Do you want to learn Spanish on the Tenerife Forum?

[Mike in Chayofa]

Una lengua fácil – an easy language

(OOna_LENgwah FAHthil)

OK .. the capital letters are where the stress is and a ‘_’ means that you run one word into the next. One of the problems of listening to Spanish speaking people is deciding where one word finishes and the next one starts. You do it instinctively in English ….. I’vejustseenBill

I hope that you find this useful and also entertaining. Learning a language is never easy, but Spanish is easier than most. If you have ever listened to any music or watched any films, you will be amazed at how much Spanish you already know:

adios amigo fiesta señorita hasta luego siesta etc

You have also probably come across:

buenos días buenas noches gracias tapas por favor vino etc

There are words used in English that have been imported from the Spanish language:

lasso (bow, knot) mosquito (little fly) patio (courtyard) vamoose (let’s go)

To make things even easier for you, because Spanish is derived from Latin and 60% of English is too, you will find that a lot of words are very similar:

aeropuerto banco restaurante hospital tenis música televisión guitarra

Don’t we know a lot already!

As a matter of interest, in Spanish there will always be an upside-down exclamation mark at the beginning of the sentence and a question will have an upside-down question mark at the beginning as well as at the end of the question … it makes sense if you think about it.

If you are not working on a Spanish keyboard, I’m afraid that some of the punctuation may appear as gobbledygook. If this happens, I’m sure that if you post a message, someone will be able to answer your problems.

On a non-Spanish keyboard, the following keys should give you the punctuation that you need:

á é í ó ú – to get the accute accent, press … control, the apostrophe sign and then the letter that you want to accent.

ñ (n tilde) … press control, shift, the tilde symbol and then the letter n

¿ (upside-down question mark) … press Alt, control, shift and then your regular question mark symbol.

¡ (upside-down exclamation mark) … press Alt, control, shift and then your regular exclamation mark symbol.


Before we start to learn new words and start speaking Spanish, we need to know how to pronounce those words … here’s the boring bit:

You will find that on Tenerife, you actually come across very few ‘tinerfeños’ (teenerFENyos) and that you will hear all sorts of different pronunciations, and indeed different words used to describe the same thing, depending on whether the person is from one of the islands, from the mainland or from Latin America, so what follows is Castillian (which should be the norm):

There are (arguably) 26 letters in the Spanish alphabet.

There is an extra letter than in English, which is ñ and comes between n and o.

Technically, there is no w – although it is in use because of imported words eg wáter, whisky

For the last ten years or so, to bring Spanish into line with European spelling norms, CH and LL are no longer treated as separate letters – although it’s probably a good idea to keep in mind that they used to be.

(With one or two exceptions) Spanish is spelled as it is pronounced. The general rule is: one sound per letter, and one letter per sound.

I am going to list the Spanish alphabet and its pronunciation on a separate sheet. I will assume that you know how to copy and paste anything from this forum onto a new ‘Word’ document, but if you want to receive anything as an attachment on a regular email – let me know.

I will try to keep the boring bits to a minimum. The easiest way to learn a new language is to surround yourself with native speakers continually, so that you have to learn it. This is not usually an option for most of us, so I’m afraid that there will be a bit of work to do.
There is always a temptation to rush and proceed. Make sure that you are comfortable and fully understand one section before moving on to the next.

Good luck. Let me know how you get on.

Mike

[Mike in Chayofa]

Spanish alphabet

Vowels:

a as in cat casa (house) patata (potato)

e as in get este (this)

i as in mean or machine pino (pine) disco (record)

o as in not or cot ocho (eight)

u as in too or rule lunes (Monday) fruta (fruit).
An unstressed ‘u’ between a consonant and a vowel is
pronounced like ‘w’ in well. huevo (egg and other meanings!)
It is silent after ‘q’ unless it is marked qü, when it is again pronounced like w in well or wolf.
antigüedad (antiquity, antique, seniority)

To get your mouth moving, practice saying the vowels and become aware of the mouth and facial movements: ah .. eh .. ee oh.. oo

