Smaller than life Spanish Diminutives. Spanish diminutives are probably one of the great mysteries of the Spanish language. When I say ‘mystery’ I mean that in terms of understanding the system. There seems to be a distinct lack of regimented, clearly set out rules about the ending you give to each noun. Of course, we do have some guidelines, such as the following example of Spanish diminutives with the word ‘Chico’: Chico = In this sense it means small. Chiquito = Quite small Chiquitito = Very ...
Jun 08, 2016•11 min
Talking Spanish. Let’s be honest, no matter which way you look at it, we are all here to be able to do one thing and that is talking Spanish well. No matter how much we try to fool ourselves into thinking that we get more benefit from written exercises, or that reading about grammar will make us a proficient speaker, the bottom line is that if you want to speak Spanish well, that’s precisely what you have to do. You have to get ‘ talking Spanish ‘ like crazy. Why do we avoid speaking? The answer...
Jun 02, 2016•12 min
Tratar and Acabar in Spanish. In this Podcast we don’t just deal with Tratar and Acabar in Spanish but also the reflexive versions of these verbs which you have probably see before: ‘Acabarse and Tratarse. What you will find is that, just like many other verbs that have a reflexive option (just about all of them) the meaning sometimes changes subtly between the two and sometimes it’s completely different. Look at the verb Poner, for example. On it’s own it means ‘to put’: Pongo la taza en la mes...
May 31, 2016•11 min
The Spanish Preterite vs Imperfect. In all of our private classes we probably spend more than 50% of our time helping people control the Spanish preterite vs imperfect tenses. Why? Well, there are two principle reasons. The first is that we talk in the past a LOT! The second is that getting them right can be a real challenge! Juggling the Preterite and the Imperfect In our own mother tongue we don’t think twice when we want to tell a friend about something that happened to us the other day. The ...
Mar 21, 2015•12 min
Spanish Culture Is it so different? Given that Cynthia and I are from different backgrounds, (I’m British and she is Spanish.) we have been able to appreciate some of the key differences between the two countries. Culturally, we are similar in many things and yet in others we couldn’t be more different. In the Podcast we cover a number of areas in which we are different, yet in this Blog I would like to focus on one particular area of British and Spanish culture and that is, POLITENESS. Rude or ...
Feb 05, 2014•11 min
Which one do I use? The question of “(Tú) Tu vs Usted” is always on the mind of students, especially when they are learning Spanish from Latin America. Most of us will know that the difference between Tú and Usted is simply the level of formality or politeness you want to maintain between you and the person you are talking to. In Spain, for example, once you are on talking/friendly terms you will “tutear” with that person. In fact, were you to continue to use Usted with someone, they would find ...
Jan 28, 2014•3 min
Tips on the Spanish Preterite. In the previous blog we said all we wanted to say on the subject of why we should learn the Spanish preterite. In this blog, then, which is the second in the series of the stem changing, irregular Spanish preterite, we will focus on some interesting tips of how the preterite is used. We’ve covered this before, but as repetition is the mother of all learning, it cannot do any harm. ¿Verdad? No Overlapping. Did you realise that one limitation of the preterite is that...
Jan 27, 2014•3 min
The Spanish Preterite. Why is it so challenging? If you are new to Spanish, or a seasoned student, the Spanish preterite will always be a challenging area of learning. The reason for that is that if we set it against any other tense found within Spanish grammar, it will come out hands down as the most irregular. It’s the only tense that doesn’t follow the standard endings that we find repeating themselves in every other and along with that, it often creates vague and changeable meanings to the v...
Jan 25, 2014•10 min
There’s a right and a wrong way to do everything. Culturally, Spain is unique in as much as it has its own ways of doing things and behaving. Just like any country, there are certain rights and wrongs in how you relate to others. What might seem like an innocent comment or a meaningless gesture to you can be taken as quite rude by a Spanish person if, unbeknown to you, you cross the line of what they consider “comportamiento aceptable.” No te preocupes. Before you start getting into a panic, we ...
Jan 21, 2014•11 min
Great Spanish Vocabulary. Travelling to Spanish Speaking Countries. According to the current statistics, more than one million Americans actually live in Mexico. On top of that, many tens of millions travel to Latin American countries every year, not to speak of those who cross the Atlantic to visit Spain. In the U.K., more than 70% of all people who travel abroad go to Spanish resorts. In our book, that’s a lot of travelling and of course, when travelling in Spanish speaking countries, it’s imp...
