Quilabra:

I play drums in Copán and I teach Spanish on the side.

[quilabra]

Instagram Re-Do

Hey, everyone.

I decided to switch the format and platform of these lessons. I do like the relative darkness of Tumblr, but if the point is to disseminate information some light could help.

I’m doing it on instagram, under this handle: @cu4trom4nos

Hope to see you there!

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Commonalities Across RegularVerb Conjugation  [24]

Okay, let’s review the essential points and get some new insight on conjugation: 

(1) the infinitive (un-conjugated) form of every verb in Spanish ends in either -AR, -ER, or -IR. 

In most cases, the verbs cannot be used in their infinitive form. This is because it alone doesn’t communicate enough information (as it pertains to a real situation). The verb comer tells us ‘to eat’ in a dictionary, but it doesn’t tell us who is eating in a café.

Some languages (like Japanese) permit the use of the infinitive to communicate the who, given a clear enough context. Spanish relies on context too, but not to the extent that a language like Japanese does. If you just said “comer” at the table, it is highly unlikely anyone would know you meant “Juan come” or “Yo como.” So, the verb is mostly conjugated. (I’ll give the exceptions later.)

(2) The verbs are all conjugated according to the subject pronouns. You remember these guys: yo, tú, él, ella, usted, nosotros, vosotros, ellos, ellas, ustedes. In short, these are all answers to who does the action. 

(3) What’s cool about Spanish is that the who (the person doing the act) is often communicated by the conjugation itself. If you give me the phrase “comemos,” I actually can tell who is eating, for the simple reason that -emos is the ending that applies to nosotros. You don’t have to say nosotros; it can’t be anything else. (That being said, it helps if you’re trying emphasize: He is a fucking jerk.)

Moreover, as long as you are conjugating in any of the top four boxes (of the verb charts)—yo, tú, nosotros, vosotros—you never have to state the subject pronoun. “Comes” can only mean “you eat.” Just as “Bailo” can only mean “I dance.”

(4) You will notice that all the regular verbs, regardless of which group (-AR, -ER, -IR) conjugate with an -o in the Yo form. I like to think this is a simple symmetry: yo canto, yo mando, etc. 

(5) There’s also the fact that all the tú forms end with an -s. (After their vowel that is.)

(6) The 3rd person singular forms—él, ella, usted*—all end with a vowel. (either -a or -e.)

(7) The nosotros forms all end with -mos. And they each keep the vowel from their infinitive forms. This is particularly important to remember for the -ER verbs to avoid confusion later on, when I teach you past tense!

(8) Finally, the 3rd person plurals—ellos, ellas, ustedes*—all end with -n. (After their respective vowels that is.)

So, why am I pointing all this out? So that you begin to see similarities even where there are supposed to be differences. This language needs to be looked at this way to make it seem (and be) more graspable. If you were to take all three verb group conjugation and lay them over one another (like transparency sheets) you would see that they actually all line up almost perfectly on their final letters: -o, -s, (okay, 2/3 on this one), -mos, -s, -n. In the case of vosotros, it’s not the same, but you know the final syllable will take an accent; even where they are not identical, they are still functionally similar.

Okay, that’s enough for now. Simple lesson: look for the patterns, even across the groups. 

Over n Out.

*usted and ustedes are not 3rd person, but it saves space to put them into the same box as él and ella/ellos and ellas because they all share the same endings. (Because I may have never stated this: first person concerns the person talking—I am typing—second person concerns the person listening—you are reading—and third person concerns someone not involved in the communication act—that guy is crazy. So usted and ustedes are second person, but we draw them as part of the third person to save space and time. Wouldn’t you rather learn six conjugations than eight?) 

[quilabra]

Regular Verbs: -IR [23]

Fucking A. Is it 2020 already?

You know how hard it can be to make ends meet. Forgive my absence. In the best case, you will discover this all ten years from now and this ‘absence’ will be nothing but a few millimeters’ scroll. That makes me kinda happy.

When we last spoke, I’d introduced you to the idea of Regular Verbs in the present tense, and explained that they came in three flavors: -AR, -ER, -IR.

I told you that -AR and -ER had a special relationship: where las terminaciones of -AR work with the vowel a, las terminaciones of the -ER verbs work with e.

For example:

Bailar becomes (tú) bailas; Comer becomes (tú) comes.

Bailar becomes (nosotros) bailamos; Comer becomes (nosotros) comemos.

