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Why oh why? Posted by Adir on Dec 1, 2008
All right, you go to your Spanish class, learn a thousand verb forms but still think you’re not learning enough just because you watched an Almodóvar movie and got stuck when the actor said something translated as “because” and it was not “porque”? Let’s take a look at some other “becauses” in Spanish. 1. Por…
Latin music: Marc Anthony Posted by Adir on Nov 24, 2008
Marc Anthony (Marco Antonio Muñiz) was born in New York, in 1968. Born to Puerto Rican parents, Latin music was always present in Marc’s life. Singer Paul Simon was the one who helped him kick off his career by casting him to be the leading man in the musical “The Capeman” (1998). He started as…
Special adjectives Posted by Adir on Nov 20, 2008
The following list of adjectives is special because they don’t follow the regular “-o” and “-a” endings for masculine and feminine forms, respectively; they have only one form for both genders. Check it out. egoísta – selfish materialista – materialistic optimista – optimistic pesimista – pessimistic realista – realistic alegre – happy amable – kind…
The Subjunctive II: Irregular Verbs Forms Posted by Adir on Nov 17, 2008
These are the most common irregular verb forms in the Present Subjunctive. The stems are derived from the present tense first person “yo” form. caber (to fit) – quepa, quepas, quepa, quepamos, quepáis, quepan caer (to fall) – caiga, caigas, caiga, caigamos, caigáis, caigan decir (to say) – diga, digas, diga, digamos, digáis, digan hacer…
Cool Spanish Posted by Adir on Nov 13, 2008
BBC Online has many interesting resources for students who want to improve their Spanish. One of them is Cool Spanish. It’s basically informal and slang words used in Spain and some countries in Latin America. They come with audio and translations, so you won’t get lost. Check it out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/cool Here’s another very good…
The Subjunctive I – Forms and Meanings Posted by Adir on Nov 10, 2008
The subjunctive isn’t a tense: present, past, or future. It is a mood (or mode), because it indicates how the speaker feels about or perceives a situation rather than when an action occurred. The subjunctive expresses unreal, hypothetical, theoretical, imaginary, uncorroborated, or unconfirmed conditions or situations. These expressions come from the speaker’s doubts, emotions, wishes…
Business Spanish – Job Interview Expressions Posted by Adir on Nov 7, 2008
One of our readers wrote and asked for tips on Business Spanish, more specifically job interview expressions. Here are a few useful gambits and sentences. Your résumé I studied at … – Estudié en … I majored in … – Mi licenciatura es en … I specialized in … – Me especialicé en … I…