This is the second blog post about the Imperfecto, the first is here - it is a good idea to study it before looking at this one.
The imperfect is a past tense that expresses the meaning of (a) a repeated action in the past (used to) and (b) what was happening - background information.
For this second usage, we often use it with the Pretérito....
eg. Cuando limpiaba la casa, mi amigo me llamó.
Imperfecto Pretérito
When I was cleaning the house, my friend called me.
Watch the video and practice.
Try the quizlet to practice. It is quite challenging, but a good exercise.
This blog post will introduce the Imperfect tense in Spanish.
This tense is a past tense and has a number of different uses, but the one we are going to concentrate on today is translating the idea of "used to" - a repeated action in the past.
There are 2 main sets of endings...
AR verbs - aba....
IR/ER verbs - ía
3 Irregular verbs....
ver - veía
ser - era
ir - iba
Do the Quizlet to practice. Watch the video to learn. Answers from the video below.
To talk about the future, we first need some expressions..... mañana - tomorrow el año que viene - next year el lunes - on Monday el fin de semana que viene - next weekend esta tarde - this afternoon we use "esta" with feminine nouns este domingo - this Sunday we use "este" with masculine nouns. Now, to talk about the future, we need three sections.... ir a infinitive voy a comer vas a ir va a beber etc... Watch the video and practice....
Level: Beginners +/ Elementary Reflexive verbs, simply put, are verbs with a reflexive pronoun attached. ie. me, te, se, nos, os. eg.. divertirse levantarse llamarse The reflexive pronoun in the infinitive is "se". When we conjugate it changes to ... me te se nos os se me llamo te llamas se llama nos llamamos os llamáis se llaman Watch the video to learn and practice. The transcript of the listening is below. Do the Quizlet to practice.
Listening
Hola, me llamo Juan.
Todos los días, me levanto a
las siete de la mañana, pero a veces los domingos me gusta quedarme en la cama hasta muy tarde y solo me levanto a las once.
Durante la semana trabajo mucho, así que los fines de
semana no me afeito, no me
cepillo los dientes y solo me ducho si
voy a salir a una discoteca o a un bar. Me gusta relajarme
en casa. Me divierto mucho, jugando a los
videojuegos, viendo Neflix o cocinando. Me siento delante
del televisor por 5 o 6 horas seguidas, mirando la tele o jugando. Quedo muy
contento no hacer nada los sábados y domingos.
A veces me olvido de cenar
y sólo tomo una pizza a la una de la mañana, cuando tengo hambre.
Mi familia dice que soy muy perezoso, pero no estoy de
acuerdo. Trabajo mucho durante la semana!
Level: Complete Beginners/ Beginners + This video and blog is about Countries and Nationalities - Países y nacionalidades. Let's start with countries. Irlanda Inglaterra España Francia Alemania Los Estados Unidos Nationalities Remember, adjectives in Spanish have to agree with what they are describing.... There are masculine and feminine versions... Irish - irlandés/ irlandesa English - inglés / inglesa French - francés/ francesa German - alemán / alemana Spanish - español / española American - norteamericano / norteamericana Watch the video and practice
Level: Elementary/ Pre-Intermediate Today we are looking at the Futuro Simple. This is a way to talk about the future that just needs an ending on the end of the infinitive - as the name suggests, it is a very simple way of talking about the future. Comer Mañana yo comeré Mañana tú comerás Mañana él comerá Mañana nosotros comeremos Mañana vosotros comeréis. Mañana ellos comerán. the endings are é, ás, á, emos, éis, án Doon't forget the accent - ´ There are some irregular verbs Hacer - haré decir - diré salir - saldré poder - podré poner - pondré tener - tendré venir - vendré Do the Quizlet to practice the irregulars. More practice below - translate the sentences. First, watch the video.
I will leave at 7pm. She won´t be able to come. We will tell you something tomorrow. He will put the book on the table. He won't want to go tomorrow. We will know at 8pm. They will do their homework tonight. Do another Quizlet to find out the answers.
