El Diario de un Profesor de Español

VENIR & TRAER

2009-10-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

The usage of the verbs venir (to come) and traer (to bring) are a little different in Spanish (I am told that it is the same as in British English). The main difference comes with the destination of venir and traer.

In Spanish, venir means to come, but only if the destination is HERE, not elsewhere. Anywhere else, you go with ir.

The same goes with traer which means the same as llevar (to take something or someone from one place to another). The difference is that the destination of traer is ONLY HERE. If the destination is elsewhere, you have to use llevar.

For example in English, if you were speaking with a coworker at the office you may say:

“There is going to be a party in my house in the suburbs. You may come and bring your wife too.”

So obviously the party is not here, so (in Spanish) you cannot come or bring, but have to go (ir) and take (llevar). In Spanish we would say:

“Va a haber una fiesta en mi casa en los suburbios. Puedes ir y llevar a tu esposa también.”

must vs. should

2009-10-10T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hola Bloguers,

Now, when do we "must" versus "should"? To me, must sounds more like an obligation and should like a recommendation.

Much has been, is and will be said about the matter, but I like to abbreviate as follows:

Deber (in present tense*) + infinitive verb = must + infinitive verb

Por ejemplo: Debo aprender español (I must learn Spanish)

Deber (in conditional tense**) + infinitive verb = should + infinitive verb

Por ejemplo: Debería aprender español (I should learn Spanish)

*Present tense: debo, debes, debe, debemos, deben

**Conditional tense: debería, deberías, debería, deberíamos, deberían

Be aware that sometimes we use "deber de + infinitive." The truth is that it does not matter if you use de or not.

Buena suerte y hasta pronto,

Juan

What's the deal with "there to be"?

2009-10-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

I find that none of my students seem to understand the concept of there to be. However, everybody does seem to know how to use it -- in English, that is. I will now address this matter in a concise manner.

Fact 1: The action there to be DOES exist and is not the same as to be.

Fact 2: There to be is haber, and to be can either be estar or ser.

I will now list the common uses of haber (there to be) to indicate “existence”:

hay - there is, there are
hubo - there was, there were (used with events)
había - there was, there were (used with everything other than events), there used to be
habrá - there will be
habría - there would be
quizás haya - there might be (pres. subj.)
aunque hubiera/hubiese - even if there were (imp. subj.)
ha habido - there has been, there have been
había habido - there had been
habrá habido - there will have been
habría habido - there would have been
quizás haya habido - there might have been (pres. subj.)
aunque hubiera/hubiese habido - even if there had been (imp. subj.)

Other important and common uses of there to be:

va a haber - there is/are going to be
tiene que haber - there has/have been
puede haber - there can be
debe haber - there must be
debería haber - there should be
necesita haber - there needs to be

Hope this was helpful.

Hasta pronto,

Juan

Why “EE.UU.” and not “E.U.” for “Estados Unidos”?

2009-09-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

This is a common question I get. The answer is very simple.

In Spanish, when we want a word to be “initialized” (for the sake of this explanation we are going to assume that “to initialize” means “to write the initials of a word”), we have to use double letter if the word is in plural. See the examples below:

Estados Unidos EE. UU.
Naciones Unidas NN. UU.
Relaciones Públicas RR. PP.
Recursos Humanos RR. HH.
Servicios Higiénicos SS. HH.

That was a short and easy explanation to give.

Let's "try"

2009-09-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

In Spanish, we can "try" with either "tratar," "intentar," or "probar." It all depends on what you are "trying" to do. To the point:

"To try" will be "tratar de" or "intentar" if you mean "to attempt." Therefore you can say something like "Voy a tratar de estudiar más los fines de semana" or "Intentaré ser más organizado."
"To try" will be "probar" if you mean "to sample" or "to taste." For example, "Quiero probar ese carro antes de comprarlo" or "Tienes que probar la comida peruana."

Yesterday, my student was confused because he thought that "to taste" was "probar." The truth is that "to taste" will ONLY be "probar" if it ALSO means "to try." So if you say something like "This food tastes like.... " it will not work. "To taste like" is "saber a," therefore "to taste" - when not meaning "to try" - is "saber." For example "¿A qué sabe esa comida?"

¿Entienden? Espero que sí.

The Diary of a Spanish Teacher

2009-09-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Hola blogueros,

I had originally launched this blog (over a year ago) with the intention of posting Spanish lessons. My original title was “Learning Spanish.... Let’s Keep It Simple.” A few minutes ago I renamed it as “Learn or Teach Spanish... Let’s Keep It Simple”... but that won’t do either. I had actually abandoned this blog since I first started it more than a year ago... and shamefully forgotten about it. Good thing nobody was following it. I just accidently ran into again after googling myself to see what I was up to in the cyber-space.

I will actually follow my own advice and “keep it simple” for me too. I have too many things going on in my professional life (running my school, teaching classes, trying to beat the recession, writing and editing my books to be published soon) and my private life (my two little girls, wife and mother) to be devoting much time to actually posting well elaborated teaching lessons.

