The Present Progressive

The Present Progressive is the verb tense you use when you want to say what you are doing.

If the verb ends in  ING, it's a fair bet that it is in the Present Progressive Tense.

The Spanish Present Progressive Formula:

Estar ( correctly conjugated to agree with subject)

                                  +

 The Verb ( with an "ando" or "iendo" added to the end)

Example: Estoy comiendo ( I am eating)

To remember this rule think of two twins Andy and Ion  ( ando and iendo). These two boys are so ADD that they are always doing things.

Ion is saying: I am moving. We are running
Andy is saying: we are yelling. My knee is bleeding.

iendo ending is for IR verbs/ ando ending is for AR verbs.

The Verb SER

The verb ser means to be and it has a conjugation that defies logic as you can see below:

yo         soy                         nosotros    somos
tú         eres  
usted    es                            ustedes     son

Below are my doodles that help me remember this conjugation:

Add caption

Spanish Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

 More than half of the Spanish Direct Object Pronouns  look like the Spanish Indirect Object Pronouns

As you can see here:

DO Pronouns: me  te   lo/la   nos   los/las

IO   Pronouns: me  te   le        nos   les

The DO pronouns have a male/female distinction in the third person singular and third person plural.

The IO  pronouns use the gender neutral Le and Les for the third person.

I can make you remember this without a disturbing drawing.

Because the Independent Object is so independent, it uses LESs pronouns

How cool is that?

Indirect Objects

The Indirect Object is the noun to whom the Direct Object is being given or told.

For example: I gave the pizza to the pirate. 

Pizza is the Direct object because it answers the question "Who or what did I give?"

The Pirate is the Indirect Object because it answers the question, " to whom did I give the Direct Object ( the pizza) ?"

The Indirect Object is also known as IO.

And if you look closely, IO looks like sideways pair of pirate boots and a pizza. And pirates ask questions like to whom or to what. At least the ones I personally know do!

I prove my point about pirates asking to whom and that IO looks like a pirate's boots next to a pizza with this illustration...

See, pirates do ask, "to whom". The IO is in the lower right hand corner.

To find the DO,  ask  "who or what "
to find the IO,  ask "to who"  or "for what"

Direct Objects

If you have to pass a first year Spanish class or a 7th grade English class, you will have to learn what a Direct Object is.

A Direct Object is the noun in the sentence that is getting verbed.

For example: The owl eats veggie burgers.

find the verb ( eats ) and ask, "who or what  is getting verbed ( or in this case eaten) ?

The answer  ( and the direct object ) is veggie burgers.

Sometimes a Direct Object is called a DO for short. The letters DO look like owl eyes and owls make noises that sound like "hoo hoo" which  sounds like  "who?  who?" which is what you ask yourself when you are trying to find the Direct Object. 

 To find the DO, ask yourself hoo or what is being verbed.

Acabar + De + Verb = Easy Past Tense

To talk about the past without knowing how to conjugate the Spanish past tense, you can use the verb ACABAR ( to have just)

This can be done in 3 simple steps:

(1) Acabar (in conjugated form)

+

(2) De

+

(3) Verb (in infinitive form)

Example: Acabo de vomitar ( I just threw up)

To make an unforgettable image, picture that you made an "ack" sound at a bar (acabar).

I think it might look something like this:

\

Ir + A + Infinitive = Packing For The Future

 In Spanish,you do not have to learn a whole new conjugation to talk about the future.

Instead you can talk about the future in three steps.

                                                                     1. Ir

                                                                     2 A

                                                                     3 Infinitive form of verb

Example: Voy a comer ( I am going to eat)

To remember these three steps,

think about packing for future trip and you only need to pack three things:

1. a to go (Ir) bag

2. the letter A

3. the verb

Imagine packing your bags for the future and these are the only 3 things that you need.

Introductions in Spanish

Sorry introverts.

Whether you are taking a Spanish class in a real school or you are taking a just- for- fun version, all Spanish teachers are the same in that you will have to introduce everyone in the class to each other. 

