CHAPTER 10
Just for Fun
Sólo para diversión

¡CUIDADO!

Mistake to Avoid

In Spain and most of the world, “football” refers to what we call soccer. If you want to talk about the football played by the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys, that’s called American football (fútbol americano).

Sports—Deportes

Well, you’ve made it through nine chapters, learning the vocabulary you need to talk about what you have to do. Now you can finally learn how to talk about what you do to have fun!

If you like to play sports, here is the Spanish for the most common ones. For all of these, you can say Me gusta (I like) or No me gusta (I don’t like). You can also say Juego a (I play) and Miro (I watch).

English	Spanish
baseball	el béisbol
basketball	el baloncesto
football	el fútbol americano
golf	el golf
hockey	el hockey
rugby	el rugby
soccer	el fútbol
tennis	el tenis
volleyball	el voleibol, el balonvolea

For example:

English	Spanish
I like baseball.	Me gusta el béisbol.
I don't like tennis.	No me gusta el tenis.
I play soccer.	Juego al fútbol.

For a few sports you can’t use juego because you don’t play them. Instead, you use the verb for “doing” the sport. But you can still use Me gusta, No me gusta, and Miro. Here are some sports that you “use the action verb” instead of “play” as well as examples of Me gusta and Miro.

English	Spanish
boxing	el boxeo
skating	el patinaje
skiing	el esquí
wrestling	la lucha

For example:

English	Spanish
I box.	Yo boxeo.
I like skating.	Me gusta el patinaje.
I watch wrestling.	Miro la lucha.

Games—Juegos

For games, you can use the same verbs as for sports: Juego a, Me gusta, and No me gusta. Here are some games you might like to play with friends and family:

¿Cómo?—
Say What?

There are a few different variations on skiing and skating in both English and Spanish. In Spanish, water-skiing is el esquí acuático, while cross-country skiing is el esquí de fondo. Ice skating is el patinaje sobre hielo and roller skating is el patinaje sobre ruedas.

English	Spanish
board game	un juego de tablero
backgammon	el backgammon
checkers	las damas
chess	el ajedrez
Chinese checkers	las damas chinas
dominoes	el dominó
parcheesi	el parchís
card game	un juego de cartas/de naipes/de barajas
bridge	el bridge
gin rummy	el gin rummy
hearts	los corazones
poker	el póquer
rummy	el rummy
solitaire	el solitario

Here are some sample sentences:

English	Spanish
I play chess.	Juego al ajedrez.
I like dominoes.	Me gusta el dominó.
I don't like solitaire.	No me gusta el solitario.

Consejo
IMPORTANT TIP

In Spanish-speaking countries, there are two different decks of cards. The traditional cards you know and play with in the United States are known in Spanish as barajas francesas (French cards) and also there is a special deck of Spanish cards called naipes españoles that has different suits and drawings. The four suits in the traditional cards are called corazones (hearts), diamantes (diamonds), picas (spades), and tréboles (clubs). You already know all the numbers, but you might need help with the face cards: as (ace), sota (jack), reina (queen), and rey (king). And don’t forget the joker: ¡el comodín!

The suits in the Spanish cards are oros (gold pieces), espadas (swords), copas (cups), and bastos (clubs). They are very colorful and you can play games you’ve never even heard of before.

I Win!

Use the decoder to find a Spanish word to answer the riddle. What does this word mean? Add the numbers used in the answer and check the key!

Here are some other games you might enjoy:

English	Spanish
darts	los dardos
pinball machine	máquina del millón
ping pong	el tenis de mesa, el ping-pong
pool	el billar americano
videogame	un videojuego

What do you like to play? Make a list of the games you like the most using the blank spaces below.

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Gramática —
Additional Grammar

Talking about hunting and fishing is different than talking about most activities, which need the verb Hago (I do). For hunting and fishing, you use Voy (I go) instead: Voy de caza (I go hunting) and Voy de pesca (I go fishing).

Now compare the games you like with the games your friends like. To ask a friend what he or she likes, ask, ¿Qué te gusta?

