Surf in Costa Rica in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to surf in Costa Rica in Spanish in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• use the preterite and imperfect tenses together in a conversation

• describe a day at the beach

• talk about surfing

Vocabulary

Let's start off with the vocab words in these lessons!

Adjectives

Spanish	English
aventurero	adventurous
bravo	rough
caluroso	hot
fabuloso	fabulous
furioso	violent
musculoso	muscly
pacífico	pacific, peaceful
sociable	friendly
suficiente	enough

examples
En aquella época, él era muy aventurero. At that time, he was very adventurous.
Recuerdo que el océano estaba muy bravo. I remember that the ocean was really rough.

Adverbs

Spanish	English
claramente	clearly
extremadamente	extremely

examples
Claramente, ¡Costa Rica es un paraíso del surf! Clearly, Costa Rica is a surfing paradise!
Era un día extremadamente caluroso. It was an extremely hot day.

Nouns

Spanish	English
el aficionado	amateur
el apasionado	enthusiast
la bienvenida	welcome
la costa	coast
Costa Rica	Costa Rica
el océano	ocean
el paraíso	paradise
Playa Tamarindo	Tamarindo Beach
el, la profesional	professional
el, la surfista	surfer
el tiburón	shark

examples
Nosotros éramos aficionados. We were amateurs.
Nosotros éramos apasionados del surf. We were surfing enthusiasts.
Todos los surfistas nos dieron la bienvenida. All the surfers welcomed us.
Hicimos surf por toda la costa. We surfed along the entire coast.

Playa Tamarindo is often translated as Tamarindo Beach, but just what is a tamarindo? It's a tamarind, a tree which produces pods full of sticky pulp that is often used to make juices or sweets!

Noun Phrase

Spanish	English
la tabla de surf	surfboard

examples
¿Te caíste de la tabla de surf? Did you fall off the surfboard?

Prepositional Phrase

Spanish	English
en cuanto	as soon as

examples
En cuanto llegamos, nos pusimos a surfear. As soon as we arrived, we started surfing.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Surfear

Surfear(to surf) is an -ar verb that is regular in the preterite.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	surfeé	I surfed
tú	surfeaste	you surfed	informal singular you
vos	surfeaste	you surfed	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	surfeó	he, she surfed
usted	surfeó	you surfed	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	surfeamos	we surfed
vosotros, vosotras	surfeasteis	you surfed	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	surfearon	they surfed
ustedes	surfearon	you surfed	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Saber

Saber(to find out, to know) is a stem-changing verb in the preterite. That means that its "stem," sab, changes to sup in all forms.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	supe	I found out
tú	supiste	you found out	informal singular you
vos	supiste	you found out	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	supo	he, she found out
usted	supo	you found out	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	supimos	we found out
vosotros, vosotras	supisteis	you found out	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	supieron	they found out
ustedes	supieron	you found out	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Preterite vs. Imperfect

Many students have trouble knowing when to use the preterite tense or the imperfect tense, as they both refer to actions in the past.

The Preterite

Generally, the preterite is used for completed actions. These can be actions that can be viewed as single events, actions that were part of a chain of events, actions that were repeated a very specific number of times, or actions that specifically state the beginning and end of an action.

Useful Phrases that Trigger the Preterite

There are many helpful words and phrases that indicate specific time frames, therefore signaling that the preterite should be used. Here are a few:

al final

cuando tenía + number + años

después

en cuanto llegamos

primero

varias veces

The Imperfect

The imperfect tense is generally used for actions in the past that do not have a definite end. These can be actions that are not yet completed or refer to a time in general in the past.

It can also be used to talk about:

actions that were repeated habitually

actions that set the stage for another past tense event

time and dates

a person’s age in the past

characteristics

mental or physical states

Useful Phrases that Trigger the Imperfect

Here’s a helpful phrase that often signals that a verb should be used in the imperfect.

en aquella época

Preterite and Imperfect: Working Together

This pair of tenses is often used together to talk about an ongoing action or event that was interrupted in the past. In such case, the interrupted action is given in the imperfect tense, while the interrupting action is given in the preterite.