{"id":892,"date":"2026-08-23T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T09:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.realspanish.eu\/?p=892"},"modified":"2026-08-25T10:04:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T10:04:37","slug":"el-la-mar-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/el-la-mar-2\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cEl mar\u201d or \u201cla mar\u201d? Well, that depends!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #008485;\">\u201cEl mar\u201d or \u201cla mar\u201d? Well, that depends!<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong><span style=\"color: #008485;\">First of all:<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008485;\">This video is one of our \u201cTrocitos de Real Spanish\u201d (Little Bits of Real Spanish). A <em>trocito<\/em> is a small amount of something \u2014 usually something to eat, like a <em>trocito<\/em> of chocolate! This particular one is a preview of a full lesson from our ebook <em>Spanish for Perfectionists No. 1<\/em>. Below you'll also find a link to a free sample lesson from Spanish for Perfectionists No. 2.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Hi there! I'm Elizabeth from Real Spanish, and like you, I'm passionate about learning Spanish.<\/p>\n<p>After all these years of studying, I thought I'd pretty much figured out which nouns are masculine and which are feminine. What a surprise it was to discover that <em>el mar<\/em> and <em>la mar<\/em> both exist! Same word, two genders, and a nuance of difference between them that's worth knowing.<\/p>\n<p>The video below explains when to use <em>el mar<\/em> and when to use <em>la mar<\/em>, plus several really cool expressions with the word <em>mar<\/em> that native speakers use all the time. Heads up: a couple of them are a little vulgar!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008485;\"><strong>To view the video, click on the image.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1xXkoVjOHMM?si=azuLwOn4xaJPVgv2\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #008485;\">Transcript:<\/span><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Trocito-El-mar-transcription-2026-revised_1.pdf\">Download the PDF<\/a><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008485;\"><strong>Bonus: a poem, and a few more expressions<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><em>El mar. La mar.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>El mar. \u00a1S\u00f3lo la mar!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 me trajiste, padre,<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>a la ciudad?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Rafael Alberti, Marinero en Tierra (1924)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>(\u201cThe sea. The sea. The sea, only the sea! Father, why did you bring me to the city?\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>That's how one of Rafael Alberti's best-known poems opens (1902\u20131999, born in Puerto de Santa Mar\u00eda, C\u00e1diz). Notice he uses both genders: <em>el mar<\/em> of the city-dweller, and <em>la mar<\/em> of the sailor, who longs for the sea of his childhood. There's the nuance we talked about in the video, turned into poetry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008485;\"><strong>And while we're at it,\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>\u2026 a couple more details about <em>mar<\/em> that don't come up in the video: it's also used in the feminine when followed by an adjective describing its state, like <em>mar gruesa<\/em> (rough sea), <em>mar rizada<\/em> (choppy sea), or <em>mar llana<\/em> (calm sea). And in poetry and literature generally, <em>la mar<\/em> is preferred, because it sounds more expressive and emotive, as Alberti shows.<\/p>\n<p>A couple more expressions for your collection: <em>pelillos a la mar<\/em> is used to say we're making up after an argument \u2014 roughly \"let bygones be bygones.\" And if you hear about goods <em>de ultramar<\/em>, it means merchandise that's come from far away, from the other side of the sea \u2014 which is also where <em>ultramarinos<\/em> comes from, the traditional word for a grocery store.<\/p>\n<p>Here I actually had to check which preposition was correct: <em>sacar partido a<\/em> or <em>sacar partido de<\/em> (\"to make the most of\"). To my surprise, both are correct. I checked with a very authoritative source, and it occurred to me this might be a useful resource for some of you too: the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fundeu.es\/consulta\/sacar-el-maximo-partido-a-de\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fundaci\u00f3n del Espa\u00f1ol Urgente<\/a> (Fund\u00e9uRAE).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008485;\"><strong>Frequently asked questions<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>\u201cEl mar\u201d or \u201cla mar\u201d: which is correct?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Both are correct. <em>El mar<\/em> is the standard, more common form; <em>la mar<\/em> is used mainly among fishermen and sailors, and also in poetry and literature, because it sounds more expressive and emotive.