Just say this, "Quiero presentarte a (name of person you are introducing )" (informal version)

or

"Quiero presentarle a ( name of person you are introducing)" ( formal version)

It is a 5-step process

1 Quiero ( I want )

2 Presentar ( to present)

3 Te or Le ( to you)

4 A  (this is the personal A. It means nothing to English speakers)

5 Name of person that you are introducing

5 steps means that you can write each one on a finger

Easy to read when you are shaking hands

Preguntar Vs Pedir

Both Preguntar and Pedir mean to ask.

Preguntar is to ask a question.

Pedir is to ask for something.

As luck would have it, pedir sounds like pedicure (something you ask for)

and preguntar sounds like pregnant ( a condition you'd be wise to not ask questions about) 

Here is a visual to make my point:

Pedir

This question is asking FOR something

Preguntar

Use Preguntar when asking normal questions.

IR And IRregular Conjugation

The verb IR has an IRregular conjugation. Ir is so irregular that the conjugated version doesn't even resemble the word IR.

This is what it looks like:

IR = To Go

Voy     Vamos

                                            Vas

Va        Van

First off, what's up with the letter V? It is in every word! Not a  problem.The letter V looks like a bird. Birds make me think of the verb ir... bIRd.

So just imagine a flock of birds flying around and instead of saying "caw, caw,.." they are saying, "voy, vas , va, vamos, van." ...It's possible.

Have a better idea? Let me know in the comments below.

Spanish/ All You Need To Know

This week we were entertaining some Spanish speaking out-of-towners, and I could not think of a single word to say to get the conversation started. In honor of this humbling experience, today's post is on how to say Nice to meet you (Mucho Gusto) and  Likewise ( Igualmente) if the Spanish speaker beats you to the "Nice to meet you" part. That is all you really need to know, because conversations that go beyond this tend to go down hill.

I picture a big goose ( because that is what I felt like when I forgot these greetings) talking to another big goose. Neither goose speaks very well, so the first goose just points to the other big goose and says,"Much goose" It could be a reference to the bird's size. I don't know. The other bird is equally as poor of a communicator and tries to say something like, "back at ya" or "ditto" but all that comes out is "Equal."

Irregular Present Tense Spanish Verbs/ Only In The Yo Form

Some present tense verbs only have a messed-up spelling when it is conjugated in the YO form.

Here are the 5 most common for Spanish beginners:

Salir => Yo Salgo

Traer => Yo Traigo

Oir => Yo Oigo *

Poner => Yo Pongo

Hacer => Yo Hago

The first thing you should have noticed is that all of these words end in GO. GO should make you thing of  STOP. And STOP has all the first letters of these irregular verbs. If you picture a stop sign being cut in Half, you have the H of hacer.

For those who need a visual, see below:

If you cut a stop sign in half, you also end up with 5 sides...the same number of irregular verbs in this list.

* Oir is goofy in all of it's conjugations but I used it here because it is messed up in the yo form and I needed the  O to spell STOP. Here is the complete conjugation of OIR

Yo Oigo
tú oyes
usted oye
nosotros oímos
ustedes oyen

Irregular Stem-Changing Present Tense Spanish Verbs

Learning a list of the irregular Spanish verbs in the present tense is the first big challenge in Spanish.

This is how I break it down:

When I think of the word irregular, I think of people because all people are irregular.

The word PEOPLE tips me off to the 3 changes that happen to the verbs that are irregular.

some verbs have an E that changes to an I

some verbs have an E that changes to an IE

and 

some verbs have an O that changes to an  UE

Since we are thinking of people, have you noticed that people are ether Doctors, QVC shoppers, or they are full pep. If you share this observation, then it will be easier to remember 10 common irregular present tense verbs.

The Doctor  verbs have an E that changes to an I

The QVC and PEPP verbs change from E to IE

to remember the o to ue verbs I use this mnemonic: Al Can Judge Dorm Violence

Which means: Al (almorzar) Can (contar) Judge (jugar) Dorm (dormir) Viol- (volver) Ence(encontar)

Syllables and Stress

If a word ends in an N or an S or a Vowel ( A, E, I , O, or U), the stress (or verbal emphasis) is put on the 2nd to last syllable.

