transitive verb
1
hacer
what are you doing tonight?
¿qué haces esta noche?
that was a stupid thing to do!
I would never do a thing like that
yo nunca haría una cosa así;
what’s this doing on my chair?
¿qué hace esto en mi silla?;
I’ve got nothing to do
no tengo nada que hacer;
he does nothing but complain
no hace más que quejarse
there’s nothing to be done about it
«are you going to apologize to him?» — «I shall do nothing of the sort»
what’s to be done?
¿qué se puede hacer?;
what’s the weather doing?
¿qué tal tiempo hace?
to do sth again
volver a hacer algo;
hacer algo de nuevo
it will have to be done again
habrá que volver a hacerlo;
habrá que hacerlo de nuevo
what’s he ever done for me?
¿qué ha hecho él por mí?
she has done so much for this country
what can I do for you?
¿en qué puedo servirle?;
¿qué se le ofrece?;
(LAm)
could you do something for me?
¿me podrías hacer un favor?;
what are we going to do for money?
¿de dónde vamos a sacar dinero?
what does he do for a living?
that dress doesn’t do a lot for you
este vestido no te queda muy bien;
the new measures will do a lot for small businesses
las nuevas medidas serán de gran ayuda para las pequeñas empresas;
after the accident she couldn’t do much for herself
después del accidente casi no podía valerse por sí misma
Weaver is absolutely brilliant and she has done a lot for women with her strong part in the film
if you do anything to him I’ll kill you
si le haces algo te mato
what’s he done to his hair?
¿qué se ha hecho en el pelo?;
I could see what the stress was doing to him
era evidente cómo le estaba afectando el estrés
what are you doing to that poor cat?
what have you done with my slippers?
¿dónde has puesto mis zapatillas?
what am I going to do with you?
¿qué voy a hacer contigo?;
what are you doing with yourself these days?
¿qué haces ahora?;
what am I going to do with myself for the rest of the day?
¿qué puedo hacer el resto del día?;
she didn’t know what to do with herself once the children had left home
se encontró un poco perdida cuando sus hijos se fueron de casa
How to say in Spanish: Do you speak English?¿Cómo se dice en español: ´Do you speak English´?
[English in Bold]
¡Hola! Soy Romina Romaniello, tu profesora de español de Hola Spanish.
Hi! It’s Romina Romaniello, your Spanish teacher from Hola Spanish.
¡En menos de diez días me voy de vacaciones! Voy a pasar la Navidad con mi familia en Argentina y después continuaré mi viaje por Italia. ¡No veo las horas! Me muero de ganas de viajar.
In less than 10 days I’ll go away on holidays! I’ll spend Christmas with my family in Argentina. After that I’ll continue travelling to Italy. I can’t wait! I’m dying to travel.
¿Y tú? ¿Qué harás para las fiestas? ¿Tienes planes de viajar también?
What about you? What will you do for Christmas and New Year? Are you planning to travel too?
If you’re planning to travel to Spain or/and Latin-America but you don’t a word, DO NOT DESPAIR my amigos, we’re here coming to your rescue! In today’s lesson we’ll teach you how to ask people in Spanish if they know English.
Here are the phrases that you’ll be learning today:
Lo siento = I’m sorry
No hablo español = I don’t speak Spanish
porque soy de Australia / Irlanda / Canadá… = because I’m from Australia / Irland / Canada…
¿Hablas inglés? = Do you speak English?
When speaking to elderly people or someone that you’d show respect and speak in a formal and appropriate manner, you can use all these sentences except for the last one: ¿Hablas inglés?. But don’t worry, all you’ve to do to be polite is drop the ending -S in hablaS: ¿Habla inglés?
If you envision a future when you don’t have to rely on English for speaking with Latinos and Spanish people because YOU are FLUENT in Spanish, sign up to our Hola Spanish FREE lessons here ♥️♥️♥️♥️ you’ll get access to the 10 Most Useful Phrases in Spanish and more content that we only share via email. Get our free gift when you sing up: our free Spanish recipe ebook full of delicious food.
Before I say goodbye, be sure to be part of our Spanish learning Facebook community to get more tips, lessons and exercises where we run Spanish learning challenges and other activities to practice and learn Spanish. Join here.