Activities—Actividades

Here are some other kinds of outside activities that you might enjoy with your friends and family:

English	Spanish
biking	el ciclismo
fishing	la pesca
gardening	la jardinería
hiking	el excursionismo
hunting	la caza
jogging	el footing
running	correr
sailing	la navegación a vela
skateboarding	el monopatinaje
swimming	la natación

And some indoor activities:

English	Spanish
collecting	el coleccionismo
cooking	la cocina
jigsaw puzzle	el rompecabezas
juggling	el malabarismo
magic	la magia
reading	la lectura
writing	la escritura

Here are some sample sentences:

English	Spanish
I like cooking.	Me gusta la cocina.
I don't like juggling.	No me gusta el malabarismo.

TV and Movies—Televisión y películas

Watching movies and television can be fun, and they can also teach you all about people, places, and things. Here are some Spanish words relating to movies:

English	Spanish
movie	una película
movie theater	un cine
action movie	una película de acción
classic movie	una película clásica
comedy	una comedia
documentary	un documental
drama	un drama
horror movie	una película de terror
romance movie	una película romántica
romantic comedy	una comedia romántica

¿Cómo?—
Say What?

What do you like to collect? How about dolls (muñecas), stamps (sellos), rubber stamps (estampillas), coins (monedas), comic books (revistas cómics), marbles (canicas), or toy cars (coches de juguete)?

Diversión—Fun Stuff

Ask your parents if you can rent a Spanish movie and watch it together. This is a great way to see how much Spanish you’ve actually learned. When the movie is over, talk about what kind of movie it was, what you liked about it, and what you didn’t like about it.

¡CUIDADO!

Mistake to Avoid

Be careful—programa ends in a, but it’s masculine. For example: Es un nuevo programa means It’s a new program.

Here are some words to use when talking about television:

English	Spanish
television	la televisión
cartoon	unos dibujos animados
miniseries	una miniserie
sitcom	una comedia de situación
soap opera	una telenovela
TV show	un programa de televisión
TV station	una estación de televisión
TV network	una cadena de televisión

Music and Dance—Música y baile

Do you like music? Of course you do! But what kind of music do you like? Here are some words to help you chat about music:

English	Spanish
music	la música
blues	los blues
classical	la música clásica
country music	la música country
folk music	la música folklórica
heavy metal	el heavy metal
jazz	el jazz
rap	el rap
rock and roll	el rock and roll

With music, you can use Me gusta and No me gusta again. For example:

English	Spanish
I like classical music.	Me gusta la música clásica.
I don't like jazz.	No me gusta el jazz.

Or maybe you like to play music. Here are some instruments:

English	Spanish
drum	el tambor
flute	la flauta
guitar	la guitarra
piano	el piano
saxophone	el saxofón
trumpet	la trompeta
violin	el violín

To play an instrument, use Toco:

English	Spanish
I play the violin.	Toco el violín.
I play the flute.	Toco la flauta.

Do you like to dance? Here are some kinds of dance and some other words to use with them.

English	Spanish
dancing	el baile
ballet	el ballet
ballroom dancing	el baile de salón
hip hop	el hip hop
jazz	el jazz
modern	el baile moderno
tap dance	el claqué

Arts and Crafts—Arte y manualidades

If you’re the artistic type, you’ll probably find some of this vocabulary helpful.

Gramática —
Additional Grammar

Another verb you can use is Escucho (I listen to). Escucho el rap—I listen to rap (music). No escucho el rock and roll—I don’t listen to rock and roll. And if you sing, you need the verb cantar. To say “I sing,” say Canto.

Consejo
IMPORTANT TIP

There are many different types of music and dance from the Spanish-speaking world: tango from Argentina, flamenco from Spain, mambo and rumba from Cuba, merengue from the Dominican Republic, and mariachi from Mexico. Have you heard of any of these?

¿Cómo?—
Say What?

Art projects like knitting and needlepoint are done with yarn and string. In Spanish, both of these materials are called el hilo, but yarn can also be called el hilo de lana. If you need a needle, that’s una aguja.

English	Spanish
crocheting	hacer ganchillo
embroidery	el bordado
knitting	tejer
macrame	el macramé
needlepoint	el cañamazo
quilting	hacer edredones
sewing	coser
weaving	tejer
basketry	la cestería
collage	el collage
drawing	dibujar
painting	pintar
photography	la fotografía
pottery	la alfarería
rubber stamps	las estampillas de goma
sculpture	la escultura
scrapbook	el albúm de recortes
woodworking	la carpintería

If you could do whatever you wanted every day, would you just play the same game all the time, or would you play soccer on Monday and paint on Tuesday? Use the following spaces to write up your dream schedule—in Spanish, of course!