Do You Need a Spanish Tutor?

Although this blog is about learning Spanish online, I realize there are people who are looking for some help to give them that extra OOMPH over the hurdles of learning a new language. I've had a few people send me messages, asking if I can tutor Spanish, but unfortunately tutoring is just not something that I can fit into my schedule. I was thinking about this subject the other day, and ran across this article. I hope it will be helpful to those of you thinking about finding a tutor to help you learn Spanish.

What to Look For in a Spanish Tutor

By Jessica Ojeda

What to look for in a Spanish tutor:

#1

The most important thing a Spanish tutor should have is extensive knowledge of Spanish grammar and not just the ability to speak Spanish. Think about it this way, you and all of your friends speak proper, or at least have the ability to speak proper English. However, how many of you could make a good English teacher or tutor to someone whose native language isn't English? Maybe one or two of several, right? Just because someone is fluent in a language doesn't mean they have the grammatical knowledge necessary in order to effectively teach that language.

#2

A good Spanish tutor must be fluent in Spanish! You might be thinking, well if the tutor meets requirement number 1, which is to have extensive knowledge of Spanish grammar, then they must be fluent, too. However, this thinking is incorrect. The fact is, just because a Spanish tutor may know all the grammar rules of Spanish, doesn't mean that he or she can process these rules simultaneously and at a fast enough pace to be considered fluent.

I, personally, can vouch for this! I was a Spanish expert, or so I thought. I was a Spanish major and in my 3rd year of college. I aced all of my Spanish tests and barely had time to study due to work and my other major, geology, which took up most of my study time. I was extremely excited to study abroad in Mexico and felt prepared to "show off" my mad Spanish skills. When I arrived, I was in shock! When my host mother spoke to me and very very slowly at that, tragically, I didn't understand 75% of what she said. I was crushed. I knew that the knowledge was in my brain to understand her, but I just wasn't able to process it fast enough. What it all boils down to is this: I was still translating from English to Spanish in my brain instead of thinking in Spanish, and in order for me to achieve the fluency I desired, I knew I must be able to think in Spanish and not just know Spanish.

Spanish fluency is vital since a student often asks the very important question, "How can I say this in Spanish?", and the Spanish tutor must draw upon several grammar rules and vocabulary at once. This can be difficult or not even possible for a tutor who only has knowledge of Spanish grammar.

#3

A good Spanish tutor must have a great Spanish accent and sound like a native Spanish speaker! Correct accents are essential when learning a foreign language. Therefore, having a tutor with a horrible Spanish accent will cripple your Spanish-speaking abilities. Haven't you been on the phone with a non-native English speaker with a strong accent? It's not the most enjoyable experience as we all know. Much effort must be put into the conversation just to communicate simple ideas.

#4

All good Spanish tutors must possess the ability to teach. No matter how knowledgeable a tutor is in their subject, if they can't transmit their knowledge in a manner in which the student can easily understand the material, they can't make a good tutor.

#5

Chances are if a student needs a Spanish tutor, the student's interest level in Spanish probably isn't too high. A good Spanish tutor must be able to motivate the student and teach them why the subject is important and relevant to their life. The Spanish tutor should be able to relate the Spanish language to the student.

#6

A Spanish tutor must be patient. A good Spanish tutor will understand that the same concept may need to be explained several times before a students understands it. After all, most of the time it's not the first time that the student has been exposed to the concept since the Spanish teacher or Spanish learning software have probably covered it already. Basically, a tutor must understand that they are a tutor and not a teacher. Teachers generally go over a new concept once, and twice if he or she considers it to be difficult. But a tutor must go over the same concept in multiple ways until the student has a good understanding.

#7

A good Spanish tutor must of course be reliable. In order to be reliable a good tutor will have lessons prepared, will have read over the student's work ahead of time if it's available, will have extra learning resources available (i.e. Spanish/English dictionary, pencils, erasers, computer with internet, etc.), and most definitely be able to reliably meet the student's needs. Now, I don't expect that a good Spanish tutor will be able to meet all of the student's needs on the spot, but I do expect them to be able to find a way to meet them in the near future. For example, I believe it's perfectly acceptable for the tutor to say (every now and then), "I don't know the answer to that. I'll research it and have the answer to you by tomorrow," or something along those lines.

#8

We all know that the subjects we get tutored in aren't our favorite by far and therefore, are more than likely on the boring side. That's why a Spanish tutor must have a good sense of humor. Imagine, a boring (at least in the student's eyes) subject coupled with a boring tutor. Not a good combo. It may be so horrible that the student decides to just fail or drop the course! This isn't good for the tutor or the student.

#9

A good Spanish tutor must vary their tutoring styles according to the way the student prefers to learn. You know you have a good tutor when the tutor starts the session like this, "How can I help you learn today?" instead of "This is what we are going to do today." By asking how the student would like to be tutored, the tutor shows that which ever learning style works best for the student, is the learning style that will be used.

#10

And last but not least, a good Spanish tutor will care about the success of the student in and out of the realm of Spanish.

