Día de los Muertos: Sharing a happy memory of loved one

💬 In Spanish, one is a tamal, not a "tamale". The English singular came from misreading the plural tamales.

💬 ¿De qué...? asks what something is made of or filled with. Swap in other foods: ¿De qué son los tacos? "What kind of tacos are they?"

🇲🇽 Families place the person's favourite foods on the ofrenda, so mentioning a dish like mole is a natural way to bring their tastes into the memory.

💬 sus can mean his, her, their or your (formal), and the context tells you which. It takes the plural form here only because favoritos is plural.

💬 Spanish puts a before a person who is on the receiving end of an action, so "who" here becomes a quién. That's why the answer starts with a: A mi abuelo.

💬 llevar a plus an activity means taking someone to do it. Swap in others: me llevaba a nadar "he used to take me swimming".

💬 a plus el always squeezes into al, as in al lago. The same happens with de el, which becomes del.

💬 padre normally means "father", but in Mexico ¡Qué padre! means "How cool!"

🇲🇽 This is very Mexican and very casual. It's warm and fine among friends, but people elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world may not use it.

💬 The -aban ending is for "they" or for you-all with ustedes, since Mexico doesn't use vosotros. Here it asks about you and your grandpa together.

💬 reír "to laugh" needs nos for "we", just as "I laugh" is me río. Leaving it out sounds off to native ears.

💬 todo el día is "all day" but todos los días is "every day", so watch the difference.

💬 encantar works backwards from English: the thing does the loving to you, literally "it delights me". For several things, the verb changes: me encantan las flores "I love the flowers".

💬 Small words like lo "it" attach to the end of a verb's base form: compartirlo. Same with verlo "to see it".

🇲🇽 Gracias a ti puts the stress on "you", meaning "No, thank YOU". It's the warm way to reply when someone thanks you first.

🇲🇽 Mexicans rarely leave abruptly. Bueno, ya me voy signals that you're starting to say goodbye, which can take a few more minutes.