📖LearnModule 14 · Lesson 3 of 30Proficient User · CEFR C2, continuedUnit 1 · Los niveles de lengua
El español de las pantallas
Module 14 of the free Spanish course (CEFR C2, continued), lesson 3 of 30: Written informal Spanish has its own conventions. On this page: 9 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
jaja
haha (laughing)
HAH-hah
xq
because (texting)
EH-kees keh
tqm
love you lots (texting)
teh koo EH-meh
no sé
I do not know
noh SEH
la abreviatura
the abbreviation
lah ah-breh-byah-TOO-rah
el mensaje escrito
the written message
ehl mehn-SAH-heh ehs-KREE-toh
pertenecer al grupo
to belong to the group
pehr-teh-neh-SEHR ahl GROO-poh
relajado
relaxed
rreh-lah-HAH-doh
la pantalla
the screen
lah pahn-TAH-yah
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
Written informal Spanish has its own conventions. Abbreviations: q for que, xq for porque, tqm for te quiero mucho. Laughter is jaja, never haha. And the tú/usted decision is made by platform rather than by person.
Y también · And also
Read it comfortably and write it only where you actually belong. A message in perfect formal Spanish to a group of friends is as wrong a register as slang in a report.
Ojo · Watch out
jaja is laughter — haha does not exist in Spanish, since h is silent. xq reads as por qué or porque; tqm is te quiero mucho. None of it belongs in anything printed or formal.
Do it now — on paper
Say all 9 words aloud twice from the respelling, then once from the Spanish spelling alone — begin with jaja.
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 3 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.