Consonants:

b similar to English. Try saying ‘boy’ but with the lips not quite meeting and with no
exhalation.

c before a, o, or u is pronounced as in cat or cup, como (like)
before e or I is pronounced like ‘th’ as in thin. centro (centre) cine (cinema).
Depending on the origin of the speaker, thgis may be pronounced as an ‘s’

ch No longer a separate letter, but it is pronounced as in chair. chiste (joke, funny story)

d At the beginning of a word or after l or n it is similar to English.
In any other position it is softer. Bring your tongue forward to touch the back of your
front teeth as if to say the th in the, but change the sound to a ‘d’. ciudad (town,city)

f As in English

g Before a, o or u or at the beginning of a word, is pronounced as in gap or gate.
gracias (thank you) gafas (glasses)
In other positions it is softened. Paga (payment, pay, wages)

ge,gi Like the ch in Scottish loch. gente (people) region (region)

h Is always silent. hablar (to speak, talk) hospital (hospital)

j Always like the ch in Scottish loch. trabajar (to work) jugar (to play)

k As in English.

l As in English

ll No longer a separate letter, but it is pronounced like the ‘lli’ in million (almost like a ‘y’)
apellido (surname) talle (size)

m As in English

n As in English

ñ As in the ‘ni’ in onion or the ‘ny’ in canyon. España (Spain) niño (young boy)

p As in English.

q As in king. ¿qué? (what?)

r,rr R is always pronounced in Spanish. It has a ‘flapping’ sound. Try saying ‘round’ but bring
your tongue forward to the back of your front teeth. quitar (to remove, take away)
rr and r at the beginning of a work is produced in the same way but with more force and
has a ‘rattling’ sound. Correos (post office)

s Is usually pronounced as in ‘pass’. quizás (perhaps, maybe)
Before b, d, g, l, m or n it is pronounced as in ‘rose’. isla (island)

t As in English.

v Pronounced like a Spanish ‘b’ (see above), vamos a ver (let’s see)

w Doesn’t actually appear in the Spanish alphabet and Spanish people have difficulty with
this letter. You will hear all sorts of pronunciations because it is used for words ‘imported’ from another language. It is either pronounced like a Spanish ‘b’ wáter (lavatory) or an
English ‘w’ whiskey.

x As in the English ‘toxin’. tóxico (toxic, poison)

y On its own or at the end of a word, sounds like ‘ee’ in see. y (and) hay (there is).
When not at the end of a word it sounds like the ‘y’ in yes. bien (good) playa (beach)

z Is pronounced as ‘th’ in thin but depending on the persons origin it may be pronounced
as ‘s’ in sin (this is becoming the most popular). There is no ‘hard and fast’ rule.
You will nearly always hear tenaz pronounced ‘tenath’, but Guaza is always ‘Gwassa’.
plaza (square) is sometimes platha and sometimes plassa – take your pick!



Dipthongs

ai, ay As in ‘I’ in ride. baile (dance)

au As in ‘ou’ in shout. auto (car)

ei, ey As in ‘ey’ in grey. buey (ox)

eu Both elements pronounced independently (e) + (u). deuda (debt)

oi, oy As in ‘oy’ in toy. hoy (today, now)

[Mike in Chayofa]

Stress


The rules for stress in Spanish are:


If a word ends in a vowel or in ‘n’ or ‘s’, the next to the last syllable is stressed.

patAta patAtas cOme cOmen



If a word ends in a consonant other than ‘n’ or ‘s’, the stress falls on the last syllable.

parEd hablAr


If the above rules do not apply, an acute accent appears over the stressed vowel

común geografía inglés azúcar montón



Palabras indispensables - Essential words

You are going to need the following common words all the time – learn them now!

y and

a to

de of, from

en in, on, at

o or

pero but

[KirstyJay]

Thanks for that Mike, very informative. I've been trying to figure out what exactly people were saying when they said 'vamos a ver'. I had a vague idea of what it meant and how to use it, but I thought it was one word - 'aver' rather than 'a ver'. It's all a lot clearer now!