You might have noticed that I didn't include experience in the list of what to look for in a Spanish tutor. I believe that jobs requiring experience before the job seeker can even become a job candidate is in short, ridiculous. How many unknown talents must there be just because they couldn't get their foot in the door due to zero years experience? By not allowing new, inexperienced workers in, unknown opportunities are missed unreached heights never reached.

If you're in the market for a good Spanish or English tutor, please visit my website, http://www.TheSELVA.com. Tutoring rates are very affordable and satisfaction is guaranteed.

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Getting Familiar with Spanish Pronouns - Subject Pronouns

Pronouns are noun substitutes. What we mean by that is that we can use pronouns to take the place of a noun in a sentence. For example, in the sentence 'The woman walked to work', we can replace the phrase the woman with she; 'She walked to work'. She is a pronoun. Today’s lesson is about the use of Subject Pronouns.

1st Person
Yo [yo] ‘I’
Nosotros [no-sot-ros] ‘we’

2nd Person
Usted [oos-tehd] ‘you’ (Informal - Tu [too])
Ustedes [oos-teh-dehs] ‘you all’

3rd Person
Male - El [el] ‘he/it’ Ellos [eh-yos] ‘they’
Female Ella [eh-ya] ‘she/it’ Ellas [eh-yas] ‘they’

1st Person is used to refer to yourself or to a group that includes you.

2nd Person is used to refer to the person or group of people you are talking to. I recommend using the formal 'usted' in all situations except when talking to close family or children.

3rd Person is used to talk to one person about another person or group of people.

The use of subject pronouns will be further when we start using them in sentences - for now, it is enough that you become familiar with them.

Giving Dates and Times in Spanish

Dates, in Spanish, are formed by stating the date (number) first before the month. The number is introduced by an article, while the preposition de ‘of’ is used to link that date to the month. So, using the nouns and numbers given in previous lessons, you should be able to put it all together to form the times, days and dates. Let’s try it!

¿Que fecha es hoy? [keh feh-cha es oy]
El cinco de marzo. [el thing-ko de mar-zo]
‘What’s the date today?’ ‘It’s the 5th of May.’

¿Que dia es? [keh dee-ah es]
Es domingo. [es do-ming-go]
‘What day is it? ‘It’s Sunday’

Note:
- The months and days in Spanish do not begin with capital letters when written.

¿Que hora es? [keh oh-ra es]
Es la una de la tarde [es la oo-na deh la tar-de]
‘What time is it?’ ‘It’s 1:00 p.m.’

Months, Days, Time of Day in Spanish

Image by dier madrid via Flickr

Today, I'm just going to give a quick rundown of the Spanish words for each of the months and days, and a few phrases to help you out when discussing time of day.

1. Months in a Year (los meses en un año)
Enero [e-neh-ro] ‘January’
Febrero [feb-reh-ro] ‘February’
Marzo [mar-zo] ‘March’
Abril [ab-reel] ‘April’
Mayo [ma-yo] ‘May’
Junio [hoo-nyo] ‘June’
Julio [hoo-lyo] ‘July’
Agosto [ah-goes-toe] ‘August’
Septiembre [sep-tyem-breh] ‘September’
Octubre [oak-too-breh] ‘October’
Noviembre [noh-byem-breh] ‘November’
Diciembre [dees-yem-breh] ‘December’

2. Days of the Week (las dias en una semana)
Lunes [loo-nes] ‘Monday’
Martes [mar-tehs] ‘Tuesday’
Miercoles [myeer-koh-les] ‘Wednesday’
Jueves [hweh-bes] ‘Thursday’
Viernes [bee-yer-nehs] ‘Friday’
Sabado [sah-bah-doh] ‘Saturday’
Domingo [doh-ming-go] ‘Sunday’

3. Time of the Day (tiempo del dia)
De la mañana [de la ma-nya-na] ‘am’ or 'in the morning'
De la tarde [de la tar-de] ‘pm’ or 'in the afternoon'
Hora [o-ra] ‘time, hour’
Media hora [meh-dee-ya ora] ‘half hour’
Cuarto de hora [kwar-to deh o-ra] ‘quarter of an hour’

Using Spanish Articles to form Nominal Sentances

Image by Franco Folini via Flickr

In Spanish, articles are also used to show a noun’s definiteness. Since it is a gender and number specific language, these articles are also inflected for gender and plurality. Study the table below that introduces these articles:

• Masculine Definite - El (singular), Los (plural)
• Masculine Indefinite - Un, Unos
• Feminine Definite - La, Las
• Feminine Indefinite - Una, Unas

So, here then are the steps in forming nominal phrases:

1. Identify the gender of the noun. Check its ending but remember the exceptions.
2. How many are being talked about? If it’s more than one, observe the ending so you would know what suffix to add.
3. Is the noun definite or not? This would determine what article to use.

Examples: Answer the questions in Spanish.

Q: What did you have for breakfast?
A: 2 bananas and a glass of milk

1. Platano ‘banana’ is a male. Vaso ‘glass’ is also a male.
2. 2 bananas. Hence, add -s to change platano to the plural, and 1 glass, so vaso stays the same.
3. 2 bananas - definite, with the number, two, would be "dos platanos", and a glass is indefinite, so you would use "un vaso".
   
