Spanish Vocabulary for Plants and Animals
Some basic Spanish vocabulary as it relates to plants and animals can help you communicate your experiences as you enjoy the great outdoors. First, however, it’s helpful to understand that there are two Spanish expressions for going outdoors, and they have different meanings:
al aire libre (ahl ahee-reh lee-bvreh) (in the open air). This phrasing refers to going out to the street or a garden, or taking a walk. It implies a feeling of openness and liberty.
a la intemperie (ah lah een-tehm-peh-reeeh) (out of doors, exposed to the elements [Literally: in the unheated space]). This phrase implies that you are going to be without a roof nearby and, therefore, will be suffering or enjoying whatever weather you may find. It imparts a feeling of exposure and less safety.
Trees and Plants
Walking about and enjoying the trees and plants go hand-in-hand. Following are some phrases you may use to describe such experiences:
Ayer paseamos en la Alameda. (ah-yehr pah-seh-ah-mohs ehn lah ah-lah-meh-dah) (Yesterday we walked along the Poplar Grove.)
Hay robles y cipreses. (ahy roh-bvlehs ee see-preh-sehs) (There are oaks and cypresses.)
Esa palmera da dátiles. (eh-sah pahl-meh-rah dah dah-tee-lehs) (That palm [tree] yields dates.)
En Chile crecen muchos eucaliptus. (ehn chee-leh kreh-sehn moo-chohs ehoo-kah-leep-toos) (Many eucaluptus [trees] grow in Chile.)
Animals
You may not be familiar with all the animals that are common to Mexico and South and Central America. The first breed that comes to mind is the llama (yah-mah), along with its cousins: the huanaco (ooah-nah-ko) and alpaca (ahl-pah-ka). You find these gentle creatures, from the same family as camels, mostly in the region around the Andes — from Colombia to Chile. Llamas and alpacas are highly domesticated, but huanacos are more likely to run around in the wild.
Pumas (poo-mahs) are South American mountain lions. They are very serious-minded, meat-eating predators. They are beautiful to behold in the zoo, but keep out of their way in the mountains. And you can find snakes — poisonous and otherwise — monkeys, insects, and birds of all kinds in the rain forests of Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Mexico. The Galapagos Islands of Ecuador are famous for their unique fauna, first described by Charles Darwin, who actually conceived his theory of evolution while observing the turtles and birds that live there. Iguanas walk around freely in the south of Mexico — until someone puts them in the soup pot — and squirrels are everywhere.
These phrases get you started talking about animals while you observe them:
En el paseo ví muchas ardillas. (ehn ehl pah-seh-oh bvee moo-chahs ahr-dee-yahs) (During the walk, I saw many squirrels.)
Los tucanes están en la selva. (lohs too-kah-nehs ehs-tahn ehn lah sehl-bvah) (The toucans are in the jungle.)
En la playa vemos gaviotas. (ehn lah plah-yah bveh-mohs gah-bveeoh-tahs) (On the beach, we see seagulls.)
En el centro hay muchas palomas. (ehn ehl sehn-troh ahy moo-chahs pah-loh-mahs) (Downtown has many pigeons.)
Los gorriones se ven en las ciudades. (lohs goh-rreeoh-nehs seh bvehn ehn lash seeoo-dah-dehs) (The sparrows are seen in the cities.)
Voy a pasear los perros. (bvohy ah pah-seh-ahr lohs peh-rrohs) (I’m going to walk the dogs.)
Van a una carrera de caballos. (bvahn ah oo-nah kah-rreh-rah deh kah-bvah-yohs) (They’re going to a horse race.)
La burra de mi vecino tuvo un burrito. (lah bvoo-rrah deh mee bveh-see-noh too-bvoh oon bvoo-rree-toh) (My neighbor’s jenny [female donkey] had a little donkey.)
Hay mapaches en casi todo el continente americano. (ahy mah-pah-chehs ehn kah-see toh-doh ehl kohn-tee-nehn-teh ah-meh-ree-kah-noh) (Almost all of the American continents have raccoons.)

Spanish Glossary
adjective
A word that describes a noun or pronoun, giving it specific attributes or characteristics.

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adverb
A word used to modify a verb, adjective, or another adverb by expressing time, place, degree, and so on. Many Spanish adverbs end in -mente.

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bartering
Giving goods or services in return for other goods and services, as opposed to the exchange of money.

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cardinal number
Any number used in counting or showing how many.

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comparative
A form of an adjective or adverb which indicates that one thing has some feature to a greater or lesser extent than the thing it is being compared to. Example: slower, more believable.

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conditional
A verb tense that expresses an action that should have, could have, or would have happened if the conditions were right.