[Mike in Chayofa]

Introducing yourself


OK – let’s go. You need a good dictionary. The sooner, the better.

In the ‘how to say’ bit, I have used a ‘_’ to indicate where one word will run into the next.

¡Hola! (ola) Hello!

Buenos días (bWENos_DEEas) Good morning.

¿Qué tal? (kEh_Tal) or ¿Cómo estás? (cOMoh_estAS) How are you?

Muy bien (mWEE_beeEn) Very well

Me llamo Mike (meh_YAMoh … whatever) My name is …. Or…
Soy Mike (soy … ) literally - I am Mike

Mi nombre es Mike, y mi apellido es Smith (mee_NOMbreh_es xxx ee_mee_appelYeedoh es xxx) My name is xxx and my surname is xxx

(Yo) soy médico (médica if you are female) (yOH_soy MEDicoh) I am a doctor.

No, no soy médico, soy el profesor (profesora if female) de español
(nOH, nOH_soy_MEDicoh, soy el_profeSOR_deh espanYOL)
No, I am not a doctor, I am the Spanish teacher.

¿Cómo te llamas? (cOMoh_teh_YAMas) What is your name?

¿De dónde eres (tú)? (de_DOndeh_eres) Where are you from?

(Yo) soy de Manchester. Soy inglés (inglesa if you are female) … look at your rules of
emphasis to see if you can work out why there is an accent on ‘inglés’ and not on ‘inglesa’
(soy-deh xxxx. Soy_eengLES or soy eengLESSA)
I am from xxx. I am English

¿Y tú? (ee-too) and you?



OK – a few things that we have learned (explanations will follow in the future, you just need to be aware of certain things for the time being).

Words describing nationality, months of the year, days of the week etc do not start with a capital letter.

You will notice that I have said … (yo) soy … which means ‘I am’. ‘yo’ is the personal pronoun that indicates ‘I’, but ‘soy’ can only refer to ‘I’ so whether you put it in or leave it out, doesn’t make any difference. We will cover this shortly.

Similarly ‘tú’ means ‘you´ – in a familiar way, but again ‘eres’ has got to refer to the 2nd person singular … oh my goodness … take my word for it for the time being – it will all become clear over the next week or so.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine, whether referring to people, animals or things. Nouns denoting male people and animals are usually – but not always – masculine

Un hombre – a man
Un toro – a bull
Un enfermero – a (male) nurse

Nouns denoting female people and animals are usually – but not always – female.

Una niña – a girl
Una vaca – a cow
Una enfermera – a (female nurse)

‘Things’ in Spanish are either masculine or feminine and the gender is largely unpredictable.

Fortunately, the ending of a noun will often indicate its gender

Masculine endings:

- O un libro (a book), el supermercado (the supermarket) – notice I slipped an ‘el’ in there?

EXCEPTIONS: una mano (hand), una foto (photograph), la radio (the radio). There are more.

- L un hotel etc

- R un tractor etc

- Y el rey etc


Female endings:

- a una casa (a house), la cara (the face), la oficina (the office)
EXCEPTIONS: el día, el mapa, el planeta, el problema

- ion una canción (a song),

- dad una ciudad (a town, city)

- tad la libertad (freedom)

- tud una multitud (a crowd)

- ed una pared (a wall), la sed (thirst)

- itis una faringitis (pharyngitis)

- iz una perdiz (a partridge)

- sis una tesis (a thesis)

- umbre la muchedumbre (crowd)


Some nouns keep the same basic word and just change the ending.

Did you notice above that a male nurse was un enfermero and a female nurse was una enfermera.

There’s loads like this:

A (male) doctor – un médico
A (female) doctor – una médica

A (male) lawyer – un abogado
A (female) lawyer – una abogada etc etc


Some nouns are masculine or feminine depending on the sex of the person to which they refer:

Un camarada Una camarada
A (male) comrade a (female)comrade

Un belga Una belga
A Belgian (man) A Belgian (woman)


Other nouns referring to either men or women have only one gender that applies to both:

Una persona a person

Una visita a visitor

Una víctima a victim

There are some nouns that actually change their meaning according to gender – we will worry about that at a later date.

