Lecciones de Español

USO DE LOS ADJETIVOS/USE OF ADJECTIVES

In Spanish language, the adjectives must be in accordance with the noun in gender and number. Exceptions will be with those adjectives that are invariable (either used with masculine and / or feminine nouns)

Here we are going to see some examples regarding variable and invariable adjectives.

Let's take the following nouns:

Hombre , m.(man)

Mujer, f. (woman)

Niño, m. (child, little boy)

Niña, f. (child, little girl)

Chico, m. (boy)

Chica, f. (girl)

Perro, m. (male dog)

Gata, f. (female cat)

pájaro, m. (bird)

caracol, m. (snail)

And we will take the following adjectives:

guapo (m.) - guapa (f.)  (handsome, pretty, beautiful. Guapo applies to people, not to animals and or objects.)

bonito (m.) - bonita (f.) (pretty, beautiful. Applies to animals, objects. Attention: bonitA is used as well to designate a beautiful girl. We will see the examples.

inteligente (m.,f.) (intelligent, invariable)

simpático (m.) simpática (f.) (nice, charming)

antipático (m.) antipática (f.) (disagreeable)

joven (m.f.) (young, invariable)

viejo (m.), vieja (f.) (old)

rápido (m.), rápida (f.) (quick, speedy)

lento (m.), lenta (f.) (slow)

alto (m.), alta (f.) (tall)

bajo (m.), baja (f.) (short)

agradable (m.f.) (pleasant)

And we will use them with the preceeding nouns (note the concordance in gender and number)

Un niño guapo, Una niña guapa

Unos pájaros  rápidos, un caracol  lento

Una mujer inteligente, un chico  inteligente

Una niña baja, unos hombres bajos

Un perro viejo, una mujer muy vieja (very old)

Un gato bonito, un perro bonito (not guapo)

Unas niñas muy guapas, or ... unas niñas muy bonitas

Un hombre antipático, una niña  muy simpática

Un gato agradable, unas niñas agradables

TIP:

pretty old . Bastante viejo(s). Bastante vieja(s)

pretty stupid. Bastante estúpido(s). Bastante estúpida(s).

Espero que te vaya bonito (latin america). I hope it all goes well for you.

Espero que te vaya bien (Spain). I hope it all goes well for you

PRACTICA DE LA LETRA "R"

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Begining of word
Ramo , rosa, reloj, rubio, raso, ruibarbo, roncar, rincón, Ramón, rojo, romero, ruso, rizo

Middle of word. One "r"

amarillo, cariño, maravilloso, cera, poroso, sonoro, salubre, Groenlandia, palurdo, croar

Middle of word. Two "rr":

carro, marrón, corrosivo, amarrar, cerro

End of word. All the verbs end with an "r"

venir, cantar, soñar, empezar, caminar, ser, estar, amar, comer...

Practice of R, rr and r

In Spanish there are two ways to pronounce the R sound. And depending on where the R is placed in a word the sounds will differ.

Begining of word: R sound will always be strong "rrrrr". Always one R.
In the middle of a word: when there is only one "r" the sound will be a simple "r" sound
In the middle of a word: when there are two "r's" together, the sound will be the strong one.
In the end of a word: "r" sound simple, not emphatic.
Some examples:<br>
      Begining of word
Ramo , rosa, reloj, rubio, raso, ruibarbo, roncar, rincón, Ramón, rojo, romero, ruso, rizo

Middle of word. One "r"

amarillo, cariño, maravilloso, cera, poroso, sonoro, salubre, Groenlandia, palurdo, croar

Middle of word. Two "rr":

carro, marrón, corrosivo, amarrar, cerro

End of word. All the verbs end with an "r"

venir, cantar, soñar, empezar, caminar, ser, estar, amar, comer...

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all original written material included in this weblog,
including this weblog archives, is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.

Useful Tips: Personal Pronouns

In Spanish, the personal pronouns are usually omitted unless it is important to emphasize them.

