Coffee Break Spanish - 'El Gordo de Navidad': the Spanish Lottery | A Coffee Break with Anabel
Episode Date: December 18, 2025Ready for another mini Coffee Break Spanish lesson? This time, Anabel dives into one of Spain’s most fascinating festive traditions: El Gordo de Navidad, the famous Christmas lottery! 🎄💰I...t’s the perfect mini lesson to discover more about Spanish culture while picking up natural language you can use right away. ✨To keep building your Spanish skills, sign up for our Coffee Break Spanish newsletter and receive regular free mini-lessons straight to your inbox! 📩 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish.
I'm Annabelle, and today I trygo
an episode that is
Casi-Cas-Cas-Ci
like a special of
Navidad. In this episode, I would like to talk about
a cultural point,
El Gordo de Navidad,
Los Nijios de San Il de Fonso,
and of course, Doña Manolita.
I will be mixing Spanish and English,
but I won't be translating all the time.
So pay attention and I hope you manage to understand the general message.
The case is that the other day Ible with my family and me
said that they were to go to Dona Manolita.
And actually that's what gave me the idea of bringing this here to you.
If you leave or have lived in Spain, you might know.
that this podcast is about the lottery,
because Doña Manolita is very well known for that.
Actually, Doña Manolita is one of the places that sells lottery tickets,
which are Decimo de Navidad or Decimos de Navidad in Spanish.
So Doña Manolita sells these Decimos de Navidad in Spain,
and it's very popular because,
it's the place that has sold the most winning tickets.
Personally, I never have ever
have ever been a decim of lottery,
because no me doesn't want to play.
But the major part of the Spanioles
if it's so it's a question,
a you want to do you want to play a lotteria?
It's tradition in your country
Comprar decimos
of Navidad.
Now, although there are
many special prizes in the lottery,
today we'll talk about
the Christmas Lottery,
which means we'll talk about
Los Niños de Sanil
Defonso and
the Gordo de Navidad.
The Premios
of the Lottery of
Navidat,
the 22 of December
in Spain.
And are the
Niños de
sonil de Fonso
who can't
the premiums.
When talking about
the Christmas
lottery, we use the
verb
cantar to sing
to mean
to announce a prize.
This is because
they kind of
sing the winning
numbers
instead of just
announcing them.
However,
now you might be
wondering
who Sanil de Fonso
is.
or, more specifically, who Sanil Defonso's children are.
Well, well, Sanil Defonso is a college in Madrid
that's a fundo in the century 15
as a institution that educaba a orphans and a children
in risk of exclusion social.
This means that in this context,
Sanil Defonso is not a who, but a place.
It's a where.
So at the beginning, this school called Sanil Defonso provided education to orphans and children at risk of social exclusion.
And it was in the 18th century when the students were chosen to announce the winners of the prices of the Lottery of the Navidad.
Although in the actuality
is a
public,
the children
of Sanil
Defonso
still can't
the premiums.
And here,
be careful
if you are
from the
UK,
because
a
college
public
means that
it is a
non-private
school,
so it is
a state
school in
the UK.
The
major
honor is
for the
children
that
are the
premium gordo de
Navidad.
And because it is
the biggest price
given by the lottery,
it is called
El Gordo
de Navidad,
as in
El Premio Gordo
de Navidad.
And in fact,
in Spain,
we have the phrase
Tocar el Gordo,
which means to win
the biggest price
in the lottery.
In Latin America,
we use
ganarse
and be careful there because we are using ganarse.
It's ganar, but in its reflexive form.
What is interesting about the European-Spanish phrase,
Tocair el-Gordo, is that we can use it in different contexts
when meaning you've got very lucky.
Tengo an example for you.
Lorenzo has a girlfriend who is a star.
Lorenzo has a girlfriend who is a star.
Remember that ser un soul means to be a star or to be an angel.
He has got very lucky.
The Lottery of Navidaz is then a big thing in Spain.
Firstly, people tend to buy a lot of lottery tickets.
Do you remember how to say lottery ticket in Spanish?
I hope you do.
It is Un Decimo de Navidad or El Decimo de Navidad.
So they buy a lot of different decimos de Navidad.
They choose their lucky numbers.
They buy a share of a ticket with their work colleagues.
Or they buy at their grocery shop or they buy at their grocery shop or
their local shops.
Plus, every year there is a new commercial on the TV about the Christmas lottery.
These commercials are very popular because they are extremely emotional.
Normally, the announcement of the anuncio is in distinct parts of Spain,
although in the majority has been in my city, Madrid.
The announcement of the Lottery
of the Nativity of this year
also has been
in Madrid
and in it you can't
see some of the
zones more known
of my city.
I always recommend to
learners to watch the commercial
of the year and of course of previous
years since it captures
a great portion of
the Spanish culture and values.
So,
So I hope
to
you animes
to see
the
lot of the
year.
Well,
that is
all for
my
part.
If you
would
like to
keep improving
your
Spanish,
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Now,
whether or
not you
buy lottery
tickets,
I hope
you have
enjoyed
this
cultural
topic.
and now you know how to use the phrase
Tocair El Gordo
Much thanks and felices
Fiestas de part of
the team of Coffee Break.
Until the next
and happy coffee breaking.
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