semana, noun:
week

Notice the use of the phrase entre semana meaning during the week.

los que salen entre semana
people who go out on weekdays

Sucedió un dia entre semana.
It happened on a weekday.

La semana is a case where the Spanish and English words bear no resemblance to each other. They don’t look alike because the English word comes from the Germanic side of English, whereas the Spanish word comes from the Late Latin septimana, week. The Latin word also gave birth to the word for week in the Romance languages: French la semaine, Italian la settimana, Portuguese a semana and Romanian săptămână.

agrado, noun:

liking

Some Spanish words only ever appear in particular phrases, where there is little variation. and agrado is one of them. In formal language, if something es de mi/tu/su etc agrado it means it is to my/your/his/etc liking. It is often used in the negative:

una situación que no es de su agrado
a situation that isn’t to his liking

Another very formal structure in which agrado is used is tener el agrado de hacer algo ... to have the great pleasure of, where the verb is to do with communicating:

Tenemos el agrado de comunicarle ...
We have the great pleasure of informing you that ...

amenazar, verb:

to threaten

Amenazar is the basic word for to threaten somebody. Remember to use the preposition a before the person being threatened:

Se dedican a amenazar a los vecinos.
They spend their time threatening the neighbors.

Notice the construction amenazar de muerte a alguien to threaten to kill somebody.

acusado de amenazar de muerte a su ex mujer
mujer accused of threatening to kill his ex wife

Sometimes a verb in Spanish uses a preposition you might not expect. If you threaten to do something, the phrase is amenazar con hacer algo:

Amenazaba con dimitir.
She was threatening to resign.

antiguamente, adverb:

once, formerly; in the old days

Antiguamente, the adverb from antiguo, has two different shades of meaning. On the one hand it can just refer to something which used to happen formerly, picking up on the meaning of former in antiguo:

un barrio donde antiguamente se alojaba una base militar
militar an area where there used to be a military base

On the other hand, antiguamente refers to the dim and distant past, in the old days.

Antiguamente era costumbre de los enamorados llevar al cuello algo que les recordara* al amante.
In the old days people in love used to wear something round their neck to remind them of their loved one.

Sometimes the two meanings coalesce:

como se decía antiguamente
as people used to say (in the good old days)

bajo, adjective, adverb:
soft, faint

In an earlier Word of the Day we saw that bajo refers to something which is low in height:

una silla muy baja
a very low chair

You also use it to describe sounds which are soft or faint:

su tono bajo y pausado
his soft, measured tone

Bajo can be used as an adverb with verbs to do with movement:

El avión volaba muy bajo.
The aircraft was flying very low.

and verbs to do with sounds:

Hablaba muy bajo.
He was talking very quietly or softly.

doblar, verb:

to fold; to bend; to turn

Doblar has several interconnected meanings. First, to fold something.

Doblé las sábanas y las guardé.
I folded the sheets and put them away.

When talking about bending your arms or knees, doblar also applies:

No podía doblar la rodilla por el dolor.
I couldn’t bend my knee for the pain.

A distantly related meaning is to turn from one direction to another:

Cuando llegues* al cruce, dobla a la derecha.
When you reach the junction, turn right.

Notice the phrase, doblar la esquina to turn a corner:

Al doblar la esquina de su casa vio el reloj.
When he turned the corner of his house he saw the clock.

edad, noun:
age

La edad covers two aspects. First, your or someone else’s age:

a mi edad
at my age

Tenemos la misma edad.
We’re the same age.

Notice the use of tener in the previous example. You also use tener and edad to say at what age people do or did something:

¿A qué edad empezó usted a navegar?
At what age did you start sailing?

Edad can also refer to a historical age:

en la Edad Media
in the Middle Ages

en la Edad de Oro
in the Golden Age (of Spanish Literature)

siempre, adverb:

always

You generally put the adverb siempre before the verb to which it refers.

Siempre llega tarde.
He always arrives late.

Siempre ha sido un trabajador nato.
He’s always been a born worker.

If something is forever, notice that you use para siempre.

Desapareció para siempre.
It disappeared forever.

arreglar, verb:

to do up; to sort out

Arreglar appeared in a recent Word of the Day in one of its key meanings, to fix:

¿Sabrás arreglarme la llave?
Could you fix the faucet for me?

When applied to houses, rooms and so forth, arreglar means to decorate, to do up:

Este verano hemos arreglado la cocina.
This summer we did up the kitchen.

When you use arreglar with the words la situación, el asunto, el problema, and la vida, it conveys the meaning to sort out:

Si tienes algún problema él te los arreglará en seguida.
If you have any problems he’ll sort them out for you straight away.

Va a ser muy complicado arreglar esta situación.
It’s going to be very complicated to sort out this situation.

cambiar, verb:

to change

You can use cambiar in several different ways, which broadly parallel how you use to change.

No has cambiado nada.
You haven’t changed at all.

Quiero cambiar este abrigo por uno más grande.
I’d like to change this overcoat for a bigger one.

Notice how you use de in these phrases:

Tenemos que cambiar de tren en Guadalajara.
We need to change trains in Guadalajra.

He cambiado de idea.
I’ve changed my mind.

caminar, verb:

to walk

We tend to use automobiles so much we might be in danger of forgetting one of humankind’s basic activities: caminar to walk.

Caminando por la calle yo te vi.
When I was walking down the street I saw you.

Caminando por la calle is the title of a flamenco-style song by the Spanish band The Gipsy Kings.

Hemos venido caminando.
We walked here.

From the idea of walking comes the idea of a less literal moving or heading towards:

El gobierno caminaba hacia la dictadura.
The government was heading or moving towards a dictatorship.

doble, noun:

twice as much

El doble is a very useful word when you want to make comparisons.

Comes el doble que yo.
You eat twice as much as I do.

Notice how you use que in the previous and the next examples, and how you use yo and tú

Trabaja el doble que tú.
He works twice as hard as you do.

But when you’re comparing nouns, you use de:

Su sueldo es el doble del mió.
His salary’s twice as much as mine.

esconder, verb:

to hide

Esconder is the basic word to talk about hiding something somewhere.

un tesoro escondido
hidden treasure

Escondió el trofeo debajo de su cama.
He hid the trophy under his bed.

To describe people hiding, you use the reflexive form, esconderse:

Un jefe no se esconde detrás de los demas.
A boss doesn’t hide behind other people.

ganar, verb:

to earn; to win

One of the basic meanings of ganar is to earn.

Gana menos que yo.
He earns less than me.

Gana un buen sueldo.
She earns a good salary.

Related to that meaning is the idea of winning something, such as un premio, a prize, un concurso, a competition, or una carrera, a race.

¿Quién ganó la carrera?
Who won the race?

inicio, noun:

beginning, start

Related to the verb iniciar to begin, is el inicio, beginning, start.

desde el inicio de 2006
since the beginning of 2006

Quite often it’s used in the plural, where English more naturally expresses the idea in the singular.

Lo han apoyado desde sus inicios.
They’ve supported it from the beginning.

You also often use inicio to talk about the beginning of a course of study:

Está previsto que finalice* a mediados de septiembre, a tiempo para el inicio del curso escolar.
It’s expected to finish in mid-September, in time for the beginning of the school year.