Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, hay, haber

It is important to be able to know how to say “there is” or “there are” in Spanish because it will be the basis upon which you can start describing places. In Spanish the verb to use is Haber. This verb, however, is irregular. For now, though, you don’t need to worry yourself with the conjugations. All you need to know is the following:

Hay = There is/There are

That’s right, in Spanish there is one verb conjugation to express both “there is” and “there are.” Nice, eh? Let’s look at some examples:

Hay tres niños en mi casa. (There are three kids in my house).
Hay un libro en la mesa. (There is a book on the table).
As you can see, Hay is used for both - there is and there are.

Click here to read more on Hay.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish vocabulary, spanish verbs, spanish flash cards

A great way to memorize new Spanish vocabulary and verbs is with flash cards. As you learn new words and Spanish verbs, create a flash card for them. And try practicing both ways - meaning, read in English and guess at the Spanish translation, and also read in Spanish and guess at its meaning in English.

The great thing about flash cards is that you can take them with you wherever you go. While you’re waiting at the doctor’s office, or trying to kill time on your flight.

What I like to do is go through a set of flash cards until I get everyone correct from top to bottom without one error. If I make an error, then I restart from the beginning. This is really helpful because it promotes repetition.

Try to learn in groups of 10-20 words/phrases. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself or become frustrated by not being able to get through all 10-20 flash cards without an error.

Remember, always keep things reasonable, don’t overdue it and have fun! That’s what learning Spanish should be about!

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, spanish verb saber, spanish verb conocer

In Spanish, there are two different verbs that mean: to know - Saber and Conocer. So the critical question becomes when do you use Saber and when do you use Conocer, because these two verbs aren’t synomyms.

Saber:

The Spanish verb Saber is used to express knowledge of information, facts and the ability to do something. For example:

Yo sé la verdad. (I know the truth.)
Nosotros sabemos cuantas personas viven en México. (We know how many people live in Mexico).
Tú sabes bailar bien. (You know how to dance well).

Conocer:

Now the Spanish verb Conocer means to know people, being familiar with places or something, and it also means to meet (as in to meet someone). For example:

Yo conozco a Edmundo. (I know Edmundo).
Ellos conocen Paris bien. (They know Paris well (or They are familiar with Paris well, or They know pretty well what Paris is like).
Ayer, mi madre conocío a mi novia. (Yesterday, my mom met my girlfriend).
¿Te gustaría conocer España? (Would you like to get to know Spain?)
¿Conoces el restaurante cerca de mi casa? (Do you know (have you been there before) near my house?)
For example, you might know the population, weather and budget deficit of a country - in this case you use the Spanish verb Saber. However, if you actually visited this country and been there, then you can say you know it and use Conocer.

Click here to learn more Spanish grammar!

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, spanish irregular verbs, the spanish verb Poder, conjugating poder

Time to learn another very handy verb! The Spanish verb Poder, which is another irregular verb. Poder means “can or to be able to.”

Poder being an irregular verb, means it’s not conjugated the normal way, rather, there is a stem-change: o –> ue (except with nosotros)

Here is how to conjugated Poder:

Yo puedo (I can, or I am able to …)
Tú puedes (You can…)
Él/Ella/Usted puede (He/She/You can …)
Nosotros podamos (We can)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes pueden (They/You can …)
Now, including this lesson, you should now know how to conjugate the Spanish verbs: Ir, Tener and Poder. These are all great connector verbs, which you can use to expand your communications in Spanish.

With Poder, you can now express all the things you can or cannot do. For example:

Yo puedo correr rápido. (I can run fast).
No puedes comer mucho. (You can’t eat a lot).
Él puede patinar, bailar y concinar. (He can skate, dance and cook).

Click here to learn more Spanish grammar.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, spanish verb tener, spanish irregular verbs, expressing age in spanish

Another VERY useful Spanish irregular verb is the verb Tener, which means to have. However, note that “tener” is not to be used in the sense of saying, “I have eaten a lot.” There is another Spanish verb, the verb Haber that is used for this purpose, which you will learn much much much later.

Tener is used to indicate possession and for a multitude of other uses, such as expressing hunger, thirst, fear, luck, etc. Click here to read more on the idiomatic expressions of Tener.

Here’s how to conjugate the Spanish verb Tener:

Yo tengo (I have)
Tú tienes (You have)
Él/Ella/Usted tiene (He/She/You have)
Nosotros tenemos (We have)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes tienen (They have)

As you can see, the Spanish verb Tener is irregular because the present tense conjugation of it experiences a stem change: e –> ie (except for nosotros).

Tengo dos libros en mi auto. (I have 2 books in my car).
Ustedes tienen una casa grande. (You have a big house).

Another great use of Tener is to express that someone or something has to do something. To express this, add “que”:

Tener + que + infinitive verb

Tengo que comer rápido. (I have to eat fast).
Tenemos que salir ahora. (We have to leave now).

To express that you feel like doing something, add “ganas de”:

Tengo + ganas de + infinitive verb

¿Tienes ganas de jugar al tenis conmigo? (Do you feel like playing tennis with me?).

Tener is also used to express age, in which the literal translation becomes “I have _ # of years.”