If the word does not end in one of these letters, the stress is put on the last syllable.

If the word disobeys the above rule, it will have an accent sign above the syllable that is stressed.

The Spanish accent sign is the little slanted line that is sometimes found above certain letters.

The easiest way to remember this is  to remember which words get the emphasis on the second to last syllable..because this is the majority of the Spanish words.

When I think of stress, I think of diving boards and the jumpy part of  diving boards look like the Spanish accent sign.( I will prove this below)

Picture this: All the vowels and the letters N and S are climbing up a ladder of a high dive. And in the tradition of all great lifeguards, the lifeguard at this pool is shouting out pool rules...only this lifeguard is barking out a Spanish syllable stress rule.

Just because I used the diving board/accent sign to indicate where the emphasis should go, this does not mean that you use the accent sign . That would be wrong. Accent signs only go on words that do not follow this rule.

I encourage anyone to send me a better way to explain this in the comments below.

Asking Questions In Spanish

To ask a simple yes/no question in Spanish, all you need to do is take a normal statement and then put the verb in front of the noun.

El gato es simpatico ( Normal statement)  ¿Es simpatico el gato ? ( Now becomes a question)

El gato es enojado (Normal Statement)  ¿Es enojado el gato? (Now becomes a question)

To remember that the verb comes first when asking a simple question, picture this:

                        The verb comes in first place and beats the noun when asking a simple question in Spanish.

What Does It Mean To Conjugate a Verb ?

To conjugate a verb, you change the ending so that the verb matches the subject of the sentence.

If you did not do this, we would all sound like Tarzan.

In this photo, Tarzan did not conjugate the verb to be.  He should have said, " I am Tarzan. You are Jane."

This is what it looks like when a Spanish text book conjugates a verb

SER  (to be)

soy  (I am)..........................      somos  (We are)

eres (you are - informal)

es   (you/he/she is)...........        son  (You guys/ they are)

Tanto...Como

Use Tanto... Como when you want to say as many as. 

Example: Yo tengo tanto bikinis como tú. ( I have as many bikinis as you)

Tanto...Como looks a lot like Tan...Como.
But ususally the word that goes  between tan... como is an adjective
and the word that goes  between Tanto... como is a noun.

Lucky for us Tanto has a "toe" sound at the end of it and a toe is a noun.

Tengo tanto dedos de pie como yo ( I have as many toes as you)

So continue to think of  the two goofballs comparing their tans from the previous Tan...Como lesson but just add some toes into the mix.

Tan...Como

When you want to say that two things are similar ( such as - you are as mean as me.)  Use TAN (put the adjective here) COMO.

It looks like this: Tú eres TAN cruel COMO yo.

Tan makes me think of suntan lotion.

Como makes me think of a comb.

I just picture two equally goofy guys ( each one is as goofy as the other) packing their bags for a trip to the pool. Of course, the only things they need are sunTAN lotion and a COMOb.

Más Que/ Menos Que (more than/less than)

To say that something is MORE than another thing, you say, "Bla bla bla is MÁS (adjective goes here) QUE Zubba zubba zubba.

This is what it looks like in Spanish: A mí gato, soy más interestante que tú. ( To my cat, I am more interesting than you . )

To say that something is LESS than another thing, you say, Bla bla bla is MENOS (adjective goes here) QUE Zubba zubba zubba.

This is what it looks like in Spanish: Casi todos son menos interstante  que mí gato. (Almost everyone is less interesting than my cat.

It is likely that the phrases like less than and more than make you think of math. ( you know like the  < less than and > more than sign.)
 With this in mind I have made a simple math-like looking  formula that you can scribble anywhere so that you can remember  remember.
+ (adj.) K ( formula for Más (whatever) que  [ more than] )
- (adj.) K (  formula for menos (whatever) que or less than [less than] )

The Personal A in Spanish

In Spanish, if you have a sentence where the direct object is a person, put an a before the direct object.

This is called the personal a.