4. So, the final answer would be "Dos platanos y un vaso de leche"
   

Q: Who called while I was gone?
A: The neighbors (girls) and a student (boy)

1. The neighbors are girls. Use vecina (instead of vecino). Estudiante is neuter. No need for inflection.
2. Neighbors is plural, so add -s to change vecina to vecinas. And there's only one student, so estudiante stays the same.
3. The neighbors are definite, use las vecinas, and a student is indefinite so you'd use 'un estudiante'.
4. The final answer would be "Las vecinas y un estudiante".
   

Definite and Indefinite Articles

Since we've already started forming nominal phrases with the use of numbers, let's continue by using articles in Spanish this time.

A nominal phrase is usually composed of an article and a noun. Articles can be
either definite or indefinite. In English, the article “the” is a definite article, and we use 'a' or 'an' as indefinite articles. In case you've forgotten what we mean by 'definite' and 'indefinite', here's a quick review:

Definite - [The child] is playing.
Indefinite - [A child] is playing.

In the first sentence, we're talking about a particular child - perhaps a child we already
know or have been talking about earlier; however, in the 2nd sentence, we're talking about an unknown child, or one that we've not spoken of before.

In Spanish, articles are also used to show a noun’s definiteness. Since it is again a
gender- and number-specific language, these articles are also inflected for gender and
plurality. Tomorrow, we'll introduce those articles.

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Numbering items in Spanish

Image by Archie McPhee Seattle via Flickr

Apart from adding the suffixes -s and -es, numbers can be observed in Spanish
nouns by using the numerals themselves with the nouns. They should agree with one
another – if the noun is more than one, a plural suffix should be present in the word. Here
is the table for Spanish numerals:

0	cero	[seh-ro]
1	uno	[oo-no]
2	dos	[dohs]
3	tres	[trehs]
4	cuatro	[kwat-roh]
5	cinco	[sink-oh]
6	seís	[seys]
7	siete	[see-eh-te]
8	ocho	[oh-cho]
9	nueve	[nweh-veh]
10	diez	[dee-ez]
11	once	[on-seh]
12	doce	[doh-seh]
13	trece	[tre-seh]
14	catorce	[ka-tor-seh]
15	quince	[keen-seh]
16	diez y seís	[dee-ehz ee seys]
17	diez y siete	[dee-ehz ee see ehteh]
18	diez y ocho
19	diez y nueve
20	veinte	[behn-teh]
21	veinte y uno	[behn-teh ee oo noh]
22	veinte y dos
30	treinta	[train-ta]
40	cuarenta	[kwa-ren-ta]
50	cincuenta	[sink-kwen-ta]
60	sesenta	[seh-sen-ta]
70	setenta	[seh-ten-ta]
80	ochenta	[oh-chen-ta]
90	noventa	[no- ben-ta]
100	cien	[see-ehn]
1000	mil	[mill]

Here are examples of nouns and numbers forming nominal phrases:
Un dia [oon dee-ya] ‘one day’
Ocho vasos de agua [oh-cho bah-sos de a-gwa] ‘8 glasses of water’
Doce meses cada año [do-seh meh-ses ka-da a-nyo] ’12 months a year’
Treinta y dos años [train-ta ee dos a-nyos] ’32 years’
Cien pesos [cee-ehn peh-sos] ‘100 pesos’

Spanish Plural Nouns

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Just like English, nouns in Spanish have a plural form - or in other words, they can show the difference between one item and more than one. Here are the rules for making plural nouns.

1. Add -s to nouns ending in vowels.
Vaca • Vacas [bah-kahs] ‘cows’
Gato • Gatos [gah-tos] ‘cats’
Plaza • Plazas [plah-sas] ‘towns’
Calle • Calles [kai-yehs] ‘streets’
Tía • Tías [tee-ahs] ‘aunts’


2. Add -es to nouns ending in consonants.
Papel • Papeles [pa-peh-les] ‘papers’
Color • Colores [koh-loh-res] ‘colors’
Ciudad • Ciudades [see-oo-dah-dehs] ‘cities’
Hotel • Hoteles [o-teh-les] ‘hotels’
Flor • Flores [floh-rehs] ‘flowers’
Mes • Meses [meh-ses] ‘months’

*Some nouns ending in /s/ don't change form when pluralized.
Jueves • Jueves [khwe-ves] ‘Thursdays’


3. For nouns ending in /z/, change the /z/ to /c/ then add -es.
Pez • Peces [peh-sehs] ‘fishes’
Luz • Luces [loo-sehs] ‘lights’
Vez • Veces [ve-sehs] ‘number of times’
Voz • Voces [vo-sehs] ‘voices’
Lapiz • Lapices [la-pi-sehs] ‘pencils’

Spanish Words with No Gender

Image via Wikipedia

There is a 'third gender' in Spanish. Well, maybe not really a gender, but a third noun classification, and that's the 'neutral' or non-gender noun. Words belonging to this category can be either male or female, depending on the actual gender of the noun being referred to. They don't change endings like the words we discussed in the last post.