What is left in our discussion of regular verb conjugation are the -IR verbs. Here are the endings:

Vivir

Vivo      Vivimos

Vives    Vivís

Vive      Viven

Note that these are nearly identical to the -ER endings, except for the nosotros form and the vosotros form.

(Have I talked about ‘the boot’ yet? I will soon. Just as an aside, ‘the boot’ is the L-shape you get if you group all conjugations on the left and the one on the bottom right. If you do this to the -ER and -Ir, you will see that they are totally identical within the boot. Many verbs exhibit patterns along this ‘boot,’ and I will dedicate a whole set of lessons to it later.)

Anyhow, the trick to not confusing the -ER and -IR in the nosotros form is to remember that the nosotros form of a regular verb always preserves its infinitive’s vowel: Bailamos, Comemos, Vivimos; -Ar, -Er, -Ir.

Now, if I remember correctly, you’re supposed to be constructing a list. I hope this helps you work out the conjugations for some of the words on that list.

Surely, you write, suffer, discuss, and open (things) like the rest of us.

Thanks for your patience, whoever is reading this.

[quilabra]

Absent, Will Return

Queridos estudiantes y transeúntes (estudiosos).

I have been super occupied with finishing my Masters in Lit. I’ll be back in a few weeks, once the smoke clears, to get back to mapping out this curriculum, these lessons. We still have a lot to cover.

Hasta pronto

[quilabra]

Regular Verbs: -Er   [22]

Ah yes, the regular -er verb. I’ll keep this quite short, seeing as how the logic for regular verb conjugation was laid out in the preceding lesson. Here’s how to conjugate the verb comer, “to eat”!

Comer

Como     Comemos 

Comes   Coméis

Come     Comen

The first person ending (-o) is the same for -ar and -er verbs. It should be easy for you to associate the pronoun Yo with the -o ending. The remaining endings are just like the -ar endings, only with an e where the a used to go. Example: comemos vs. manejamos. It’s really important to get this difference down—one day in the distant future, when you’re biting your nails at the mention of the word “subjunctive,” you’ll need to do this conjugation process backwards! So learn this well, now!

Remember, this is a micro lesson on regular verbs: memorize the six endings, not the entire word. And keep building that list. (See post #21 if you don’t know what I’m talking about.)

Peace!

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Regular Verbs: -AR   [21]

Hey everyone, it’s been a while. (Lot of shit. I went to Cuba. I flew out to Miami to play a show. Graduate school started back up again, too.) Anyway, here we go: regularity. 

By now, I’m hoping you’ve memorized ser, estar, and haber (hay). When I say memorized, I mean two things: conjugation and use. In other words, you need to know ser conjugates as soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son, and why you must use, for example, soy vs. somos. Secondly, in terms of use, you should know ser is used for origin, not a current location (which would be estar’s job). Ser and estar are irregular verbs: they do not have a simple, shared pattern with other verbs. They are one of a kind--that is what makes them irregular. Now…

What makes a verb regular is its simple, shared conjugation pattern: the root of the verb remains intact, and only the last two letters change. This pattern will be shared by all verbs in the same group. 

Why only the last two letters? Because the last two letters of an infinitive (a verb that has not been conjugated yet) which are called la terminación, the ending, are the only part that gets modified. It’s just the way it is; it’s the rule. 

There are only three possible terminaciones: -AR, -ER, -IR. That means that all un-conjugated verbs in Spanish end in -AR, -ER, -IR. (Even the irregular ones. Ser and estar, like all infinitive verbs, follow this rule. But again they are irregular because when you conjugate them, you change the entire word around—there is no pattern from ser to soy to eres, for example--and that change is only for ser, no other verb shares the pattern.

So let’s take the regular verb “to drive.” This verb is manejar. This is a regular verb, which means its root, or raíz, never changes. Observe how only the ending (-ar) changes when you conjugate it:

Manejo     Manejamos

Manejas   Manejáis

Maneja    Manejan

To make this even more regular (that is, shared), the endings you see above (-o, -as, -a, -amos, -áis, -an) are the endings for all regular -AR verbs in Spanish. Period. 

For example “to dance,” or “to walk.”

Bailar

Bailo    Bailamos

Bailas  Bailáis

Baila    Bailan

Caminar

Camino     Caminamos

Caminas   Camináis

Camina     Caminan

And so on, and so forth.

What does this all mean? It means that you don’t have to remember 6 versions of 1 verb, like you did with ser. It means that you only have to remember 6 verb endings that you can apply to tens of thousands of verbs (if you want).

