Spanish Language Blog

Hello, there!

Today is Friday and we start off the weekend with a very romantic song by Mexican singer Thalía. I chose this song because it has a lot of different verb tenses in it and Thalia’s enunciation is perfect so pay close attention to the pronunciation and why not sing along?

I also decided to read the lyrics so you can practice your pronunciation, try to write it down as a dictation or at least a listening exercise. Espero que te guste.

Have a great weekend!

If you’re reading this post in your e-mail, click here to watch the video.

Rosas
Thalía

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Estoy a punto de subir al tren (I’m about to get on the train)
Sólo a un minuto de salir de ti (Only a minute away from leaving you)
Y antes de hacerlo yo te ruego que me escuches (And before doing it I beg you to hear me)
Sólo te pido un minuto, un instante para mí (I only ask you for a minute, an instant for me)
Yo sí te quise, mi amor, tú no pudiste entender (I did want you, my love, you couldn’t understand)
Cual fue la forma de darte las cosas (The way I was giving you things)
No era con rosas, mi amor, como mi alma (It wasn’t with roses, my love, like my soul)
Se da y se goza, no era con versos (You give and you enjoy, it wasn’t with verses)
Como se entrega mi alma (How my soul is surrendered)

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Yo sólo amaba, vivía y moría, pensaba y ardía por ti (I just loved, lived and died, thought and burned for you)
Yo sólo buscaba, anhelaba el segundo, el instante de hacerte feliz (I just searched, yearned for the second, the instant to make you happy)
Yo sólo amaba, vivía y moría, pensaba y ardía por ti (I just loved, lived and died, thought and burned for you)
Yo sólo buscaba el instante de hacerte feliz (I just searched the instant to make you happy)

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Estoy a punto de subir al tren (I’m about to get on the train)
Estoy tan lejos de volver a ti (I’m so far from coming back to you)
Sólo quería que escucharas bien las cosas (I just wanted you to hear me out)
Que compartieras este espacio junto a mí (To share this space with me)
Y que supieras que aún tengo aquí la duda (And to know that I still have the doubt here)
Si me quisiste realmente alguna vez (If you really ever wanted me)
No era con rosas, mi amor, ni con los versos (It wasn’t with roses, my love, not with verses)
Yo sí te quise y no supiste entender (I did want you and you couldn’t understand)
No, no pudiste entender, no (No, you couldn’t understand)

Yo sólo amaba, vivía y moría, pensaba y ardía por ti (I just loved, lived and died, thought and burned for you)
Yo sólo buscaba, anhelaba el segundo, el instante de hacerte feliz (I just searched, yearned for the second, the instant to make you happy)
Yo sólo amaba, vivía y moría, pensaba y ardía por ti (I just loved, lived and died, thought and burned for you)
Yo sólo buscaba, anhelaba el segundo, el instante de hacerte feliz (I just searched, yearned for the second, the instant to make you happy)

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Yo sólo quisiera saber, tan sólo quisiera saber (I just wanted to know, only needed to know)
Si un día, no más, si un día en verdad fuiste mío (If one day, only one, if one day you were really mine) 2x

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Today I was going to talk about something completely different; I had a more serious topic in mind, but suddenly I come across these tongue twisters. This was one of the first my mother taught me, and it is a good exercise to practice pronunciation. What do you think?

“El dicho que a ti te han dicho que dicen que he dicho yo, está mal dicho pues si lo hubiera dicho yo, estaría mejor dicho que el dicho que a ti te han dicho que dicen que he dicho yo.”

And this one is very appropiate for this season, when all beautiful feelings spring:

“Quiero y no quiero querer, a quién he querido, quiero; he querido sin querer, y sin querer estoy queriendo. Si porque te quiero, quieres que te quiera más, te quiero más que me quieres. ¿Qué más quieres? ¿Quieres más?”

The last one is a dialogue, can you guess who are the characters involved? I´ll let you know the answer in some days.

“Cuando tuve yo te tuve,
te mantuve y te di,
hoy no tengo,ni te tengo,
ni mantengo, ni te doy,

buscate a otro que te tenga,
te mantenga y te de,
por que hoy no tengo,
ni te tengo, ni mantengo, ni te doy.”