For example, let's study the present tense of the verb "necesito" (I need)

Yo necesito
Tú necesitas
El necesita
Nosotros necesitamos
Vosotros necesitáis
Ellos necesitan

I need to study
becomes in Spanish  "necesito estudiar" and not "yo necesito estudiar"
Examples:

Necesito trabajar (I need to work)
Necesitas un corte de pelo (you need a haircut)
Necesita saber más de tí (he-she  needs to know more about you)
Necesitamos viajar a Londres (we need to travel to London)
Necesitáis una visita al doctor (you "plural" need to visit the doctor)
Necesitan 5.000 euros (They need 5,000 euro)

As you see, there is no need to write the personal pronoun at the begining of the sentence.
But we will write "usted" necesita trabajar and "ustedes" necesitan trabajar because we are emphazising the personal pronoun here: the formal "tu" and "vosotros"

We wiill also say the personal pronoun when we are emphazising it in a sentence.
For example:

Yo soy española pero tú eres alemán (I am spanish but you are german)
El estudia mucho pero yo muy poco (he studies alot but I study very little)

How do we know in a sentence the subject is él, yo, nostoros, etc? By looking up to the verb. Estudio  (yo) , cantas (tú), etc.

Obviously, we will always say usted and ustedes in order not to mistake it with él or ella and ellos or ellas, as they have the same verbal form.

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Verbos cantar - hablar - ser - estar - trabajar

TEST
Fill in the blank spaces  and write the convenient verb (in present tense)

Cantar:
Yo canto, tú cantas, él canta, nosotros cantamos vosotros cantáis, ellos cantan

Hablar:
Yo hablo, tú hablas, él habla, nosotros hablamos, vosotros habláis, ellos hablan

Ser:
Yo soy, tú eres, él es, nosotros somos, vosotros sóis, ellos son

Estar:
Yo estoy, tú estás , él está, nosotros estamos, vosotros estáis, ellos están

Trabajar :
Yo trabajo tú trabajas, él trabaja, nosotros trabajamos, vosotros trabajáis, ellos trabajan

START HERE:

Tr......... en una oficina. Por la tarde tr.... como enfermera. Mis hijos no ha....... todavía, porque s....... muy pequeños.

Mi amiga me h....... de cosas privadas: de su madre, de sus probemas, de su novio. Yo ha..... con ella de muchas cosas y me gusta es.......... con ella, es muy simpática.

Mi hermana ca...... canciones de amor todos los días antes de ir a tr................

El profesor e......... muy simpático y e-------- siempre de buen humor

Yo s..... una persona muy difícil de comprender.

GOOD LUCK!

Answers:
trabajo-trabajo-habl an-son
habla-hablo-estar
canta-trabajar
es-está
soy

LOS COLORES. CONTINUACION

Let´s practice a little what we learned about the colors. Remember that some colors are invariable in gender.

María tiene una casa blanca con ventanas azules. Su jardín tiene un tobogán amarillo y muchas rosas rojas. En verano, María visita mi casa que es rosa y gris. Las plantas son muy verdes y las hojas marrones.

Mi teléfono celular es negro y mi computadora gris. Tengo una camisa negra y una falda naranja, marrón y verde muy bonita.

Mi amigo tiene el pelo negro y la barba (beard) blanca como la nieve (snow).

Colores / Colors

El color es:

azul (blue)- invariable
una mesa (table)  azul , un cielo (sky) azul

blanco (white) blanca

Un oso (bear)  blanco, una pared (wall) blanca

naranja (orange)-invariable

Un vestido (dress) naranja, una servilleta (napkin) naranja

verde (green) -invariable

Un campo (field) verde , unos ojos (eyes) verdes, una milla (mile) verde

negro (black) negra

El carbón (charcoal) es negro - Mi camisa (shirt) es negra

Marrón (brown) - invariable

El cabello (hair) marrón,  la cama (bed) marrón

Amarillo (yellow) amarilla

El submarino amarillo , la cinta (ribbon) amarilla

Rojo (red) roja

El botón (button) rojo, la nariz (nose) roja

Rosa (pink) - invariable

El gorro (beret) rosa , la rosa (rose) rosa

OTHER COLORS:

Turquesa - invariable (turquoise)
Salmón - invariable (salmon)
Lila . invariable (lilac)
carmín - invariable (wild red rose)
Morado , morada (purple)
Púrpura - invariable (also purple)

Shades:

anaranjado, anaranjada,with orange notes
rosado, rosada, with rose notes
verdoso, verdosa, with green notes
azulado, azulada, with blue notes
blanquecino, blanquecina, with white notes

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Verbos/ Verbs

Spanish Grammar has regular and irregulars verbs, just as it happens in English.