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why does the word \"mar\" have both a masculine and a feminine form?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It comes from the Latin <em>mare<\/em>, which was neuter. As Spanish evolved, the word kept both forms, masculine and feminine, each with its own uses and contexts (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rae.es\/gram%C3%A1tica\/morfolog%C3%ADa\/sustantivos-ambiguos-en-cuanto-al-g%C3%A9nero\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to the RAE<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><strong>What does \"la mar de\" mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It's a colloquial way of saying \u201ca lot\u201d or \u201cvery.\u201d For example, <em>estamos la mar de contentos<\/em> means \"we're really happy.\"<\/p>\n<p><strong>What does \"\u00a1me cago en la mar!\" mean?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It's an expression of frustration or annoyance: a little vulgar, but quite mild, similar to \"bloody hell!\" in English.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008485;\">More questions? Drop us a comment below and we'll get back to you!<\/span><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008485;\"><strong>If you enjoyed this video and want to keep improving your Spanish, take a look below:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"91\" data-end=\"242\">We have more\u00a0<strong data-start=\"104\" data-end=\"116\">Trocitos<\/strong>\u00a0for when you don\u2019t have much time. Check out our\u00a0<strong data-start=\"166\" data-end=\"241\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@realspanish5535\/playlists\" data-start=\"168\" data-end=\"239\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube playlists<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"244\" data-end=\"635\">Do you have a couple of hours? You might also be interested in our new series of ebooks and videos, with complete lessons (transcript, vocabulary notes, grammar worksheet, and online activities) on many topics as interesting as this one. Perfect if you want to push yourself beyond intermediate level. You can get <strong data-start=\"494\" data-end=\"634\"><a href=\"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/spanish-for-perfectionists-leccion-de-muestra-y-guia-de-usuario-gratuitas\/\" data-start=\"496\" data-end=\"632\">a free sample lesson and User Guide<\/a><\/strong>. In the free guide you'll find some really useful learning strategies to help you get the most out of the video and lesson materials, and to become a better language learner overall.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"637\" data-end=\"838\">At Real Spanish, you can find other\u00a0<strong data-start=\"673\" data-end=\"736\"><a href=\"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/recursos-gratuitos\" data-start=\"675\" data-end=\"734\">free resources<\/a><\/strong>: videos, transcripts, vocabulary lists, and practice and testing activities. I hope to see you there!<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"840\" data-end=\"1158\">Already feel ready for something more challenging? You can try a couple of free lessons from our\u00a0<strong data-start=\"937\" data-end=\"1012\"><a href=\"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/cursos-espanol-online\/\" data-start=\"939\" data-end=\"1010\">online Spanish courses<\/a><\/strong>, which will take you a few steps further. They are based on clips from TV shows, documentaries, popular films, and radio drama. You\u2019ll be hooked!<\/p>\n<h3 data-section-id=\"1xwe6oj\" data-start=\"1160\" data-end=\"1353\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\"><span style=\"color: #008485;\"><strong data-start=\"1164\" data-end=\"1207\"><a style=\"color: #008485;\" href=\"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/\" data-start=\"1166\" data-end=\"1205\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Real Spanish<\/span><\/a><\/strong>: Online Spanish video lessons for intermediate-to-advanced learners who love the language and want to be able to use it fluently and confidently.<\/span><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cEl mar\u201d or \u201cla mar\u201d? Well, that depends! &nbsp; First of all: This video is one of our \u201cTrocitos de &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_vibebp_attr":"","_vibebp_dimensions":"","_vibebp_responsive_height":"","_vibebp_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[398,425,349,484],"tags":[574,577,578],"class_list":["post-892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spanish-grammar","category-spanish-expressions","category-hispanic-culture","category-trocitos-de-real-spanish-en","tag-aprender-espanol-online-en-2","tag-expresiones-interesantes-en","tag-lecciones-espanol-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11369,"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892\/revisions\/11369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/realspanish.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}