Posted by adir ferreira
I know how it feels to have to learn all those conjugation forms by heart… and there are so many exceptions to the rules… blah blah blah.
So, dear reader, to help you learn about the imperative a little more pleasantly, I chose two videos: the first one is Thalia’s Regresa a Mí, where you can learn many regular and irregular imperative forms while you sing along. The verbs you have to pay attention to are: dar – regresar – decir (negative) – tener – dejar – tratar – tomar – decir.
Before JLo started dating Marc Anthony (who, by the way, was married to a Miss Universe!, Sí, estoy muy chismoso hoy), they did a duet singing No Me Ames (Don’t Love Me). Now, try to do the same by finding the imperative form of the following verbs: decir – dudar – amar – dejar – escuchar . Tip: many of them are negative imperative, ok?
Posted by adir ferreira
The most common word for ‘when’ is ‘cuando’, but you can also use the contraction ‘al’ (a + el) to indicate when something happens.
Check out some examples:
Hay error al enviar los mensajes por Outlook. – There is an error when you send messages using Outlook.
Al enterarse de lo que había sucedido, se puso a llorar. – When she found out what had happened, she started crying.
Tiene Ud. que tomar las píldoras al amanecer y al acostarse. – You have to take your pills at dawn and when you go to bed.
Al escuchar el himno nacional, las personas quitaron el sombrero. – On hearing the national anthem, people took off their hats.
Al entrar en el aula, el maestro se dio cuenta de que había pocos alumnos. - As he walked into the classroom, the teacher realized there were few students.
Would you know how to say these sentences (if possible), using the word ‘cuando’? If so, write a comment!
Posted by adir ferreira
The suffix –ado/-ada can mean “-ful” or “-load”. So, a “cucharada” is a “spoonful (cuchara = spoon). Let’s see some more examples.
la barcada - boatload (el barco – boat)
la brazada - armful (el brazo – arm); stroke (in swimming)
la calderada - cauldron full (la caldera - cauldron, boiler)
la camionada - truckload (el camión – truck)
la carretada - wagonload (la carreta - wagon)
la carretillada - wheelbarrow load (la carretilla – wheelbarrow)
la cazolada - potful (el cazo – [cooking] pot, saucepan)
la hornada - oven full, “batch” (el horno – oven)
la lagarada - press full (el lagar – winepress)
la narigada - pinch of snuff (la nariz – nose)
la palada - shovelful (la pala – shovel)
la paletada - trowel full (la paleta – trowel)
la ponchada - punch bowl full, “loads” (el ponche – punch)
el puñado - fistful, handful (el puño – fist)
la sartenada - panful, skillet full (la sartén - frying pan, skillet)
la tonelada - ton, barrelful (el tonel – barrel)
la vagonada - boxcar full (el vagón – boxcar)
la zurronada - bagful (el zurrón - pouch, leather bag)
Nos vemos prontito!
Posted by adir ferreira
OK, so your Spanish teacher taught you that basically words ending in -a take the article “la” and words ending in -o take the article “el”. Right? Not quite. There are words that defy categorization and there is no magic way to learn them other than study and remember their gender. Here’s a little list:
el acorde - chord
el problema - problem
el barniz - varnish
el cobre - copper
el cometa - comet
el mueble - piece of furniture
el pez - fish (living)
el pie - foot
el reloj - clock, wristwatch
el sauce - willow
el taller - workshop
el yate - yacht
la cruz - cross
la flor - flower
la frente - forehead
la gripe – influenza, the flu
la leche - milk
la nave -spaceshift, depot
la nieve - snow
la tos - cough
la ubre - udder
la mano - hand
el sofá - sofa
el tema - theme, topic
la radio - radio
See you next time!
Posted by adir ferreira
I have always used songs in my lessons because I think they’re a fun way to learn. When I teach the subjunctive I always use a song by a Spanish duo, el Dúo Dinámico. They come from a very poor Spanish family (Basque and Aragonese) and are famous all over Spain and South America. One of their songs appears in Pedro Almodóvar’s movie ¡Átame! (Tie me up! Tie me down!). In “Resistiré” there are a lot of verbs used in the subjunctive and let’s try something here: you watch the video and supply the correct form used in the song. As a clue, the verbs are used in time expressions starting with “cuando”. Shall we go for it? Here are the verbs.
perder - dormir -cerrar -dejar -sentir-costar -rebelar -poner -soplar -romper -ser -apuñalar -reconocer - amenazar -salir -pasar
Post your answers and prontito les doy la respuesta.
