Peruvian Spanish

Spanish has five vowel sounds and they never change. Here is each one, the English habit that ruins it, and why the O is the hardest for English speakers.

B and V sound identical in Spanish, H is always silent, and C and G each have two pronunciations. The four consonant rules that cause most beginner errors.

The phrases that get you food, water, help and a bathroom in Peru, plus the one frame Peruvians actually use to ask for things.

The full set of Spanish subject pronouns, when to drop them, the tú and usted decision, and why vosotros is not used anywhere in Latin America.

Qué, cómo, cuándo, dónde, quién, cuál, cuánto, por qué and de quién — what each asks, why they all carry accents, and the qué versus cuál problem.

Tener means "to have", and it also covers hunger, age, cold, fear and obligation — all the places English uses "to be". The forms and the expressions.

Spanish only really uses ordinals up to ten. Past that it switches to ordinary numbers — including the century you are living in.

Why adiós is almost never used, what "ya, nos vemos" really means, and the long Peruvian goodbye that foreigners keep cutting short.

Botica versus farmacia, how to say where it hurts, and the phrases for asking for something without a prescription.

How to ask prices by the kilo, use "casera" the way Peruvians actually use it, and get served at a busy stall without hesitating.

The eight phrases that actually come up in a Lima taxi, including how fares get agreed before you get in and what to say when the price is too high.

Soles and céntimos, why nobody has change, how to say prices out loud, and the Spanish you need for paying by Yape or card.

What Peruvians actually say in the first two minutes, why "¿cómo estás?" is not really a question, and how to keep a short exchange going.

How to say what is happening right now in Spanish, how to build the gerund from each verb group, and why Spanish uses this tense far less than English does.

Poder plus an infinitive covers ability, possibility and permission — and ¿puede...? is how you ask a Peruvian stranger for anything.

How to build an adverb from an adjective, why bien is not bueno, and the short forms Peruvians use instead of the long ones.

The scale from siempre to nunca, the cada and todos los patterns, and the double negative nunca forces on you.

English what and which do not map onto qué and cuál. The split is definition against selection, and it decides one very common question.

Muy goes with adjectives and adverbs, mucho with nouns and verbs. Here is the one-second test, plus tengo mucho frío and me gusta mucho.

The little words tacked onto the end of a sentence to soften it or ask for agreement. What each one does in Lima, and which not to use yet.

The somebody-nobody pairs, when alguno shortens to algún, and why Spanish makes you say no twice.

In Peru -ito is about warmth, softening and politeness far more than size. Ahorita, un cafecito, un momentito — what they mean and when they sting.

How -ón, -azo and -ote work in Peru: -azo is the productive one, it means a great one or a blow with one, and -ón often insults the person.

Pata, causa, choche, amigo. Peru has several words for friend and picking the wrong one marks you out. What each carries, and who to say it to.

Ceviche, lomo saltado, ají, chicha, causa and the rest — what the words on a Peruvian menu mean and how to say them.

Where bargaining is normal and where it is rude, the four phrases that do the whole job, and how to walk away without offending anyone.

The phrases for getting help fast, the numbers to call, and how to report something lost or stolen without hunting for words.

Alpaca and acrylic, the words for weaving, silver and ceramics, and the questions that tell you what a craft piece actually is.

Four past forms for two verbs. Era describes and fue narrates; estaba is the state you were in and estuvo is a stretch that ended.

Estaba haciendo is how you say "was doing" — but Spanish reaches for it far less than English, because the imperfect already carries that meaning.

Iba already means "used to go". Solía ir adds emphasis, and estar acostumbrado a is a different thing entirely — here is which one you need.

Alguna vez asks whether you have ever done something; nunca and jamás answer no. Where each one goes, and when Spanish doubles the negative.

Ya is "already" or "right now", ya no is "not anymore", todavía is "still" and todavía no is "not yet". Four boxes, and what Peru does with ya.

Peruvians say voy a for real plans. The -ré future does most of its work guessing about the present — estará en casa means "he's probably home".

If it rains, we don't go. Si takes the present indicative — never the present subjunctive — and the other half can be a present, a future or a command.

De quién asks who something belongs to. Cuyo joins two ideas and agrees with the thing owned — but almost nobody says cuyo out loud.

Same noun, two endings, two different sentences. How -ito and -azo, -ón, -ote split the work in Peru, and why the system is not symmetrical.

In Peru "de repente" means maybe, not suddenly. One of the highest-value differences between Peruvian and textbook Spanish, and how to hear it correctly.

Balconies, patios, cloisters and sillar — the vocabulary for reading a Peruvian colonial street, and the verbs for talking about it.

"Pe" is a reduced form of "pues" and it ends a great many Peruvian sentences. What it does, why it barely translates, and why not to use it yet.

Usted is not archaic in Lima and not only for the elderly. Who gets which, how the switch happens, and the safe opening that works either way.

O sea, igual, la verdad, nada que ver, en todo caso. The markers that make speech sound spoken, what each one signals, and which to use first.

Había llegado — the past before the past. How it is built, the time words that pull it in, and the había sido you will hear in Peru.

The present perfect progressive is correct Spanish and mostly the wrong choice. Llevo tres años viviendo acá is what people actually say.

Estar in the future plus a gerund. Its second job — guessing about what is happening right now — is the one that comes up most in Peru.

When both object pronouns land in the same sentence, the person comes first and le turns into se. Why that happens, and where the pair goes.

Fue construida is real Spanish and mostly newspaper Spanish. In speech you get se construyó, or a bare they-form: me robaron.

Turning what someone said into dijo que: which tense moves back, what happens to hoy and mañana, and when Peruvians leave the present alone.

Hubiera hecho covers the past that never happened. In Peru it also quietly replaces habría, and stands alone to mean you should have.