📖LearnModule 14 · Lesson 1 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, continuedUnit 1 · Los niveles de lengua
El coloquial, en todas partes
Module 14 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C2, continued), lesson 1 of 30: A dozen everyday words have a colloquial twin you will hear constantly and should not write. On this page: 10 words with their genders and respellings, the rule, a watch-out line and the audio — the study notes behind the workbook's QR.
The words
Spanish
English
Say it
la plata
the money (colloquial)
lah PLAH-tah
la peli
the movie (clipped)
lah PEH-lee
el profe
the teacher (clipped)
ehl PROH-feh
la compu
the computer (clipped)
lah KOHM-poo
la chamba
the job (colloquial, Mexico)
lah CHAHM-bah
el rollo
the hassle (colloquial, Spain)
ehl RROH-yoh
clasificar como coloquial
to file as colloquial
klah-see-fee-KAR KOH-moh koh-loh-KYAHL
el colega de oficina
the office colleague
ehl koh-LEH-gah deh oh-fee-SEE-nah
corriente en la lengua hablada
common in speech
koh-RRYEHN-teh ehn lah LEHN-gwah ah-BLAH-dah
el recorte
the clipping (of a word)
ehl rreh-KOHR-teh
Respellings follow the course’s say-it key; the stressed syllable is in capitals. Print this lesson’s flashcards (PDF) — the words on the front, the English and respelling on the back.
La regla · The rule
A dozen everyday words have a colloquial twin you will hear constantly and should not write. El dinero is la plata across Latin America; la película is la peli; el profesor is el profe; la computadora is la compu; and in Mexico el trabajo is la chamba.
Y también · And also
They are not slang exactly — a newspaper would avoid them, a colleague would not. Understand them, mark them in your head as coloquial, and keep writing the standard word. Many are clippings: the first two syllables and a vowel, the way Spanish shortens what it says often.
Ojo · Watch out
Understand them, never write them: la plata in a cover letter reads as a mistake, not as ease. And a clipping keeps the article of the full word — la peli because la película, el profe because el profesor.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 10 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with la plata.
Copy every word with its accents on paper; then cover the English column and write each meaning back from the Spanish.
Write two sentences of your own that get the watch-out line right, then the two practice pages of workbook lesson 1 in Module 14 are the written half of this page.
This free course is the reading half. The writing half — write-in lessons, daily practice pages with built-in review, self-checks and a full answer key — is the companion workbook series, The Spanish Ladder: one workbook per module, fifteen in all, released band by band with the Basic band (Modules 1–5) first.
Keep these words
Turn this lesson’s words into flashcards, then space your reviews — the two habits the research behind our study guides backs hardest.