So where do you start? Make two lists. I want you to make one list with all the actions (verbs) that you do at work: print, write, call, send, etc. Then I want you to make a list with all the actions you do on your free time: paint, read, bike, exercise, eat, etc. Once you have this list in English, look up the Spanish infinitives in the dictionary. So if you have “write” on your list, look that up and write down “escribir” beside it. 

Don’t worry if you have -er and -ir verbs on your list; statistically speaking, most of your verbs should be -ar. It is, hands down, the biggest verb group.

Ok, go!!!

[quilabra]

Time of Day   [20]

Okay, one last lesson involving ser. Today, I’ll teach you how to tell time. First a cultural point: as I write this, I’m listening to Los Van Van, a Cuban band started in the 1960s by Juan Formell and handed down to his son recently. (Think about how much time that is). Their drummer used to be Changuito (one of the most important percussionists and drummers in history).

Anyway, there are three words for time in Spanish. Here’s the breakdown from English.

There is no time. No hay tiempo. This is the abstract, conceptual sense of time. The word tiempo also means weather. (Stress out about that later).

Some times, I’m sad. A veces estoy triste. Here the word is vez (the plural of which is veces). This ‘time’ refers to an instance. It has to do with frequency: I go to school 5 times per week, or That one time in Coney Island, etc. 

What time is it? ¿Qué hora es? This version of time is strictly for time of day. This will be our focus today. The word hora pluralizes, as you should be able to formulate by now, as horas. The word is feminine.

Telling time is in the territory of ser. This may seem illogical, but at any given moment, the time is an essential part of the identity of the present (or the day). 

You call people’s attention to this idea when someone tells you they had pancakes at 10:00. And you say “at night?” The time of day is so essential to the identity of the situation that it will change how you feel about someone eating pancakes. It will make it seem normal, or out of place. 

Enough of that. Here is the functional knowledge:

If it is 1:00, you state es la una.

If it is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12:00, you state son las 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 o 12:00

For the singular 1, you use the singular conjugation: es. For the plural 2-12, you use the plural conjugation: son. 

You never have to say horas when you give the time. But you always have to say la or las before the number.

Let’s add minutes.

You should know the numbers 1-59 for this. Realistically speaking, you will often round when you give the time. However, there is an added caveat. In Spanish, once you arrive at the 40th minute, you begin to subtract minutes from the following hour. (This is exactly like saying it is ten to 6 at 5:50.)

So, up to the 40th minute, you state: [ser] + la[s] + [hour] y [minute].

10:05 Son las 10 y 5.

11:33 Son las 11 y 33.

1:20 Es la 1 y 20.

The 15th minute and 30th minute get special words: quarter and half, or cuarto y media. You can say the numbers quince and treinta if you want. It makes no difference.

2:15 Son las 2 y cuarto.

4:30 Son las 4 y media.

Now the subtraction. Telling time this way is optional, but everyone does it. 

After the 40th minute, you state: [ser] + la[s] + [hour+1] menos [minutes].

5:50 Son las 6 menos 10.

8:45 Son las 9 menos cuarto.

10:40 Son las 11 menos 20.

As for AM and PM, in speech we say the following:

de la mañana (from the time you wake up to noon),

de la tarde (from noon to sunset),

de la noche (from sunset until you go to sleep).

6:00 PM Son las 6 de la tarde. (If it is dark out at 6:00 PM, you can say de la noche.)

6:00 AM Son las 6 de la mañana.

So, you can tell time. Now you just need to know how to ask for it! You have two options:

¿Qué hora es?

¿Qué horas son?

The first is singular and the second is plural. You can ask either way because it can be answered either way (es la 1 or son las 2, for example). However, because you don’t know the time, you can ask either way. It does not matter. 

Alright, we’re done with ser. Dios mío, ¡por fin!

[quilabra]

Triangle of Being   [19]

A very dramatic name for a fairly simple concept. The Triangle of Being is what I call the relationship between Ser, Estar, and Hay. To really give a full (precise) description of any one thing, or person one verb needs the other.

En mi casa hay un escritorio.

In my house there is a desk.

Here we have a sentence using hay. You now know there is a desk in my house. What color is it? What is it made of? Where is it exactly? Is it close to the bed?

These are questions you cannot answer with hay. Hay only tells me if something nondescript is present or absent. For its characteristics, we’ll go back to Ser. We want to answer the question cómo es.

El escritorio es blanco. Es de metal y vidrio. También es estrecho.

The desk is white. (It) is (of) metal and glass. (It) is also narrow.