Level: Complete Beginners This is the second blog post looking at how to tell the time. If you haven't seen the first one, it is a good idea to have a look at it here. Some more info for telling the time in Spanish.... 1.00 - Es la una 2.15 - Son las dos y cuarto 3.20 - Son las tres y veinte "menos" is "minus" or "less" 2.45 - Son las tres menos cuarto 7.55 - Son las ocho menos cinco 6.40 - Son las siete menos veinte Watch the video to learn. Do the Quizlet to practice.
Level: Beginners +/ Elementary Today we are going to look at some verbs we use to talk about what we do every day. Let's first look at the infinitives of the verbs. despertarse - to wake up levantarse - to get up lavarse las manos - to wash your hands ducharse - to have a shower acostarse - to go to bed desayunar - to have breakfast almorzar - to have lunch cenar - to have dinner ir al trabajo - to go to work volver a casa - to return home ver la televisión - to watch TV leer libros - to read books Do the Quizlet to practice. Watch the video.....
Level: Elementary/ Pre Intermediate As always, with verbs in Spanish, learning how to talk in the past is mostly a matter of learning how to use the correct ending. For the regular verbs in Spanish, there are two sets of endings. Most verbs are regular. AR verbs hablé hablaste habló hablamos hablasteis hablaron IR/ER verbs Comí comiste comió comimos comisteis comieron Some useful expressions... Ayer - yesterday La semana pasada - last week El año pasado - last year Do the Quizlet to practice some simple past tense forms. Watch the video to learn and practice more. Do the next Quizlet for more advanced practice.
Level: Elementary/ Pre-Intermediate/ Intermediate Songs are often a good way of learning and practicing a language. Today we are going to listen to a song my Daniela Darcourt called Te Felicito. "Felicitar" is the verb "to congratulate", but seeing as this is a song about a love affair gone wrong, the title is a little ironic. Te felicito - I congratulate you The song is full of second person, past tense. In other words, the tú form in the past - you did, you believed, you promised etc..... You may need to practice the past tense first, so have a look at the blog and video for Past tense, Regular Verbs. The ending for this form is either -aste or -iste. Listen to the song and put the verbs into the correct places. First, some vocabulary...
ilusionar – to get someone’s hopes up
farsante – fake
brindar – to make a toast
fiera salvaje – a wild animal
Here are three of the past tense verbs. There are seven in total. There are four more below.
disfrazaste creíste hiciste
Listen to the song and put the verbs into the correct places. The transcript of the song with the verbs missing can be found here, or below. Full transcript with answers here.
perdiste conociste
tiraste prometiste
Te
felicito por haberme ilusionado
Por haber llegado lejos donde nadie había llegado
Te felicito por llevarme al mismo cielo
Contigo toqué las nubes
Luego me ________________ al suelo
Chorus
Te
felicito por ser el mejor farsante
De alguien perfecto, de eso tú te __________________
Tú _________________ serme fiel
Mientras sentías otra piel
Si eso te hace sentir grande
Un aplauso te daré
Te
felicito por el gran papel que __________________
Quedó tan bueno que hasta tú te lo __________________
Esta novela terminó
Hoy brindo porque se acabó
En esta historia te aseguro que no habrá continuación
Tú me _________________, ¿quién lo diría?
Que ahora otra boca es la que besa la mía
Uh
no
Te
felicito por cambiarme tantas cosas
Hacer de alguien inocente una fiera peligrosa
Te felicito por llevarte mi inocencia
Que de siempre estar callada
He perdido la paciencia
Chorus
Uh
no, yeah
Daniela Darcourt
Esa soy yo
¡Súbelo Mate!