Let's look at some examples below:

Agente [ah- hen-te] ‘agent’
Adolescente [ah-doh- le-sen-teh] ‘adolescent’
Artista [ar-tees-tah] ‘artist’
Canguro [kan-goo-ro] kangaroo
Ciclista [see-klees-ta] ‘cyclist’
Cliente [klee- yen-teh] ‘client, customer’
Especialista [es-peh-sya- lees-tah] ‘specialist’
Estudiante [es-tu-dyan-te] ‘student’
Gerente [he-ren-te] ‘manager’
Periodista [pehr-ee-o-dis-ta] ‘journalist’
Policia [po-li-see-yah] ‘police officer’
Representante [re-pre-sen-tan-teh] ‘representative’
Taxista [taks-ee-stah] taxi driver

Just because the words themselves don't change based on gender, doesn't mean that Spanish doesn't have a way to let people know what gender you're actually talking about! Taking the first word on that list 'artista' - If I'm talking about say... Pablo Picasso, I would say 'el artista', with the article 'el' being a masculine modifier. On the other hand, if I'm talking about Mary Cassatt, she would be 'la artista', with the article 'la' letting everyone know that she is clearly a woman.

Gender Specific Spanish Nouns

Image via Wikipedia

When speaking of people and animals, most Spanish nouns will refer directly to the gender of the nouns being referred to. Below are some samples of various Spanish nouns, with the masculine form of the word followed by the feminine form.

Arquitekto [ar-ki-tek-to] Arquitekta [ar-ki-tek-ta] ‘architect’
Cajero [ka-heh-ro] Cajera [ka-heh-ra] ‘cashier’
Chico [chi-ko] Chica [chi-ka] ‘boy/girl’
Director [di-rek-tor] Direktora [di-rek-to-ra] ‘director’
Dueño [dwe-nyo] Dueña [dwe-nya] ‘owner’
Esposo [es-poh-so] Esposa [es-poh-sa] ‘spouse’
Granjero [gran-heh-ro] Granjera [gran-heh-ra] ‘farmer’
Hermano [er-mah-no] Hermana [er-mah-na] ‘brother/sister’
Huesped [wes-ped] Huespeda [wes-pe-da] ‘guest’
Hijo [i-ho] Hija [i-ha] ‘son/daughter’
Ladron [lahd-ron] Ladrona [lahd-ro-na] ‘thief’
Medico [me-di-ko] Medica [me-di-ka] ‘doctor’
Nieto [nee-eh-to] Nieta [nee-eh-ta] ‘grandchild’
Perro [per-ro] Perra [per-ra] ‘dog’

Notice that most of the masculine nouns referring to persons and animals above end in -o or use the base form (without any suffix) of the word, while the feminine nouns
end in -a.

As a side note, when talking about a mixed gender group, the masculine form of the word is used, as shown in the picture. Visit Spanish Grammar to learn more about gender specificity in Spanish nouns.

More on Noun Gender in Spanish

In the last post, we were introduced to Lawrence and Dazcion - mnemonics that will help us remember the gender of various Spanish nouns. However, there are some exceptions to these rules. Many of the words that don't follow the rules are words that are 'borrowed' from other languages, like English. Observe the table below:

Masculine Nouns Not Ending in L-O-R-E-N-S
Arroz [ar-roz] ‘rice’
Bistec [bees-tek] ‘steak’
Champu [cham-poo] ‘shampoo’
Dia [di-yah] ‘day’
Esqui [es-ki] ‘ski’
Fax [faks] ‘fax’
Mapa [mah-pah] ‘map’
Menú [meh-noo] ‘menu’
Pez [pehz] ‘fish’
Programma [pro-gra-ma] ‘programme’
Reloj [re-loh] ‘watch’
Rey [reh-ee] ‘king’

Feminine Nouns Not Ending in Dazcion
Calle [ka-ye] ‘street’
Cancer [kahn-sehr] ‘cancer’
Carcel [kar-sehl] ‘prison’
Carne [kar-neh] ‘meat’
Flor [flor] ‘flower’
Ley [leh-ee] ‘law’
Lente [len-teh] ‘lens’
Mujer [mu-her] ‘wife’
Noche [noh-cheh] ‘night’
Razón [rah-zon] ‘reason’
Suerte [swer-teh] ‘luck’


You should also note that just because a word is generally associated to a certain gender (i.e., pants for men, skirts for women) doesn't meant that the gender of the word will follow. Look how ironic Spanish nouns can be:

Masculine Nouns
Camison [ka-mi-son] ‘nightdress’
Pantys [pahn-tees] ‘thights’
Salvaslips [sal-vahs-leeps] ‘panty liner’
Sujetador [su-heh-tah-dor] ‘bra’
Pendiante [pen-dyan-teh] ‘earrings’
Feminine Nouns
Corbata [kor-bah-tah] ’tie’
Gorra [gohr-rah] ‘cap’
Guardia [gwar-dya] ‘guard’

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Gender Specifics in Spanish

Image via Wikipedia

Nouns in Spanish are classified according to their gender - masculine, feminine, or
neuter. Now, we have some of that in English too - for example, the word 'man' is masculine, while 'woman' is feminine. But in Spanish, all nouns have a gender, which has an affect on the article and adjectives that you use with the word. The question is, how do you know if a word is masculine or feminine? For example, the word 'camion' (truck) - what the heck is the gender of that word?