Remember that permanent descriptions are done with ser. Note, too, that I switched from un escritorio to el escritorio. By the time we get to the second sentence, we already have the context from the first sentence. We are now talking about the desk, not just any desk (which was the case in sentence one).

Ok, so now we know there is a desk, and we know it’s characteristics. But do we know where it is within the house? We don’t. And to find out, we need to use Estar (to answer the question dónde está).

Está junto a la pared y cerca de la cama.

(It) is next to the wall and close to the bed.

By this third sentence, we don’t need to state “the desk” anymore. We know we’re talking about the desk. (The reason ‘it’ is in parentheses is because we do not use the word ‘it’ as a subject. If you don’t know what that means, go back to the lesson on Subject Pronouns, lesson 10).

To practice this relationship, give three part descriptions of objects in your house, or some place you frequent:

Existence (Hay)

Permanent Characteristics (Ser)

Location (Estar)

Ah, one more note on the use of estar. Remember that estar is also used for temporary states. So if the desk is dirty (or clean), I could further describe it by saying “está sucio.”

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Hay + Indefinites / Numbers   [18]

¿Cómo están?

This is a short lesson. More of a warning. Simply put: do not use hay with the definite articles (el, la, los, las). I repeat, do not use hay in conjunction with the words for ‘the.’

The phrase “en mi cuarto hay el gato” is incorrect. The point of using hay is to claim the existence or absence of an undefined thing. Using the word el would make it a pre-defined thing. (Remember, the man vs. a man.)

So, when using hay, you must use the indefinite articles: un, una, (unos, unas). The last two are in parentheses, again, because you can and should drop them, or…

You swap them for numbers!

En el cuarto, hay (unos) gatos.

¿Cuántos?

Hay siete (gatos).

The word for ‘how many’ is cuántos or cuántas, depending on the noun’s gender. (Gato is masculine.) Important: if you leave off the final ’s’ and say cuánto, you’re now saying ‘how much,’ as opposed to ‘how many.’

Here are the numbers (0-99) in three sections. 

i. Here are the unique numbers (0-15):

cero, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece, catorce, quince.

ii. Here are what I called ‘smashed’ numbers. (Two numbers smashed together; 16-29.)

Dieciséis, diecisiete, dieciocho, diecinueve, (Veinte), veintiuno, veintidós, veintitrés, veinticuatro, veinticinco, veintiséis, veintisiete, veintiocho, veintinueve.

iii. Here, the pattern normalizes. From now on (30-99) it will be 3 separate words, excluding the tens (30, 40, 50, etc). 

The pattern is “‘tens place’ + ‘and’ + ‘ones place.’” So 31 is ’30 and 1.’ 87 is ’80 and 7.’

Treinta, treinta y uno, treinta y dos…

Cuarenta, cuarenta y uno, cuarenta y dos…

Cincuenta…

Sesenta…

Setenta…

Ochenta…

Noventa…

Once you understand how this works, you can look back at the smashed numbers and see it’s the same pattern except the ‘y’ has been sneakily replaced with an ‘i.’ But they sound the same.

Of course, you will always use numerical script when you write or type a number, but knowing how these words are spelled will help you with your pronunciation.

To practice, open your phone contacts and start reading out phone numbers. 

Chao Pesca’o.

[quilabra]

Articles   [17]

There is something called an article in language. And we break articles into two groups: definite and indefinite. There are two groups because they do two different things.

Think about the difference between these two sentences:

Juan, find the cat, now.

Juan, find a cat, now.

In the first sentence, Juan must know exactly which cat the speaker is asking him to find. Juan already has a context, and so saying “the cat” makes sense to him—he knows exactly which cat to find. The same thing happens to you if I say “look at the moon.” We share the same reference point. You will not point your telescope to Jupiter’s moons, for example.

‘The’ is the only definite article of English. In Spanish, there are four versions of ‘the,’ thanks to the gender and number of nouns. Observe:

The woman: La mujer

The man: El hombre

The women: Las mujeres

The men: Los hombres 

Those are the definite articles. They go before a noun that is pre-defined—something we can all recognize without an explanation.

(Think about what happens when someone says to you: “Hey, remember that movie, the one with the guy?” And you think to yourself, “What guy?” You’re missing the context and the word that is supposed to point you somewhere, cannot.)

The second sentence asked Juan to find a cat, which means any cat. This is called an indefinite article. That means the noun it precedes is not pre-defined, it doesn’t come from any previous context. 

When someone in a crowd has a heart attack, people shout for a doctor. The idea is that any doctor will do (even if that is true or not). In English there are actually three of these: a, an, some. (Remember that an is just another version of a.)

