Speak Spanish Confidently In 12 Days Or Less! by Emiljano - HTML preview

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numerals:

0

cero

[se-ro]

16

diez y seís

[dyez i seys]

1

uno

[u-no]

17

diez y siete

[dyez i she-te]

2

dos

[dos]

18

diez y ocho

[dyez i ocho]

3

tres

[tres]

19

diez y nueve [dyez i nwe-ve]

4

cuatro

[kwat-ro]

20

veinte

[veyn-te]

5

cinco

[thing-ko]

21

veinte y uno [veyn-te i u-no]

6

seís

[seys]

22

veinte y dos

[veyn-te i dos]

7

siete

[she-te]

30

treinta

[treyn-ta]

8

ocho

[oh-cho]

40

cuarenta

[kwa-ren-ta]

9

nueve

[nwe-veh]

50

cincuenta

[thing-kwen-ta]

10

diez

[dyez]

60

sesenta

[se-sen-ta]

11

once

[on-the]

70

setenta

[se-ten-ta]

12

doce

[doh-the]

80

ochenta

[oh-chen-ta]

13

trece

[tre-the]

90

noventa

[no-ven-ta]

14

catorce

[ka-tor-the]

100

cien

[shen]

15

quince

[kin-the]

1000 mil

[mil]

Here are examples of nouns and numbers forming nominal phrases:

Una dia

[u-na di-ya]

‘one day’

Ocho vasos de agua

[oh-cho va-sos de a-gwa]

‘8 glasses of water’

Doce meses cada año

[do-the me-ses ka-da a-nyo] ’12 months a year’

Treinta y dos años

[treyn-ta i dos a-nyos]

’32 years’

Cien pesos

[shen pe-sos]

‘100 pesos’

Definite and Indefinite Articles

As we have already started forming nominal phrases with the use of numbers, let us

continue by using articles in Spanish this time.

A nominal phrase is usually composed of an article and a noun, Articles can be either

definite or indefinite. In English, we use the article “the” to show definiteness, while we use “a”

to refer to indefinite nouns. As a review of definiteness, consider the following English sentences below:

[The child] is playing.

[A child] is playing.

In the former sentence, the one playing is the child whom perhaps we already know or

have been talking about earlier; unlike in the latter where the one playing is a child who we don’t really know.

In Spanish, articles are also used to show a noun’s definiteness. Since it is again a gender-

and number-specific language, these articles are also inflected for gender and plurality. Study the table below that introduces these articles:

D E F I N I T E

I N D E F I N I T E

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

el [el]

los [los]

un [un]

unos [unos]

Masculine

el libro

los libros

un chico

unos chicos

[el lib-roh]

[los lib-rohs]

[un chi-ko]

[u-nos chi-kos]

‘the book’

‘the books’

‘a boy’

‘boys’

la [la]

las [las]

una [una]

unas [unas]

Feminine

la plaza

las plazas

una chica

unas chicas

[la pla-za]

[las pla-zas]

[u-na chi-ka]

[u-nas chi-kas]

‘the town’

‘the towns’

‘a girl’

‘girls’

To summarize, here are the steps in forming nominal phrases:

1. Identify the gender of the noun. Check its ending but remember the exceptions.

2. How many are being talked about? If it’s more than one, observe the ending so you

would know what suffix to add.

3. Is the noun definite or not? This would determine what article to use.

Examples: Answer the questions in Spanish.

Q:

What did you have for breakfast?

A:

2 bananas and a glass of milk

1.

Platano ‘banana’ is a male.

Vaso ‘glass’ is also a male.

2.

2 bananas. Hence, add -s to platano 2 platanos.

1 glass. Hence, vaso remains.

3.

2 bananas - definite, with numeral dos platanos

1 glass - indefinite, use un un vaso

Dos platanos y un vaso de leche

Q:

Who called while I was gone?

A:

The neighbors (girls) and a student (boy)

1.