To help you solve this problem, I’d like to introduce you to Lawrence, a clever guy from California, and Dazcion, a pretty maiden from Mexico.

Lawrence can help you remember which nouns in Spanish are masculine because he is a
guy, while Dazcion can do the same for feminine nouns. How is that possible? Read on.

Spanish nouns ending in L, O, R, E, N, and S (Lorens, or 'Lawrence') are masculine. Here are some examples:

el Árbol [ar-bohl] ‘tree’
el Azucar [ah-zoo-kar] ‘sugar’
el Barrio [bar-ree-oh] ‘town’
el Cinturón [seen-tu-rohn] ‘belt’
el Garaje [ga-ra-hey] ‘garage’
el País [pah-ees] ‘country’

On the other hand, nouns ending in D, A, Z, and Cion are feminine. Some examples are shown below:

la Agua [ah-gwa] ‘water’
la Dirección [di-rek-see-on] ‘address’
la Juventud [hoo-ven-tood] ‘youth’
la Luz [looz] ‘light’

Hence, when you encounter a Spanish noun, all you have to do is look at its
ending and see if it belongs to Lawrence (L-O-R-E-N-S) or Dazcion to know its gender. I recommend that as you learn the words for nouns (people, places, things) that you always learn it together with the correct article - "la" for feminine and 'el' for masculine.

Learning the Spanish Alphabet

Image by Ryan Greenberg via Flickr

Now that we've looked at a few basic greeting in Spanish, let's go over the Spanish Alphabet.

The Spanish alphabet is composed of 30 letters. The letters have different names than they do in English. The table below will tell you how to say the name of the letter and how the letter itself sounds. I have used Latin American pronunciations that will be understood anywhere - there are some regional differences.

Alphabet Pronounce It!
A [ah] /ah/ as in English "tall"
B [beh grahn-de] /b/ as in English "boy
C [seh] /k/ as in English "cup" (when followed by the vowels a, o, u)
/s/ as in English "sit" (when followed by vowels i, e)
Ch [cheh] /ch/ as in English child
D [deh] /d/ as is English doll
E [eh] /eh/ as in English let
F [eh-feh] /f/ as in English fan
G [keh] /g/ as in English gift (when followed by a, o, u)
/ch/ as in German "Bach" when followed by e, i
H [ah-cheh] the letter h is always silent in Spanish
I [ee] /ee/ as in English "sweet"
J [hoh-tah] /ch/ as in German Bach
K [kah] /k/ as in English kite
L [eh-leh] /l/ as in English light
Ll [eh-yeh] /y/ as in English yellow
M [eh-meh] /m/ as in English money
N [eh-neh] /n/ as in English net
Ñ [eh-nyeh] /ny/ as in English canyon
O [oh] /o/ as in English hotel
P [peh] /p/ as in English party
Q [ku] /k/ as in English kite
R [eh-reh] R is pronounced by trilling the tongue against the roof of the mouth, like a cat purr sound.
Rr rr [ehr-reh] Similar to R above, but the trill is more pronounced.
S s [eh-seh] /s/ as in English son
T [teh] /t/ as in English time
U [oo] /oo/ as in English toot
V [veh chica] a soft /b/ sound - pronounced by forming the letter b, but not closing the lips completely.
W w [veh dobleh] /w/ as in English water
X x [eh-kis] /ch/ as in German Bach when used in the start of a word
/ks/ as in English taxi when placed inside a word
Y y [i-gri-yeh-gah] /ee/ as in English ski
Z z [zeh-tah] /s/ as in English sit

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Learning Spanish - More Spanish Greetings

In the last post, we learned a little bit about some of the formal greetings and salutations. We'll continue today, starting with something a little less formal.

¿Qué tal?
[ke tal]
‘What’s up?’

¿Como estas?
[ko-mo es-tas]
‘How are you?’

Both expressions above are used for asking how another person is today, what he has been doing lately, how he is feeling, and the likes.

Note: When talking formally, use esta instead of estas in the latter expression.

(Muy) Bien
[(moo-ee) byen]
‘(Very) Well’

(Muy) Mal
[(moo-ee) mal]
‘(Very) Bad’


Mas o Menos
[mahs oh may-noes]
So-so

Questions on knowing ‘how you are doing’ can be answered depending on how you are actually feeling during the moment you are asked. Hence, from the options above, you can reply with a good, a very good, a bad, or a very bad, or just 'so-so'.

Por favor
[por fa-vor]
‘Please’

Por favor is the Spanish way of showing respect when asking a favor. It can be used either at the beginning of your sentence or at the end.

To Remember Easily: Don’t you usually say please when you ask por (for) a favor? 

Gracias
[grah-see-yas]
‘Thank you"

De nada
[de na-dha]
‘You’re welcome’

¡Adiós!
[a-dhyos]
‘Goodbye’

¡Adios! or ‘goodbye’ is used when you bid farewell to somebody you know – whether personally or through the telephone. It’s like wishing that God be with the other person as he continues his journey as a diós literally means ‘to God.’

