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Reglas sobre el uso de la letra B Posted by on Apr 1, 2011 in Spanish Grammar, Spanish Vocabulary

When learning a language we need to pay special attention to writing. In Spanish, spelling can give you a headache occasionally, and cause you to make mistakes. So today we will do a quick review to remember when we have to use the letter B (be).

1. When it precedes any other consonant, or when it appears after the letter m. Examples: obvio, ambos, hablar, sombra.

2. When it forms a part of the prefixes, bi, bis, (meaning two or two times) as in bigamia, or bipolar; when the word begins with the syllables bu-, bur – and bus-, as bufanda, burla, busto; and those beginning with sub-, as subasta and subalterno.

3. All the words which in its language of origin were written either with b or p, or are etymologically related (for example, from the Greek biblion: libro). Examples: bueno, bondad, bendecir, benemérito, beato, biblia, biblioteca. We write with B cabeza, obispo, lobo, and some other words, even though we do not know their origin.

4. The endings -aba, -abas, -ábamos, -abais, -aban from the imperfect past of indicative forms of the first conjugation verbs (verbs ending in-ar), Examples: amaba, tomabas, hablábamos, marchabais, dejaban.

5. All the forms of the verbs whith infinitives ending in-aber, and those of the third conjugation (verbs finished in -ir) with these exceptions: precaver, hervir, servir and vivir.

6. All the tenses of the verbs deber, beber and sorber and their compounds. And the past imperfect of indicative of ir: iba, ibas, etc.

7. The endings in-bundo,-bunda,-ble and-bilidad. Examples: amable, amabilidad, tremebundo, furibunda moribunda. Movilidad and its compounds are exemptions.

8. The final letter of any word that finishes with the sound b, as Jacob, baobab.

And that´s all for today! Now… do you think you can find all the misspellings in this short fable The fox and the grapes?

Había una vez una zorra que llevava casi una semana sin comer: había tenido muy mala suerte, le robavan las presas y el gallinero que encontró tenía un perro guardián muy atento y un amo rápido en acudir con la escopeta.
Estaba muertecita de hamvre cuando encontró unas parras silvestres de las que colgaban unos suculentos racimos de doradas uvas. Debajo de la parra había unas piedras, como protegiéndolas.
—Al fin va a camviar mi suerte, —pensó relamiéndose—, parecen muy dulces. Se puso a vrincar, intentando alcanzarlos, pero se sentía muy débil, sus saltos se quedavan cortos, los racimos estaban muy altos y no llegava. Así que se dijo: —¿Para que perder el tiempo y esforzarme? No las quiero, no están maduras.
Pero resulta que si la zorra huviese trepado por las piedras huviese alcanzado los racimos. Esta vez le faltó algo de astucia a doña zorra, parece ser que el hamvre no la dejó pensar.

MORALEJA:
Hay que esforzarse para conseguir lo que se desea pero pensando primero qué es lo que queremos y como conseguirlo, no sea que nos pongamos a dar vrincos cuando lo que necesitamos es estirarnos, y perdamos el tiempo y el esfuerzo.

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About the Author: Magda

Hi all! I’m Magda, a Spanish native speaker writing the culture posts in the Transparent Language Spanish blog. I have a Bachelor’s in English Philology and a Master’s in Linguistics and Literature from the University of Granada, in Spain. I have also completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Education, and then worked as an English teacher in several schools and academies for several years. Last year was my first at university level. In addition, I work as a private tutor, teaching English and Spanish as a foreign language to students and adults. In my free time, I’m an avid reader and writer, editing and collaborating in several literary blogs. I have published my first poetry book recently. And last but not least, I love photography!