Putting things together. Parte I.
By Os
¡Feliz Año Nuevo gente! = ¡Happy New Year people! I hope you had a Feliz Navidad and everything is all right. ¡Bendiciones=Blessings!
Students and friends always tell me that they don’t know how to put the things together in Spanish. Well, let’s start the year learning that, ok? ¡It’s time to begin linking your words together!
Guys: ¿Do you know how to make a statement in inglés? ¿Do you start the sentence-statement with an action word (verb), with the subject (subject) or with something else (the rest)? Let’s see:
Marcela reads a book at her house.
Marcela = subject;
reads = verb;
a book at her house = the rest.
We walk to the beach in the mornings.
We = subject;
walk = verb;
to the beach in the mornings = the rest.
The cat lives happily because it eats rats.
The cat = subject;
lives = verb;
happily because it eats mice = the rest.
¡Excelente! You do know how to make a statement in inglés. Follow the fórmula:
Subject + Verb + The rest
¿Do you know how to make a statement in espa?
¡Follow the same fórmula! Look:
Subject + Verb + The rest
Marcela (sujeto) + lee (verbo) + un libro en su casa (el resto).
Nosotros (sujeto) + caminamos (verbo) + a la playa en las mañanas (el resto).
El gato (sujeto) + vive (verbo) + felizmente porque él -REMEMBER: in Spanish the cat is a “he”- come ratas (el resto).
It can’t be easier, right? Same as English.
¿Do you know how to make a negative statement in inglés? You need to put “do”, ”does”, ”will”, ”did”, ”would”, or some “ helping guy” like those ones right after the subject, (just for the record, those “helping guys” are called AUXILIARY – HELPING VERBS); then the negation word “not”, then the verb and then “the rest”. Let’s see:
Marcela does not read a book at her house.
Marcela = subject;
does = auxiliary;
not = negation;
read = verb;
a book at her house = the rest.
We do not walk to beach in the mornings.
We = subject;
do = auxiliary;
not = negation;
walk = verb;
to the beach in the mornings = the rest.
The cat does not live happily because it eats rats. (It’s a veggeterian).
The cat = subject;
does = auxiliary;
not = negation;
live = verb;
happily because it eats rats = the rest.
¡Excelente! You do know how to make a negative statement in inglés. Follow the fórmula:
Subject + Auxiliary + Not + Verb + The rest
Spanish is way much easier. ¡No auxiliaries at all! You only need to add the negation word “no” right before the verb. Follow the fórmula:
Subject + No + Verb + The rest
Marcela (sujeto) + no + lee (verbo) + un libro en su casa (el resto).
Nosotros (sujeto) + no + caminamos (verbo) + a la playa en las mañanas (el resto).
El gato (sujeto) + no + vive (verbo) + felizmente porque él come ratas (el resto).
It can’t be easier, right? “No” before the verb.
Guys: ¿Do you know how to make a question in inglés? I hope you do. If not, no worries. We’ll learn that next month. But now let me ask you the same questions I asked you one year ago:
¿What are your Spanish goals for this new year?: to get to a certain level in Spanish? to be fluent? to be able to do your errands? to improve your level (whatever it is)? to have survival or basic language skills? to understand and be understood? to find a Latin lover? Whatever it is…Well… ¡go for it!
I have a New Year’s gift only for those who want to practice or talk Spanish with someone else, JUST practice and talk, talk and practice. You don’t have to leave the comfort of your home… You don’t need to marry a tic@… You shouldn’t even hire me… (Actually you should).
If you fluently speak English (or something else) and are learning Spanish; if you have internet access; if you just wanna speak. ¡Speak now! There are some FREE sites on the web. One of them is “Verbling”. Check this link out: http://www.oscostarica.com/you-just-wanna-speak/
You also can recomend Verbling.com to your tico friends who fluently speak Spanish and are learning English (or something else). ONLY 30 minutes per day. ¡Vamos-come on!
Os is a certified and experienced teacher of español. Call him… you can start to learn NOW. SPANISH PURAVIDA
(506) 88-222-936 www.OsCostaRica.com