APRENDIENDO ESPAÑOL (1): Artículos (Articles)

Artículos indefinidos (indefinite articles)

un (masculine, singular) a/an unos (masculine, plural) some as equivalent
una (femenine, singular) a/an unas (feminine, plural) some as equivalent

We use the indefinite article to refer to a person or an object for the first time:

Es una casa. It’s a house.
Son unos libros de inglés. They’re some English books.
Un hombre vino a verte ayer. A man came to see you yesterday.

In English the indefinite article has only a singular form a (an when the next word starts with a vowel sound –note: vowel sound not vowel letter). We use either zero article or the determiner some (if we want to express indefinite quantity) when referring to either uncountable nouns or plural countable nouns. In Spanish we have a plural form of the indefinite article: unos/unas, which is used with plural countable nouns but we do not have an equivalent to some for uncountable nouns.

Son (unos) libros para el colegio. They’re some books for the school.
Hay leche en el frigorífico. There’s (some) milk in the fridge.
Hay (unos) huevos en el armario. There are some eggs in the cupboard.


Artículos definidos (definite articles)

el (masculine, singular) the los (masculine, plural) the
la (feminine, singular) the las (feminine, plural) the

We use the definite article to refer to someone or something that has been previously mentioned or it refers to a defined one:

Es un libro de español. Es el libro del alumno. It's a book of Spanish. It's the pupil's book.
El profesor no está en la clase. The teacher is not in the classroom.

The use of los, las when referring to things or people in general has the equivalent of zero article in English. Thus,

Me gustan las manzanas. I like apples.
Los elefantes son animales muy grandes. Elephants are very big animals.

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Contracciones: A + EL = AL
DE + EL = DEL

The preposition A (to as its equivalent) and the article EL are contracted as AL:

Vayamos al supermercado. Let's go to the supermarket.
Vayamos a la playa. Let's go to the beach.

The preposition DE (of/from as its equivalent) and the article EL are contracted as DEL:

Es del norte. He's from the north.
Es el perro del vecino. It's the neighbour's dog.

APRENDIENDO ESPAÑOL (1): Sustantivos o nombres (nouns)

Nouns in Spanish can be masculine or feminine and there is no fixed rule to know whether they are one or the other; unlike English in which nouns referring to male are he, nouns referring to female are she, and things and animals are considered neuter, it.

Therefore, un libro (a book) is masculine and una mesa (a table) is feminine.

In principle, all nouns ending in –o are masculine and all nouns ending in –a are feminine:

el libro (the book)
la casa (the house)
un abogado (a lawyer)
una abogada (a lawyer)

Unfortunately, the rule does not always apply, so:

un sofa (a sofa)
una mano (a hand)

Uncountable nouns starting with a- are made masculine, mainly because of pronunciation reasons:

el arroz (rice)
el aceite (oil)
el agua (water)

Nouns ending in –e and in consonant can be either masculine or feminine, or even both:

el coche (the car)
la leche (the milk)
el camión (the lorry)
la pared (the wall)
el/la cantante (the singer)

Nouns ending in –ista are both masculine and feminine:

el/la artista (the artist)
el/la periodista (the journalist)

So the student needs to learn this by heart and it is advisable to check the gender when we learn new nouns.

APRENDIENDO ESPAÑOL (1): Presente simple del verbo SER. Preguntar y negar.

Presente simple del verbo SER (verb to be, present simple tense)

Yo soy = I am
Tú eres = You are
Él es = He is
Ella es = She is
*Ello es = It is
Usted es = You are (formal, addressing one person)
Nosotros, nosotras somos = We are
Vosotros, vosotras sois = You are
Ellos, ellas son = They are
Ustedes son = You are (formal, addressing more than one person)

→ Pronombres sujeto (Subject pronouns):

>> Subject pronouns are not obligatory when using a verb form. The ending of the verb form tells us what person we are talking about.

>> The subject pronoun forms of the second person are different tú as singular and vosotros, vosotras as plural.

>> When we address someone formally we use usted (singular) and ustedes (plural) but the verb form is that of the third person singular (es) or plural (son), respectively.

>> The subject pronoun ello corresponds to a neuter form but we hardly use it in Spanish together with the verb form.

>> The subject pronouns tú and él are written with a graphic accent (acento) so that we distinguish them from tu casa (possessive adjective) and el libro (definite article).

→ Usos del verbo SER (uses of the verb to be).

The verb BE has two different meanings in Spanish: ser o estar, which consequently complicates its learning by any Anglo-Saxon student. It is an irregular verb and as the verb ser it is used:

-> To identify yourself or other people:

Soy Begoña. I’m Begoña.
Él es Juan. He’s Juan.
Ustedes son los nuevos inquilinos. You are the new tenants.

