Spanish media vocabulary: el titular, el telediario, and how to read the news
El DiarioTap a headline
Word by word
El Gobiernothe governmentapruebaapprovesla nuevathe newleylawde viviendaof housing
el goh-BYEHR-noh ah-PRWEH-bah lah NWEH-bah LEY deh bee-BYEN-dah · “The government approves the new housing law”Why:Headlines use the present tense (aprueba) for news that has just happened. Gobierno takes a capital when it means the national government.
Short answer: the news is las noticias; a headline is el titular; the TV news is el telediario (in Spain) or el noticiero (in Latin America). Spanish headlines use the present tense and drop small words: Detenidos tres sospechosos. To report without vouching for a fact, journalists use según (according to), al parecer (apparently) and the conditional: habría huido means “has reportedly fled”. On social media you publicas, compartes and sigues.
The parts of a news article
Antetítulo, titular, entradilla, cuerpo
Read the top three lines first. The entradilla (lead paragraph) answers who, what, when and where; the body adds detail.
Reporting what you can’t confirm
Según, al parecer, habría huido
News Spanish has fixed ways to say “this is what others claim”. The most striking is the conditional of rumour: the conditional tense (the “would” form, habría, estaría) used to mean “reportedly”.
seh-GOON FWEN-tes oh-fee-THYAH-les, AY dohs eh-REE-dohs · “According to official sources, two people are injured.”Why:según comes straight before the source, with no de.
al parecer · apparently
Al parecer,apparentlyel acuerdothe agreementestáiscerca.close
al pah-reh-THEHR, el ah-KWEHR-doh es-TAH THEHR-kah · “The deal is apparently close.”Why:al parecer flags information the paper hasn’t confirmed itself.
habría + participle · has reportedly…
El sospechosothe suspecthabríawould-havehuidofleda Francia.to France
el sos-peh-CHOH-soh ah-BREE-ah oo-EE-doh ah FRAN-thyah · “The suspect has reportedly fled to France.”Why:The conditional perfect (habría + participle) reports a past event without confirming it.
afirmar · negar · to state · to deny
El ministrothe ministernegódeniedlas acusaciones.the accusations
el mee-NEES-troh neh-GOH lahs ah-koo-sah-THYOH-nes · “The minister denied the accusations.”Why:Reporting verbs set the tone: decir (say) is neutral, afirmar (state) is firm, negar (deny) rejects.
Words for each medium
La tele, la radio, la prensa
La teleTelevision
La radioRadio
La prensaThe press
Social media verbs, present and past
Publicar, compartir, seguir
The preterite is the Spanish past tense for a finished action (“I posted”). Tap a row to hear both forms.
Verb
Meaning
I do it
I did it
publicarpoo-blee-KAR
to post, publish
publico
publiqué
compartirkom-par-TEER
to share
comparto
compartí
seguirseh-GEER
to follow
sigo
seguí
subirsoo-BEER
to upload
subo
subí
dar likedar LAIK
to like
doy like
di like
comentarkoh-men-TAR
to comment
comento
comenté
El vídeothe videose hizobecameviralviralenindos horas.two hours
el BEE-deh-oh seh EE-thoh bee-RAL en dohs OH-rahs · “The video went viral in two hours.”Why:hacerse viral = to go viral; se hizo is its preterite. Spain says el vídeo (stress on i), Latin America el video.