37 Posts found for Author: Hildebrando Villarrea

• When used with an infinitive, empezar (to begin) is followed by a.

Uds. empiezan a hablar muy bien el español. – You’re beginning to speak Spanish very well.

• When used with an infinitive, volver (to return) is also followed by a. The phrase then means to do (something) again.

¿Cuando vuelves a jugar al tenis? – When are you going

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

In both English and Spanish, conjugated verb forms also indicate the time or tense (el tiempo) of the action: I speak (present), I spoke (past).

The present tense forms of Spanish verbs correspond to three English equivalents.

Hablo: I speak (simple present tense); I am speaking (present progressive to indicate an action in progress); I will speak (near future action)

Note that another … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

¿Qué tiempo hace hoy?

Here are some colorful expressions for commenting on the weather.

• Llueve a cãntaros. It’s raining cats and dogs (lit., raining jugfuls).
• Estoy calado/a hasta los huesos. I’m soaking wet (lit., soaked to the bones).
• Hace un frio/calor de morirse. It’s extremely cold/hot (lit., so cold/hot you could die).
• Hace un frio/calor espantoso. It’s awfully (frightfully) cold/hot.

[ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

A Spanish sentence is made negative by placing the word no before the conjugated verb. There is no Spanish equivalent for the English words do or does in negative sentences.

El señor no habla inglés. The man doesn’t speak English.
No, no necesitamos dinero. No, we don’t need money.

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy? What is today’s date?
(Hoy) Es el primero de abril. (Today) It is the first of April.
(Hoy) Es el cinco de febrero. (Today) It is the fifth of February.

• The ordinal number primero is used to express the first day of the month. Cardinal numbers (dos, ties, and so on) are used for other days.
• The

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

There is no Spanish equivalent to English do or does in questions. (e.g., Ud. trabaja acquí todos los dias. – You work here every day; ¿Ud. trabaja acquí todos los dias? – Do you work here every day?)

Another way to form yes/no questions is to invert the order of the subject and verb, in addition to making your voice rise at the end … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

In Spanish, the letter g followed by e or i has the same sound as the letter j followed by any vowel: [x]. It is similar to the English h, although in some dialects is pronounced with a harder sound.

 
jamón, jota, jugo

general
jersey

gigante
jirafa

As you know, the letter g has another … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

Here are some basic language functions of set.

• To identify people and things

Yo soy estudiante.
La doctora Ramos es profesora.
Alicia y yo somos amigas.
Esto es un libro.

• To describe people and things*

Soy sentimental. – I’m sentimental (a sentimental person).
El coche es muy viejo. – The car is very

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

cerca de – close to

lejos de – far from

delante de – in front of

detrás de – behind

debajo de – below

encima de – on top of

al lado de – alongside of

entre – between, among

al este/oestenorte/sur de – to the east/west/north/south of

In Spanish, the pronouns that serve as object of prepositions are identical to the subject pronouns, … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

Note that telephone numbers in many Hispanic countries are written and said slightly differently than in the United States. Here is one model for asking for and giving phone numbers.

MODELO

El: ¿Cual es tu (número de) telefono?
E2: Es el cuatro, treinta y tres, veintiocho, veintiuno.

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

Many English verbs that describe parts of one’s daily routine–to get up, to take a bath, and so on–are expressed in Spanish with a reflexive construction: I take a bath — me baño (literally, I bathe myself). In this section you will learn to use reflexive pronouns, as well as other verbs that are used reflexively, to talk about your daily routine.

In Spanish, … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

As you have probably noticed, adjectives do not always precede the noun in Spanish as they do in English. Note the following rules for adjective placement.

• Adjectives of quantity like numbers, precede the noun, as do the interrogatives

¿cuanto/a? and ¿cuantos/as?.
Hay muchas sillas y dos escritorios. – There are many chairs and two desks.
Busco otro[1]

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

 
Unequal Comparisons
Equal Comparisons

with adjectives or adverbs
más/menos ____ que
tan ____ como

with nouns
más/menos ____ que
tanto/a/os/as ____ como

with verbs
____ más/menos que
____ tanto como

Regular Comparisons of Adjectives
The comparative (el comparativo) of most English adjectives is formed by using the adverbs more or less (more intelligent, … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

The demonstrative adjective this/these has four forms in Spanish. Learn to recognize them when you see them.

este coche – this car

estos coches – these cars

esta casa – this house

estas casas – these houses

You have already seen the neuter demonstrative esto. It refers to something that is as yet unidentified: ¿Que es esto?

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

this – este libro
that – ese libro, aquel libro alli
these – estos libros
those – esos libros, aquellos libros alli

Demonstrative adjectives (los adjetivos demostrativos) are used to point out or indicate a specific noun or nouns. In Spanish, demonstrative adjectives precede the nouns they modify. They also agree in number and gender with the nouns.

• There are two ways to

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

You already know that cognates are words that are similar in form and meaning from one language to another: for example, English poet and Spanish poeta. The endings of many Spanish words correspond to English word endings according to fixed patterns. Learning to recognize these patterns will increase the number of close and not-so-close cognates that you can recognize.

-dad ⇒ -ly

-mente ⇒ … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?

To talk about all aspects of the past in Spanish, you need to know how to use two simple tenses (tenses formed without an auxiliary or “helping” verb): the preterite and the imperfect.

The preterite (el pretérito) has several equivalents in English. For example, hablé can mean I spoke or I did speak. The preterite is used to report finished, completed actions or states … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ana María Pérez-Gironés, Hildebrando Villarrea, Marty Knorre, Thalia Dorwick, William R. Glass | Subject: ¿Qué Tal?