Book Report # 39 – Easy Spanish Step-BY-Step.
Begin: 7/10/2023
Finish: 7/18/2024
Title: Easy Spanish Step-By-Step
Author: Barbara Bregstein.
Why I choose to read this book:
I have always wanted to learn to read and write Spanish, but never had the time to undertake the task Being incarcerated with majority of Spanish speaking inmates have afforded me the opportunity to practice my Spanish I have learned. Language facility in Spanish will be handy to volunteer my services to the Spanish immigrant and geriatric communities.
What I learned from this book:
The book is divided into three sections or parts.
1) The fundamentals of the language in present tense.
2) The second part explains indirect objects, direct objects, direct object pronouns, reflexive verbs and the present subjunctive.
3) The third part presents the two most used tenses in the past, the Preterit an date Imperfect.
Guides to pronunciation:
y Spanish I
b/v same sound as b
h silent
j English h
ll y as in beyond
Q k as in Key
Natural stress
Words that end in a vowel (a,e,i, o, u) or the consonants n or s have their natural stress on the next to last syllable; cuca ra cha, vo lu men, ma na na, ex a men, tris te, ha blo, to ma tes.
Words that end in any consonant other than n or s have their natural stress on the final syllable; sa lud, mu jer, na riz, doc tor, can tar.
Written accents, when a word does not follow one of these two rules, it will have a written accent on the syllable to be stressed: lam para, lec cion, di fi cil.
If a one syllable word has a written accent, it mean that there is another word same spelling but different meaning:
el the ‘el he
si if si’ yes
tu your tu’ you
se oneself se’ I know
If a two-syllable word has a written accent, it does not affect the pronunciation but has a different meaning:
este this ‘este this one
ese that ‘ese that one
Nouns, articles and adjectives:
In Spanish all nouns are either masculine or feminine and number (singular or plural): el, la, los, las.
The indefinite article (English a, an), un before a masculine noun and una for feminine noun. Plural indefinite articles (English some), unos before a masculine noun and unas before feminine plural nouns.
Adjectives – in Spanish as adjective always follow the noun it describe:
el libro blanco the white book
el gato blance the black cat
Change -o to -a when describing feminine noun:
la casa blanco the white house
la lampara roja the red lamp
Adjectives that do not end in -o have the same form for describing both masculine and feminine nouns:
el libro excelente la comida excelente
el perro horrible la cucaracha horrible
Plural forms of adjectives:
el libro blanco los libros blancos
la casa blanca las casas blancas
Adjectives that end in a vowel add -s to form plural
Adjectives that end in a consonant add -es to form plural
Estar, Ser:
Estar (to be)
Yo estoy I am Nosotros estamos we are
Tu estas you are Vosotros estais you are
el esta he is Ellos estan They are
Ella esta she is ellas estan they are
Ud. Esta you are Uds. estan you are
Estar is used to express four basic concepts: ;location, health, changing mood or condition and personal opinion in terms of taste and appearance.
Ser (to be)
Yo soy I am Nosotros Somos We are
Tu eres You are Vosotros Sois You are
El es he is Ellos Son They are
Ella es she is Ellas Son They are
UD es you are UDs Son You are
Ser is used to express seven basic concepts: description, profession, point of origin, identification, material, possessions or ownership and where and event takes place.
Days and Months:
Numbers, dates and time:
Regular Verbs: Present tense. All infinitives end in -ar,, -er or -ir.
-Ar verbs – drop the infinitive ending and add -o, -as, -a, -amos, -ais, -an to the stem.
Cantar – to sing
Yo canto I sing Nostotros cantamos we sing
Tu cantas you sing Vosotros cantais you sing
el canta he sings Ellos Cantan they sing
-Er verb – drop the infinite ending and add -o, -es, -e, -emos, -eis, -en to the stem.
Comer – to eat
Yo Como Nosotros Comemos
Tu Comes Vosotros Comeis
El Como Ellos Comen
-IR verb – drop the infinitive ending and add -o, -es, -e, -imos, -is, -en to the stem.
Vivir – to live
Yo Vivo Nosotros Vivimos
Tu Vives Vosotros Vivis
El Vive Ellos Viven
Irregular verbs:
Stem change e>ie, o>ue and e>i.
IR (to go)
Yo Voy I am going, I go Nosotros Vamos We are going, We go
Tu Vas You are going, You go Vosotros Vais you are going, you go
El va He is going, he goes Ellos van they are going, they go.
IR+A+infinitive – to be going to (Do something)
Ellos van a cantar esta noche they are going to sing tonight.
Possessive Adjectives:
Mi. Mis – my
Tu, Tus – Your
Su, Sus – your (ud Formal), his, her, their
Nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras – our
Vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestras – your
Adverb – describe verbs or adjectives. In Spanish adverbs are formed by adding – mente to the feminine form of the adjective. The suffix -mente correspond to English suffix -ly.
