Learners of Spanish often find certain words challenging to use. Here are a dozen of them that begin with D.

dar: The dictionary definition of dar is "to give," but dar is frequently used in phrases or idioms whose meanings may be only loosely connected with the idea of giving. Examples include dar luz as meaning "to give birth" and dar golpes meaning "to hit." Dar is highly irregular.

de:De is the name of the letter d.


The important thing to remember about pronouncing the d is that, like most Spanish consonants, it is softer or less explosive than in English. In fact, the d is so soft that between vowels it is pronounced much like the "th" in "this" or "that."

de:De is also one of the most common prepositions in Spanish. Most of the time, you can translate de as "of" and make sense of it, even though that translation might be cumbersome. For example, while the natural way of translating "el coche de Patricia" is "Patricia's car," you could figure out its meaning from "the car of Patricia." De also is frequently translated as "from" (el hombre de Guatemala is "the man from Guatemala") or used with a noun to describe the qualities of another noun (a tigre de papel is a "paper tiger").

decepción: A decepción is a disappointment rather than a deception. Era una decepción la mala calidad de audio. (The poor audio quality was a disappointment.) Similarly, something disappointing is decepcionante, and decepcionar is "to disappoint."

decir: The use of decir, which normally means "to say," is usually straightforward. However, it is conjugated quite irregularly.

dejar:Dejar often carries the idea of leaving something or someone somewhere, but not the idea of leaving or exiting a place. So "dejaron sus coches en la calle" would be a way to say "they left their cars in the street." To leave a place, use salir. Dejar also can be used for "to allow": No me dejaban comer. (They didn't let me eat.)

del:Del is one of Spanish's very few contractions. It's short for de el (usually meaning "of the" or "from the"). So "Soy del valle" would be the way to say "I'm from the valley." The contraction is not used when the El is capitalized, so the way to say "I am from El Salvador" would be "Soy de El Salvador."

derecho: As an adverb, derecho usually means "directly" or "straight ahead," while as an adjective it can mean "right" (the opposite of left) or "straight." And as a noun it means "right" in the sense of an entitlement but never as a direction. For a direction, use the feminine noun derecha.

• Corrieron derecho hacia la playa. (They ran directly to the beach. Here derecho is an adverb.)
• Tengo dolor en el brazo derecho. (I have pain in my right arm. Here derecho is an adjective.)
• El cuadro no está derecho. (The painting isn't straight. Here derecho is an adjective.)
• Porque somos humanos, tenemos derechos. (Because we are human, we have rights. Here derechos is a noun.)
• Giraron a la derecha. (They turned to the right.)

desde: Like de, desde is often translated as "from," but it very seldom can substitute for de. When meaning "from," desde suggests motion from a starting point. So you might say "Voy desde mi casa a la escuela" for "I am going from my home to the school." Desde can also be used to indicate when something began. For example "Habla desde hace dos horas" would mean "He has been talking since two hours ago."

desgracia:Desgracia usually refers to bad luck or some other misfortune. It doesn't connote something disgraceful. He tenido la desgracia de comer en ese restaurante. (I had the misfortune of eating in that restaurant.)

dónde: In questions, dónde is used to ask where something is, but a dónde is used to ask where someone or something is going. So "¿Dónde está tu oficina?" is used to ask "Where is your office?" But "¿A dónde vas?" would be used to ask "Where are you going?" Another way to think of this is that if you can use "to where" instead of just "where," use a dónde. Similar distinctions can be made between donde and a donde, which are used in statements rather than questions.

dudar:Dudar is the equivalent of "to doubt." When followed by que and another verb, that second verb is in the subjunctive mood: Dudo que estudies. (I doubt you are studying.) But when dudar is used in a negative form, such as when preceded by no or nunca, it is usually followed by the indicative: No dudo que estudias. (I don't doubt you are studying.)