Tengo veinte años. (I’m 20 years old).

To read more on the Spanish verb Tener, click here.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, the spanish verb Ir, spanish irregular verbs, spanish verb conjugation

Time to start learning one of the most useful Spanish verbs - the Spanish verb “Ir,” which means “to go.” This verb is an irregular verb because the present tense conjugations do not follow the norm which you previously learned.

Here is how to conjugate Ir in the present tense:

Yo voy (I go)
Tú vas (you go)
Él/Ella/Usted va (he/she/you goes)
Nosotros vamos (we go)
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes van (They/You all go)

Now, here is an important thing to know. Whenever you say that something or someone is “going to” a place, you have to add the Spanish preposition “a,” which means “to.”

Voy + a + place

Él va a su casa. (He goes to his house).
Nosotros vamos a Florida. (We’re going to Florida).

Now, “dónde” means “where.” However, when you ask the question of where someone or something is going, you use “Adónde,” which means “to where.” As you can see it’s a combination of the “a” and “dónde.”

¿Adónde vas esta noche? (Where are you going tonight?).

Now here’s another great function of the verb Ir + a: to say someone or something is “going to do something.”

Voy + a + infinitive form of verb

Voy a estudiar. (I’m going to study).
Usted va a cocinar. (You’re going to cook).
To ask what someone or somthing is going to do, you say:

¿Qué vas a hacer? (What are you going to do?).

Click here to read more on the Spanish verb Ir.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, conjugating spanish irregular verbs

In the past two lessons, we have learned how to conjugate Spanish regular verbs - the AR, ER and IR verbs in the present tense. Now there are a handful of verbs that are conjugated like any regular Spanish verb, except for in the first-person (”Yo” form) conjugation.

Here is the list of verbs and their “Yo” (1st person) form conjugations:

Conocer (to know) - Yo conozco (not conoco)
Dar (to give) - Yo doy (not do)
Estar (to be) - Yo estoy (not esto)
Hacer (to do/make) - Yo hago (not haco)
Saber (to know) - Yo sé (not sabo)
Salir (to go out, leave) - Yo salgo (not salo)
Ver (to see) - Yo veo (not vo)

Now for the rest of the conjugations for the other subject pronouns like tú, él, ella, usted, nosotros, ustedes, ellos, ellas, the conjugations stay the same as you learned in Lessons 9 and 10 for AR and ER/IR regular verbs in the present tense.

To review all of these click here.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, spanish present tense verbs, conjugating spanish verbs

Now it’s time to learn how to conjugate the Spanish regular verbs in the present tense than end in either “ER” or “IR.” But hey, there’s some good news here! Both “ER” and “IR” ending verbs in Spanish have the same root conjugations except for Nosotros. Here are the root endings that you will replace the “ER” or “IR” with:

-o (yo)
-es (tú)
-e (él, ella, usted)
-emos (nosotros - “ER” verbs) or -imos (nosotros - “IR” verbs)
-en (ellos, ellas, ustedes)
Simple as that. Let’s take a look at some examples:

ER Verbs

Comer (to eat) - yo como, ella come, nosotros comemos, ustedes comen.
Beber (to drink) - tú bebes

IR Verbs

Vivir (to live) - yo vivo, él vive, nosotros vivimos, ellos viven
Recibir (to receive) - tú recibes
Note: Just like AR verbs, there are also ER and IR verbs that are irregular or and in the present tense undergo a special change in the stem (front part) of the verb. These we will get into later.

Click here to read more on conjugating ER/IR Regular Verbs in the Present Tense

Technorati Tags: learn spanish, speak spanish, language mistakes

Wait, did I just say to learn Spanish by making errors??? Yeap, it’s true. But let me clarify what I mean. Like learning anything new, the best way to learn Spanish is to simply do it — speak Spanish, practice it, listen to it, write it and read it. And you will make errors. You will make mistakes. But the key is to not let yourself become discouraged. Don’t let fear of making a mistake keep you from speaking Spanish or even trying. The best learning experiences come from trial and error. The idea is to recognize your errors or mistakes, fix them and then try and try and try again.

Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, spanish present tense, spanish verb conjugation, spanish AR verbs

In Spanish, all verbs end in either -ar, -er or -ir. In this lesson, we are going to learn how to conjugate Spanish AR ending “regular” verbs in the present tense. I say “regular” because there are irregular verbs in Spanish, in which either the stem or the root of the verb changes differently.

Spanish regular “AR” verbs have the following endings respective to the particular subject pronoun — meaning you drop the “ar” from the verb and add the following:

-o (Yo)
-as (tú)
-a (él, ella, usted)
-amos (nosotros)
-an (ellos, ellas, ustedes)

There you go, simple as that. Take a look at an example:
Enviar (to send) - Yo envio, Tú envias, Usted envia, nosotros enviamos, ellos envian.

Here are some common Spanish regular “AR” verbs:

Tomar (to take, to drink)
Hablar (to talk)
Manejar (to drive)
Bailar (to dance)
Nadar (to swim)
Caminar (to walk)

Click here to read more on Conjugating Spanish AR verbs in the Present Tense.