Everything you need to know about Spanish Synonyms

Spanish synonyms are more than just another one of the Spanish Parts of Speech. -- They are a key ingredient to understanding the culture of Spanish speakers and to becoming a more versatile Spanish speaker.

Spanish Synonyms -- Introduction and Definition

At first glance, the topic of Spanish synonyms may not appear exciting --

after all, some people could say,: -- "If I already know how to say something in Spanish why on earth do I need to learn another way to say it?" -- Well, if you read on you'll find out there are a lot of advantages to putting some focus on synonyms. And that's what Spanish synonyms are by the way -- Different Spanish words that basically mean the same thing.

Advantages of Learning Synonyms

So why learn synonyms? Why take the time to be aware of synonyms? There are a lot of advantages to learning and understanding synonyms. Here is a list of a few good reasons to work on knowing synonyms:

Learn about Spanish Speaking People: Synonyms are a way of learning about the culture of the people who speak Spanish. How can this be? I've come to hold the opinion that you can learn about a culture and what matters to the people of that culture by knowing the words they use that have a lot of synonyms. When people have a lot of words for something, it's usually something they value, and talk about a lot.
Become a clear communicator: A good command of popular synonyms will allow you to quickly and easily re-phrase a statement. Re-phrasing a sentence is something you'll do when you need to clarify something for the people you talk to. Sometimes you'll tell someone something and they might just shrug their shoulders and say What?. Now is your change to quickly draw on your arsenal of synonyms and re-phrase your statement and keep the conversation flowing.
Proficiency Testing Success: Many students of Spanish plan on taking a Spanish Proficiency Test. If you're one of the people in this group you should be aware that Standardized Spanish Tests will test your comprehension by re-phrasing questions using different words that mean the same thing -- synonyms. Because of this, knowing the common synonyms will be very valuable to you for when you're in a testing situation.

Examples of Popular Synonyms

Here are a few examples of popular Spanish synonyms to get you started. Look at all the words Spanish has to say beautiful and express beauty: bonito, bello, guapo, lindo, hermoso. happy: feliz, contento, dichoso, alegre get: obtener, conseguir

Finding Synonyms in the Dictionary

In a Spanish/English dictionary you can easily find synonyms listed in a row after the English word. For example, when I look up the word beautiful in my Spanish/English dictionary it lists bello and hermoso. In my Larousse Spanish only dictionary I find that when I look up a word, the synonyms for that word are all separated by 2 vertical lines like this: bello||hermoso. So your mileage may vary depending on the dictionary you use and it's best to just take a moment and look at the notes and explanations at the front of the dictionary.

Conclusion