The neighbors are girls. Use vecina (instead of vecino).

Estudiante is neuter. No need for inflection.

2.

Neighbors. Hence, add -s to vecina vecinas.

Student. Hence, estudiante remains.

3.

The neighbors – definite, use las las vecinas

A student – indefinite, use un un estudiante

Las vecinas y un estudiante

Learn More Nouns that are Spanish!

It is also important to learn the following Spanish nouns that are used in daily conversations. Take time to get yourself familiar with these nouns and memorize each one of

them.

1. Months in a Year (los meses en un año)

Enero

[e-ne-ro]

‘January’

Febrero

[feb-re-ro]

‘February’

Marzo

[mar-zo]

‘March’

Abril

[ab-ril]

‘April’

Mayo

[ma-yo]

‘May’

Junio

[hu-nyo]

‘June’

Julio

[hu-lyo]

‘July’

Agosto

[a-gos-to]

‘August’

Septiembre

[sep-tyem-bre]

‘September’

Octubre

[ok-tu-bre]

‘October’

Noviembre

[no-vyem-bre]

‘November’

Diciembre

[di-thyem-bre]

‘December’

2. Days of the Week (las dias en una semana)

Lunes

[lu-nes]

‘Monday’

Martes

[mar-tes]

‘Tuesday’

Miercoles

[myer-ko-les]

‘Wednesday’

Jueves

[khweh-ves]

‘Thursday’

Viernes

[vyer-nes]

‘Friday’

Sabado

[sa-ba-dho]

‘Saturday’

Domingo

[do-ming-go]

‘Sunday’

3. Time of the Day (hora en la diya)

De la mañana

[de la ma-nya-na]

‘am’

De la tarde

[de la tar-de]

‘pm’

Hora

[o-ra]

‘time, hour’

Media hora

[me-dya ora]

‘half hour’

Cuarto de hora

[kwar-to o-ra]

‘quarter of an hour’

4. What is The Date Today? (¿Que fecha es hoy?)

Dates, in Spanish, are formed by stating the date (number) first before the month. The

number is introduced by an article, while the preposition de ‘of’ is used to link that date to the month. Let’s try it!

¿Que fecha es hoy?

El cinco de marzo.

El seis de Julio.

[ke fe-cha es oy]

[el thing-ko de mar-zo]

[el seys de hu-lyo]

‘What’s the date today?’

‘It’s the 5th of May.’

‘It’s the 6th of July.’

¿Que dia es?

Es domingo.

Es miercoles.

[ke di-ya es]

[es do-ming-go]

[es myer-ko-les]

‘What day is it?

‘It’s Sunday’

‘It’s Wednesday’

Note:

- The months and days in Spanish do not begin with capital letters when written.

5. What Time Is It? (¿Que hora es?)

¿Que hora es?

Es la una de la tarde

Son las dos y media

[ke o-ra es]

[es la u-na de la tar-de]

[son las dos i me-dya]

‘What time is it?’

‘It’s 1:00 p.m.’

‘It’s 2:30’

Click here if you want to improve your spoken Spanish, including your pronunciation, and

understand spoken Spanish, all in an efficient and effective way...

DAY 4:

Getting Familiar with Spanish Pronouns

Pronouns are noun substitutes. Even though you can already form nominal phrases, it

isn’t enough that you proceed in studying verbs and then forming sentences right away. You

would not want el gato to be present just at each of your sentences, would you? Trust me; it will only sound bad.

Hence, you should understand and know the proper usage of pronouns in Spanish. This

day’s lesson is divided into learning subjective, objective, possessive, and demonstrative pronouns.

Subject Pronouns

In Spanish, subject pronouns are usually used only once in a context and are generally

omitted. This is because Spanish verbs already contain in them both the person and number of

the subject being talked about. (Verbs will be discussed further in later days to come.) Hence,

once the subject pronoun is stated, the next sentences about it can become grammatical even

without the said pronoun, or even noun for that matter.