Claro Clear Claramente Clearly
Rapido Rapid Rapidamente Rapidly
Indirect Object Pronoun (IDO)
Me to me
Te to you
Le A ud to you (singular)
A El to him
A Ella to her
Nos to us
Os to you
Les a uds to you
a ellos to them
a ellas to them
Indirect Object Pronoun can be placed before first verb.
Carlos me escribe una carta Charles write a letter to me.
Maria le escribe una carta a el Maria writes a letter to him.
Indirect Object Pronoun can be attached to the infinitive.
Antes de prestarte dinero Before lending you money ……
Despues de ensenarnos el france After teaching us french
Direct Object Pronoun (DOP) The DOP have same form as the IOP – only new form are Lo, los, la and las.
Me me Nos us
Te you Os you
Lo him, it (M, object) Los them (m, object)
La Her, it (F, object) las them (f, object)
Le You Les you
DOP are placed directly before the first verb
Ella me conoce bien She knows me well.
Ellas nos saludan los lunes They greet us on Mondays.
DOP attached to the infinitive.
Ella Quiere visitarme en Mexico She wants to visit me in Mexico.
Debo llamarlo ahora I ought to call him now.
Reflexive Verbs – when the subject and the object refer to the same person.
The reflexive pronoun are object pronouns.
Me myself Nos Ourselves
Te Yourself Os Yourselves
Se himself, herself, yourself se themselves, yourself
-se is added to the basic infinitive.
Lavarse – to wash oneself
Yo me lavo I wash myself Nosotros nos lavamos we wash ourselves
Tu te lavas you wash yourself Vosotros od lavais you wash yourselves
el se lava he wash himself Ellas se levan they wash themselves
The present Subjunctive – present tense needed after the following elements:
– Certain Impersonal expressions
– Certain verbs
– Certain Conjunctions
– Certain dependent Adjective clauses
– Certain expression
– AR verbs – Start with the Yo form drop the -o and add -e, -es, -e, -emos, -eis, -en to the stem.
Yo Form Present Subjunctive
Canto Yo Canto Nosotros Cantemos
Tu Cantes Vosotros Canteis
El Cante Ellos Canten
-ER and IR Verbs – drop the -o from yo form and add -a, -as, -a, -amos, -ais, -an to the stem.
Como Yo Coma Nosotros Comamos
Tu Comas Vosotros Comais
El Coma Ellos Coman
Vivo Yo Viva Nosotros Vivamos
Tu Vivas Vosotros Vivais
El Viva Ellos Vivan
Preterit Tense – Express action or actions completed in past.
– Actions completed in the past.
– A series of completed action in the past.
– Conditions no longer in effect.
– Regular – AR verbs: drop the ending and add -e, -aste, -o, -amos,-asteis, -aron to the stem.
Ayudar – to help
Yo ayude Nosotros Ayudamos
Tu ayudaste Vosotros ayudasteis
Ud ayudo UDs ayudaron
-ER and IR Verbs – drop the ending and add -i, -iste, -io, -imos, -isteis, ieron to the stem.
Comer
Yo comi Nosotros Comimos
Tu comiste Vosotros comisteis
El Comio Ellos Comieron
Compartir
Yo Compati Nosotros compartimos
Tu Compartiste Vosotros compartisteis
El Compartio Ellos Compartieron
There are only 17 irregular verbs.
The imperfect Tense – Actions in the past that are not seen as completed. Imperfect is used in the following ways:
– To set stage in the past, background in the past.
– To express habitual, customary or repeated action in the past.
– To express continuous actions in progress in the past.
– To express description in the past.
– To express point of origin in the past.
– To express time in the past.
– To express ones’ age in the past.
-AR verbs – Drop the ending and add -aba, -abas, -aba, -abamos, -abais,-aban to the stem.
Acompanar
Yo acompanaba Nosotros acompanabamos
Tu acompanabas Vosotrso acompanabais
El acompanaba Ellos acompanaban
-ER and IR verbs – drop the ending and add -ia, -ias, -ia, -iamos, -iais, -ian to the stem.
Poder
Yo Podia Nosotros podiamos
Tu podias Vosotros podiais
Ud podia Uds podian
Tener
Yo Tenia Nosotros teniamos
Tu tenias Vosotros teniais
Ud Tenia Uds Tenian
Sentirse
me sentia nos sentiamos
Te sentias Os sentiais
Ud se Sentia Uds se sentian
Irregular verbs
Ir
Yo Iba Nosotros Ibamos
Tu Ibas Vosotros Ibais
El Iba Ellos Iban
Ser
Yo Era Nostros eramos
Tu Eras Vosotros Erais
Ella Era Ellas Eran
Ver
Yo Veia Nosotros Veiamos
Tu Veias Vosotros Veiais
Ud Veia Uds Veian
How will this book contribute to my success upon release:
Learning Spanish allows me to communicate effectively with the Spanish migrant and geriatric communities. Ability to communicate in Spanish will allow me to expand my volunteer teaching services to the Hispanic communities.