Learning Basic Greetings in Spanish

The first step to learning a new language is being familiar with its greetings and
most basic phrases. In this article, you'll find some everyday expressions in Spanish words, with
pronunciation guides, to help you enunciate them properly. You'll notice that written, the Spanish language uses both the inverted question mark (¿) and inverted exclamation mark (¡) at the beginning of every interrogative and exclamatory sentence, respectively.

¡Hola!
[oh-lah]
‘Hi, Hello’

¡Hola! is the most basic Spanish expression in greeting other people. It means ‘hi’
or ‘hello’. It can be used both for people you know, and for those you don’t know to get
them to notice you.

Note: Spanish people do not pronounce the letter /h/, making it a silent letter,
except when used in the /ch/ sound. Thus, the above expression should not be read [hohlah]
but [oh-lah].

¡Buenos dias!
[bwe-nos di-yahs]
‘Good morning/day’

¡Buenas tardes!
[bwe-nas tar-des]
‘Good afternoon’

¡Buenas noches!
[bwe-nas noh-ches]
‘Good evening/night’

These are the daily or timely greetings in Spanish. Similar to English, they are
composed of two words, namely bueno which means ‘good’ and the Spanish words for
morning, afternoon, and night.

¿Cómo te llamas?
[ko-mo te ya-mas]
‘What is your name?’

¿Cómo se llama usted?
[ko-mo se ya-ma oo-sted]
"What is your name?' (Formal)

Literally, these translate to ‘How do you call yourself?" or "How are you called" and both are correct for asking someone their name. The first one would be appropriate to use with a child or among peers in an informal setting, and the 2nd should always be used in business or when dealing with people older than you.

The literal translation of “What is your name?" would be

¿Cual es tú nombre?
[qual es tu nom-bre]
‘What is your name?’

If someone asks for your name using any of the above questions, you may also
respond with various answers:

Yo soy [name].
[yo soy … ]
‘I am …’

Me llamo [name].
[me yah-mo … ]
‘I am called …’

Mi nombre es [name].
[mi nom-bre es … ]
‘My name is …’

Though there are variations when telling your name in Spanish, all are accepted and are used to introduce yourself to other people.

Best Way to Learn Spanish Verb Tenses

In this post I would like to talk some about Spanish verb formations. Understanding how to form Spanish verbs can be extremely frustrating for native speakers of English. The reason for this is that they're formed very differently. In Spanish it is often not necessary to use subject personal pronouns (I, you, he, she etc) together with verbs like it is in English. Look at this simple example:-

I live in England. = Vivo en Inglaterra.

Take note of how in Spanish no word for ‘I’ is used, simply because much of the time the way a Spanish verb is formed will automatically indicate what subject personal pronoun is being referred to (I, you, he, she etc). At first this may seem very confusing - and then down the road it may still seem quite confusing! The problem is that there are so many different ways in which one individual verb can be formed. Not only does the verb change according to which subject personal pronoun it is used with, it also changes depending on what verb tense is being used (present, past, future etc).

Obviously, you will have to learn how Spanish verbs are formed even to have a very basic conversation. There isn't any getting out of it!

Spanish verbs are split into regular and irregular verbs. The benefit of understanding how to form Spanish regular verbs is that once you know how to form one verb in one particular tense you can apply the same formation rules to all similar regular verbs. You only need to know the right way to form the verb once!

So, what are the best ways to go about learning the right way to form Spanish verbs? You'll find without doubt a lot more regular verbs in Spanish than there are irregular ones so learning the formation rules that apply to regular verbs is most likely the best start. Some of the most very common verbs in Spanish are irregular however, so sooner or later you'll have to study those too!

The Spanish textbook I was using began to introduce verb formations right from the very beginning but didn’t include any kind of in depth explanations about them until perhaps midway through the book. I was putting sentences together making use of different verb formations without really knowing why. Of course any sentence without a verb is not very much of a sentence so being subjected to them right away was unavoidable.

To begin with, it is most likely a good idea to start creating sentences with verbs by concentrating on remembering what the verb is in it’s infinitive, or root, form, rather than attempting to learn the way it is formed in various tenses.

Infinitive verb examples – (to live = vivir / to eat = comer / to talk = hablar)

You are still learning, simply by remembering what lots of different verbs means. Down the road, you can start to look at various verb tenses and formations. Personally, the Spanish textbook I was using didn’t explain in enough detail how verbs were being formed. I was keen to learn this fairly early on in my studies. My textbook approached the subject on a piecemeal basis, which unfortunately seemed a bit too disjointed for me. I'd have preferred to learn about verbs as a separate topic rather than having them introduced piece by piece!

No matter which way you choose to learn about verbs, one thing you'll almost definitely need in your possession is a verb conjugation (formation) book. This is a book designed to tell you how each and every imaginable verb in the Spanish language should be formed in all tenses.

Beginning Spanish Words and Pronunciation

Image by fnnkybutt via Flickr

In the last article I talked about how Spanish sentences are formed differently from sentences in English, and how learning Spanish isn't just as easy as learning what a bunch of words mean. But, of course if you don’t know any Spanish words, then you aren't going to be able to make any sentences, regardless if they are grammatically correct or not. You need to start learning some words and phrases. A good way to start is by thinking about some of the most common every day phrases in English.