A man: Un hombre

A woman: Una mujer

(Some) men: (Unos) hombres

(Some) women: (Unas) mujeres

The reason unos and unas are in parenthesis is because people often skip saying them.  You would say to Juan, “I need cats for the photo” more often than “I need some cats for the photo.”

In summation, these are the 8 words you need to learn:

EL, LA, LOS, LAS

UN, UNA, UNOS, UNAS

These are the relationships you need to learn:

EL becomes LOS

LA becomes LAS

UN becomes UNOS

UNA becomes UNAS

That happens when the noun is pluralized. 

Next time, I’m going to connect this lesson to the word Hay. 

Bonus: Make sure you know the difference between el and él. 

[quilabra]

There is + There are   [16]

Hola, todos. 

The verb ‘Haber’ means, roughly, to exist. While it means one other thing, and has a more advanced usage, you just need to wrap your head around 4 things today.

Thing 1: The only conjugation we need at the moment is hay. Let me reiterate that: there is only one conjugation. (The others have six.) This is the only verb that behaves this way. It behaves this way for a very good reason (which is Thing 4).

Thing 2: Hay means ‘there is’ and ‘there are.’ So when you walk into a room and say “there are books, there is a cat,” in Spanish you need to use hay: “hay libros, hay un gato.” 

You are merely stating what exists (or doesn’t) in a given space. You are not identifying it (color, race, religion, traits, job), so you don’t use Ser. You are not giving its mood, state of being, or location, so you don’t use Estar. ‘Hay’ only tells us what there is or is not in a given space.

In my apartment, for example, no hay gatos, pero hay un escritorio. “There are no cats, but there is a desk.” To further my point about how basic this verb is, consider that you have no idea what color or material the desk is! You don’t know where in the apartment it is either! (To know that, I would have needed to use Ser and Estar.) All you know is that there is a desk. That’s it. That’s all ‘hay’ does.

Thing 3: In case you forgot the alphabet, go back and restudy. The H is silent. Do not pronounce it—read it as if it said ay, which is a diphthong (two vowels in one syllable). Like I said, go back into the archive and find the alphabet stuff if you have doubts about how to read the word ‘Hay.’

Thing 4: Why is there only 1 conjugation? Well, conjugations exist so that you know who is performing an action. In the case of the verb hay, no one is doing anything—something is simply being. No one is responsible for the action in “there is a star in the sky.” (Hay una estrella en el cielo.)

So, practice saying things that there are and are not in your house. I’ll have another pointer about using hay next time. You’ll want to remember the infinitive, haber, too.

[quilabra]

To Be (Part 5) [15]

Here are my final notes on Ser and Estar, for now. Eventually, we’ll come back so I can show you how to say I am eating or He is losing his mind. But it’s time to move on, we can’t kick the same dead horse forever. (In your studies you should always push forward even as you review the older material.)

1. Profession - Ser

When you state your profession, you say it like this: soy profesor. Note that you don’t need to say soy un profesor. (You don’t need to say “I am a professor.”) Professions come to define a person, or at least to identify them, and thus, it goes with Ser.

2. Relation/Possession - Ser

If something is yours, then you can say “es mío.” (In that Romeo Santos song, he says to the girl “eres mía,” as in, you’re mine.) Note that this is all Ser—mostly because it is a question of essential identification. Whose sister is that? That is my sister. We’ll talk about all the possessive words later (my, mine, yours, etc.)

3. Time - Ser

Learn to count. At least up to 59. I’ll do a separate lesson for telling time, but keep in mind it will be told with Ser. This one is best to just accept, and not rationalize. This tip holds for learning languages in general. Somethings have simply been forgotten, like why the letter G makes the sound it does. Who could tell you why? More importantly, why do you need to know? 

4. Sudden Changes - Estar

Sometimes, you will exhibit a trait that registers as temporary or new to everyone else. Like if you dye your hair, or lose a bunch of weight, or have a growth spurt. 

Let’s say you grew a foot over the summer. Someone would say to you “¡¡¡Estás alto!!!” Typically, this wouldn’t work because being tall is not a mood, or a passing state. But people are registering this as a brand new thing (something that is not part of your permanent identity yet).

So, for sudden changes—something that’s news to you—you go with Estar. (The person with the growth spurt will probably switch to Ser, because for them it is permanent.)

Study hard. Next up is a brand new verb and a Calle 13 song.

