los Latino Americas. or other countries that also celebrate their independence day too. The world is our oyster and stretches beyond 4th of July !!
I do think Fabio’s “cuticles” is a lovely reply.
thanks.