-> To say your occupation (no use of “a/an” in Spanish):

Soy profesora de inglés. I’m an English teacher.
Juan es mecánico. John is a mechanic.

-> To say what it is or to talk about something or someone for the first time; we use the indefinite article –un, una, (a/an) unos, unas (which corresponds to the indefinite form some in English):

Es un libro. It is a book.
Son unos estudiantes muy buenos. They are very good students.
Son unos zapatos para María. They are some shoes for María.
Es una carta para Juan. It is a letter for John.

-> To describe something or someone by using adjectives to give information about the subject:

Es blanco y muy grande. It’s white and very big.
Somos grandes amigos. We are great friends.
Son holandeses. They are Dutch.
Es de madera. It’s made of wood.
Es tarde. It’s late.
Estos estudiantes son muy altos. These students are very tall.

-> To give more specific information about a subject, which or who has already been mentioned:

Es el libro de matemáticas. It’s the maths book.
Son unos zapatos; son los zapatos de María. They're some shoes; they're María’s shoes.
¿Qué es esto? Es el vestido para la boda. ¿Qué es esto? It’s the wedding dress.
Somos los padres de David. We are David’s parents.
¿Es usted el nuevo profesor? Are you the new teacher?

→ Hacer preguntas en español (making questions in Spanish).

In Spanish we must write an opening question mark (¿) at the beginning of the question so as to indicate that we are making a question. This is mainly because there are no markers to show that what comes next is a question as we do in English by using auxiliaries –do, does, did-, or inverting subject and verb when using auxiliaries be and have.

¿Eres español? Are you Spanish?
¿Vienes conmigo? Are you coming with me?
¿Qué hora es? What time is it?
¿Cómo estás? ¿Qué tal? How are you?
¿Cuánto cuesta? How much does it cost?

The intonation of questions is the same as in English. We make a rising intonation for questions in which we want to confirm information, i.e. the answer will be Sí or No; but we make a falling intonation for questions in which we are requesting information, i.e. starting with a wh-pronoun.

The wh-pronouns (los pronombres interrogativos) in Spanish are:

¿Qué? What?
¿Quién? ¿Quiénes? Who? (singular and plural)
¿Dónde? Where?
¿Cuándo? When?
¿Cómo? How?
¿Por qué? Why? (*no interrogative Because… Porque…)
¿Cuánto, cuánta? How much?
¿Cuántos, cuántas? How many?
¿De quién? Whose?

Notice that as interrogative pronouns they have a graphic accent; this is done to distinguish them from functioning as relative pronouns.

→ Hacer respuestas negativas o negar el verbo (making negative answers).

In Spanish we make the negative form of verbs by simply placing the negation no before the verb:

Él no es español. He isn’t Spanish.
No vamos a trabajar en coche. We don’t go to work by car.
No tienen coche. They don’t have a car.

Resuming blogging: ME & time ;O)

Hi, everyone!

It's a month since my last entry on my blog, and though blogging shouldn't feel like an obligatory task or a duty, I believe that once I've decided to engage myself in this blogging adventure I should be consistent with it whatsoever. I also feel I have silently undertook a commitment with my present readers as well as any potential or future readers. It goes without saying that I truly appreciate the interest they have shown in my blog, which, of course, makes the adventure of writing a more engaging and rewarding task.

One of the secondary reasons for me to start blogging was the fact that I was out of work and, consequently, with lots of "free" time ahead of me. But, let's rephrase this last sentence: being out of work allowed me to have more free time to do things I seemed not to have time for when working full time. (Wow, what a tricky word "time" is, I've just managed to use it three "times" in one sentence!!!)

ME and this precious word "time" ;O) A sly smile just gets drawn on my face when I think of it, as I have a peculiar way of perceiving the concept of time in my life. Time is not simply a measurable concept; a very needed one in our lives, but can also be a damning one. I wonder how often the word "time" crops up in our discourse. I don't know about you, but it surely comes to my mind or sneaks in my discourse more than it should. One friend of mine once said I was very ambitious with time, and I feel he managed to define me quite well. There are so many things in life that lure my interest that I have reached a point in which I need to be more realistic and disciplined when it comes to engaging myself in present or new activites.

At present, I'm back teaching a full-time course of English for Information Technology experts. This in part explains why I've been so neglectful with my blog. I have been giving it quite a lot of thought lately and have decided to gear my blog to my working needs. So, I intend to write about grammar points that can be useful not only to my present students but anyone else who happens to read my blog.

