Today's Spanish Word

harto/a

I was only familiar with one use of this word. One of our hymns says this:

Si es pesada tu carga, 

Harto del vano vivir,

Te salvará Jesucristo

Si a Él quieres venir.

The English equivalent says,

If you are heavily laden,

Tired of a life that is vain,

Jesus has promised to save you

If you will yield to His claim.

So, harto means tired, as in fed up.

The last few days I've been noticing that the word harto gets used a lot in the home where we are.  

Lo he dicho hartas veces. 

I've said that many times.

Ella trabaja harto.

She works a lot. 

Hay harta comida en la mesa. 

There's a lot of food on the table.

So, I've learned that harto means a lot.

I decided to look this word up in the dictionary to see if there were any more definitions. Turns out, the way it's been used here in this home isn't even listed in the dictionary. Go figure! Anyway, there are indeed more  meanings for this word.

full, stuffed

stuffed to the gills

Estoy tan harto que no puedo tomar el postre.

I'm so full I can't eat dessert.

very, extremely

El vestido te queda harto grande.

The dress is very big on you.

So,  it becomes apparent that harto is a pretty handy word.  I'll have to work it into my vocabulary!