[quilabra]

To Be (part 4)   [14]

Let’s wrap this part up. I’m going to give you a little piece of context and then show you something new. Here’s the context: You can now ask and answer four major questions.

How are you? ¿Cómo estás?

Where are you? ¿Dónde estás?

What are you like? ¿Cómo eres?

Where are you from? ¿De dónde eres?

These are limited in one-on-one direct conversation, but they are pretty unlimited in the third person (conversations that are not about the speaker, or the listener). Instead of asking ¿cómo eres?, you will find your self asking ¿cómo es? and ¿cómo son? (What is it like? and What are they like?) much more often.

For example:

¿Cómo son los colombianos? (What are Colombians like?)

¿Cómo es tu nuevo carro? (What’s your new car like?)

Sometimes you can answer those questions above like a book, stating facts. Other times, you just want to give your opinion. That’s the new bit: giving your opinion. When you want to say something is cool, for example, do you use Ser or Estar? It depends on the certainty of your assertion. Most people give their opinion of something with estar:

La película está buena. The movie is good. (Think of something like “The Avengers.”)

El show* está pésimo. The show is terrible.

La camisa está chévere. The shirt is cool.

This is because your opinion is an impression, and impressions are not necessarily permanent, nor accurate. However, if you think your opinion is closer to fact, you can use ser. This is like when people discuss a masterpiece, or something everyone loves, the ‘opinion’ is stated like a fact, like a piece of essential identity.

La película es buena. The movie is good. (Think of something like “Citizen Kane.”)

El show es pésimo. The show is terrible.

La camisa es chévere. The shirt is cool.

When you use Ser in this way, you are leaving no room for disagreement.

A word of caution: when discussing food, especially food that you are eating, you should always use estar. If you are eating a chocolate bar, even if you are practically ascending into heaven, you should still say el chocolate está rico. If you were to say el chocolate es rico, you would be referring to all chocolate—furthermore, you’re stating a fact. In English we do this with different words, but it’s this difference:

El chocolate está tan rico = This chocolate is so good.

El chocolate es tan rico = (All) Chocolate is so good.

We’re about 90% done with Ser and Estar.

*I used the word show because most Spanish speakers use this word. The “proper” word would be programa.

[quilabra]

To Be (Part 3)   [13]

By now, the difference between saying ‘soy feliz’ and ‘estoy feliz’ should be clear. If not, refer to the two preceding lessons. Let’s move away from descriptions for a moment, to places. There are two kinds of place I want to focus on: origin and location. 

By origin, I mean the place something came into existence—where it was born, or completed.

By location, I mean the place that something can presently be found (regardless of its origin).

Origin = Ser. 

Location = Estar.

(By the way, practice saying this rapidly: soy, eres, es, somos, son. I like to use my fingers to count (one conjugation per finger: soy, eres, es, somos, son). Much of fluency is speed, and speed is nothing but habit. Do the same for the Estar conjugations, until you can say them as comfortably as ‘A, E, I, O, U’ in English. [Remember: this is like exercise. You need to put in the work.])

I’m going to ask you two opposed questions, just like I did for permanent v. impermanent description. Our goal is to distinguish Ser and Estar. Now come the two distinguishing questions:

¿De dónde eres? (Origin)

¿Dónde estás? (Location)

I want you to note two things about the first question. The first is that it has three words: de-dónde-eres. The verb you should know, it is the combination ‘de dónde’ that is new. This means from where. As in, “From where are you?” 

Of course, in everyday English, we’d say “Where are you from?” You cannot do this in Spanish. In English, we tend to put the preposition (the word ‘from’ in this case) all the way at the end. However, I want to note that it is a preposition, and in Spanish it must come toward the beginning—usually it is the first word, if it is needed at all.

So the two lessons-within-the-lesson: the first question (1) has a preposition and (2) it goes at the beginning, not the end. Those were the two things to note. 

Now the answer to the question of origin is simply: Soy de _____. 

In my case, I would say ‘Soy de Miami.’ This is not where I am located, but it is my origin. I was born there, and it has a quality of permanent identification, if you want to think about it that way.

Now, the second question only has two words: dónde-estás, or, where-are you. There is no from here. The asker just wants my location. So I say: Estoy en X.

In my case, ‘Estoy en Los Ángeles.’ The preposition en translates as in,on, at. In this case, I am in Los Angeles. (For the curious people, it would also be okay to ask this question as ‘En dónde estás?’)

Location always goes with Estar, whether the thing you are locating can move or not. ¿Dónde está el baño? Is a popular question. The bathroom will not move (and thus seems permanent, but this is a separate issue—location always goes with Estar).

