Work in Latin America in Spanish

Quick Answer

¡Hola!Learn how to work in Latin America in this article and the lessons above! Specifically, learn how to do the following in Spanish:

• give advice

• use vocabulary related to jobs

• ask for advice

Vocabulary

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

Adjectives

Spanish	English
actual	current
factible	feasible
latinoamericano	Latin American
sólido	strong
valiente	brave

examples
Investigaría las perspectivas laborales actuales. I'd research current job prospects.
Yo que tú, establecería metas profesionales factibles. If I were you, I'd set feasible professional goals.
Disfrutaría de la riqueza cultural latinoamericana. I'd enjoy the richness of Latin American culture.

When many people think of Latin America, they often think of Mexico, Central America, and South America. However, it also includes the Caribbean Islands where they speak a Romance language, such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico!

You can learn more about the terms “Hispanic,” “Mexican,” “Latino,” and “Chicano” in this article.

Adverb

Spanish	English
constantemente	constantly

examples
Seguiría aprendiendo constantemente. I'd continue learning constantly.

Nouns

Spanish	English
la actitud	attitude
el aprendizaje	learning
el contacto	contact
la costumbre	custom
el crecimiento	growth
la diferencia	difference
el empleo	employment
el éxito	success
el fracaso	failure
la habilidad	skill
la ley	law
el mentor	mentor
el obstáculo	obstacle
la red	network
el riesgo	risk
la riqueza	richness
el sector	sector
la ventaja	benefit
el voluntariado	volunteer work

examples
¿Mantendrías una actitud positiva? Would you maintain a positive attitude?
Aprovecharía las oportunidades de aprendizaje. I'd take advantage of learning opportunities.
Deberías ampliar tus contactos locales. You should expand your local contacts.

Verbs

In this skill, you learn the following verbs!

Adaptar

Adaptar(to adapt) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	adaptaría	I would adapt
tú	adaptarías	you would adapt	informal singular you
vos	adaptarías	you would adapt	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	adaptaría	he, she would adapt
usted	adaptaría	you would adapt	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	adaptaríamos	we would adapt
vosotros, vosotras	adaptaríais	you would adapt	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	adaptarían	they would adapt
ustedes	adaptarían	you would adapt	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Ampliar

Ampliar(to expand) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	ampliaría	I would expand
tú	ampliarías	you would expand	informal singular you
vos	ampliarías	you would expand	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	ampliaría	he, she would expand
usted	ampliaría	you would expand	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	ampliaríamos	we would expand
vosotros, vosotras	ampliaríais	you would expand	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	ampliarían	they would expand
ustedes	ampliarían	you would expand	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Asumir

Asumir(to take [a risk]) is an -ir verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	asumiría	I would take
tú	asumirías	you would take	informal singular you
vos	asumirías	you would take	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	asumiría	he, she would take
usted	asumiría	you would take	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	asumiríamos	we would take
vosotros, vosotras	asumiríais	you would take	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	asumirían	they would take
ustedes	asumirían	you would take	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Atreverse

Atreverse(to dare) is an -er pronominal verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me atrevería	I would dare
tú	te atreverías	you would dare	informal singular you
vos	te atreverías	you would dare	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se atrevería	he, she would dare
usted	se atrevería	you would dare	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos atreveríamos	we would dare
vosotros, vosotras	os atreveríais	you would dare	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se atreverían	they would dare
ustedes	se atreverían	you would dare	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Establecer

Establecer(to establish) is an -er verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	establecería	I would establish
tú	establecerías	you would establish	informal singular you
vos	establecerías	you would establish	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	establecería	he, she would establish
usted	establecería	you would establish	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	estableceríamos	we would establish
vosotros, vosotras	estableceríais	you would establish	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	establecerían	they would establish
ustedes	establecerían	you would establish	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Familiarizarse

Familiarizarse(to familiarize oneself) is an -ar pronominal verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	me familiarizaría	I would familiarize myself
tú	te familiarizarías	you would familiarize yourself	informal singular you
vos	te familiarizarías	you would familiarize yourself	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	se familiarizaría	he, she would familiarize himself, herself
usted	se familiarizaría	you would familiarize yourself	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	nos familiarizaríamos	we would familiarize ourselves
vosotros, vosotras	os familiarizaríais	you would familiarize yourselves	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	se familiarizarían	they would familiarize themselves
ustedes	se familiarizarían	you would familiarize yourselves	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Investigar

Investigar(to research) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	investigaría	I would research
tú	investigarías	you would research	informal singular you
vos	investigarías	you would research	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	investigaría	he, she would research
usted	investigaría	you would research	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	investigaríamos	we would research
vosotros, vosotras	investigaríais	you would research	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	investigarían	they would research
ustedes	investigarían	you would research	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Mantener

Mantener(to maintain) is an -er verb that is irregular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	mantendría	I would maintain
tú	mantendrías	you would maintain	informal singular you
vos	mantendrías	you would maintain	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	mantendría	he, she would maintain
usted	mantendría	you would maintain	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	mantendríamos	we would maintain
vosotros, vosotras	mantendríais	you would maintain	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	mantendrían	they would maintain
ustedes	mantendrían	you would maintain	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Respetar