This is what it looks like:  Yo oigo a Mr. Whiskers grita. ( I hear Mr Whisker scream)

I deliberately picked a  name that is not species specific to point out that the personal a is only used in front of the direct object when the direct object is a person or a pet -but not a thing (unless it is your fluffy kitten). To be clear cut, just use the personal a in front of anything that you would have a funeral for.

 This all comes together when you notice that the personal a looks a bit like a toe tag.

Toe tags and funerals go together...right?

Por and Para (part 2)

POR

Use Por to mean for when you want to say:

What is being picked up (I am going for veggie burgers.)

Because of ( I know a restaurant famous for  veggie burgers)

By way of ( I am going to call first by telephone.)

For how long ( We will eat for 3 hours)

Through ( We drive through many streets.)

An exchange for ( We pay $6.00 for two veggie burger)

To put Por in your head forever imagine that Por looks like a veggie burger.

 This should remind you of lunch. If your place of work is like mine, there is always a vegatarian ( at my office, it is me) who states loudly what they are going to have for lunch (Voy a ir POR una hamburguesa vegana). I may add some more details ( Yo sé un restarante famoso POR sus hamburguesas). There is only one friend who is on board and she might say, "Voy a llamar POR telefono." We tell work how long we will be gone ( Vamos a comer POR tres horas). We get in the car and drive through many streets (Manejamos POR muchas calles.) Finally, we pay for the veggie burgers ( Pagamos $6.00 POR las  hamburguesas veganas.)

The P represents THROUGH.  The O represents FOR HOW LONG. The R represents an exchange.

Por and Para (part 1)

Por and Para both mean "for" ( and "to" and "by") And if you think about it, for has a lot of meanings. 

PARA

Use Para when you mean to say:

A point in time (I need to land by [for] nighttime.)

A point of view ( For me, this is very fun.)

A point, purpose or goal ( I use a helmet to [for] protect my head.)

A destination ( I am going to [for] earth)

For whom something is for ( This vacation is for me)

For what category ( for a cat, I am brave.)

To bring this all together, first look at the word PARA and then think of Parachute. Now imagine that you are parachuting with two cats and the 3 of you are going to land on 3 different points ( point of view, point in time, and the point).You tell the cats where you are going (destination) while they answer back in typical cat fashion. It might look something like this:
(The English translation of the following sentences are above.)

I tried to draw the points to look like little landing targets to fit in with the parachute theme.

Click Por and Para for more Por and Para practice.
Great Por and Para explanation

Grande and Gran

Or how to say that something is great or great big.

Both Gran and Grande mean Grand.

 Gran means grand in the sense that something  is super duper. Gran comes before the noun.

Grande means grand as in big. Grande comes after the noun.

All of this can be kept in order like this:

Gran practically looks like the word Grandma...who you should always  let go first at everything because she is so grand.

Grande means big which is something that they need to tell a famous coffee shop because their smallest drink is called a grande. Perhaps the grande part is referring to the price which is so high that you can only go  there after payday.

Buen, Bueno, and Buena

Buen, Bueno, and Buena all mean good. 

Buen is used before a masculine noun.

Bueno is used after a masculine noun.

 The coolest adjective of the three of these is the feminine adjective Buena which can come before or after the feminine noun.

This  can all be kept straight if you consider brownies. Brownies are good. Buen, Bueno, and Buena all mean good. After you eat a brownie, your stomach looks like you swallowed a big O.

As for Buena, being the lady boss of this lesson, she can show up any time she wants ( before or after the noun).

Ciento and Cienta (100 and gender agreement)

Gender agreement and Spanish numbers are only  an issue when the numbers are over 200.

If the number is between 101 and 199, the ciento part does not ever agree with a feminine noun. That is to say that you do not put an A at the end of the word ciento to make it feminine. If the number has an un (1) in the number ( 101, 121,131 etc ), then the un part  does get an A at the end... if the noun is feminine.
 Example:
 ciento  cuarenta una galletas or ciento una galletas. Notice that the ciento part is not feminine even though the noun it is modifying is.

Here is a visual for you. 

I was going to write that the numbers 100-199 are too young to change in front of  girls.