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conjugate
To give different forms of a verb according to voice, mood, tense, number, and person. A conjugated verb is a verb that has been changed from its infinitive form to a form that agrees with the subject.

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consonant
Any of the letters b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z; the double letters ch, ll, and rr may also be considered consonants in Spanish.

Spanish Glossary
customs
1. The government agency in charge of collecting taxes or duties imposed on imported and/or exported goods. 2. The common social acts and conventions of a particular area.

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declare
To inform customs officials of any goods you’re carrying that may be taxable.

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definite article
Any one of the words el, la, los, or las used as adjectives to point out a specific noun.

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demonstrative adjective
An adjective that indicates or points out this, that, these, or those people, places, or things to which a speaker is referring.

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demonstrative pronoun
Replaces a demonstrative adjective and its noun.

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diminutive
1. Small. 2. A word that has been altered with a suffix to indicate a degree of smallness, often ending with -ito or -ita.

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diphthong
A complex vowel sound made by gliding from one vowel sound to the next within the same syllable.

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direct object noun
A sentence element that answers the question, Whom or what is the subject acting upon? and may refer to people, places, things, or ideas.

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direct object pronoun
Replaces a direct object noun and agrees with it in number and gender.

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duty
A tax imposed on imports, exports, or manufactured goods.

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future
Verb tense indicating an action to come.

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gerund
A verb form that ends in -ing and works like a noun. Spanish gerunds are also derived from verbs.

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haggling
Negotiations between a seller and a buyer to come to an agreement upon the price of an item for sale. The vendor typically proposes a high price while the buyer suggests a significantly lower price, and, through bartering, the two typically meet somewhere in the middle.

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imperative
A verb mood that indicates a command or request.

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imperfect
Verb tense indicating a continuing, uncompleted, customary, or simultaneous past action.

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indefinite article
Any one of the words un, una, unos, or unas used as adjectives to point out some person, place, thing, or idea, but not a specific one.

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indirect object noun
Answers the question To or for whom is the subject doing something? and refers only to people or beloved pets.

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indirect object pronoun
Replaces an indirect object noun, but is also used when the indirect object noun is mentioned.

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infinitive
The unconjugated form of a verb — dormir (to sleep), for example.

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interrogative adverb
An adverb used to ask a question.

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interrogative pronoun
A word that replaces a noun and is used to ask a question.

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market
1. (noun) In Spanish cultures, a traditional market is where vendors gather to sell their goods. Markets may be open or under a roof, and they offer a less formal shopping environment than typical supermarkets or grocery stores. Prices are usually negotiable. 2. (verb) To advertise and sell an item.

Spanish Glossary
mood
1. A characteristic of a verb that indicates the manner in which the action occurs. 2. A characteristic of a person that indicates the overall emotional state of that person.

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ordinal number
A number used to indicate order in a particular series.

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past participle
A form of a verb that expresses a completed action or a time gone by.

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possessive adjective
A word that goes before the noun that’s possessed in order to express my, your, his, her, its, our, or their.

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possessive pronoun
A word that replaces a noun and its possessive adjective and indicates ownership.

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preposition
A word that connects nouns to nouns, verbs to verbs, or verbs to nouns/pronouns and shows their relationship to one another.

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prepositional pronoun
A pronoun that serves as the object of a preposition and always follows the preposition.

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preterit
Verb tense expressing a past action or state.

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pronoun
A word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence.

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reflexive pronoun
A pronoun used in conjunction with a reflexive verb to express that an action is performed by a subject on itself.

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reflexive verb
A verb that indicates that the sentence's subject is acting upon itself. Reflexive verbs require reflexive pronouns.

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stem-changing verb
A verb that requires an internal change in the vowel before the -ar, -er, or -ir infinitive ending in all the singular and third-person plural forms of certain tenses.

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subject pronoun
A pronoun used as a subject.

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subjunctive
A grammatical mood indicating uncertainty, desire, supposition, hypothetical and theoretical situations, or impersonal opinions.

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subordinate clause
A part of a sentence containing a subject and verb that can’t stand on its own but describes something in the larger sentence.

Spanish Glossary
suffix
Letters added to the end of a word that change its meaning, give it a different grammatical function, or form a new word.

Spanish Glossary
superlative
A form of an adjective or adverb which indicates that one thing has some feature to a greater degree than anything it is being compared to. Example: greatest, most honorable

Spanish Glossary
syllable
A word or part of a word pronounced with a single sound, usually consisting of a vowel and one or more consonants.

Spanish Glossary
tilde
A mark (~) used in Spanish over an n to indicate the ny sound.

Spanish Glossary
vowel
Any of the letters a, e, i, o, and u. The letter y is never a vowel in the Spanish language, unlike its use in English.