Jan 20, 2014•12 min
Ser and Estar in the Past. For every self respecting student of the Spanish language, getting SER and ESTAR right is not only a challenge but often becomes and obsession. “Why on earth they have to have two verbs ‘to be’ I’ll never know!”we often mutter to ourselves. Still, no matter how long you look at it, there they are, defying us to get our heads around them. The main issue is that to use these verbs, particularly in the past, we have to perform a series of mental gymnastics before we can e...
Jan 14, 2014•11 min
Spanish Commands The Imperative tense is a widely and oft used tense in all Spanish speaking countries. If you learn to use it well then you will find people will respond positively to your requests. However, like all tenses, if you use it badly then it could work against you. Here in the UK and in many English speaking countries the imperative is used a lot less than you will find it used in Spanish speaking countries. Certainly in England it tends to be used along with copious amounts of pleas...
Jan 11, 2014•10 min
The Mediterranean Diet is renown throughout the world not only for its delicious dishes but also for its health benefits. In this podcast we hear from Mercedes , la madre de Cynthia y de Maribel, su tía, who talk us through what they perceive as the typical Mediterranean diet. The challenge in this podcast is understanding just exactly what it is they are saying. Normally, at this level you have been listening to Cynthia and I. You have probably become accustomed to our voices and the expression...
Jan 07, 2014•10 min
Saber, Conocer and Decir in Preterite Past. These three verbs are surely some of the more interesting Spanish verbs because of the additional complications they pose to English speaking students. The fact that Saber and Conocer both mean To Know and yet those ‘knowings’ are most often very different makes learning them an interesting process. To add insult to injury, once they move into the past they become even more complex and their meanings change yet again. Some interesting question are: Whi...
Jan 06, 2014•11 min
We have previously covered the uses of para and now we complete the circle with a look at how to use por in Spanish. Por is certainly far more idiomatic and has an incredible rich range of expressions that are in daily use. However, more importantly, the rules behind the use of por are vitally important to any student of Spanish. In this podcast we offer you practical examples and ways of using por correctly. Of all the areas of Spanish learning, por and para are probably some of the most incorr...
Dec 14, 2011•10 min
Do you know the difference between saber and conocer? Maybe you think you know these verbs already, however, like many areas of learning in the Spanish language, there are layers within layers of meaning for these two words. Did you know that the verb saber can be used reflexively giving it another meaning? Did you know that conocer doesn’t just apply to “knowing people and places”? This is a wonderful, though admittedly often frustrating, part of learning a language. Many text books just cannot...
Dec 07, 2011•10 min
¡Hola! In this free Spanish podcast episode, we’re going to explain exactly how to use ya in Spanish. Despite being such a small word, just two lonely letters, it is probably one of the most flexible and diverse of them all. When we compare the uses of ya in Spanish, we find a lot of similarities to the American usage of “already”. And, “already” is exactly the translation the dictionary would give you for this word. But ya is more complicated than that and it has nuances that aren’t always imme...
Nov 30, 2011•10 min
This most recent Advanced Intermediate podcast is all about how to use para in Spanish. Along with its partner in crime, por, para is one of the mysteries of the Spanish language that we will help you unravel. It seems that no matter how long people study the language, they still have problems choosing between the two. Like everything, the more you use it, the easier it becomes, however, we have some tips that will help you use Para more effectively and “más importante”, more accurately. One tip...
Nov 23, 2011•10 min
In this free Spanish podcast, we interview with Elena Durán (la hermana de Cynthia) we discover an interesting perspective on life as a young person in Spain. Like in every culture, the Spanish youth have a certain lifestyle that they enjoy as well as things that are important to them. Given the current economic climate in Spain, it’s very common for young people to live at home with their parents until they leave to get married. This is because the cost of living and renting “un apartamento” al...
Nov 16, 2011•4 min
Following on from the previous podcast on indirect object pronouns (IOPs, for short) and their use, we now cover double pronouns in Spanish, or the redundant use of IOPs. What, we hear you ask, is that? Well, unknown to most students are a list of verbs that require the IOP even when the name of the person receiving the action is mentioned. Because this is not as commonly known as it should be it often causes massive confusion to students. (This is what happened to me, Gordon, when I heard sente...
