Capitalization Rules In Spanish

In Spanish, it is incorrect to capitalize nationalities, religions , days of the week and months of the year. This may be hard for some types 

Spanish Verbs At A Glance

 Here are the Spanish verbs with names that are self explanatory:

However, the rest are not as cool. Below, I have attached  more meaningful names to the rest of the Spanish verb tenses so that their purpose is crystal clear.

The Past Subjunctve And The Conditional Together

One common use of the Past Subjunctive is to put it with the Conditional. The part of the statement that has the ify word is the part of  the sentence  that gets the  Past Subjunctive. For many, anything that has to do with the Subjunctive is ify.

When the Past Subjunctive is combined with the Conditional tense, you create a power house that can help you weasel out of anything.

For example:

 weasel out of social conflicts

I would kiss you if you had more hair

....Weasel out of  overtime hours

I would work if  I wasn't sick

...weasel out of picking up the check

If  I made more money, I would pay for the  meal.

IF

The Spanish Past Subjunctive

To form the Spanish Past Subjunctive

First you find the past plural form of the 3rd person (the ustedes verb).  Remove the ron ending and add  one of the following endings (yo/ra, tu/ras, usted/ra, nosotros/ramos, or ustedes/ran) 

...or to put it more simply:

Put the ustedes verb in the  past.

Get rid of  RON.

Do the Cheer!

Typing ñ and ü

Typing the Spanish letters ñ  and   ü is much like typing the Spanish letters in the previous post. That is to say, hold down the Alt key and type the four number code. The first two numbers are 02 for both letters. With that in mind, you only have to remember the last two digits.

The code for typing ñ: Alt+0241

The code for typing ü: Alt+0252

I attach ages to the numbers that relate to the Spanish letters.

 The ñ  is a dead ringer for a head with a toupee. 41 is an average age when men lose their hair and go with this bad judgment.

ñ = Alt+0241

The ü resembles a smiley face because when you are 52 there are a few more things to smile about.

ü=Alt+0252

 .

Typing á, é, í, ó And ú

Typing the lower case Spanish vowels when they  have accents marks.

 Just like the previous post, you could configure your keyboard so that you don't have to type

á, é, í, ó, and  ú the long way but it is not always possible. 

• Alt+0225= á
• Alt+0233= é
• Alt+0237= í
• Alt+0243=ó
• Alt+0250=ú

Notice each of the number codes begin with a zero and a two. If you can remember that, all you have to do is come up with the last two digits. I think of a timeline with ages on it to stick in my memory.

Typing The Characters ¡ and ¿

¡ and ¿

Many Spanish students opt to configure their keyboards so that they can type the characters unique to Spanish. However, this is not always appropriate  when using someone else's computer. I learned that the hard way doing work in the business center of a B & B in Okoboji, IA.

The code to type the ¡  is Alt key + 0191

The code to type the ¿ is Alt key+ 0161

At first, the code may look random and easy to forget. But look again and you'll see the obvious connection.

The zero is your head sitting down at the computer. 

The 1s represent the keyboard.

... and the 9 looks like the upside down exclamation mark and the 6 looks like the upside down question mark

See what I mean: 12345 ¿78¡ 

Practice The Subjunctive With Gael García Bernal

I Want You To Want Me    is an old song from the late 70s that happens to be a good way to practice one of the more challenging tenses in Spanish.

Every line of the chorus is in the Subjunctive tense.

I want you to want me.
I need you to need me.
I'd love you to love me.
I'm beggin' you to beg me.
I want you to want me.
I need you to need me.
I'd love you to love me.


Luckily there is a Spanish version of this song Quiero Que Me Quieras. 

Here are the lyrics so you can sing along with dishy Gael Garcia Bernal

Quiero que me quieras 
quiero que me adores 
quiero que me sientas 
que urge que me ames 

Words in bold are in the subjunctive tense.

Spanish Conditional Tense/ Conjugate

Conjugating the Spanish Conditional

Add the following endings to the end of the infinative

yo ía

tú  ías

usted ía

nosotros íamos

ustedes ían

 Use a bucket full of ís and as.  It looks like a bunch of popcorn which works nicely because  the conditional tense is frequently spoken  in  a movie theater  setting.

Would you like to see a movie?

We should see a horror movie.

Would you prefer to see a comedy?

Would you eat popcorn?

Could we arrive on time?

You should sit down.

Would you be quite.

Would you like to fight?

The Spanish Conditional is a lot nicer than saying "shut the fuck up"

Future Tense/ Irregular Verbs

 Here are 12 Spanish verbs that have an irregular stem in the Spanish future tense. That means the stem is weird but the ending is the same as the normal future tense verbs.

This is an easy way to remember the list. If you can count to 12 and rhyme, you're bright enough to remember which verb is irregular.

Number	Rhymes With	Makes You Think Of…	Reminds You of This Verb	Changes It’s Stem To This In The Future Tense
One	Ton	to know a ton	Saber	Sabr
Two	Do	To do or to make	Hacer	Har
Three	Fee	The fee…to cost	Valer	Valdr
Four	Whore	Part of a whore’s job is to come	Venir	Vendr
Five	Jive	Jive talking, to say	Decir	Dir
Six	Dicks	If someone is being a dick everyone wants to leave	Salir	Saldr
Seven	Kevin	I got nothing for this one….so I just think Kevin will be there	Haber	Habr
Eight	Mate	A mate should be a good fit	Caber	Cabr
Nine	Dine	To set the table	Poner	Pondr
Ten	Yen	To want or like something	Querer	Querr
Eleven	Chevron	A Chevron is a kind of decoration that some uniforms have	tener	Tendr
Twelve noon	Tune	To be able to carry a tune	Poder	Podr