Yo
estoy mejor así
Te lo agradezco ahora disfruto de mí
(Es que te felicito a ti) En fiera salvaje me convertí (A ti)
(A ti) No soy la que _______________________
Llegó la mejor versión de mí, oh no
Level: Complete Beginners This blog and video is about food in Spanish - La Comida. Watch the video below and learn some words for common food in Spanish. la leche - milk el te - tea la mantequilla - butter la carne - meat el pescado - fish la manzana - the apple las patatas fritas All nouns in Spanish are either masculine (el or los) or feminine (la or las) - this is grammatical, it has nothing to do with if something is actually a masculine or a feminine thing. You will also practice the difference between "el" and "la".... El pescado - fish - we use "el" because "pescado" is a masculine noun: we know this because it has "o" at the end. La manzana - we use "la" because "manzana" is a feminine noun - it has "a" at the end. Some nouns do not end in either "a" or "o" - you just have to learn the genders.. eg... el te la carne la leche Watch the video to practice. Do the Quizlet to do some more practice.
Level; Pre-Intermediate/ Intermediate As of today, April 13th, the Spanish are slowly returning to work after the whole country shut down because of the Coronavirus. On RTVE - the Spanish equivalent of RTE - they have advice and guidelines on what to do and what not to do when returning to work. As they are giving advice, they are using a lot of imperatives. If you are unsure what an Imperative is or how to form it, check out the blog on Imperatives. Watch the short video and see how many imperatives you can find. There are 14 positive and 2 negative imperatives (using "no"). The answers are below.... Some vocab.....
acudir - to show up, turn up, attend contacto estrecho - close contact para que acredite - so he/ she can confirm.... pañuelo desechable - a disposable tissue estornudar - to sneeze
recuerda - remember no salgas - don't go out quédate en casa - stay at home teletrabaja - work from home no acudas - do not show up contacta prioriza - prioritize viaja - travel mantén - maintain, keep continúa - continue lávate - wash cúbrete - cover tíralo - throw it out mantén airéalo - air it out sigue - follow
Level: Intermediate Before you watch this video, make sure you have seen the first Subjunctive video that introduces the topic. In this blog we will look at using the Subjunctive with certain verbs of influence and desire.... Verbs mentioned in the video include....
Querer Pedir Esperar Recomendar The pattern is.... Verb of influence + que + subjunctive Quiero que me ayudes. Espero que estés bien. Te recomiendo que vayas al hospital. Others include... Desear Decir Exigir Preferir
Watch the video and practice the subjunctive with verbs of influence and desire. Do the Quizlet for more practice.
Answers to the translations in the video.... He wants her to leave - Él quiere que ella salga. She recommends that they drink green tea. - Ella recomienda que beban te verde. I ask you to prepare dinner. - Te pido que prepares la cena.
Level: Beginners + / Elementary In English we have one verb - To Be - where in Spanish they have 2 - Ser and Estar. So what's the difference? Ser: soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son Descriptions Time and date Family relationships Nationality Profession Estar; estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están Emotions Location Temporary states Watch the video below and then do the Quizlet for practice.... More practice exercises here. Quizlet here on how to translate "is".
Level: Beginners + / Elementary Today we are going to focus on some Irregular Verbs in the Present Tense. These verbs are mostly irregular in the First Person.... Dar - doy Ir - voy Estar - estoy Ser - soy Salir - salgo poner - pongo decir - digo oír - oigo Do the Quizlet to practice irregular first persons... Watch the video for more practice. Do another Quizlet for more advanced practice.....
The Subjunctive can be a tricky area for students of Spanish, as it doesn't really exist in English and so is hard for English speakers to grasp. It is also used in a number of different situations, which complicates matters further. For this reason, we are going to start slowly. The first area we will look at is the area of Impersonal Expressions..... These are expressions like.... Es importante que... Es natural que... Es difícil que... Es normal que... Es posible que... To form the subjunctive we use the first person of the Present Tense. We then use the following endings.... AR verbs - e, es, e, emos, éis, en IR/ER verbs - a, as, a, amos, áis, an Watch the video for a more in depth look at the area. Do the Quizlet for more practice. More practice below.... Quizlet here for irregular subjunctives...