If you feel brave enough, and you want to continue practicing, remember this post “Se me traba la lengua“.

¡Hola a todos!

Hoy vamos a ver cómo expresar obligaciones y sugerencias en español.

Today we are going to see how to express obligations and suggestions in Spanish. There are three main ways to do this using the Spanish verbs Tener que, Deber & Hay que. Tener que translates to “Have to…” in English, Deber translates to “Must…” in English and “Hay que” translates to “One has to…” in English.

As always it is vital to be clear on how to conjugate your verbs for all of the persons: Yo, Tú, Usted, Él, Ella, Nosotros, Vosotros, Ustedes, and Ellos or Ellas. I will show you exactly how to do this for these Spanish verbs of obligation and give you some example Spanish sentences to illustrate how each verb is used.

So let’s get started by looking at the Spanish verb Tener que:

1. Tener que + infinitivo: To have to + infinitive:

• (Yo) tengo que: I have to
• Tengo que estudiar: I have to study
• (Tú) tienes que: You have to (friendly)
• Tienes que trabajar más: You have to work more (friendly)
• (Usted) tiene que: You have to (formal)
• Tiene que trababjar más: You have to work more (formal)
• (Él/Ella) tiene que: He/She has to
• Marta tiene que ir a Madrid: Marta has to go to Madrid
• (Nosotros) tenemos que: We have to
• Tenemos que hablar: We have to talk
• (Vosotros) tenéis que: You have to (group/friendly)
• Tenéis que comer pescado: You have to eat fish (group/friendly)
• (Ustedes) tienen que: You have to (group/formal)
• Tienen que comer pescado: You have to eat fish (group/formal)
• (Ellos) tienen que: They have to
• Marcos y Pablo tienen que visitar a sus padres: Marcos and Pablo have to visit their parents

2. Deber: Must:

• (Yo) debo: I must
• Debo estudiar: I must study
• (Tú) debes: You must (friendly)
• Debes trabajar más: You must work more (friendly)
• (Usted) debe: You must (formal)
• Debe trababjar más: You must work more (formal)
• (Él/Ella) debe: He/she must
• Marta debe ir a Madrid: Marta must go to Madrid
• (Nosotros/as) debemos: We must
• Debemos hablar: We must talk
• (Vosotros/as) debéis: You must (group/friendly)
• Debéis comer pescado: You must eat fish (group/friendly)
• (Ustedes) deben: You must (group/formal)
• Deben comer pescado: You must eat fish (group/formal)
• (Ellos/as) deben: They must
• Marcos y Pablo deben visitar a sus padres: Marcos and Pablo must visit their parents

3. Hay que: One has to:

Hay que is a Spanish verb of general obligation, so we will not have to learn how to conjugate it for all the persons. Hay que is used for general statements about things that people/we/one should do, such as “One has to recycle” or “One should say please and thank you”.

Let’s see some more examples:

• Hay que reciclar: One has to recycle
• Hay que comer un poco de todo: One has to eat a bit of everything
• Hay que beber ocho vasos de agua al día: One has to drink eight glasses of water a day
• Hay que lavarse los dientes tres veces al día: One has to brush ones teeth three times a day
• Hay que ser generoso: One has to be generous
• Hay que decir “por favor” y “gracias”: One has to say “please” and “thank you”

We have seen lots of random example Spanish sentences here in this lesson to illustrate the use of Tener que, Deber, and Hay que. Now it is down to you to make up your own practice Spanish sentences to revise what you have learned here and to make sure that you are 100% clear and confident on conjugating the verbs for all of the different persons.

I hope that you are getting steadily more and more confident with your Spanish and enjoying the process of learning a foreign language. We are up to lesson 32 in this beginner course so I think you deserve a very well earned pat on the back from me.

Remember it takes time and dedication to learn any foreign language and sometimes it can feel like a bit of a struggle, but the rewards are definitely worth the effort.

So keep up the good work and see you next time with another Spanish video lesson!

¡Hasta la próxima!

I hope you are enjoying my weekly Spanish lessons. Follow this link for many more great resources to help you learn Spanish.