I’ll see you next week on your Hola Tuesday lesson! ¡Adiós! ¡Hasta la próxima clase!
Related
I spoke before you did
you speak better than I do
tú hablas mejor que yo;
«did you fix the car?» — «I did»
—¿arreglaste el coche? —sí;
«I love it» — «so do I»
—me encanta —a mí también
«I hate liver» — «so do I»
neither do we
I don’t like sport and neither does he
no me gusta el deporte ni a él tampoco;
you didn’t see him but I did
tú no lo viste pero yo sí;
I told him he’d fail and he did
le dije que iba a suspender y suspendió;
he went for a walk as he often did
fue a dar un paseo como solía hacer;
she always says she’ll come but she never does
siempre dice que vendrá pero nunca viene;
«he borrowed the car» — «oh he did, did he?»
—pidió el coche prestado —¿ah sí? ¡no me digas!;
I like this colour, don’t you?
me gusta este color, ¿a ti no?;
«do you speak English?» — «yes, I do/no I don’t»
—¿habla usted inglés? —sí, hablo inglés/no, no hablo inglés;
«may I come in?» — «(please) do!»
—¿se puede pasar? —¡pasa (por favor)!;
«who made this mess?» — «I did»
—¿quién lo ha desordenado todo? —fui yo;
«shall I ring her again?» — «no, don’t!»
—¿la llamo otra vez? —¡no, no la llames!
How To Say Do You Speak English in Spanish
Even as you learn different Spanish phrases, there will be times where you either won’t know what to say or don’t understand the response from someone. It’s great that you are trying to have a conversation in Spanish, but when push comes to shove you may need to ask if the person you are speaking to knows English. Unlike America where most only know one language, foreign countries like Spain often teach both Spanish and English. In fact some of the locals may prefer speaking in English as it gives them a chance to practice their skills.
Do you speak English? – ¿Habla usted Inglés?
Don’t be afraid to ask someone if they know English. If they do you will save yourself a lot of time and headache when asking them questions such as getting directions to the nearest bar. However, do your best to learn some of the more popular Spanish phrases as if you get stuck in a place and can’t find any English speakers, you can still figure out where you need to go.
Examples Sentences
1. Do you speak English? – Hablas inglés?
2. I don’t understand, do you speak English? – No entiendo, hablas ingles?
3. Yes, I can speak English fluently. – Sí, puedo hablar inglés con fluidez
4. Can you tell me if he speaks English? – Puedes decirme si él habla inglés?
5. Is there anyone here who speaks English? – Hay alguien aquí que hable inglés
6. My friend is learning to speak English. – Mi amigo está aprendiendo a hablar Inglés
7. She is trying to teach herself how to speak English quickly – Ella intenta enseñarse a sí misma cómo hablar Inglés rápidamente
8. We need someone who speaks fluent english for this job position – Necesitamos a alguien que domine el Inglés para este puesto de trabajo
9. Are there any classes around here that teach how to speak english? Existen clases por aquí cercano para aprender a hablar Inglés?
10 Do you understand what I’m saying or do you speak English? – Entiendes lo que estoy diciendo o hablas inglés?
Situations on when to use the correct phrase of “Do you speak English”
There are a ways ways to ask someone if they speak English in Spanish. The most common and direct way is “Hablas inglés?” which translates exactly as “Do you speak English?”
A more polite options is “¿Entiendes el inglés?” or “Do you understand English?”
If someone does not appear to be fluent in Spanish, but may still have some knowledge of the language, you could try “¿Comprendes algo de inglés?”. This means “Do you understand some English?”
It can also be helpful to offer assistance by saying, “Puedo ayudarte con el inglés,” meaning “I can help with your understanding of the English language.” This shows that while they may not know much about speaking Spanish themselves, they would like to help however they can.
In siutations where you know someone is fluent on both languages it’s polite to ask ¿Prefieres hablar en Inglés o Español?, which translates to “Do you prefer speaking in English or Spanish?”.
In Spanish speaking countries the locals will often ask you Si quieres puedo hablarte en Inglés, meaning “If you want I can talk with you in English”.