There are three kinds of verb  terminations:

AR- ER- IR

AR belongs to the First Conjugation ( Primera Conjugación)
ER  Second conj. (Segunda Conjugación)
IR , Third conj. (Tercera Conjugación)

Let´s see the Primera conjugación to the Present Tense (Presente de Indicativo):

CANTAR (to sing)
Presente de Indicativo
Yo cant-o
Tú cant-as , Usted cant-a
El cant-a Ella cant -a
Nosotros cant -amos
Vosotros cant-ais , Ustedes cant-an
Ellos cant-an

COMER (Segunda Conjugación)

Yo com-o
Tu com-es, Usted com-e
El com-e
Nosotros com-emos
Vosotros com-eis, Ustedes com-en
Ellos com-en

ABRIR (to open) Tercera Conjugación

Yo abr-o
Tú abr-es, Usted abr-e
El abr-e
Nosotros abr-imos
Vosotros abr-ís
Ellos abr-en

María come mucho
Usted bebe agua
Mi hermano abre la puerta
El Profesor abre el libro
Yo como pan con chocolate
Tú bebes coca cola siempre

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Partes de una clase/ Elements in a classroom

NOTE: with the nouns I have included their correspondent articles so you will get used to the masculine and feminine forms. Very helpul to remember which is masculine and which is feminine.

El profesor / La profesora - The teacher
El alumno / La alumna - The pupil
El libro - The book
La mesa - The table
El pupitre - The desk- The writing desk
La regla - The ruler
El lápiz - the pencil
El bolígrafo - The ball-point pen- The byro - The pen
La pluma - The fountain pen
El cuaderno - The booklet
El bloc de notas - The notebook
Los apuntes - Notes - Jotting - Memo
El cuaderno de apuntes - The scratching pad
El tema - The subject
Las Matemáticas - Mathematics
La Historia - History
La Geografía - Geography
La Literatura - Literature
La Química - Chemistry
La Física - Physics
La Música - Music
La Gimnasia - Gymnastics
La Lengua Española - Spanish Language (literally Spanish tongue)
El Inglés - English
El Francés - French
El Alemán - German
El Italiano - Italian
La ventana - The window
El suelo - The floor
La carpeta - The folder
La cartera - The schoolbag
El compás - The compass
El cartabón - The quadrant
El mapa - The map
Los posters - Posters
La tiza - The chalk
La pizarra - The blackboard
El borrador  de la pizarra - The blackboard eraser. In Spanish, borrador also means "rough draft"
El exámen - The exam - The examination
Las notas - The grades
Las buenas notas - High grades
Las malas notas - Low grades

Expressions: He cateado . I have failed (the exam)
Esto está chupado - This is very easy
Mi profe - short term for "mi profesor" or " mi profesora"
Chivato, Chivata - Squealer
Copión- Copiona - Cheat
He suspendido - I have failed
He aprobado - I have passed
Tengo un notable - Got a B
Tengo un sobresaliente - Got an A - I got an Excellent

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To Be or... To Be?

Let's have a look at the verb "to be":

I am
you are
he,she,it is
we are
you are
they are

What spanish verb is the equivalent for "to be"?
Is it SER?

or.. ESTAR?

The thing is, both verbs mean To Be but in different ways. While SER designs a place, a person or a thing with an UNCHANGEABLE CHARACTERISTIC, that is to say, a characteristic that WILL NOT CHANGE, THAT IS INMUTABLE, on the other hand ESTAR is used to design, in most cases, a characteristic that CHANGES, IS MUTATABLE OR STATIONARY.

