Common connection phrases & sentence starters

Question

I came across this great list of about 100 short little phrases to connect thoughts in a conversation. I tried to translate these into Spanish. Some I know are right, but I'm sure a bunch of these are idiomatic and aren't being properly handled by the translator. Is there a native speaker who wouldn't mind correcting these? If you just post the Spanish, I can go through and figure out where the mistakes were and re-post for others so they might be able to use this pretty easily.

Otherwise, maybe we can make this into a game of sorts…

Thanks!

español	english
me ocurrí que	now it occurs to me that
a propósito / por cierto / de paso	by the way
tengo un cuento interessante al respecto	I have an interesting story about it
y además de eso	and besides that
¡ay, casi olvido olvidé!	oh, I nearly forgot
y una cosa más	and one more thing
por otro lado	on the other hand
ella dijo algo como	she said something like
mi esposa indicó que	my wife pointed out that
ultimamente, escuché que	recently, I heard that
mi media naranja dijo dije	my better half said
para decir la verdad	to tell the truth
supongo que / presumo que	I presume that
espero que	I hope that
en mi opinión	in my opinion
si ese es la verdad	if that is true
no se exactamente	I don't know exactly
me gustaría pensar que	I would like to think that
la forma en que lo veo es que	the way I see it is that
como sabrás	as you may know
no tengo mucho interés en eso interesante en eso	I don't have a big interest in that
si entiendo correctamente	if I understand correctly
como ya sabes	as you already know
eso no es una problema grande	that isn't such a big problem
que es una cuestión de opinión	that is a matter of opinion
que yo sepa	as far as I know
tengo la impresión de que	I have the impression that
por lo general es cierto que / normalmente es cierto que	it is usually true that
nunca se sabe, pero	you never know, but
no he pensado en ello antes, pero	I haven't thought about it before, but
si no me equívoco	if I am not mistaken
no estoy seguro de	I am not certain whether
como otra gente	like every other man
tengo mi propio opinión al respecto, pero	I have my own opinion on it, but
no soy tal experto, pero	I am not such an expert, but
puedes decirme por favor	can you tell me please
si estás interesado en hablar de algo diferente	would you be interested in us talking about something else?
y que te parece / y que crees que	and what do you think?
gracias de todo corazón	thank you heartily
esa es una buena pregunta	that is a good question
esa es una pregunta muy difícil	that is such a difficult question
había una vez, hace mucho tiempo / érase una vez, hace mucho tiempo	once upon a time, long ago
para ser más precisos	to be more precise
y lo que es más	and what's more
mientras ya estoy hablando de él	while I am already talking about it
me gustaría enfatizar eso	I would like to emphasise that
debo explicar con más detalles	should I explain in greater detail?
me permites decir otra manera	allow me to say it another way
es decir	that is to say
sin embargo / no obstante	nevertheless
aunque	even though
que suena como	that sounds like
y eso es porque / y es por eso	and that is why
en otras palabras	in other words
para decirlo de otra manera	to say it another way
comprensiblemente	understandably
francamente	frankly speaking
entre tú y yo	between you and me
de todos modos	anyway
pues bien	well then
así, como una cuestión de hecho	well, as a matter of fact
¿cómo puedo decirlo?	how can I put it?
debo decir que	I must say that
primero / primeramente	firstly
en segundo lugar	secondly
quiero que sepas que	I would like you to know that
me temo que	I am afraid that
de vez en cuando me parece que	now and then it seems to me that
después de todo	after all
en lo que a mí se refiere	as far as I am concerned
más y más	more and more
realmente / en realidad / atualmente	actually
bromas aparte	all joking aside
ahora en serio	now seriously
eso es todo lo que hay que decir	that is all there is to say
eso es todo por ahora	that is all for now
para resumir	to sum up
y existe el problema	and there is the problem
Espero que sea sólo una cuestión de tiempo	I hope it is only a question of time
que aún está por verse	that remains to be seen
cien por ciento	one hundred percent
sin duda	without question
exactamente	exactly right
sin duda	most certainly
indudablemente	without doubt
en ningún caso	in no case
eso no es cierto en absoluto	that isn't true at all
eso es una exageración	that is an exaggeration
realmente no puedo creer que	I really can't believe that
en principio, eso es cierto, pero	in principle that is true, but
es cierto que es cierto, pero	admittedly that is true, but
esa es una manera de decirlo	that's one way to say it
sólo hasta un cierto punto	only up to a certain point
por cierto, ¿por qué no?	certainly, why not?
estoy de acuerdo	I agree
no te preocupes, pero	don't be upset, but
fue un desliz de la lengua	it was a slip of the tongue
lo dije por error	I said it by mistake
lamento que / lo siento que	I am sorry that

A vote for all the typing. Is there a link to where you found this list or was it in a book? - gringojrf, Jun 24, 2013

I think it was a link off of an article from www.fluentin3months.com, but I'm not sure. I was on a bunch of different sites today while studying. - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

Well, if it was online and you can find it again you can post the link. But then that will onlly give us the English won't it? You did a lot of work here. Thanks. - gringojrf, Jun 24, 2013

Yup, it was an excel spreadsheet with English and Dutch (maybe?). I'll try to find it again because it had phrases separated by section as well. - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

http://www.fluentin3months.com/conversational-connectors-how-to-fake-having-a-conversation-just-after-starting-to-learn-a-language/ - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

http://www.fluentin3months.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Fluency.xls - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

Answer 1

my better half said... would be "mi media naranja dijo"...not dije. Dije is 1st person and since you are talking about a third person you would need to use third person.

no tengo mucho interesante en eso...would be "no tengo mucho interés en eso".