Respetar(to respect) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	respetaría	I would respect
tú	respetarías	you would respect	informal singular you
vos	respetarías	you would respect	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	respetaría	he, she would respect
usted	respetaría	you would respect	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	respetaríamos	we would respect
vosotros, vosotras	respetaríais	you would respect	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	respetarían	they would respect
ustedes	respetarían	you would respect	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Seguir

Seguir(to continue) is an -ir verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	seguiría	I would continue
tú	seguirías	you would continue	informal singular you
vos	seguirías	you would continue	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	seguiría	he, she would continue
usted	seguiría	you would continue	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	seguiríamos	we would continue
vosotros, vosotras	seguiríais	you would continue	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	seguirían	they would continue
ustedes	seguirían	you would continue	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Superar

Superar(to overcome) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	superaría	I would overcome
tú	superarías	you would overcome	informal singular you
vos	superarías	you would overcome	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	superaría	he, she would overcome
usted	superaría	you would overcome	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	superaríamos	we would overcome
vosotros, vosotras	superaríais	you would overcome	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	superarían	they would overcome
ustedes	superarían	you would overcome	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Temer

Temer(to be afraid of) is an -er verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	temería	I would be afraid of
tú	temerías	you would be afraid of	informal singular you
vos	temerías	you would be afraid of	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	temería	he, she would be afraid of
usted	temería	you would be afraid of	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	temeríamos	we would be afraid of
vosotros, vosotras	temeríais	you would be afraid of	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	temerían	they would be afraid of
ustedes	temerían	you would be afraid of	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

Triunfar

Triunfar(to succeed) is an -ar verb that is regular in the conditional.

Pronoun(s)	Conjugation	Translation	Notes
yo	triunfaría	I would succeed
tú	triunfarías	you would succeed	informal singular you
vos	triunfarías	you would succeed	informal singular you (in parts of Latin America)
él, ella	triunfaría	he, she would succeed
usted	triunfaría	you would succeed	formal singular you
nosotros, nosotras	triunfaríamos	we would succeed
vosotros, vosotras	triunfaríais	you would succeed	informal plural you (in Spain)
ellos, ellas	triunfarían	they would succeed
ustedes	triunfarían	you would succeed	plural you (in Latin America), formal plural you (in Spain)

The Simple Conditional

The conditional tense in Spanish el condicionalo el pospretéritois used to talk about hypothetical situations and probabilities as well as to make polite requests.

In the Spanish conditional tense, both regular and irregular verbs use the same set of endings, and any stems that are irregular in the simple future are also irregular in the conditional.

Regular Conditional Forms

To form the conditional tense with regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs, simply add the conditional endings to the end of the infinitive:

Spanish Conditional Endings

Subject	Conditional Ending
yo	-ía
tú, vos	-ías
usted, él, ella	-ía
nosotros	-íamos
vosotros	-íais
ustedes, ellos, ellas	-ían

Do these verb endings look familiar? They should! They’re the same as the imperfect tense endings for -er and -ir verbs.

Irregular Conditionals

As we stated before, any stems that are irregular in the simple future are also irregular in the conditional. The irregular stems in the conditional are:

Infinitive	Conditional Stem
caber	cabr-
decir	dir-
haber	habr-
hacer	har-
mantener	mantendr-
poder	podr-
poner	pondr-
querer	querr-
saber	sabr-
salir	saldr-
tener	tendr-
valer	valdr-
venir	vendr-

For example:

examples
Podrías investigar las costumbres locales. You could research local customs.
Haría voluntariado para aprender más. I'd do volunteer work in order to learn more.

Conditional Markers

Just like in English, there are words and phrases that let us know that we need to conjugate our verbs in the conditional tense. In these lessons, you learned the following conditional markers:

Spanish	English
Tú, en mi lugar	If you were in my place
Yo, en tu lugar	If I were in your place
Yo que tú	If I were you

Phrase

Here is a phrase used in these lessons!

Spanish	English
por cuenta propia	self-employed, on one’s own, freelance

examples
Deberías considerar el trabajo por cuenta propia. You should consider freelance work

If used as an adjective, por cuenta propia can be translated as self-employed or freelance. If used as an adverb, por cuenta propia can be translated as on one’s own.

Quiz Yourself!

Want more practice with the vocabulary you learned in these lessons? Click here!

Spanish Conversation

Fantastic! Let's put the grammar and vocab from above to the test in the following example of a conversation in Spanish.

Nydia:

¿Qué debería hacer para trabajar en América Latina?

What should I do to work in Latin America?

Jorge:

Deberías ampliar tus contactos locales. Yo que tú, establecería relaciones sólidas.

You should expand your local contacts. If I were you, I'd establish strong relationships.

Nydia:

¿Puedo usar el mismo currículum?

Can I use the same resume?

Jorge:

Yo, en tu lugar, adaptaría mi currículum. Adaptaría mis habilidades a la región.

If I were in your place, I'd adapt my resume. I'd adapt my skills to the region.

Nydia:

¿Cuándo debo buscar empleo?

When should I look for work?

Jorge:

Yo, en tu lugar, buscaría empleo antes de mudarme. Me familiarizaría con el mercado laboral, y buscaría empleo en sectores en crecimiento.

If I were in your place, I'd look for a job before moving. I'd familiarize myself with the job market, and I'd look for employment in growing sectors.

Want to learn more about how to work in Latin America in Spanish? Check out the following articles!

• Basic Spanish for Business Professionals

• “Trabajar” vs. “Funcionar" in Spanish

• Do a Job Interview