A Major Hotel Industry Acquisition

Key vocabulary

• empresariom.

  businessman, entrepreneur

  “Antonio Catalán es un empresario español.”— Antonio Catalán is a Spanish businessman.

  Pattern empresario exitoso successful entrepreneur

  Compare emprendedor (entrepreneur)

  Plural: empresarios

  💡 From empresa (company) + -ario (person suffix), similar to the '-er' suffix in 'entrepreneur'.

• controlarv.

  to control, to run (a company)

  “Él controla una empresa de hoteles.”— He runs a hotel company.

  Pattern controlar una empresa (to control a company)

  Compare dominar (to dominate), manejar (to manage)

  Present: controlo, controlas, controla, controlamos, controláis, controlan; Past: controlé, controlaste, controló, controlamos, controlasteis, controlaron

  💡 The root comes from Latin contra + rotulus, originally meaning 'to check against a register', later extended to 'control'.

• empresaf.

  company, business

  “Belagua es una empresa de hoteles.”— Belagua is a hotel company.

  Pattern empresa de hoteles hotel company

  Compare compañía (company)

  Plural: empresas

  💡 From Latin 'prehendere' (to seize), originally meaning 'undertaking', later extended to company.

• comprarv.

  to buy, to purchase

  “Esta empresa ha comprado una parte de otra compañía.”— This company has bought a part of another company.

  Pattern hacer una compra to shop; comprar algo a alguien to buy something from someone

  Compare adquirir (to acquire)

  Present: compro, compras, compra, compramos, compráis, compran

  💡 From Latin comparare, meaning 'to prepare, obtain', cognate with English 'compare', but the meaning diverged.

• partef.

  part, share, portion

  “La parte es casi el catorce por ciento.”— The share is almost fourteen percent.

  Pattern formar parte de to form part of / to be part of

  Compare porción (portion)

  Plural: partes

  💡 From Latin pars, partis, cognate with English 'part', often refers to a part of a whole.

• venderv.

  to sell

  “La familia Cosmen ha vendido esta participación.”— The Cosmen family has sold this stake.

  Pattern vender algo a alguien to sell something to someone

  Compare comercializar (to market)

  Present: vendo, vendes, vende, vendemos, vendéis, venden

  💡 The root vend- comes from Latin vendere, cognate with English 'vend', meaning 'to sell'.

• preciom.

  price, cost

  “El precio de la compra es de cuarenta y un millones de euros.”— The purchase price is forty-one million euros.

  Pattern precio de compra purchase price

  Compare coste (cost), valor (value)

  Plural: precios

  💡 From Latin pretium, cognate with English 'price'; note the difference from precioso (precious).

• operaciónf.

  transaction, deal, operation

  “Es una operación importante para las dos familias.”— It is an important transaction for both families.

  Pattern operación importante important transaction

  Compare transacción (transaction)

  Plural: operaciones

  💡 From Latin operatio, same root as operar (to operate), often refers to a business transaction or surgery.

Grammar spotlight

Sentence patterns to steal

• Antonio Catalán es un empresario español.

  Antonio Catalán is a Spanish businessman.

  ser + un/una + profession + nationalityThe profession and nationality can be replaced, e.g., una médica italiana.

• El precio de la compra es de cuarenta y un millones de euros.

  The purchase price is forty-one million euros.

  El precio de + noun + es de + amountThe noun and amount can be replaced, e.g., El precio del coche es de veinte mil euros.

• Es una operación importante para las dos familias.

  It is an important deal for both families.

  Es + un/una + noun + importante para + personThe noun and person can be replaced, e.g., Es una decisión importante para mí.