Location always goes with Estar…unless you are describing the location of an event (e.g., wedding, soccer game). We’ll talk about that later. For now, see if you can locate people you know and then say where they are from. Do the same for objects:

Jordan está en Los Ángeles, pero es de Nueva York.

Mis baquetas están en el piso; son de Boston.

Again, pay attention to the use of the prepositions de and en. They are dead give-aways for which verb to use.

[quilabra]

To Be (Part 2)   [12]

I’m going to do you a favor and give you a list of adjectives you can use for Ser, Estar, or both. I don’t really consider this part of my job—and I think it might be counterproductive. People have different vocabularies that they develop based on their own lives. I don’t want to give you useless information.

Ultimately, you are responsible for your own vocabulary. Look up and study words that are relevant and useful in your life. Begin with yourself, and the things around you, which are probably what you spend the most time engaging with and talking about. If you don’t work at the circus, you probably don’t need to learn the word ‘unicycle,’ (yet).

My job is to help you put all the words you learn together in meaningful sentences. But here is a list to get you started. As you go through the list, ask yourself if the adjective belongs to Ser, Estar, or both verbs.

One final note on adjectives. Most adjectives have 4 forms. For example, the word ‘tall,’ can be alto, alta, altos, altas. This corresponds to the gender and number. So if you are talking about one man, he is alto. If you are talking about two women, they are altas. And if you are talking about the buildings in a skyline, they are altos. 

Some adjectives have 2 forms. These adjectives are the ones with ‘ambiguous’ endings (not an -o or -a ending). For example, ‘intelligent’ is only inteligente, inteligentes. So whether it’s one man or woman, he/she is inteligente. 

Just to repeat myself, adjectives that are clearly gendered have 4 forms. Adjectives that are ambiguous (not clearly gendered by -o or -a ending), only have 2 forms. There are few exceptions to this rule.

Here are the words. You have to look them up.

Alto

Bajo

Gordo

Flaco

Atlético

Perezoso

Fuerte

Débil

Bello

Feo

Guapo

Bonito

Religioso

Arrogante

Sentimental

Romántico

Pragmático

Simpático

Buenagente

Malagente

Inteligente

Capaz

Aburrido

Cansado

Feliz

Triste

Tranquilo

Amable

Amigable

Compasivo

Bobo

Like I said, it’s a random list. Once you find the meanings, ask yourself if these descriptions work better with Ser or Estar. If you forgot the difference between Ser and Estar, go back to the previous lesson.

Then, for homework, find descriptors that are relevant to you and write a self-description--answer the question ¿cómo eres?

Sorry for the delay on this one. I was in México :).

[quilabra]

To Be (part 1)   [11]

Do not read this if you have not learned the subject pronouns yet. Make sure you study them in the six-box format. Why? Because it will make every verb I show you more quickly comprehensible.

You will recognize the English verb ‘to be,’ in its conjugated forms: I am, You are, He is, etc. It is a verb of definition. You use it to identify something, to give it qualities, for example, ‘That is a box, and it is brown.’ It has other uses, but right now we’re going to focus on the idea of description.

Simply put, there are two verbs that mean ‘to be’ in Spanish: Ser and Estar. There are two verbs because they work in two different ways. (Before thinking this is a little crazy, you might ask, why do we have the verb ‘stroll’ and ‘walk’? They are close, but ultimately different.)

There are two kinds of description, each verb goes with its type. I’m going to conjugate them for you (in six-box format), then I will explain their two uses.

Make sure, before moving along, that you know ‘I am’ can be translated as ‘Yo soy’ or ‘Yo estoy.’ Practice saying and translating all of these into English, then back into Spanish.

I’m going to explain to you now how to choose between them, when describing something.

Use the verb Ser to describe something that is essential to the object/person you are describing—something that seems permanent. These can be physical traits like skin color, height, beauty, or personality traits like intelligence, humor, etc. Use Ser to give a description that will not change from day to day.

So if you want to say ‘I am intelligent,’ or ‘I am not funny,’ you say ‘yo soy inteligente’ and ‘yo no soy cómico.’ It would be incorrect to use Estar because…

Estar is used to describe something that is not essential, something temporary in the object/person you are describing—something that will change. So you’re not going to be describing traits with Estar—you’re going to be describing moods, or other temporary states of being, like when you catch a cold or are sleepy.

If you want to say ‘I’m sad’ or ‘I’m tired,’ you say ‘yo estoy triste’ and ‘yo estoy cansado.’ 

