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Add Depth To Your Spanish Vocabulary With These
Easy-To-Learn Helpful Spanish Phrases All About Marriage

By Peter Christian

(c) Peter Christian - All Rights reserved
http://www.streetwisespanish.com

Unlike most of the West, many couples in Spain and Latin America will choose to marry rather than living together, and church weddings are still commonplace. Christianity continues to be a major part of the culture, and with two of my best friends from Argentina soon to tie the knot, now is a good moment to share a few helpful Spanish phrases concerning weddings.

Happy couples who've just shared their happy news to marry could well be on the receiving end of a popular Spanish joke:

¡Vas a cometer el error más grande en tu vida! - You're going to make the biggest mistake of your life!

There's a common Spanish saying that someone may use if they don't believe the couple in question are well suited:

Antes te cases, mira lo que haces - Before marrying, watch what you're doing

I'm sure the coupler concerned would rather hear something a little bit more encouraging!

The Spanish phrase for a wedding is: una boda, and there are two phrases commonly used for marriage: el matrimonio and el casamiento.

Los novios is the word for the bride and groom, la novia is the bride and el novio is the groom. A bridesmaid is: una dama de honor, el padrino is the best man, two more simple, helpful Spanish phrases to add to your ever growing vocab.

Of course, the perfect couple - la pareja perfecta - will need to exchange rings - los anillos de la boda - as a symbol of their unending love. One tradition you'll probably come across at weddings throughout the Hispanic world is the groom handing over thirteen gold coins - los trece monedas de oro - to the bride.

The gold coins are referred to as: arras and are a sign of the grooms complete confidence in his bride, signifying his support for her. The thirteen gold coins are symbolic of Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles. Once los votos - the vows - have been taken, the bride will be handed los monedas de oro.

The end of the ceremony is quite different, and you may get a small surprise when the bride and groom are leaving the church. Instead of being greeted with confetti, they are greeted with the bangs and smoke of petardos - firecrackers - making for a somewhat noisier affair!

There's a little change in Spanish because you're married with your partner instead of to, as we say in English. Así:

Estoy casada con Juan - I'm married to Juan - Miguel está casado con Cleo - Miguel is married to Cleo.

What may cause confusion to arise is the usage of both ser and estar in the first person when a person states "I am married" as it is subject to whether or not an individual thinks people are married at present or permanently.

That's a small selection of helpful Spanish phrases about marriage that are nice and easy to learn. Play around with them and enjoy making them a part of your Spanish vocabulary!

Hasta ahora,

Peter Christian
 

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