Well – we have covered an awful lot, so far. The most important bit is the speaking at the top of the page. Also try to pull out the words in the rest that you think you will find useful – write them down and practice them.

The rest of the ‘theory’ you only need to be aware of at this point. It will fall into place in the future.

[Mike in Chayofa]

In the previous posting about introducing yourself, we came across a couple of verbs – so let’s talk about them …verbs in general that is.

I can tell that a couple of you have already gone into shock – do not worry.

Although this is long, most of what I am going to say, you already know – but as a native English speaker, you just don’t realize it. There is an important verb that you need to learn right at the bottom, but the rest of this is just by way of explanation.

Verbs have many different tenses. You will know that there is the present tense, the future tense and the past tense, but this is a simplification.

I am going to write a few sentences below using a few different tenses of the English verb ‘to walk’. We don’t need to know the names of these tenses at this point.

Imagine that you have met a non native English speaker in the street and he uses just the word walk instead of the correct part of the verb. Although it would not be technically correct, you would understand exactly what he was trying to tell you because of the location, situation etc. The same applies in Spanish. For the time being we will use the simple present tense and Spanish people will know what you mean.

I walk every day.
I am walking to the bank.
Tomorrow, I will walk to the shops.
Tomorrow, I will have to walk to the shops because my car has broken down.
Yesterday, I walked to Los Cristianos.
I have walked along this street before.
Whilst I was walking to the beach, I met a friend.
I will have walked along here every day this week.
After I had walked there, I had a sit down.
I have had to walk because there was no taxis.
I would have had to have walked if you hadn’t picked me up.

OK … OK … the last one is a bit over the top, but you get my drift. There also tenses that I can’t just think of at the moment, but generally, if you use the simple present, you will still be understood.

Let’s go back to our verb ‘to walk’. The simple present in English is:

I walk 1st person singular
You walk 2nd person singular
He/she or it walks 3rd person singular

We walk 1st person plural
You (plural) walk 2nd person plural
They walk 3rd person plural

Because of the way that verbs work in English, you can’t just say ‘walk’ because you don’t know the person that it refers to. Indeed ‘walk’ is actually the imperative of the verb – but let’s not go there for the time being.

In most other languages (including Spanish) verbs to not work in this way, but fortunately they do have a pattern to them – which we will do in a couple of days time.

The next bit is so easy to explain ‘face-to-face’ but very difficult to write down.

If you look at the conjugation of our verb ‘to walk’, in Spanish we won’t have an ‘it’ … because all nouns are either masculine or feminine.

We do however have more ‘you’s’.

The 2nd person singular (tú) and the 2nd person plural (vosotros – if it’s masculine and vosotras if it’s feminine) … see below … are the familiar ‘you’s’. There are used to address family, friends and people of an equal status.

There are also formal ‘you’s’ which you use to address people in a formal manner, people that you don’t know, officialdom etc etc – if in doubt, it’s safer to use these, so as not to cause offence.

The singular formal ‘you’ is usted (often abbreviated to Vd) and is formed with the 3rd person singular of the verb.

The plural formal ‘you’ is ustedes (often abbreviated to Vds) and is formed with the 3rd person plural of the verb.

We aren’t going to get into verbs just at the moment, but just to let you see how it works, here is the present tense of out verb ‘to walk’ - andar

yo ando 1st person I

tú andas 2nd person you (singular, familiar)

él/ella/usted anda 3rd person he/she/you (formal)


nosotros/as andamos 1st person plural we

vosotos/as andáis 2nd person plural you (plural, familiar)

ellos/ellas/ustedes andan 3rd person plural they (masc), they (fem)
you (plural, formal)

Now – I know that you want to get on with some more speaking, so we will concentrate on that in the next unit. Before that though, I want you to learn the verb ser (to be).

There are (unfortunately) two verbs in Spanish for to ‘be’ … and they aren’t interchangeable.