In this blog we will look at various parts of the body la boca - the mouth el ojo - the eye la oreja - the ear la pierna - the leg el brazo - the arm We will also learn about how to say if something hurts, or if it is broken.... Me duele el brazo - my arm hurts Tengo la pierna rota - I have a broken leg
Watch the video and do the Quizlet to practice parts of the body. There is another Quizlet to practice hurting and broken parts of the body.
Level: Elementary/ Pre-Intermediate In this blog we will look at more advanced comparatives. We already learned about ..... Un león es más grande que un ratón. Now we add.... Un ratón no es tan grande como un león - A mouse is not as big as a lion. We also add some irregular comparatives.... mejor - better peor - worse mayor que - older than menor que - younger than Watch the video and practice. Do the Quizlet for more practice. There are answers below to the activity in the video.
Cintia es mayor que María. María es menor que Cintia. Cintia no es tan rica como María. María no es tan alta como Cintia. Maria no es tan feliz como Cintia.
Level: Complete Beginners Telling the time in Spanish is not too complicated. You really just need to know the numbers from 1 to 20. We will start with the basics... ¿Qué hora es? - What time is it? Son las tres - It is three o'clock Son las tres y media - It is half past three. Es la una - It is one o'clock Son las tres y cinco - It is five past three. Watch the video and practice. For more practice, do the Quizlet.
LEVEL: Complete Beginners In this video we will look at how to say the numbers from 1 to 12. We will then practice them while talking about the family. 1 - uno 2 - dos 3 - tres 4 - cuatro 5 - cinco 6 - seis 7 - siete 8 - ocho 9 - nueve 10 - diez 11 - once 12 - doce Do the Quizlet and practice. ¿Tienes hijos? - Do you have children? ¿Tienes hermanos? - Do you have brothers and sisters? Watch the video and practice
LEVEL: Complete Beginners Today's blog is about the family. Watch the video below and practice. Some more practice below.... For some more practice, do the Quizlet. Some vocab: hermano/hermana - brother/sister hijo/ hija - son/daughter padre/ madre - father/ mother ¿Tienes....? - Do you have....? Tengo.... - I have... Casado/ casada - married Me llamo..... - My name is..... Se llama ...... - Her name is... / his name is.....
Level: Pre-Intermediate / Intermediate Imperatives are the form of the verb we use for giving orders, advice and invitations.... If you haven´t already seen it, look at the blog post and video about imperatives before doing this exercise. Listen to the song - Deja La Tristeza and fill in the blanks with the missing imperatives. There is some help at the bottom if you need it.
The full file is available here with help and vocab. Full lyrics here.
Chorus- refrán
_______________ la tristeza
y ____________ tus sueños a volar
ya no te costará la alegría nos traerá un mundo nuevo de ilusión y cosas por lograr
Ya no te costará La alegría nos traerá
___________________ a soñar y arráncate esa tristeza que vive dentro de ti. que se apodera de ti.
Y ____________ a hacer aquella
que una vez se alegraba y era tan bella y feliz
inmensamente feliz.
___________le ganas a tu vida y nunca pares de luchar. por las cosas que queremos y que un día alcanzaremos.
Que ya no hay nada más urgente que buscar esa felicidad.
Y yo, yo te regalo una ilusión una esperanza un alma nueva yo haré por ti lo que tú quieras si me aceptas corazón
Por eso déjate amar Por eso déjate amar
Refrán
_____________ tu felicidad
___________ la tristeza ________________ del pasado Y echa andar
____________ la tristeza y ______________ tus sueños a volar
Yo te daría algo que te inspire Deja el pasado y solo vive
Deja la tristeza y pon tus sueños a volar
____________, _____________ que tal vez mañana vas a encontrar la felicidad.
(Vamos)
Deja la tristeza Busca tu alegría Y olvida las penas Que se te va la vida (Que se te va)
Deja la tristeza (déjala) Busca tu alegría (alegría) Y olvida las penas Que se te va la vida
Búscala alegria Busca la felicidad Que se te va la vida
Que se te va la vida Que se te va la vida Que se te va la vida Que se te va la vida