The only time you make ciento change to cienta is for numbers over 200

as in doscientas cuarenta una galletas or doscientas una galletas.

Ciento (Plural)

 Ciento and Plurals

In Spanish, the numbers 100-199 are not considered plural, so never put an S at the end of ciento for these numbers.
Example: ciento un gatos (101 cats)

Numbers 200 and higher are considered plural, so put an S at the end of ciento for these numbers
Example: doscientos gatos (200 cats)

 Those are not dollar signs. They are "No S for ciento on numbers 100-199 signs".

.

Cien and Ciento

The Spanish word for 100 is cien.

The Spanish word for 101 on up is ciento (ciento uno, ciento dos, ciento tres ...). There is no "toe" sound at the end of cien.

But every number above 100 has toes.

The Difference Between Conocer and Saber

Conocer and Saber both  mean "to know" but there is a difference.

Conocer means to know people or places as in," Do you know that fencing teacher?"

Saber means to know facts and stuff as in, "Do you know how to fence?"

To make the difference between Conocer and Saber clearer, look at the word Conocer:

Doesn't it sound like Can Know Sir as in:

- "Can you know him?"

- Yes, I can know Sir. "

Do you you see the connection? Sir is a person...and you use conocer when talking about people ( and places)

As for Saber, your first thought should be a LIGHTSABER....and lightsabers are employed by science fiction characters and nerds... and nerds know a lot of facts and stuff...and you use Saber when you are talking about facts and stuff.

She is saying, " I know how to use a rocket"

Hay

You  can construct an endless amount of sentences with the word hay. Hay can mean 4 different things

• There is 
• There are
• Is there?    and 
• Are there?

You can talk for hours by just pointing things out with this word.

Example:

Hay un payaso. Hay unos niños. Hay una policía. Hay un arresto.

Or you can come off like a brilliant conversationalist by asking questions with Hay.

Example:

¿Hay una baño? ¿ Hay unas toallas?  ¿Hay jabón?  ¿Hay papal higiénico?

To remember the use of the word Hay forever, when you see the word Hay think  about  a hay seed.

 asking brilliant conversation starting questions

This hay seed has one eye closed as a reminder that the word hay is pronounced like "eye".

Learn more about Hay

Ser and Estar

Ser and Estar both mean "to be".

Common uses of the word ser are:

• When saying what something is like ( Escuela es aburrida)
• Where someone is from (Soy de los Estados Unidos y eres  de Júpiter) 
• Telling time ( Son a las cinco por la tarde)

Whenever I see the word ser, I picture it looking like this:

Common uses of the word estar are:

• To describe metal states
• To talk about location

To make this stick I think, " Estar... star.. you know like the movie star kind of stars." From there, I picture movie stars always shooting on location and because of their artistic nature, they have plenty of emotional states.

Click Ser and Estar to learn more

The Spanish Indefinite Article (a)

Or how to say the word "a" in Spanish

There are four ways to say the definite article "a" in Spanish.

Una goes with feminine singular nouns

Un goes with masculine singular nouns

Unas goes with feminine plural nouns and

Unos goes with masculine plural nouns

Each Spanish indefinite article has to agree in gender with the noun.  The rules for the Spanish indefinite article are similar to the Spanish definite article- that is  to say,  The article and noun have to agree sexually and in how many (singular or plural). It might be a good time to mention that the adjective has to agree sexually and in number too.

Look! The masculine words look like quasi-bald men while the feminine words like like girlies!

Click Spanish indefinite article to learn more.

Spanish Definite Article (The)

There are four ways to say the word THE in Spanish.

La goes with feminine singular nouns

El goes with masculine singular nouns

Las goes with feminine plural nouns and

Los goes with masculine plural nouns

Each Spanish article has to agree in gender with the noun that it goes with. But I find it easier to say:  The article and noun have to agree sexually and in how many (singular or plural) It might be a good time to mention that the adjective has to agree sexually and in number too.

If it helps you to remember, think of the article, noun, and adjective having a same-sex threesome. I tried to make the Os look masculine  and the As  look feminine to make my point.

.