Great list. I have bookmarked this. Thanks.

Give your better half a hug. We appreciate her input. - katydew, Jun 27, 2013

Oh, and of course, yours. ;o) - katydew, Jun 27, 2013

Answer 2

Hi YB...thank you for taking the time to do all this. I'm sorry, I didn't see it earlier. i totally agree with Esteban...we need to keep it alive.

I found this graphic here

This graphic comes from a very good website. I had not seen this website before. Trank you! - Esteban3304, Jun 26, 2013

My pleasure. - 0095ca4c, Jun 26, 2013

Answer 3

I would like to see this question kept current in the Q/A list. So could some interested SD users use at least one of the "common connection phrases" in sentences and post them here as answers? I would really like to see them used in sentences so that I would know better how to use them correctly. Keeping this question current in the Q/A list will also help our efforts to find errors and make corrections, because, hopefully, this very useful set of phrases may one day be added to the SD Reference Section by wbyoung once it has been proofread and completely corrected. I am trying to develop some mnemonics to memorize all the list. That is quite a challenge! I think knowing these phrases would be a boost to one's Spanish conversation skills!

Answer 4

Thanks, everyone, for the responses. I'll continue to update the list if more responses come in. I'd like to get all 99 confirmed at some point. We'll see if that happens!

Maybe you could add the final edited version (you could also change it later, I am sure) in the reference section of Spanish Dict. You might also want to toss the list in a spreadsheet and sort it, to make it easier to find a certain phrase. - Esteban3304, Jun 24, 2013

Great idea. I didn't know that anyone could add there, but I will when completed. - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

I am not sure about the rules regarding who can make additions to the reference section. Maybe a SD moderator could opine on this. I'd also put a blank line after every ten phrases. That would also make it easier to find specific phrases. - Esteban3304, Jun 24, 2013

I'll see what I can get to happen if it gets to the point where it's pretty solid, but right now it probably still has many mistakes. - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

It would be great to have a flashcard set here on SD with these! - katydew, Jun 24, 2013

Great idea (again, once we're more comfortable with the accuracy). - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

Answer 5

¡Eso es una lista maraveillosa! ¿Puedo añadir otras opciones por unas de las frases?

Nevertheless - No obstante

I presume (suppose) that - Supongo que

They've been added! - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

Answer 6

Thanks for posting these.

Answer 7

Hello, Wb...I will just offer corrections to some of these expressions. (It is not my intention to cover them all because there are too many and there are some I am not sure about):

a propósito / de paso You can say a propósito o por cierto to mean: by the way. I have not heard of de paso used in this way, I have looked up this word in a book of Spanish idioms and it gives 'de paso' to mean: on the way or at the same time.

¡ay, casi olvidé! oh, I nearly forgot ¡Ay, casi olvido! The present indicative tense is used after the word casi instead of the past.

y una coda más and one more thing Should be una cosa más

había una vez, Once upon a time (You can also say): = Érase una vez

hace mucho tiempo. A long time ago. This is correct

eso no es una problema grande The word problema is masculine so should be: eso no es gran problema

I hope this helps

Thanks… a few of those were silly mistakes on my end, a few are good corrections for me, and a few were just my computer's autocorrect being annoying. :) - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

Answer 8

Why is the first entry "now it occurs to me that" translated to "me ocurrí que"? Shouldn't it be "me ocurrió que" (third person instead of first person)?

A correction: actualmente (which I'm assuming you meant by 'atualmente') should never be used for "actually." It translates to "at this present moment." - involvelemons, Sep 30, 2014

Answer 9

This is a great list. I count 99 phrases! Besides correcting any mistakes, perhaps someone could point out the phrases in this list that trigger the subjunctive (if there are any).

Ok, I will attempt to use one of these phrases correctly in a sentence (using European Spanish). Here goes:

Y además de eso yo he lavado la vajilla cada noche por tres semanas!

And besides that, I have washed the dishes each night for three weeks!

:) - chellapadua, Jun 24, 2013

The last word in each of these three phrases in your list needs a tilde: (1) mientras ya estoy hablando de él (2) esa es una pregunta muy difícil (3) si no me equívoco - Esteban3304, Jun 24, 2013

Thanks, I fixed those. - wbyoung, Jun 24, 2013

Oops! I believe "no se exactamente" should probably be "no sé exactamente". - Esteban3304, Jun 24, 2013

The very first phrase is past tense in Spanish and present tense in English. Maybe we could change it to mean, "Today it occurred to me that" ... with the Spanish equivalent being "hoy me ocurrí que ". In the third phrase, "interesante" has only one "s". - Esteban3304, Jun 25, 2013

Answer 10

Wow. hiciste tu tarea. Gracias!