Finding the best surf spots: Asking locals where the best waves are

💬 The h in hoy is silent, as in every Spanish word: (oy).

💬 de plus el always merges into del: la playa del Faro, la escuela del pueblo "the village school".

💬 Spanish uses a for distance: está a diez minutos, está a dos kilómetros "it's two kilometres away". No word for 'away' is needed.

💬 buena ends in -a because it describes la playa, which is feminine. For a spot like el pico "the peak" you'd say bueno.

💬 Use por for general times of day. Swap in por la tarde "in the afternoon" or por la noche "at night".

💬 Parts of the day take por: por la mañana, por la tarde, por la noche "at night".

💬 más before a describing word makes 'more' or '-er': más grandes "bigger". pequeñas ends in -as to match las olas.

🇪🇸 In Spain la tarde runs well into the evening, often until eight or nine, so it covers more than the English 'afternoon'.

💬 Spanish says there 'is' wind rather than calling the weather windy: hay mucho viento. You can also say hace mucho viento, which works the same way as hace calor "it's hot".

💬 mejor means both 'better' and 'best'. With el or las in front it becomes 'best': las mejores olas "the best waves".

💬 Vale is the everyday "OK" in Spain, but it's much less common in Latin America, where people say bueno or está bien.

💬 ¿se puede...? plus a verb asks whether something is possible or allowed in general: ¿se puede aparcar aquí? "can you park here?".

💬 In most of Spain ll sounds like the English y: (a-YEE).

🇪🇸 Surf schools on Spain's northern coast, in places like Cantabria and Asturias, usually rent boards and wetsuits to non-students too, often by the hour.

💬 al lado de plus a place means 'next to': al lado del bar "next to the bar". Leave off de when it's already clear what you mean.

💬 que plus this verb form makes a wish: ¡que disfrutes! "enjoy!", ¡que te vaya bien! "hope it goes well!". disfrutes is the informal 'you' form, and the formal version is disfrute.