Let's see first what are those verbs:

SER:

Yo soy

Tú eres, Usted (formal you singular) es

El es, ella  es

Nosotros somos, Nosotras somos

Vostros sois, Vosotras sois, Ustedes (formal you plural) son

Ellos son, Ellas son

VERY IMPORTANT : Note that Usted and Ustedes ALWAYS USE THE THIRD PERSON IN SINGULAR AND PLURAL, EVEN IF USTED AND USTEDES EXPRESS TU IN A FORMAL WAY.

This verb is used to designate, in most cases,  PERMANENT CHARACTERISTICS of a person, a place and - or a thing.

To understand this point, just answer a simple question: where are you from? If you are Italian for example, this is a characteristic that cannot change all through your life, and even if you aquire another citizenship, it will be written on papers but in essence you can't change the place where you were born, isn't it? you will still be Italian no matter how many news nationalities you aquire, your place of birth will always be Italy.

Then you say Yo soy italiano

Now let's have a look to another situation, this time let's see the word "asleep". When I am asleep, I am under a CHANGEABLE situation; meaning that after a while, I will wake up. It's not a permanent situation but Temporary. The same happens with the verb "raining". Even if there is rain for days, weeks, months... one day it will be the sun shining again. The rain is TEMPORARY as well. This the perfect example of the verb ESTAR.

Let's see how to conjugate this verb:

Yo estoy

Tú estás, Usted está (see again how I use estar in "Usted") I use the third person singular. Look:

El está, Ella está

Nosotros estamos, Nosotras estamos

Vosotros estáis, vosotras estáis , Ustedes están (again, see how Ustedes uses the third person although it means You in a formal way)

Ellos están, Ellas están.

Yo soy española (this is a fact, it can´t change even if I have many other nationalities, my place of birth will always be Spain)

Now, está lloviendo ( it is raining) está nublado ( it is cloudy) and not es lloviendo or es nublado, because those are transitory characteristics of the weather.

Estoy aquí (I am here). Eventually I will change of place. It´s mutable, transitory. I use ESTAR.

Juan es aburrido (John is boring) His personality is boring. He is this way
Now: Juan está aburrido (John is bored ) This is a temporary situation, sooner or later he will change of activity and will be amused, or sad, or busy, etc.

Juan está triste (John is sad) (now, at this moment)
Juan está ocupado (John is busy) (now, at this moment)
Juan es un hombre triste (he is always sad, he is a sad person)
Juan es un hombre ocupado (he is always working, he is a busy person)

Of course, this can also be confusing at times but little by little it will become more understandable.

These are some guidelines for you to keep in mind when speaking about SER and ESTAR:

SER: To describe a characteristic in a person, a thing, a place that doesn´t change in most cases. And, if it does change, it does it slowly. Also to describe a posession and the material something is made of:
Examples:

Ana es inteligente
María es vieja. (María is old) One moment, she wasn´t old before, right? Before, she was young! That´s true, but the change from young to old was slow, it needed years. María was young and little by little she became old. Therefore we use the verb SER.

La camisa es de algodón (the shirt is in cotton)
La casa es blanca (well if it changes of color, it will not happen all  of a sudden, it will need some days to become green for example) La casa es blanca.

verb ESTAR

Usted está cansado (you are tired)
La ventana está cerrada (the window is closed)
El gato está arriba (the cat is upstairs)
El gato ES negro (the cat is black)
El gato está hambriento (the cat is hungry)
El gato es mío (the cat is mine)

Try to solve this test:

Ella ..........  de Francia
Antonio .... en casa (at home)
Ustedes no ..... simpáticos (nice)
Mohammed ..... ingeniero (engineer)
Mi tío (uncle) no ...... en el parque (at the park)
Mi hermano ....... cubano
María ........ contenta (happy)
¿....... Carlos haciendo sus deberes? (doing his homework)
Ana no ------ inteligente
Mi padre y mi hermano ....... profesores (teachers)
Mi amigo ..... muy bajo (short)
Mi amigo ...... muy triste (sad)
Tú ..... loco (crazy)
Tú ..... un loco (a crazy one)

ANSWERS:

es
está
son
es
está
es
está
está
es
son
es
está
estás
eres

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