Well, yes, I take your point: "What's the point of writing about grammar and giving more grammar explanations?!" Surely, there is plenty of this on the Internet already. I myself have listed some websites I have found of interest for this purpose. My intention has a two-fold aim. I intend to write about grammar points but contrasting both languages: English and Spanish. Hopefully, this way I can engage the interest of both native speakers of any language learning Spanish and native Spanish speakers learning English.

So, keep visiting my blog, and see if you think this new stage is worth a reading: I TRULY HOPE SO!

:O)

Listening activities for all levels

I've added a new website in the USEFUL LINKS list for all those who are interested in doing activities to improve their listening skills:

http://www.esl-lab.com/index.htm

The activities cater for all levels ranked as EASY / MEDIUM / DIFFICULT / VERY DIFFICULT so it makes it easy for the student to know where to start or which listening to pick. Besides, they are sorted out in different headings:

• General Listening Quizzes (the longest list)
• Basic Listening Quizzes
• Listening Quizzes For Academic Purposes
• 20-minute ESL Vocabulary Lessons
• Language Learning and Life Tips
• Long Conversations with RealVideo

The multiple-choice exercises designed for listening comprehension are user-friendly and dynamic with immediate feedback to check your performance. You can also read the script of the listening activity for further study.

The well-worn "brotes verdes" phrase in Spanish politics

I don't know about you but I'm getting sick and tired of the latest linguistic coinage in the Spanish discourse of politicians, political analysts and journalists in general these days. The well-worn phrase: brotes verdes can be heard or read almost anywhere, to the extent that it's becoming a cliché or a source of mockery depending on who words the phrase.

I've just googled the Spanish phrase now and I've been given 1,560,000 results, so the figure just speaks by itself.

I was chatting via twitter with Juanma Roca (please click on http://www.elreinodelahumildad.com/ if you want to know more about him and his latest book) and asked him if he knew the original English phrase, as I had already tried the literal translation from Spanish and it didn't match. I did my own research on the Internet and, bingo!!!

The English phrase is green shoots and it was Ben Bernake who used this term some time at the beginning of April. I got this info via Paul Krugman as he has a post in his blog dated, April, 16th commenting on B. Bernake's words at the time. Click on: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/opinion/17krugman.html?_r=1 if you are interested in reading more about it. You can also further your interest by clicking on:
http://www.slate.com/id/2215911/

Furthermore, you will be able to listen to the direct source here:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/03/bernanke_sees_green_shoots.html

Since I wondered if it was really B Bernake who firstly coined the phrase "green shoots", I went on with my net research and AskOxford.com supplies the precise information on http://www.askoxford.com/quotations/393?view=uk

business
The green shoots of economic spring are appearing once again. Norman Lamont 1942- : speech at Conservative Party Conference, 9 October 1991; often quoted 'the green shoots of recovery'

So it was politician Norman Lamont who coined the phrase in 1942:

Asked at his first appearance as chancellor at the Treasury Select Committee whether he agreed with his predecessor's view on the depth and duration of the recession and not wishing to contradict Major, Lamont replied that "there are reasons why one could believe that it will be relatively short-lived and relatively shallow."[11] In October 1991, based on CBI and Institute of Directors business surveys, said "what we are seeing is the return of that vital ingredient - confidence. The green shoots of economic spring are appearing once again."[12] Early in 1992 one of the Sunday newspapers ran a "Green Shoots Index" of signs of recovery, only to have to drop it when few such signs could be found. However Gavyn Davies, then chief economist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a newspaper article at the time of Lamont's removal from the Treasury that the "green shoots" speech had turned out to be "remarkably prescient. From that moment onwards, output stopped declining, and within a few months, it started to rise.[13] Estimates of Gross Domestic Product show the trough of the recession occurring in the fourth quarter of 1991, with sustained growth resuming in the third quarter of 1992, when GDP grew 0.4% compared to the second quarter.[14]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Lamont

Free online library

Just added this magnificent website that offers free books online (essays, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, short-stories, plays); simply a jewel!!!

http://www.readprint.com/

My recommendation to get started is Chejov's short-story The Lady With The Dog http://www.readprint.com/work-386/The-Lady-With-The-Dog-Anton-Chekhov

And Fitzgerald's short novel The Great Gatsby http://www.readprint.com/work-679/The-Great-Gatsby-F-Scott-Fitzgerald

Why?

Apart from the fact that they are very good pieces of writing, they are not too long, so if you are a learner of English and not so used to reading unabridged versions, you will feel quite encouraged to tackle the reading without feeling put off because of its length.

I guess reading online is still not at all appealing if you're a classic reader who likes to feel the book in their hands, but you can set yourself to the task by reading a chapter periodically while having www.wordreference.com open online to check vocabulary.