THE VERBS SER/ESTAR

     CLICK HERE FOR THE AUDIO:  A0000023

There are two very important verbs in the Spanish language.  These verbs are used on a daily basis to communicate.  Both ser and estar means to “BE” but they are not used interchangeably.  When I was first learning Spanish my teacher taught me one of the easiest ways to distinguish between SER/ ESTAR is to remember ESTAR is ALWAYS used to talk about location and your physical state, any other usage SER must be used.  She also taught me another tip; SER is used to describe people.

Here are some examples of ESTAR-LOCATION:

Ella está en la cocina.-She is in the kitchen
El está en la casa. – He is in the house
Nosotros estamos en el jardín.- We are in the garden
Pablo y Paco están en la escuela. Pablo and Paco are in school
María y Lupe están en España.- Maria and Lupe are in Spain

Examples of ESTAR- PHYSICAL STATE

Ella está enferma.- She is sick
El está nervioso- He is nervous
Nosotros estamos muy cansados- We are very tired
Pablo y Paco están  enfermos- Pablo and Paco are sick
María está  muy bien- María is feeling very well

ESTAR-

Yo estoy
Tu estás
El está
Ella está
Usted está
Nosotros estamos
Nosotras estamos
Ellos están
Ellas están
Ustedes están

SER- DESCRIBING PERMANENT CHARACTERISTICS

Yo soy
Tu eres
Él es
Ella es
Usted es
Nosotros somos
Nosotras somos
Ellos son
Ellas son
Ustedes son

Yo soy Americana-I am American
Ellos son Mexicanos- They are Mexicanos
Ella  es flaca- She is skinny
Nosotros somos  alumnos- we are students

USING THE PLURAL FORMS ELLOS/ELLAS IN SPANISH

 CLICK HERE FOR THE AUDIO:  A0000021

USING THE PLURAL FORMS ELLOS/ELLAS IN SPANISH

Today we will talk about when to use the plural forms ellos/ellas.

ELLOS-Used when talking about a mixed group of boys and girls.

EXAMPLES: Pedro, Paco y Mónica son Mexicanos-  Ellos son Mexicanos.  They are Mexicans.

Raúl, Eduardo, Ricardo y Eva son Mexicanos también- Ellos son Mexicanos también.  They are also Mexicans

Julio Iglesias, Rickie Martin, Juan Gabriel y Talía cantan muy bien- Ellos cantan muy bien.  They sing very well.

ELLAS-Used when talking about a group of girls or females only.

EXAMPLES: María, Eva, y Elena comen pizza- Ellas comen pizza. They are eating pizza.

Angélica, Magdalena, y Marisol son muy simpáticas- Ellas son muy simpáticas. They are very nice.

Josefina, Mónica y Lupe son muy delgadas y altas- Ellas son muy delgadas y altas. They are  verytall and  very thin.

TIPS:  Listen to the audio recording several times until you have the information memorized.  Make flashcards and put a picture next to each to help you remember the information better.  Happy Study!

USING THE PRONOUNS ÉL /ELLA IN SPANISH

 CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO:A0000018

Last lesson I spoke about the French pronouns il/elle.  Today will talk about the él/ella in Spanish.  Remember French and Spanish are both romance languages, they have similar conventions and grammatical structures.

ÉL can be replaced with a masculine singular noun- place, person, or thing
Ella can be replaced with a feminine singular noun-place, person or thing

EXAMPLES: Pablo es Cubano- Él es Cubano, Julio Iglesias es Español,  Él es Español, Denzel Washington es Americano- Él es Americano-(Pronouns are used to replace nouns)

EXAMPLES: María es Cubana- Ella es Cubana,   Eva es española- Ella es española,  Halle Berry es americana- Ella es americana

Again there is no guess work; you need to understand how to use these pronouns because they are used on a daily basis to communicate with people!

USING THE PRONOUNS YO/NOSOTROS-NOSOTRAS IN SPANISH

French and Spanish are both romance languages, but Spanish is a little different.  Just like in French the  first person singular form of the pronoun is used to speak about yourself.

EXAMPLES:  Yo hablo- I am speaking, Yo como la tortilla- I am eating the tortilla, Yo camino-I am walking, Yo bailo-I am dancing, Yo canto-I am singing.  Once you learn the  pronouns you can omit using the  YO when speaking.

In French there is one form for  1st person plural- NOUS, but Spanish has two forms NOSOTROS- masculine and feminine  which is used when the speaker  includes both male and female.  EXAMPLES:  Nosotros hablamos con la chica- We(boys and girls) are speaking to the girl.  Nosotros comemos  una manzana roja- We are eating a red apple.

Nosotras hablamos con la chica- We( girls only) are speaking to the girl, Nosotras  comemos la manzana roja- We  are eating the red apple.

The yo , nosotros, nosotras pronouns are important to know because just like in French they are used in daily conversations.

TIP OF THE DAY:  make flashcards of the above sentences and be sure to attach a picture to each sentence for easier learning.