In summation, here is the theoretical point in today’s lesson:

If the adjective (descriptive word) you picked is accurate day-to-day and is indicative of who you are as a person then you need to use Ser.

If the adjective can change depending on something else, then it doesn’t describe who you are—it describes how you are, and you need to use Estar.

Here’s an analogy. On Facebook (or whatever social media), Ser is the verb of your About Me section; Estar is the verb of your status. Once you fill out your About Me, it’s pretty much the same. You won’t need to change it. But your status...that can change many times in the same day.

So, see if you can figure this out. Cómo means ‘how’ in Spanish. 

What is the difference between these two questions:

¿Cómo estás tú?

¿Cómo eres tú?

It is an important difference. And your homework is to answer them.

Chaíto.

[quilabra]

Subject Pronouns   [10]

People complain about Spanish. They complain that they have to memorize so many forms of the same word. It’s true that there are many versions of the same word in Spanish. In particular, they are referring to verbs—words that describe an action—and the way these verbs conjugate.

In English, verbs barely change when they are performed by different people. For example: I drink; you drink; we drink; they drink; he or she drinks. There are only two conjugations here: drink, drinks. In the past tense, there is only one simple form: drank.

In Spanish, every verb will have 6 conjugations in every tense. There are 20 tenses. That means there are 120 forms of the same verb, plus the infinitive—the verb when it is not conjugated, aka, dictionary form. But there are really only 12 tenses people might use in daily conversation. So you need to concentrate on 72 forms for every verb. Not to mention a few of them overlap. Oh, and each tense has a pattern that makes conjugations predictable. This means you don’t have to memorize most verbs, just know how they work.

It is possible you have never seen this number: 1,090,341. The reason you can read it is not because you remember it. It is because you know how to read it—you know the patterns and rules. The same thing is true with words: ‘to abhor.’ You might not know what that means, but if you speak English, you know it is an action. How? Because the word ‘to’ is before it, and the word ‘to’ is the first part of an infinitive—dictionary form of a verb. So, I’m here to talk to you about what controls the conjugation pattern: the subject.

In any given tense, one verb will have six conjugations. What controls the conjugation is the subject, that is, the person doing the action. 

Before we continue onto verbs, these are the main subjects (also called personal pronouns, or subject pronouns):

Yo (I)              |       Nosotros (We)

____________|______________________

                      |

Tú (You)        |       Vosotros (Y’all)

____________|______________________

                      |

Usted (You)   |      Ustedes (Y’all) 

Él (He)           |       Ellos (They)

Ella (She)       |      Ellas (They)

Important notes:

Columns: The left side are all individuals--singular. The right side are the group version of the individuals--plural. 

Rows: There is a reason for this division, but I don’t want to confuse you with it (because the chart goes against its own logic). 

There are two versions of you. Tú and Usted both mean ‘you.’ Tú is the version you should use when you talk to someone you would normally call by their first name. If you don’t know the person’s first name, or would feel uncomfortable calling them by it, use Usted. When in doubt, always use Usted.

The same is true of Vosotros and Ustedes. First name basis? Vosotros. Not or not sure? Ustedes. I hope what I am about to tell you makes your life easier. No one uses vosotros except Spaniards. For most Spanish speakers, the only way to say ‘y’all’ is Ustedes. So if you want to pluralize Tú, use Ustedes. (Not using Vosotros also means you only have to learn five versions of each verb, instead of six.) Unless you plan to live in Spain--in that case, it’s very useful!

Nosotros can also be Nosotras, if you are a woman and you are referring to a group of women. Nosotros can refer to either a group of men, or a mixed group of men and women. The same is true of Vosotros/as and Ellos/as.

There are ten subjects, but only 6 boxes. These boxes correspond to the verb conjugations, and many other things in the language. To learn the language with greater ease, you must memorize which box belongs to which subject. Box 1 belongs to Yo; Box 4 belongs to Nosotros; Box 6 belongs to Ustedes, Ellos, and Ellas.

There is no word for ‘it.’ More precisely, there is subject pronoun that means ‘it.’ (There is an object pronoun that means ‘it.’ We’ll talk about this later, but basically in Spanish you don’t say ‘it is cool!’ You say ‘is cool!’ And everyone will know what you’re talking about. Context is important in Spanish.)

Memorize these subjects and then come back for the next lesson. I am now going to begin teaching you Spanish--finally! We will begin with the present tense, and in particular the verbs Ser and Estar which both mean ‘to be.’