There are some things that you can say in Spanish that you simply can’t say in English. My first two examples are really just ways of speaking that are different, but the last two really have absolutely no English equivalent:
Andar:
Andar is by far the most versatile word in Nicaraguan Spanish. By itself, it just means “to walk,” but used in conjunction with other words, it can mean basically anything.
To say “I’m wearing a green shirt”, I could say “Uso camisa verde” or “Ando con camisa verde”.
To say “I’m looking for the beans”, I could say “Estoy buscando frijoles” or “Ando buscando frijoles”.
To say “I have the flu”, I could say “Tengo gripe” or “Ando con gripe”.
Out of curiosity, I occasionally replace random verbs with andar, and it frequently works. Sometimes people don’t know what I’m trying to say, so I have to rephrase it, but often they completely understand. Also sometimes other people replace a verb with andar for no apparent reason, and it takes me a couple seconds to figure out what they mean. I can't think of any English word that's as versatile as “andar”.
Don/Doña:
In English, adults are usually addressed as “Mr. Lastname” or “Mrs. Lastname”, and Spanish also has words for that, “Señor” and “Señora”. Here’s the thing: nobody uses them. Nobody. Instead, people use “Don Firstname” and “Doña Firstname”. That’s right, people use the first name, not the last name, and that’s what I mean when I day that “Don” and “Doña” don’t exist in English. Kids might occasionally call adults “Mr./Mrs. Firstname” in English, but it’s definitely not the norm. The use of the first name is also true for other titles; in my school I’m not “Profe Smith”, I’m “Profe Alex”. I’m sure that some people will say that addressing adults as “Mr./Mrs. Lastname” is a sign of respect, but that idea, like table manners, is just, like, you’re opinion, man.
Adios:
I'm sure that right now most of you are thinking “You’re kidding, right? Adios just means goodbye.” Wrong. Adios is also used as a greeting in Nicaragua, and it is essentially a way of acknowledging somebody while also indicating that you don’t have time to stop and talk, but in a polite way; and we definitely don’t have an equivalent word for that in English. It is incredibly useful, and I’m definitely going to miss it when I return to the US.
Me lavo las sandias:
This one's a little harder to explain, but stick with me, it'll make sense in a moment. “Lavo” here is from the verb “lavar”. “Lavar”, when used by itself, simply means “to wash”, but the way I used it, as “me lavo”, comes from the reflexive version of the verb, “lavarse”. Reflexive verbs are generally used to indicate that someone is doing the action to themselves. For example, to say “I wash the plates” in Spanish, I would say “Lavo los platos”, but to say “I wash my hands”, I would say “Me lavo las manos”. So when I say “Me lavo las sandias”, I’m not just saying “I wash the watermelons”, I’m also implying that the watermelons are a body part of mine (also, this can be done with any other object, there’s no real reason why I chose watermelons). Saying something like this is generally done as a joke, and it is a joke that simply cannot be said in English.