Nov 09, 2011•10 min
So, what are the direct and indirect objects in spanish for goodness sake? And how on earth do you use them? All good questions, these. You might just know some of them already: ME, TE, NOS, OS, LE/LO etc. Well, firstly, it’s important to highlight that there are many differing opinions on the correct usage of these pronouns. In mainland Spain, the majority of Spanish speakers are what are called “leístas” and to make matters worse, they are “laístas”, too. Don’t worry, however, it’s not as bad ...
Nov 02, 2011•10 min
In this episode of the podcast, we offer you the listeners some incredibly useful tips for learning Spanish. If you have been learning the language for any length of time, you will have realised that there is so much more involved in becoming fluent than many people realise. In fact, many of the people who begin learning Spanish have the naive idea that within a handful of months they will have it totally “dominado”. What makes matters worse is that the internet is filled with incredible claims ...
Oct 26, 2011•11 min
In this free Spanish lesson online, we look at “se”. Well, what can we say about “se”? If you’ve spent any time studying the Spanish language you will have noticed that it quite literally pops up all over in the Spanish language. It has been said that SE is a little overused and, for students, it can cause a great deal of confusion looking at it in a sentence and trying to decide if it’s being used as a reflexive pronoun, an indirect object pronoun or simply one of the many other little jobs it ...
Oct 19, 2011•10 min
The passive voice in Spanish is one of those strange grammatical expressions that strikes fear into the best of us. The truth of the matter is that one of the challenges of learning a language, be it Spanish or any other, is actually understanding your own grammar. We have found over the years that around 80% of our beginner students are confused about verbs, nouns and adjectives. Imagine what happens once they begin to stumble across the imperfect subjunctive, the pluperfect and the conditional...
Oct 12, 2011•11 min
Have you ever visited a small, sleepy Spanish village? Despite the fact that Spain is fast becoming a modern country, it is still possible to find many small villages throughout the whole of Spain that are pretty much what you might expect from the typical “aldea española”. In this free Spanish podcast we discuss the typical delights that can often be found in a traditional Spanish village. Certainly, if you want to find people to talk to in Spanish, this is the place to go particularly if you g...
Oct 05, 2011•11 min
In this free Spanish lesson online, we have a chat about driving in Spain. Every country has its style of driving, and none more so than Spain. Certainly in the area around the capital, Madrid, drivers tend to be quite aggressive, although not all of them. Peeping the horn is a great past-time for them especially if you are waiting at a set of traffic lights that have just turned green and you haven’t managed to get the car into gear fast enough. In this podcast Cynthia and Gordon share differin...
Sep 28, 2011•9 min
The eight of our advanced intermediate Spanish lessons is all about impersonal verbs. As a conversation piece, these verbs are a real must for any serious student of the Spanish language. Why? Because, firstly, in conversation it’s so important to be able to express your opinions in a clear and concise way. Secondly, and in our opinion, far more important, it’s vital that you are able to solicit the opinion of the person you are talking with. In any language, a good conversation is never one way...
Sep 28, 2011•11 min
This intermediate Spanish lesson is all about “mascotas”, or, in English, pets. We all love our pets and none more so than the Spanish. Because many Spanish people live in “pisos” or what we call apartments or flats, they tend to limit themselves to small dogs and so, at any time of the day you can see many Spanish people “paseando a su perrito en la calle”. En los “chalets” (villas) however, in the countryside, it’s much more common to have large dogs that have the responsibility of guarding th...
Sep 21, 2011•11 min
Listening practice in Spanish is a key part of learning the language. Listening to children talk in Spanish is no easy feat. What is interesting, however, is the way Ulises, (el hijo del primo del padre de Cynthia jeje) talks us through his daily routines in a very matter of fact way. In this interview with Ulises, you get a chance to hear the kind of subjects that he enjoys, and the ones he doesn’t like, too. He guides us through his favourite foods, hobbies and some of his action heroes that e...
Sep 14, 2011•10 min
Commands in Spanish — otherwise known as the imperative tense — are one of the most important aspects of the Spanish language. No matter where you are you will be faced with someone telling you what they want you to do in Spanish. Don’t be shocked! They mean no offence. The truth is that the imperative is used constantly amongst Spanish speakers as they order each other around in a maelstrom of commands like: Listen! Eat up! Come here! Shut up! Sit! Go away! Look!, along with so many more other ...
Sep 07, 2011•11 min
