Unlike English the vowels in Spanish will be pronounced the same for any word. A as in Apple E as in Elephant I as in Ink O as in Only U as in yoU
Masculine/Feminine words The noun itself isn’t actually masculine or feminine, it’s the word that decides it. Words with a feminine ending will require a “La/Una” when referring to it. -a (with a few exceptions [Agua]) -ión -idad These are all feminine endings
Many words that end in -tion in english will turn into -ción in Spanish. Then the -ción can be dropped to place an R at the last vowel and you will likely have a verb. Ex.)Confrontation/Confrontación/Confrontar
Lots of words that end in -ity in English will turn into -idad in Spanish Ex.) Reality/Realidad Creativity/Creatividad
Words that end in -ary will change to -ario Ex.) Necessary → Necessario
Deber - to owe (Think Debt) can translate more closely as “Must” Just like in English you might say “Tengo que ver la” I have to see her or “Debo ver la” I Must see her
Tener - “to have” Can change to meaning “I have to” by placing “Que” after “Tengo que comer” I have to eat. can also loosely be translated as “tain” as the compound for some English words like: Contain → Contener (Contengo/I contain, Contienes/you contain) Obtain → Obtengo (I obtain)
Poner - “to put” (also irregular, Pongo) can loosely translate in English as “pose” Ex.) To compose → Componer (Compongo/I compose) Suppose → Suponer (Supongo/I suppose) “Supongo que sí” “I suppose so To Impose → Imponer To expose → Exponer To Oppose → Oponer (Lo opongo/I oppose it)
Splitting Vowels (When the stress is places on an E or an O) Port → Puerto Corp(Body) → Cuerpo Force → Fuerza School → Escuela Innovative(Nov) → (new) Nuevo Population → Población→ Pueblo Dormir → Duermo
Adding “Me” to common verbs like voy y duermo
Starts with an AL? With a few exceptions it will be from Arabic. South Spain had a lot of contact with Arabic world
Ends with MA? It’s actually masculine and Greek
There can’t be words that start ‘St’ or ‘Sp’ in Spanish. This is why we have Estado, España, Espacio, Estudiante
SER vs. ESTAR Ser is for characteristics Estar is for states (The word literally stems from it) State → Estado → Estar
How is he? → Como está? (Refto state) What is he like?(Characteristic)→ Como es?
Aburrido vs Bored/Boring One is a characteristic, one is a state in English, 2 words In Spanish it’s 1 word you choose with Ser/Estar
The -ing form in English is overused -ando/-iendo in Spanish is used for right then at the moment. “I’m preparing it tomorrow” → “Lo preparo mañana” “Estoy preparando lo” → I am preparing it now
Me doy cuenta → I realize (I give myself account)
English adjectives with -ing
When we use -ing to make an adjective in English (Interesting, Irritating, frustrating) (Viviente[Living]) it will become -ante for -ar verbs and -iente for Ir/Er verbs
Prepositions
Depends ‘ON’ → Dopends ‘of’ “Depende de
La significa de palabras especiales es más diferente. Por ejemplo: Actual = Current en español.
“Mi trabajo actual” → My current job “Estoy trabajando.. actualmente → I’m working currently
Days of the week are named after planets!? Monday - Moonday → Lunes Tuesday - Martes → Mars Wednesday - Miércoles → Mercury Thursday - Jueves → Jupiter Friday - Viernes → Venus
ANY form of ‘Haber’ = -ido/ado after
After Prepositions you don’t need -ing(ando) Just use the base form Sin parar > sin parando (without stopping)
PAST TENSE • FORM Ar + Er/Ir verbs
Hablar = ar Comer = er/ir
| Hablar | Comer |
|---|---|
| Hablé | Comí |
| Habló | Comió |
| Hablamos | Comimos |
Dar is the only exception. It behaves as er/ir Dí Dió Dimos
Par is a root for pairing Un par de zapatos Parar is like pairing two ends of time to stop Pre-parar - before pairing Re-parar - bring together again Com-parar - with pairing Separar - cut pairing
Interaction with Line and Dot past tense Me parecía bien pero cuando lo ví, no me gustó
Spanish uses way less possessives than English. I responded to her mail → se lo respondí a ella
Ese hombre, esta noche, y por una cosa indirecta, es eso y esto
Writing in Spanish
Accent marks are used in a lot of different words for 1 of 2 reasons.
-
The accent marks indicate stress So for all verbs, the accent is on the pen-ultimate syllable, but for past tense, it’s on the end
-
To indicate different meanings in homophones
Sí as yes - si as if Sé in “I know” - Se in verb action Dónde in question - Donde in statement Dónde está - este es el lugar donde nos conocimos Está in state - Esta in “this” Cómo in how - Como in like
Lo que is how “What” is written. When it isn’t a question