Archive for the ‘Free Lessons’ Category

The following lesson was pulled from THIS VIDEO.

3 Requirements for Subjunctive to be present:

1. There must be two DIFFERENT subjects
2. There must be two different verbs (one with each subject); one in indicative, one in subjunctive
3. There must be a relative pronoun to link the two clauses (que, quien, como)

W.E.I.R.D.O.

W = Wishes (wants, demands, desires, expectations, orders, preferences)

• Espero que me compre un collar de diamantes.  (I hope that he buys me a diamond necklace.)

E = Emotions (annoyed, angry, happy, regretful, sad, scared, surprised)

• Me allegro de que sonrías. (It makes me happy that you smile.)
• Estoy enojado de que el tren llegara tarde.  (I am mad that the train arrived late.)

I = Impersonal observations (opinions à  Es + ____ + que + Subject + Verb)

• EXCEPTIONS = Es verdad que; Es cierto que; Es hecho que
• Es incredible que los guepardos corran tan rápidamente. (It’s incredible that cheetahs run so fast.)
• Es importante que llames a tu abuela pos u cumpeaños. (It’s important that you call your grandmother for her birthday.)
• See more examples below.

R = Recommendations (suggestions, wants, requests, begs)

• Recomiendo que lleves un casco.  (I recommend that you wear a helmet.)
• Mi madre me aconseja que coma todo el brécol.  (My mother advises me to eat all the broccoli.)

D = Doubt/Denial or Uncertainty – to question reality

• No creen que los extraterrestres existan.  (They don’t believe that aliens exist.)
• Dudo que me llamare.  (I doubt that he will call me.)

O = Ojalá

• Ojalá (que) ellos lleguen temprano.  (God willing they will arrive early.)
• Ojalá que venga el padre Noel.  (I hope Santa Claus comes.)
• ¡Ojalá llueva!  (I hope/God willing that it will rain.)

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Marcus Santamaria, from Shortcut to Spanish, has provided a free quick lesson that is an introduction to his system.

 

For more great beginner Spanish lessons from Marcus, you should check out his course Shortcut to Spanish!

 

Muñeca Brava - 44 El encuentro Part 2 of 10
Yago - 2 El puma Part 7 of 9

We really hope that you never find yourself hanging upside down in a hunter's trap in the middle of the jungle. However, since a problem might aways be a la vuelta de la esquina (around the corner), words such as iayuda!, ¡auxilio! and ¡socorro! (all of them equivalent to “help!”) merit inclusion in every Spanish learner’s basic kit. With the appropriate intonation and volume, these words can make the difference for you in a difficult situation just like they did for Morena:

¡Socorro! ¡Socorro! ¡Sáquenme!
Help! Help! Get me out!
Caption 13, Yago: El puma - Part 7 of 9 

By the way, note that the word Socorro is also used as a female name in Spanish:

¿Usted por qué me dijo que Socorro estaba embarazada? -Porque está embarazada.
Why did you tell me that Socorro was pregnant? -Because she is pregnant.
Caption 54, Muñeca Brava: El encuentro - Part 2 of 3

So, if you decide to use socorro to ask for help, just be sure to use the proper intonation… You don’t want people to believe that you are simply looking for your dear friend, Socorro.

Why Spanish verb charts cause failure

Here’s the easy road to Spanish verb mastery.

I call this the Sideways Approach. It’s a tiny twist that takes difficult Spanish verbs and makes them simple.

In Spanish the verbs are not the same as in English. For most students this grinds their Spanish to a screeching halt.

Here’s how to shortcut all the intimidating grammar rules and slice through the conjugation charts.

With a simple sideways turn to the verbs anyone can dominate this language no matter their age or background.

Here is a typical verb chart:

Ar verbs Er Verbs IR verbs

Hablar comer vivir

Yo Hablo yo como yo vivo

Tu Hablas tu comes tu vives

Usted Habla usted come usted vive

El/ella habla el/ella come el/ella vive

Nosotros(as) Hablamos nosotros(as)comemos nosotros(as)vivimos

Ustedes Hablan ustedes comen ustedes viven

Ello(as) hablan ellos(as) comen ellos(as) comen

I guess it’s OK as a reference tool. Except for the overuse of pronouns, especially yo. I’ll tell you why yo is so bad en un momento.

However, that chart as a foundation to speaking Spanish in real situations, making friends, doing business or pursuing a romance…

Olvídalo! (Forget it!)

Here’s what’s wrong…

If you rely on the chart you’ll always be at the mercy of the chart before you can speak.

Imagine if you had to stop and think about theory before you spoke in English.

…………..…Imagine if……………………………………………………….. you had………………to stop and………………………………….think about a bunch of theory before……………………………………………you spoke in English

That’s how most teachers train you to speak Spanish.

It’s no wonder the majority of students struggle, month after month… and many give up before they reach anything close to fluency.

Fortunately there is an easier way.

All you do is turn the verbs sideways.

Let’s turn the chart sideways and take a look at the first person pattern. That’s the one you use to talk about what you do.

Yo hablo

Yo como

Yo vivo

Now lets get rid of the pronoun yo. Spanish speakers mostly use yo for emphasis. Do you really want to go around emphasizing yourself?

(Yo, yo, yo, I, I, I, me, me, me) It’s not a good look. (It’s all about me!)

So let’s ditch yo.

Hablo

Como

vivo

Notice anything?

Let’s make it a bit easier.