This blog will be a diary of some of the interesting occurrences that come up during my exciting life as a Spanish teacher (profesor de español) during my classes. I will keep the anonymity of all of my students and not share any personal information about them or their stories. However, I will share any interesting facts about the Spanish language for those interested in learning or teaching Spanish.

I will now rename my blog (for a third time) as “El Diario de un Profesor de Español” (The Diary of a Spanish Teacher). Who knows? Maybe some day a movie like “Julia and Julie” will be done about me and my blog. Maybe it could be called “Juan y su Blog” and I could be played by Jimmy Smits or Benjamin Bratt.

We’ll see how this venture goes.

Hasta pronto,

Juan

twitter.com/spanishlc

2009-09-11T20:40:00.001-07:00

Hola Blogueros,

I am currently involved in several huge projects that have kept me away from my blog. However, I now have a twitter account (www.twitter.com/spanishlc) where I post phrases in Spanish every other day.

I will try to continue with this blog as I continue with my other projects.

Hasta pronto,

Juan

Hay and the other options...

2008-07-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

The expressions “there is” or “there are” to indicate existence are “hay.” Furthermore, “¿hay?” also is used for “is there?” or “are there?”

“Hay” comes from the verb haber and its past forms for “was there” and “were there” can be either “había” or “hubo.” Preferable use “hubo” for events or activities or anything that happens or takes place. “Había” can be used for everything else.

i.e. Anoche hubo una fiesta. Había mucha comida en la fiesta.

“There will be” is “habrá” and “there would be” is “habría.”

More complex or creative constructions are:

1) There is/are going to be = va a haber
2) There has/have to be = tiene que haber
3) There can be = puede haber
4) There has/have been = ha habido

The subjunctive forms are “haya” or “hubiera/hubiese.”

There is another use with this haber form used to indicate obligation. This will be covered at a later posting.

Estar: Only 3 uses

2008-07-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

"What is the difference between Ser & Estar" is one of the biggest questions that a Spanish teacher encounters. For those who have studied Spanish before, the difference lays in one being related to permanent situations and the other for temporary ones. That seems to be what most Spanish grammar books agree to. However that does not work!

I like to teach "Estar & Ser" rather than "Ser & Estar" because there are mainly and most imporantly 3 uses for Estar. If you can understand those 3 uses for Estar, then you can later discard every other use as belonging a the Ser verb. We will only refer to the three uses of Estar in this posting which are:

Estar is used for the Progressive,
Estar is used for Conditions, and
Estar is used for the location of people and/or things (except those that happen).

That's all! Not clear enough? Let's try again:

Estar is used of the Progressive. What is the progressive? This is when we say "one is doing something" or the verb to be plus the -ing ending form of the verb (i.e. I am speaking, you are eating, we are living). In Spanish we combine the use of estar plus the verb form that ends in -ando or -iendo (i.e. Estoy hablando, estás comiendo, estamos viviendo).
Estar is used for Conditions. What do I mean? Well, the most common question in Spanish "¿Cómo estás?" really means "What is your condition?" Any time you or anybody wants to know "how is somebody" or "how is anything" what you really want to know is "what is the condition of someone or something." So if you say "How are your parents?" or "How is your class?" or "How is the weather today?" you will always be using Estar because you are inquiring about conditions: "¿Cómo están tus padres?", "¿Cómo están tus clases?" and "¿Cómo está el clima hoy?"
Estar is used for the location of people and/or things. Except those that happen? Well let's get something clear. Do people happen? Does the table happen? How about your shirt? The answer to all three is NO WAY JOSE! Only events and activities happen or take place or occur. So we will use Estar for the location of anybody or anything except events or activities. So "Where is Maria?" or "Where is your house" or "We are in the United States" or "My friends are at the party" will all use Estar because they are not referring to events: "¿Dónde está María?" or "¿Dónde está tu casa?" or "Estamos en los Estados Unidos" or "Mis amigos están en la fiesta."

Finally, if you were to use the verb to be in any other context, it would be Ser and not Estar. This will be the topic of a future posting.

NOTE: For those who have studied Spanish before, notice how I never conditioned the use of estar to a permanent or temporary condition. It is not relevant or important if something is temporary or not.

Keeping it Simple!

2008-07-21T18:47:00.001-07:00

Since I first started teaching Spanish in Chicago in 1999, it has all been about keeping it simple for my students. As easy, clear and simple as possible.

What started as a part-time let's-see-what-happens-with-this job ended up becoming my main and only source of income. Furthermore, it lead to the creation of my own Spanish language teaching method which I now train other Spanish teachers with for them to share with their students.

Something must have worked from my teaching methodology because it lead to my founding of the Spanish Language Center (www.spanishlc.com) which oversees the operation of Spanish classes at its three locations in the Chicagoland area plus other private or corporate onsite classes at our students' place of work or homes.

Since day one it has been about keeping it simple, practical and fun and that is how I intend to keep it. This blog will help me share on a daily or weekly basis questions that arise from my students and the answers (simple and to the point) that I provide. I intend for this blog to become a source of reference for those who want to learn, are learning or already speak Spanish.

If you have any questions, please just ask.

Muchas gracias, Juan G. Cortez.