Spanish is such a helpful language to learn since so many people around the world speak it. I take Spanish at my school and this is my first year of taking it. I am very good at it and my grades show it. I currently have a 99.76% (rounded up to 100%) in Spanish and I love learning it. I thought that I could teach everyone some basic spanish in case you encounter yourself in a Spanish-speaking country such as Puerto Rico. Here are some of the basics:
Before even starting, you'll need to know how to pronounce Spanish. I recommend Googling how yourself or using this website to show you how (notify me if it does not work).
Now first off, you need to know your articles...
In English, we have "the," "a," and "an." To pluralize them, we say "the" and "some." For Spanish, every noun has to be conjugated into masculine nouns and femenine nouns. Examine this chart of definite articles:
I've organized it into masculine/feminine and singular/plural because in Spanish, nouns always have to agree in number and gender. Here are some examples:
- un cuaderno (a notebook)
- una regla (a ruler)
- unos deportes (some sports)
- unas frutas (some fruits)
Now, let's take a look at the indefinite articles (the):
This is organized in the same pattern. Here are some more examples:
- el libro (the book)
- la pizza (the pizza)
- los juegos (the games)
- las mesas (the tables)
Let's take a look at the definite articles again. Notice how when a word ends in "o" that the definite article is masculine? "Cuaderno" is masculine because it ends in "o." The same thing applies to feminine words; instead of "o," it is an "a." Look at "regla" for example. It ends with the letter "a" showing that it is feminine. Now if you were to pluralize these, you either add an "s" or "es." "cuaderno" to "cuadernos" and "un" would be changed to "unos." "unos cuadernos" is a complete phrase because it agrees in number (unos cuadernos) and gender (unos cuadernos). Get it?
However, not always will a noun end in "o" or "a." Take a look at "unos deportes." The singular form of this is "deporte." How are you supposed to know that it is masculine? You just have to know. There is no trick to knowing. When in doubt, just use the masculine form.
Now let's take a look at the indefinite articles. Everything that was stated before applies with the indefinite articles. "el" and "la" are singular. "los" and "las" are plural. "el" and "los" are masculine and "la" and "las" are feminine.
Second, we will learn what the personal pronouns are.
There is not much explaining needed for this if you look closely. The black indicates the Spanish word and the green indicates what it means in English. I have it organized in a certain order and you'll see why soon...
Next, we're going to learn how to conjugate verbs. When saying a verb in Spanish, it needs to be conjugated to direct who you are saying it about/to. For the verb, "cantar" which means "to sing," there are six conjugations for that verb. Let's take a look:
See how I have it organized in the same pattern as the personal pronouns? I showed you that "yo" means "I" in Spanish. It was located at the top left of my diagram. Now, if we look at the conjugations of "cantar," we see that "canto" matches the same spot. So, if you say, "Yo canto," you are saying "I sing." Look at "canta." Three words can go along with it. If you say "Ella canta," you are saying "she sings." With "canto," only one word matches it - "yo," which means "I." You could say just "canto" and people will know you are saying "I sing" because it has only one matching word. However, with "canta," there are three possibilities - "él, ella, or usted" (usted is the formal version of "you" and is usually used with someone like a professor, elder, someone older than you, etc.). For this conjugation, you MUST state if it is he, she, or you sings unless it is obvious who you are talking about (like if you were pointing at them and you say it). If you take a look at "nosotros" and "nosotras," they each have the "o" and the "a." Can you take a guess what that means? Well, if you said that they refer to different genders, then you are correct! If you have a group of females, say "nosotras." If you have a group of males OR a group of males AND females, say "nosotros." It works the same way with "vosotros" and "vosotras." Just remember never to use those unless you are in Spain because other Spanish speaking countries do not speak using "vosotros/as." To summarize what I just said, look below:
Most other verbs follow the same pattern:
nadar (to swim)
nado (I swim)
nadas (You swim)
nada (he/she/formal you swim)
nadamos (we swim)
nadáis (you all swim (in Spain only))
nadan (they/you all swim)
bailar (to dance)
bailo (I dance)
bailas (You dance)
baila (he/she/formal you dance)
bailamos (we dance)
bailáis (you all dance (in Spain only))
bailan (they/you all dance)
querer (to want)
quiero (I want)
quieres (You want)
quiere (he/she/formal you want)
queremos (we want)
queréis (you all want (in Spain only))
quieren (they/you all want)
necesitar (to need)
necesito (I need)
necesitas (You need)
necesita (he/she/you formal need/s)
necesitamos (we need)
necesitáis (you all need (in Spain only))
necesitan (they/you all need)
...Those are only a few of the million of verbs you can use.
Finally, it is time to create sentences.
Necesito un lápiz. - I need a pencil.
Él quiere la pizza - He wants the pizza.
Ellas necesitan unas frutas - They (feminine) need some fruits.
See how it works?!!?
Hopefully, you figured out by looking at my diagrams on how to speak a little bit of Spanish. Here is a little extra in case you just want to know more:
Hola - Hello
Me gusta - I like (I am pleased with)
¿Cómo estás? - How are you?
Estoy bien - I feel (am) good
¿De dónde eres? - Where are you from?
Soy de _____ - I am from _____
Hasta luego - See you later
My question for this week is...
Do you get it? Would you like me to make more Spanish teaching posts?