You could start by learning some common greetings for example - hello (hola), goodbye (adiós), good morning (buenos días), good afternoon (buenas tardes). In these examples you might have noticed that the translation of the English word used for "good" is both "buenos" and "buenas". This is because one is masculine and the other is feminine!! If you are not sure what I am talking about then don’t worry. I will talk much more about gender in later articles.

The point here is that when learning new Spanish words or phrases you are probably going to notice differences in the way they are used that you don’t fully understand. If you are anything like me you will always be asking yourself “why?” My advice is not to get too bogged down in trying to understand these things too quickly. It will probably just frustrate you! I can say from experience - my own, and in teaching English to Spanish speakers - that worrying too much about 'why' certain things are said the way they are can become a big distraction from just learning to it, at least in the beginning. 

As well as learning useful words and phrases, you of course need to make sure that you can pronounce them correctly! The only way you can do this is by hearing some examples. It is important to make sure you pronounce Spanish words correctly right from the beginning. If you don’t then you will pick up bad habits that will become more difficult to shake off later on.  If you're learning on your own at home, it's important to pick a course of study that provides Spanish sound samples and conversations for you to listen to. 

Spanish pronunciation is something you will probably want to study separately during your studies. It is a good idea to do this early on. The good news is that Spanish pronunciation is far less complicated than English pronunciation. I will be discussing this in more detail in later articles.

Learning Spanish - All Languages are Not the Same!

If you are thinking about learning Spanish then it makes sense to think carefully about what you hope to achieve and how you hope to achieve it. This is because the learning process is likely to be a long one and full of trials and tribulations. It is wise not to underestimate yourself.

In this article I’m going to talk about what I did when I was first thinking about learning Spanish. My concepts of how other languages worked were really very basic. I thought all I had to do was to take any English word and simply learn what the equivalent word in Spanish was. Therefore I could simply put the words together and hey presto I would have a complete sentence.  It didn’t take me long to realize that this basic theory was completely off base!

For example,  "I always buy strong coffee". In Spanish, " siempre compro café fuerte".  In this sentence there appears to be no Spanish word for "I" and the word for "coffee (café)" comes before the word for "strong (fuerte)". This is only a simple example but it shows how my basic theory falls down. The Spanish word for "I" is "yo", but it is often not used in Spanish sentences because the construction of the verb it is used with already tells us that "I" is being referred to "compro = I buy". Secondly, in Spanish, adjectives usually come after the nouns that they are used with whereas in English they usually come before them. "strong coffee = café fuerte".

If you know nothing about Spanish as I didn’t then you might already be a little confused. At this stage it probably isn’t worth thinking too much about how the structure of the English and Spanish languages might differ. You will simply come to realize these differences as you progress through your studies. However, I think it is important to remind yourself right from the very beginning that learning Spanish won’t be as easy as simply matching English and Spanish words!

If you're ready to take the next step in learning Spanish, try the 6 Day FREE course from Rocket Spanish.

What's Stopping You From Learning Spanish?

 There are tons of people who want to start speaking Spanish now. There's one problem...They don't know where to begin. If you fit in this group, you are probably planning on taking lessons - however, you may want to teach yourself how to speak Spanish.

In order to learn Spanish, you have to overcome your second language learning anxiety. This is an emotional problem that hampers the abilities of many potential Spanish speakers around the world. Becoming motivated and overcoming this anxiety can, in fact, be the first step for you in becoming a fluent Spanish speaker.

Many believe that the older you get, the harder it is to learn a language. It is a common belief that advancement in age can hamper the ability to learn Spanish. There is no doubt that you may have to adjust when learning a different language - however, adults are actually more than capable of learning a language.

The reason why children are believed to be better at learning languages is the simple fact that they haven't developed any mono-language habits. Their minds are open, so they are open to change. However, you can easily break these habits and learn the language you need to! (And don't forget, learning a new language is excellent exercise for your brain)

People do not believe they are capable - When people do something such as trying to learn Spanish, they have to envision themselves doing it, otherwise, they'll be absolutely discouraged.

The simple fact is; most people simply do not believe that they are mentally capable of learning a second language. If people simply believe in themselves - they'll be well on their way to learning how to speak fluent Spanish!

Watching Latino TV and listening to radio stations that speak Spanish is something that practically anybody can do. When you do this, you will be giving yourself the opportunity to grow accustom to the style of the language. This includes the "speed", "pronunciation", and even certain phrases and sayings. You will begin to observe trends, etc.

When you listen, you may want to consider sitting down with a dictionary and trying to decipher some of the words you hear. When you observe that a specific word is spoken often, you may want to look that word up and translate it using your dictionary. You will be able to put sentences, paragraphs, and even full essays together by practicing on a daily basis. You may also want to combine this method with either a Spanish class, or a commercially available product that teaches you Spanish.

4 years of Spanish Studies, and Can't Hold a Conversation?

Most people would agree on the absolute necessity of learning a foreign language in today’s society. But what is the most adequate, most effective way to do it? Here things get a little bit more complicated. Different answers to this question have guided the various methods employed in the language classrooms throughout the years.