Feminine Spanish Nouns

or 6 clues that the Spanish word you are dealing with may be feminine.

Words that end in tud, dad, tad, sión, ción, or umbre are going to be feminine.

How to remember this...

Picture the media's shallow image of feminine confidence. Doesn't it look something like this:

Spanish Verb Conjugation and Word Order

Whenever a verb is conjugated in Spanish, the verb is always conjugated in this order:
(1) Yo                    (4)  Nosotros
(2) Tú
(3) Usted, Él, Ella  (5) Ustedes, Ellos, Ellas

To remember this order, think that you are creating a seating arrangement at a dinner party...

Yo sits at the head of the head of the table. Because that's where I belong. Tú sits next to yo so they can make inappropriate noises- because that is what familiar people do. Usted sits at the end because he is so formal and tends to pass judgment.  But do not feel bad. He has él and ella to keep him company. Nosotros sits at the head of the table with Yo. This way we are all together. Way down on the other end is the rest of them -ustedes, ellos, and ellas.

Gender of Spanish Nouns

Or how to tell if a Spanish word is a boy or a girl.

If the word ends in an A, it usually is feminine. Example: Playa, which means beach, is feminine.

If the word ends in an O, it usually is masculine. Example: Libro, which means book, is masculine.

Use this image to remind you how to tell the girl words from the boy words.

a looks so girly and o looks like a bald guy

Click  on gender of Spanish nouns for a more details.

Spanish Subject Pronouns

or the first 9 words you need to know to pass Spanish 1.

Subject pronouns in English are I, you, she, he, we, and  they.

Spanish has 9 subject pronouns and they are: 

1. Yo (I)

Am I the only one who starts the day by saying,"Yo" to myself when I look in the mirror?

2.  Tú (you informal)

I covered Tú in an earlier post but here it is again. Tú is the informal you - which is why she can get away with wearing the B-ball hat. It helps that Tú rhymes with You

3.   (you formal)

Like Tú,  Usted has been discussed. Just look at that big U (you) and picture some formal hot shot looking down  his nose at you.

4.   Él (he)

He- men are good at moving heavy stuff so I picture él looking like a dolly and a he-guy moving stuff with it.

5.   Ella (she)
She of course has everything that he has but add an extra "la" to make it a lady-like


6.   Nosotros (we)

That N on nosotros looks like a roller coaster which always makes me scream,"Weeeee." And look at all of those Os. Don't they look like they are screaming,"weeee" also?  If that doesn't do it for you, Nosotros kind of sounds like nosotrus and us almost means we.

The last 3 do not have a corresponding visual because they are easy
7.   Ustedes (you plural as in "you guys")
 Just add an "es" to make usted plural.
8.   Ellas (she plural)
Just add an "s" and ella becomes plural. I assume you know how to do this.
9.   Ellos (he plural)
Much like él only drop the hyphen, add an  l, add o and you are good to go!

The Difference between Tú and Usted

Tú and usted both  mean you.

Use Tú when talking in an informal setting (family, friends, one-night stands).
Use Usted when talking in a formal setting or when you need to suck up (doctors, teachers, prison wardens).

To remember which you goes with who, I picture this:

Tú is wearing a baseball hat because she is informal. Meanwhile, the formal Usted is looking down his nose at  you like some kind of Orwellian  big brother.

The Spanish Alphabet

The Spanish alphabet looks and sounds a lot like the English alphabet. Below is the Spanish Alphabet with the pronunciations. The letters in bold have less intuitive pronunciations. I have added some drawings that will help you never forget how to say the trickier letters.

A( a)             
                  

B (be grande)...

C (ce)

D (de)

E (e)

F (efe)

G (ge)...

H (hache)...

I (ee)

J ( jota)

K (ka)

L (ele)

M (eme)

N ( ene)

Ñ (eñe)

O ( oh)

P (pe)

Q (cu)

R (ere)

RR (erre)

S (ese)

T (te)

U (u)

V (ve chica)

W (uve doble)

X (equis)

Y ( I griega)

Z (zeta) 

This Spanish alphabet song will stick in your mind.