The subject pronoun chart appears like this:

Person

Singular

Plural

1st Person

Yo [yo] ‘I’

Nosotros [no-sot-ros]

‘we’

Familiar

Tu [tu] ‘you’

Vosostros [vo-sot-ros]

2nd Person

‘you all’

Formal

Usted [us-ted] ‘you’

Ustedes [us-te-des] ‘you

all’

3rd Person

Male

El [el] ‘he/it’

Ellos [eh-lyos] ‘they’

Female

Ella [eh-lya] ‘she/it’

Ellas [eh-lyas] ‘they’

Pronouns in the first person, both in singular and plural forms, should be familiar to you

as they function just the same as in English.

As for the 2nd person, pronouns here are of two forms, the familiar and the formal. You

should know that Spanish people value respect greatly for the elderly and authority. This is what

the formal form of the 2nd person pronouns refers to. Usted and ustedes have respect inherent in them. Hence, they should be used when talking to people you regard highly.

Finally, you should notice that the 3rd person pronouns have also 2 forms according to

gender of the person or thing being talked about. Here, it is important to be able to identify the

gender of the noun before substituting it with a pronoun.

The use of subject pronouns will be further shown when they are already being used in

sentences. As for now, it is enough that you become familiar with each one of them.

Object Pronouns

Object pronouns are generally substituted for direct and indirect objects in sentences with

transitive verbs.

Study the object pronoun chart below:

Person

Singular

Plural

1st Person

Me [meh] ‘me’

Nos [nohs] ‘us’

2nd Person

Familiar

Te [teh] ’you’

Os [ohs] ‘you all’

Formal

Le [leh] ‘you’

Les [lehs] ‘you all’

Male

Lo [loh] ‘he/it’ (DO)

Los [lohs] ‘they’ (DO)

3rd Person

Le [leh] ‘he/it’ (IO)

Les [lehs] ‘they’ (IO)

Female

La [lah] ‘she/it’ (DO)

Las [lahs] ‘they’ (DO)

Le [leh] ‘she/it’ (IO)

Les [lehs] ‘they’ (IO)

For the 1st and 2nd persons, you would notice that the direct and indirect objects have the

same form; while the direct object differs from its indirect counterpart in the 3rd person. This is to avoid confusion when they both appear in a single sentence. (More of this to be discussed further

on Day 11)

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns, those that show ownership, also depend on the gender and number

of the nouns they accompany. Take note that a pronoun’s gender – particularly, 1st and 2nd person

plural (‘our’ and ‘your’) – do not correspond to what the gender of the owner is, but to the

gender of the noun.

Singular Nouns

Plural Nouns

Masculin

Feminine

Masculi

Femini

e

ne

ne

‘My’

Mi [mi]

Mis [mis]

‘Yo

Fa

Tu [tu]

Tus [tus]

ur’

miliar

For

Su [su]

Sus [sus]

mal

‘His, her, its’

Su [su]

Sus [sus]

‘Our’

Nuestro

Nuestra

Nuestros

Nuestr

as

[nu-wes-

[nu-wes-

[nu-wes-

tro]

tra]

tros]

[nu-

wes-tras]

‘Yo

Fa

Vuestro

Vuestra

Vuestros

Vuestr

ur’ Pl.

miliar

as

[vu-wes-

[vu-wes-

[vu-wes-

tro]

tra]

tros]

[vu-

wes-tras]

For

Su [su]

Sus [sus]

mal

‘Their’

Su [su]

Sus [sus]

Examples of phrases we can make using possessive pronouns are as follows:

Mi madre

[mi mad-re]

‘my mother’

Tu coche

[tu ko-che]

‘your car’

Sus blusas

[sus blu-sas]

‘her blouses’

Nuestro mundo

[nu-wes-tro mun-do]

‘our world’

Vuestros pantalones [vu-wes-tros pan-ta-lo-nes] ‘your (pl.) pants’

Sus hermanos

[sus er-ma-nos]

‘their brothers’

Su nombre, por favor [su nom-bre por fa-vor]

‘your name, please’ (formal)

Demonstratives

Demonstratives refer to certain nouns in terms of their positions relative to the speaker. In

Spanish, there are three specific positions of nouns in which demonstratives are used: near the

speaker, near the listener, and far away from both the speaker and listener. These demonstratives

also conform to the gender and number of the nouns being referred to.

