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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?

Spanish has two r sounds, one of which is called a flap, the other a trill. The rapid pronunciation of tt and dd in the English words Betty and ladder produces a sound similar to the Spanish flap r: the tongue touches the alveolar ridge (behind the upper teeth) once. Although English has no trill, when people imitate a motor, they often produce the Spanish … [ Read more ]

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

Estar is used with adjectives to express temporary conditions or observations that are true at a given moment but that do not describe inherent qualities of the noun. The following adjectives are generally used with estar. Some of them are cognates.

abierto/a – open

aburrido/a – bored

cansado/a – tired

cerrado/a – closed

contento/a – happy

desordenado/a – messy

enfermo/a – sick, ill

furioso/a … [ Read more ]

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

• To identify people and things. (Ella es doctora.)
• To express nationality; with de to express origin. (Son cubanos. Son de la Habana.)
• With de to tell of what material something is made. (El suéter es de lana.)
• With para to tell for whom something is intended. (El regalo es para Sara.)
• To tell time. (Son las once. Es Ia una y media.)
• With de

… [ Read more ]

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

• To tell location. (El libro está en la mesa.)
• To describe health. (Estoy muy bien, gracias.)
• With adjectives that describe conditions. (Estoy muy ocupada.)
• In a number of fixed expressions. ((No) Estoy de acuerdo. Está bien.)

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

Use ¿qué? to mean what? when you are asking for a definition or an explanation. Use ¿cual? To mean what? in all other circumstances.

Que without an accent mark means that or which.

Nouns that refer to male beings and most nouns that end in -o are masculine (masculino) in gender: hombre, libro.
Nouns that refer to female beings and most nouns that … [ Read more ]

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

Ir + a + infinitive is used to describe actions or events in the near future

Van a llegar esta noche. – They’re going to arrive tonight.

Voy a ir de compras esta tarde. – I’m going to go shopping this afternoon.

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

Although all Spanish words of more than one syllable have a stressed vowel, most words do not have a written accent mark. Most words have the spoken stress exactly where native speakers of Spanish would predict it. These two simple rules tell you which syllable is accented when a word does not have a written accent.

• Words that end in a vowel, -n,

… [ Read more ]

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

Prepositions express relationships in time and space. Some common prepositions include a, con, de, en, para, and por. Here are some prepositions that express time relationships:

antes de – before

después de – after

durante – during

hasta – until

The infinitive is the only verb form that can follow a preposition in Spanish.

¿Adónde vas después de estudiar? Where … [ Read more ]

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

The plural of usted is ustedes. In Latin America, as well as in the United States, ustedes also serves as the plural of tú. In Spain (and other parts of the Spanish-speaking world), however, there are two different plural forms for you: ustedes and vosotros/vosotras. Ustedes is used when speaking with two or more persons whom you address individually as usted. Vosotros/vosotras is used when … [ Read more ]

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

Continúe la secuencia: noventa y nueve, cien, ciento uno, …; mil, dos mil, …; un millón, dos millones, …
100 – cien, ciento
101 – ciento uno/una
200 – doscientos/as
300 – trescientos/as
400 – cuatrocientos/as
500 – quinient os/as
600 – seiscientos/as
700 – setecientos/as
800 – ochocientos/as
900 – noveciento s/as
1.000 – mil
2.000 – dos mil
1.000.000 – un millón … [ Read more ]

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