CLICK HERE FOR AUDIO RECORDING :  A0000016

BASIC SPANISH GREETINGS WITH AUDIO

•   CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO AUDIO RECORDING OF  GREETINGS: A0000014
  

  Hi	Hola
  Hello	Buenos días
  Good afternoon	Buenas tardes
  Good evening	Buenas noches
  How are you?	singular	plural
  familiar	¿Cómo estás?
  formal	¿Cómo está Ud.?	¿Cómo están Uds.?
  How’s it going?	¿Qué tal?
  I’m…	Estoy…*
  Good	Bien
  Great	Muy bien
  Good-bye	Adiós
  See you later	Hasta luego Hasta pronto Hasta la vista

THE ADVANTAGES OF LEARNING FRENCH AND SPANISH

Did you know that over half the words in the English language originated from Latin. In specialized areas such as cuisine and clothing there are hundreds of French words found in English. French and Spanish are both romance languages and have their roots in Latin. It would make sense that either French or Spanish would be a language of choice to study since both languages have Latin roots just like English. English, French and Spanish share many cognates. There are thousand s of English words that have Latin origins and closely resemble words in French and Spanish.

It would be easy for many students studying French and Spanish to do well since English/ French and Spanish share many of the same cognates. The words in the new language could be looked upon as a very handy tool for learning and recognizing unfamiliar or unknown words in their own language. It is very clear that the study of both French and Spanish offers a tremendous asset in developing a richer and more advanced English vocabulary. Here are some examples.

Latin /Spanish Derivative /French derivative/ English Equivalent

Amicus/ Amigo/ Ami /Amicable, friend

Numerous/ Numero /Numéro/ Number

Bonus/ Bueno/ Bon /Good, bonus

Veritas /verdad /Vérité /Truth, veritable

Magister/ Maestro /Maitre/ Magisterial, teacher

Avarus /Avaro /Avare /Avaricious, greedy

Oculus /Ojo/ Oeil /Ocular, eye

I believe as a nation if we want to remain competitive in an ever changing global world, we must change our priorities. Football players and actors earn millions of dollars; yet as a nation we can’t finance early childhood education properly. There is compelling evidence that the earlier a child is exposed to a new language the easier it is for that child to master that language. Foreign language study should be available for all children starting with first grade. In Austria, a student must have eight years of instruction in a modern or classical foreign language before being admitted to a university. It is not unusual for students in Sweden to have taken nine years of English before high school. Even a country like Egypt, requires six years of English study. Here in the united states less than 8 percent of our colleges have a foreign –language entrance requirement. We are the only country where one can graduate from some colleges without having studied a foreign language prior to or during the college years.

The benefits of expanding one’s horizons by becoming fluent in a second language are numerous. It is truly very rewarding to be able to communicate directly and comfortably with other people, I know of no greater joy than that. I have been called to a mission, that mission is to inspire others to be open to learning a new language.

ANSWERS TO THE LAST POST

Happy New  Year Everyone! Hope you all had a restful holiday.  Here are the answers to my last post:

1. Ella
2. Nosotros
3. Ellos/Ellas
4. Yo
5. El( there should be an accent on the  E, sorry my computer has been acting up)
6. El(  there should be an accent on this  E too)
7. Tu( accent on the U , sorry I hope to get my computer working properly soon.)
8. Ellas
9. Ella

Next post I will cover French pronouns.

PRACTICE WHAT YOU LEARNED

Here is a simple exercise to help you practice using the subject pronouns.

 Replace each  English italics nouns/ pronouns with the correct Spanish  nouns/ pronouns; include all possible choices.
1.Halle Berryes bella.
2.We somos Americanos.
3.They son populares.
4.I soy amiga de Carlos.
5.He es un buen actor.
6. Juan es muy gordo.
7.You eres Cubano.
8.They son amigas.
9.She es una buena actriz.
 Next post I will  go over the correct answers.
Till next time

HOW TO USE SPANISH PRONOUNS- FORMAL/PLURAL FORMS

Last lesson  I covered  the singular forms of the pronouns, today I would like to talk about the formal  forms and the plural forms.  There are two ways to express you in Spanish. tú/usted.  Tú is used to speak to a person you can call by first name, usted is used to  speak to someone you do not know well and to adults.
Examples:  Tú eres mi mejor amigo.  You are my best friend/ ¿ Es usted  el padre de Jose?  Are you Jose’s dad?  Here are the plural forms of the subject pronouns:  Nosotros/Nosotras-We  / used when the speaker includes himself/herself in the conversation.  Nosotros somos Mexicanos- You and I (we) are Mexicans. This form includes a mixed group of males/females.  Nosotras somos Mexicanas- We the ( girls ) are Mexicans. This form refers to just females.  Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes–  Ellos son Mexicanos- They are Mexicans(male/females)  Ellas son Mexicanas( females ) The girls are Mexicans. Notice one can substitute Ellos with actual names( Marta/Marco-ellos)  (Marta/ Olivia- ellas)   Ustedes is you plural-  used to speak to more than one person.  Ustedes son Mexicanos.  You are Mexicans.  One last thing to mention.  Vosotros/Vosotras is second person plural.  This form is rarely used; therefore it is  not important to learn  these two forms.  Next lesson I will post an exercise that will allow you to practice  all the pronouns.
Happy study!

HOW TO USE SPANISH PRONOUNS- SINGULAR FORMS

The function of a pronoun is to replace a noun.  Some pronouns can be substituted for nouns.  Here are some examples:  There is no substitution for Yo-I, because you are doing  the speaking.

I am short- Yo soy baja.
No substitution for You- Tú because you are the person being spoken to
Are you American?  ¿Tú eres Americano,  no ?
él-he
ella-she   You can substitute él for a boy’s name:  Pablo es alto- He the boy(él) is tall.
Mayra es alta. -She the girl(ella) is tall.

When learning how to speak it is very important to learn how and when to use the subject pronouns.
Study  the above pronouns.  Next lesson I will go over the formal forms and the plural forms of the pronouns.  Happy study.