Ser is the verb ‘to be’ when you express:

1) identity … soy Mike … I am Mike

2) origin or nationality … él es de Manchester … he is from Manchester

3) permanent quality or characteristics that won’t change
la playa es grande …. the beach is big

4) occupation … él es médico … he is a doctor

5) possession … ese libro es de Mike … that book is Mike’s

6) the material from which something is made
la mesa es de madera … the table is made of wood

7) expressions of time
es la una y media … it’s half past one
mañana es domingo … tomorrow is Sunday

8) most ‘impersonal’ expressions
es mejor levantarse temprano … it’s better to get up early

9) to form the passive voice – we won’t get into that at this point.

(You could practice some of these expressions at an appropriate time and impress your friends!)

SER
(It isn’t a ‘regular’ verb and doesn’t follow a pattern like most Spanish verbs – you need to learn it)

yo soy
tú eres

él/ella/usted es


nosotros/nosotras somos

vosotros/vosotras sois

ellos/ellas/ustedes son

[makum101]

Is it just me or does anyone else find those tutorial CD's / books teach you stuff that is completely nonsensical to everyday life, such as...

"Conducía un tractor, pero ahora yo como los emparedados del queso para una vida!"

(i used to drive a tractor but now i eat cheese sandwiches for a living.)

Or the old favorite. "This is my wife Mary and my daughter Madonna. Over there is my son, Peter. This is my suitcase. Hello".

When in the world would you need that?

[Mike in Chayofa]

So ….

Soy Mike.

Soy de Manchester.

Soy inglés.


Tengo una amiga se llama María – I have a friend called María (lit: who calls herself)

Ella es María.

Es de Madrid.

Es española.


¿Y tú? ….

¿Cómo te llamas? …………………………………………………….

¿De dónde eres tú? ……………………………………………………


Yo soy profesor de español. Trabajo en casa.

Mi amiga María es española y ella es enfermera. Trabaja en un hospital en Madrid.

Mi amigo Juan es taxista. Es español y trabaja en Santa Cruz, en el centro de la ciudad.
¡Dime! ¿Cuál es tu profesión?

¿Dónde trabajas?

Palabra por palabra

él he (or it masculine)

ella she (or it fem)

¿dónde? where?

de of/from

un amigo/una amiga a (male) friend/a (female) friend

español/española Spanish (male/female)

trabajo I work

trabajas you work

trabaja he/she works

¡dime! tell me!

cuál what or which (one)

la profesión the profession/job

el centro the centre

la ciudad the town/city

en casa at home

como like/as

un taxista/una taxista a (male) taxi driver/a (female) taxi driver

¡Hasta luego! see you later!

¡Hasta pronto! see you soon!


‘Nothingy’ words.

Just like in English when people say … errrm … well … let’s see etc, the Spanish do exactly the same. Just like in English, they do have a meaning, but more often than not, they are used to stall for time whilst you get your brain into gear. As I think of them, I’ll let you know. Here’s some for now:

pues well, well then, so

entonces and so, then

vamos a ver let’s see

¡mira! look!

¿vale? OK

[KirstyJay]

I have to make a slight contradition to your first post...

Me llamo Mike (meh_YAMoh … whatever) My name is …. Or…
Soy Mike (soy … ) literally - I am Mike

Mi nombre es Mike, y mi apellido es Smith (mee_NOMbreh_es xxx ee_mee_appelYeedoh es xxx) My name is xxx and my surname is xxx

(Yo) soy médico (médica if you are female) (yOH_soy MEDicoh) I am a doctor.

You used Soy to say you are a doctor...

There are two verbs for I am - Soy & Estoy. Soy refers to something that is current and ongoing forever, whereas Estoy refers to something that could change...

So, it would be Soy Kirsty
but... Estoy médico.

As I may be a doctor now, but I could change my profession in the future.

[Mike in Chayofa]

Sorry - but you are wrong. Occupation is always described by the verb 'ser' even though as you rightly say, it could change in the future.

Im a similar way 'casado' or 'casada' (married) is not deemed to be permanent and uses the verb 'estar'!