If you grew up during the 70s or 80s you’ve probably been studying a second language at least since you were in high school. Studying is the key word here, because most likely, at the time, you used to complain about the fact that, in spite of hours and hours of study, in the end you could not use the language at all.

Well, it is time for you to know that this was not your fault. It was the consequence of a traditional approach to language teaching with an enormous emphasis on grammar. At the time, it was thought that the grammatical rules of a language were its most important aspect. Consequently, students were forced to memorize hundreds of verb tenses and word lists. But they were never taught to use the language.

The writing and reading skills were also given precedence under the traditional method in detriment of the listening and speaking ones. As a result, the overall communicative competence of the students was very poor. Think about this: after several years of studying, let’s say, Spanish, were you able to follow a film or a television program in that language? Did you feel comfortable speaking Spanish? Or did you panic at the thought of having to travel and encountering native speakers? This is what having a poor communicative competence means, and it is typical of ‘traditional’ students.

Later on, you may have decided to attend a language school. There you probably found a radically different approach: you spent hours and hours repeating sentences after the teacher, without even knowing how they were spelled or what the individual words meant. You were told that this was not necessary.

That ‘communicating’ was the important thing. Most likely the motto of the school was that learning a second language was as easy as learning your native one. This is a typical example of the audio-lingual method, a response to the traditional one. Speaking and listening are the skills stressed here, so students almost never write or read. Unfortunately, most of the conversations drilled are not even near to a real conversation with a native speaker. When you as a student are old enough to understand this, it will be almost impossible to be motivated, and who can blame you?

You’ve probably guessed by now that the most comprehensive method to learn a foreign language should be a combination of traditional with new techniques. This approach would try to pay equal attention to and combine the four different skills by, for example, trying to present the grammar in a conversational format. Students also need meaningful activities that correspond to what they do in the real world. In other words, language teaching needs to be oriented towards a context that is relevant for learners, with materials that engage them and make them become active in their learning.

Visit the BestWaytoLearnSpanish.info for more information on their comprehensive language studies program.

Spanish for Children

If you'd like to get your young child started learning foreign languages, head on over to Planet CD-Rom.  They're offering a FREE JumpStart Language CD where kid's can discover:

• French, Japanese, Spanish, and English
• Vocabulary for everyday objects
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• Conversational phrases
• Colors, numbers, and time
• Music and lyrics

All age appropriate for young children.  There were only 31 copies left at the time of this writing, so don't wait!

Free JumpStart Languages CD 


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History of the Spanish Language Part 2

The Spanish language arrived in America first through Cristóbal Colón’s exploratory travels, and then with the rest of colonizers, at the end of the fifteenth century. At this point the Spanish language was already firmly consolidated in the Iberian peninsula. In the “new world”, however, Spanish had yet to be established, and this was done through a process labelled by historians as “hispanización”.

During this period, the southern part of the American continent was a conglomerate of hundreds of different languages and dialects. Moreover, the cultures that the settlers encountered were radically different from the Spanish one. Communication, therefore, was really a challenge in the first stages, and it was done first through gestures and later on through captive natives who acted as interpreters.

The Catholic Church played a fundamental role in the expansion of the Spanish language throughout Latin America. Thus, Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries established schools where they educated and converted into Catholicism most children and teenagers. Of course, this was all done in Spanish, and thus this language started to penetrate little by little in the daily lives of the different indigenous groups.

The evangelization was accompanied by the slow but firm administrative imposition of the Spanish language, which relegated the Amerindian languages to an unprivileged position. This was the inevitable consequence of the cultural and ethnic cleansing imposed by the Spanish Empire to its colonies.

However, there was a two-way flow of cultural and linguistic influence between the colonizers and the colonized. This happened because, in spite of their dominant position, the natives of Spain always constituted a very small minority in the American continent. Thus, there was a constant contact among languages and a progressive mixing among the different populations. This allowed the incorporation of aspects belonging to the pre-Columbian cultures into what would later become American Spanish. African languages, brought by those who were taken to America as slaves, also contributed to the formation of this rich mosaic.

Just listening to the intonation of the different South American Spanish dialects we can see that they are closer to the various native languages than to peninsular Spanish. In terms of vocabulary, two of the most influential languages were the Mexican náhuatl (spoken by the Aztecs) or the Peruvian quechua (spoken by the Incas). These two languages were accepted and spoken by a significant part of the population, and therefore they were used for commerce purposes, even after the arrival of the Spanish conquerors. Examples of words that have been incorporated into American Spanish from these languages are “papa” (potatoe), “cuate” (friend), or “chamaco” (boy).

On the other hand, the characteristics of the Spanish explorers were also heterogeneous, since they came from all over Spain. However, their meeting point before starting their long journey was Seville, in Andalucía, the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Since they stayed a long time while preparing their adventure, they ended up adopting some of the characteristics of the Andalusian dialect. Then they took them to the “new world”. This is why American Spanish shares most of the Spanish pronunciation characteristics with Andalusian Spanish. The most significant one is the phenomenon known as “seseo”, which indicates the fact that the sound “c” (pronounced “th”) is transformed into the sound “s”.

All these factors have made American Spanish the rich and multicultural linguistic variety that it is today.