Beginner Spanish with Spanish Obsessed

Lis trades Bogotá's horns and smoke for coffee-country silence, misses only the cafés and libraries – and Rob teaches three ways to say ‘I miss’.

Karol G on, windows down, a police car waves Lis out – then ¡pum! Her Bogotá crash teaches chocar, estrellarse and some tenaz Colombian slang.

Seven months pregnant, two weeks of packing and forgotten passports: Lis tells the move from London to Bogotá in two past tenses.

Rob plays the dreaded interviewer, Lis tells her life story from law school in Bogotá to human rights cases, all in the indefinido.

Lis's grandparents rise before dawn, party after the harvest and eat panela sweets – and every time phrase points to the imperfect.

Lis remembers growing up in 90s Bogotá – bikes, football and her mum's tamales – and era and iba bring it all back.

Rob and Lis look back on London winters, long weekend walks and museum trips – and two little sounds, aba and ía, unlock the imperfect.

Married twice (to the same woman), Rob gossips with Lis about who's dating, single or divorced – and asks: soy or estoy casado?

Their daughter paints the curtains, Rob melts in 37-degree heat, and one little word turns it all into Spanish exclamations.

Lis danced all night; Rob barely spoke to the other guests. One odd Spanish phrase describes both their nights at the party.

Rob meets someone new and doesn't take to her at all. Lis thinks she's great. Who clicked with whom, in Spanish?

Rob "moves" to Cartagena in a role-play with Lis. Why is "I've been living here" so much simpler in Spanish?

Lis oversleeps, slips on a magazine and hits a huge trancón. The twist? She tells yesterday's disaster in the present tense.

A handmade mochila, a 250,000-peso price tag and a buyer hoping to pay 180,000. How low will Lis go?

Walk into a clothes shop in Colombia and two or three salespeople want to help. Here's what to say when they do.

Say, tell or talk? Rob untangles hablar, decir and contar, plus the little word that has Spanish speakers counting "until" ten.

Do you know Bogotá, or do you know where it is? Rob's yes-or-no test for choosing between saber and conocer.

Why "I love it" is really "it enchants me" in Spanish, and who has to go out for the eggs.

Spanish speakers ask this as soon as they meet you, and in English it sounds like poetry. Here's how to ask and answer it.

Why do Spanish speakers "have" reason instead of being right? Plus a hen, and money that turns into pasta.

Rob can't decide where to go in Colombia, so he asks Lis for advice, using a question that sounds odd in English.

Rob has a favourite Spanish verb. It means "to carry", so why is Lis "carrying eight months" in London?

What did one fish say to the other? Rob and Lis share their favourite Spanish jokes, groans included.

Start, link and end a story in Spanish, then find out why Rob ended up driving a bride to her own wedding.

Stuck listening with nothing to say? Rob and Lis share the little phrases for reacting, interrupting and slipping away politely.

How do you say "do you need me to help you?" in Spanish? Plus a one-word fix for this very podcast.

Why does "bueno" give away nearly every English speaker? Rob and Lis share four accent habits to catch in your own Spanish.

Two Spanish words for "compliment", but one is often unwelcome. Plus the question Lis asks Rob most mornings.

The two little words that start almost every excuse in Spanish, and Rob's wallet story that Lis isn't buying.

Rob asks Lis for money (again). Plus: how to get a lift, and why Spanish speakers mix up "lend" and "borrow".

Which Spanish proverb does Lis say every day? Six sayings to use in real conversation, plus one Rob had never heard.

A speeding fine with no proof, and eight people in one van on New Year's Eve: Rob and Lis get stopped by the police.

Lis plays a Colombian traffic cop and pulls Rob over. Will "I'm not from here" get him off the hook?

Rob insists whinging and complaining aren't the same. Plus the word Lis finds aggressive and Rob's chicken in Colombia.

Pins and needles in Spanish involves a tiny insect. Plus how to tell a doctor exactly what kind of pain you have.

Lis's WhatsApp group of forty cousins, the word for "tag" neither host can say, and how to count likes in Spanish.

Lis rises with the sun, Rob is a night owl. Who wins when they work together, and what's the Spanish verb for rising at dawn?

Can you tell the time in Spanish? Now make a plan: Rob and Lis on arranging to meet, plus a first taste of the conditional.

Rob got corrected for asking the time like Manu Chao. Learn to ask and tell the time, and why one o'clock is the odd one out.

How do you ask "how often" in Spanish? Literally, "every how much". Plus the chocolate habit Lis kept secret from Rob.

Rob and Lis teach you how to argue in Spanish, then stage a fight over the last piece of chocolate. Does anyone get forgiven?

Why do South Americans call money "silver", not gold? Lis haggles over carrots, and something costs a kidney.

Why can't you say you feel "malo"? Plus a Colombian candle night, a nod to Shakira and the "excited" word to avoid.

Add one tiny word to "vamos a rumbear" and it means something else. Plus: lots of blind dates in one night, in a museum.

A Colombian sport with mud, metal discs and gunpowder, plus the Spanish you need to chat about sport with anyone.

Just how many cousins does Lis have? Learn to ask about anyone's family, and the word that sounds like "parents" but isn't.

Lis moved house by bus in two trips. Rob hired a van and it still wasn't enough. Plus the phrase every Spanish house advert uses.

Four ways to tell someone how you feel in Spanish, Rob's favourite fruity compliment, and the secret game of "amigo secreto".

Rob and Lis are both ill for real. Learn the Spanish "cold" word that fools English speakers, and how to win sympathy.

Eight ways to get around in Spanish, from a ride Rob wishes London had to one that still carries vegetables.

Does Colombia do New Year's resolutions? Rob and Lis count down the top ten, then Rob confesses a habit Lis adds to.

In Spanish, heat is something the weather "does". Plus a rain so light it only scares a certain kind of person.