HablO

ComO

VivO

Look at that!

All the first person verbs end in then letter “O”

Hablo = I speak

Como = I eat

Vivo = I live

All of a sudden something big and intimidating becomes an easy and manageable pattern. Can you understand these phrases?

Hablo español con mi amigo Francisco.

No como chile.

Vivo en Argentina.

Hablo con muchas personas en Facebook.

Vivo en México pero no como chile.

It’s that easy to bring life to Spanish verbs.

The exciting thing is it doesn’t take many of these sideways patterns to start speaking great Spanish.

Get a handful of them under you belt and the language will suddenly open up for you. You’ll quickly speak Spanish that delights your amigos.

One more very important point…

Even though we eliminated the fear of verbs, just reading this lesson can be a bid dry and dull.

Hearing and using the language is when things become vibrant and lively.

That’s why I have prepared this audio lesson for you.

Click HERE to visit Synergy Spanish.

El Ausente - Acto 1 Part 1 of 8

Mexicans are a friendly and warm people, and, in the first episode of the movie El Ausente, we find some friendly expressions that you may like to learn.  For example, note that famous actor Luis Aguilar says to his ahijado (godson), ¿Qué hubo, mijo? Throughout the Spanish speaking world, mijo is a common contraction of mi hijo (my son), which is not only used by parents but also by older people to address younger people in a friendly way.   And what about “¿Qué hubo?,” which is usually said in such a contracted manner that it is sometimes written “¿Q’hubo?” Though it literally translates to “What was there?” — what it really means is “What’s up?,” “What’s happening?,” “What’s shaking?,” etc. etc. (The expression can be heard in many other Latin American countries as well, Colombia in particular.)   In the next line of dialogue we find another popular form of friendly address, compadre:   ¿Qué hubo, compadre? -¿Cómo está, compadre? What's up, my friend? -How are you, my friend? Caption 11, El Ausente Acto 1: Part 1/8   The word compadre means co-parent or godparent. Your compadre or comadre is the person who is the godfather/godmother of one of your children and consequently a very close friend. By extension, Mexicans (as well as other Latin Americans and some Spaniards, particularly in the south of Spain) also use the expression as a synonym of amigo (friend). In the movie, the two characters literally are compadres (father and godfather), and respectfully address each other as such.    The same character also uses the word mano, a contraction of hermano (“brother”) that, just as in English, can be used to address our best amigos.   ¡Claro, mano! No más acuérdate, nada de ejercicio. Sure, bro! Just remember, no exercise.  Caption 26, El Ausente Acto 1: Part 1/8   There is yet another typical friendly expression that appears in the movie. Expect to hear it wherever Spanish is spoken:   Bien hecho, doctor. Está usted en su casa. Well done, Doctor. Please feel at home. Caption 11, El Ausente Acto 1: Part 1/8   You could also find this expression in the form of mi casa es tu casa (“my house is your house”) or bienvenido a tu casa (“welcome to your house”). LoMásTv subscribers: note that you have heard talk of this from our "Chilango" friends.    Bueno, compadres, let's take a hint from our Mexican friends and make every conversation a friendly one!   Further Study:   The short form of compadre is compa, which translates to something like "buddy" or "pal" (or, in Spain, stands in for compañero, and is a friendly way to address a co-worker). LoMásTv subscribers can hear it in these videos: http://lomastv.com/videos.php?query=compa   Afraid someone might ask you to be a padrino (godparent)? Click here for a lowdown on what the tradition of compadrazgo (godparenthood) could mean for you!  

Synergy Spanish Systems

Frustration Free Spanish Learning System

Synergy Spanish Systems

Frustration Free Spanish Learning System

Uses of the ‘se’ pronoun in Spanish

Remember that the ‘se’ form of the indirect object pronoun can either refer to a third person singular or plural when both (direct and indirect object) pronouns are used.

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via Ser – to be.

Present Indicative	ImperfectIndicative	Past SimpleIndicative
soy ereses somos sois son	eraeras era éramos érais eran	fuifuiste fui fuimos fuisteis fueron
FutureIndicative	Conditional	Imperative
seréserás será seremos seréis serán	seríaserías sería seríamos seríais serían	–¡sé! ¡sea! ¡seamos! ¡sed! ¡sean!
PresentSubjunctive	ImperfectSubjunctive	FutureSubjunctive
seaseas sea seamos seáis sean	fuese (fuera) fueses fuese fuésemos fueseis fuesen	fuere fueresfuere fuéremos fuereis fueren
Gerund	Past Participle
siendo	sido

This lesson will help you understand the irregular verbs in Spanish, and enables you to use real examples shown below. If you have any question let us know by clicking on the “Contact us” button, this lesson is very important since it covers a very widely used element in Spanish which is the irregular verb.

In Spanish there are regular, semiregular and irregular verbs. We already know regular verbs. Semiregular verbs are verbs having slight modifications in their spelling, just so that they can sound phonetically easy to pronounce, like the verb pagar (to pay) yo pago (I pay), in the past instead of writing yo pagé, we added a (u) after the g so that it would still sound [g] like in pago I bought= yo pagué, and not like [j] if we wrote pagé. Irregular verbs are verbs which don’t follow standard rules of conjugation in the different verb tenses. The bad news is that they’re the most used verbs. So you need to focus on them more, the good news is that you can become familiar with them easily. We will deal with semiregular and irregular as a one subject, because semiregular verbs are considered somehow irregular too.

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