La palabra del día: Auto

car 1245780 1280

Masculine noun. An auto is a reasoned judicial resolution that decides secondary, previous, incidental or execution issues, for which no sentence is required. In Argentina we also call it sentencia interlocutoria. E.g.: La autoridad designada conforme a lo dispuesto en el párrafo primero transmitirá el auto a la autoridad judicial competente según su Derecho interno: The authority named pursuant to the first subparagraph shall pass on the order to the judicial authority which is competent according to its national law.
Autos, a plural masculine noun, are the documents that collect the actions of a judicial procedure. E.g.: Por otro lado, consta en autos que la interviniente realiza casi el 5 % de sus ventas por correspondencia: In addition, it is apparent from the file that the intervener makes almost 5% of its sales by mail order. Constar en autos is a lexical combination, always together and without article.
By the way, an auto in Argentina is also a car, coche in Spain. dc

La palabra del día: Acta

the triumph of bacchus 1152424 1280

Feminine noun. An acta is a written record of what happened, treated or agreed in a meeting. The verb we use with this noun is always levantar, as we are in front of a lexical combination. E.g.: El presidente se encargará de levantar acta de las reuniones: The chairperson is responsible for the compilation in a report of an accurate summary record of the meetings.
Note that the singular determinate and indeterminate articles we use with acta are always the masculine el and un: El acta, un acta. This is because of the combination of two reasons: 1. acta is a feminine noun starting with a tónica (with the stress in the a); 2. In Spanish we do not have apostrophe. In the plural form the articles revert to the feminine form: las actas, unas actas. In amiga, we say la amiga because the stress is not in the first a but in the i.
Remember, acta is always a feminine noun, even with the masculine article in front of it. E.g.: El acta complementaria. As far as I know, in Spanish we have just one word which is masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural; arte: el arte español del Siglo de Oro, las Bellas Artes.
By the way, el acto, masculine noun, is a completely different thing. dc

La palabra del día: Emitir

global warming 2958988 1280 1

Verb. From the Latin emittere, to throw out. In Legal and Business Spanish, emitir means to produce and put into circulation paper money, titles or securities and treasury bills. E.g.: Los varios mercados de bonos emitieron anualmente más de un billón de dólares en nuevas emisiones: The various bond markets issued more than a trillion worth of new issues annually.
In media, emitir means to broadcast and if we speak about environment it can mean to emit.
The noun is la emisión. dc

La palabra del día: Bono

blur 1853262 1280 1

Masculine noun. In Business Spanish a bono is a fixed income security issued by a private company or by a public institution. E.g.: Sin consolidar en lo que se refiere a la participación en la emisión de bonos del Tesoro: Unbound for participation in issuance of treasury bonds.
We have different kind of bonos: bonos cupón cero (zero coupon bond), bonos a tasa de interés fija o flotante (floating or fixed rate bond), bonos amortizables durante la vida del mismo / al vencimiento (bullet), bonos convertibles (convertible bond), bonos con opción de recompra (callable bond), bonos con opción de reventa (putable bond).
In Spain, if bonos are issued for a term longer than five years, they are called obligaciones negociables.
By the way, bono also means voucher and James Bond should be translated Santiago Bono. dc

La palabra del día: Abonar

money 1604921 1280

Verb. From the Latin ad bonum, towars the good, to make good. In Business Spanish it means to to give an amount of money as payment for something. The noun, rarely used, is el abono; we prefer el pago or la cancelación. E.g.: Los productores y ganaderos deben abonar el saldo de los costes de fabricación y entrega: Producers and animal keepers will pay the balance of the manufacturing and delivery costs.
Abono also means fertilizer or compost and abonar to fertilize. It makes sense, as it’s all about making good. dc


Spanish in the City® — Legal & Business Spanish courses for lawyers, bankers, civil servants, diplomats and executives.
© 2016–2025. All rights reserved. Spanish in The City® is the trading name of Daniel Cristiano, registered with HMRC as a sole trader in the UK.
add me
Whatsapp
Reddit
Online Spanish Courses for Lawyers, Business People and Civil Servants
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to this website or displaying embedded content from other websites.