Singular

Plural

Mascu

Femini

Masculine

Femini

line

ne

ne

‘This’

Este

Esta

‘These

Estos [es-

Estas

[es-te]

[es-ta]

tos]

[es-tas]

‘That’

Ese [e-se]

Esa [e-sa]

‘Those’

Esos [e-sos]

Esas [e-sas]

‘That over

Aquel

Aquella

‘Those over

Aquellos

Aqueallas

there’

[a-kel]

[a-ke-lya]

there’

[a-ke-lyos]

[a-ke-lyas]

For clear examples:

An apple near the speaker: Esta manzana

[es-ta man-za-na]

‘This apple’

An apple near the listener: Esa manzana

[e-sa man-za-na]

‘That apple’

An apple far away: Aquella manzana

[a-ke-lya man-za-na] ‘That apple’

(over there)

12 apples near the speaker: Estas manzanas [es-tas man-za-nas]

‘These apples’

12 apples near the listener: Esas manzanas [e-sas man-za-nas]

‘Those apples’

12 apples far away: Aquellas manzanas

[a-ke-lyas man-za-nas] Those apples

(over there)

Click here if you want to improve your spoken Spanish, including your pronunciation, and

understand spoken Spanish, all in an efficient and effective way...

DAY 5:

Learn to Describe with Spanish Adjectives

The principal function of adjectives is to modify or describe nouns. Therefore, the number and the gender of an adjective should conform to the noun involved (i.e. if the noun is

male singular, the adjective describing it should be the same). However, unlike in the English

language that the adjective comes before the noun it modifies, Spanish adjectives usually follow

the noun they give description to, although there are instances that the Spanish language follows

the Adj-N order. Compare the following examples:

Eng.

A pretty girl

Span. Una chica bonita

[u-na chi-ka bo-ni-ta]

Art-Adj-N

Art-N-Adj

The naughty boys

Los chicos malos

[los chi-kos ma-los]

Art-Adj-N

Art-N-Adj

At first, it may be a bit confusing; but as you practice more, you can easily get used to

forming adjectival phrases. Just remember, noun first before the adjective.

Adjectives in Spanish can be categorized into two types according to form – regular &

neuter:

1. Regular Forms: -o, -a, -os, -as. Most adjectives have masculine and feminine, singular and plural forms: the suffix to show masculinity is -o, while the suffix to show femininity is - a. An -s is added to the vowel at the end of the word to form the plural.

Ex.

Un bolso largo

[un bol-so lar-go]

‘a new bag’

Una mesa nueva

[u-na me-sa nwe-va]

‘a new table’

Dos bolsos largos

[dos bol-sos lar-gos]

‘two new bags’

Dos mesas nuevas

[dos me-sas new-vas]

‘two new tables’

2. Neuter Forms. Adjectives having this form usually end in an -e, in -ista, or in a consonant in the singular form. They use the same form for both masculine and feminine

forms. To form the plural, add an -s or -es.

Ex.

Un libro interesante [un lib-ro in-te-re-san-te]

‘an interesting book’

Una obra dificil

[u-na ob-ra di-fi-sil]

‘a difficult work’

Los libros interesantes[los lib-ros in-te-re-san-tes] ‘the interesting books’

Los obras dificiles

[los ob-ras di-fi-si-les]

‘the difficult works’

The classifications below, on the other hand, are according to the common descriptions

they provide. Study them well and learn to describe in Spani