How to talk about what you “usually do” in Spanish
How to use the Spanish verb “Soler”
When chatting to people in Spanish you often like to talk about what you usually do and your habits.
There are several easy ways to do this. You can just use words like, “Normalmente” (Normally), “Generalmente” (Generally) or other frequency terms such as:
– A veces (sometimes)
– Muchas veces (many times)
– A menudo (often)
– Siempre (always)
– De vez en cuando (from time to time)
… followed by a present tense verb: Continue reading
5 More Common Spanish Phrases Using “Pasar”
Last week we looked at some common uses of the Spanish verb “Pasar”.
- to happen
- relating to a place
- to spend time
- change of state or condition
- to pass something to someone
- adapting to a situation
However, this is only scratching the surface of the many uses scattered throughout the Spanish language. In this week’s blog post we will look at some further uses of this verb that Spanish people use in their every day lives. Continue reading
7 Common Uses of the Spanish Verb “Pasar”
The verb pasar in Spanish is one of the most used verbs in Spanish. It is used in many different situations so can seem tricky to use and therefore cannot be translated in one word easily. However, the good thing is that it is a regular verb, so it is easy to conjugate in any tense.
In this blog post we will look at the 7 most common uses of pasar:
1) To spend time
2) To happen
3) Relating to a place
4) Change of state or condition
5) Accepting and adapting to a situation
6) To pass an object to someone
7) Experience something good or bad Continue reading
How to Make Comparisons in Spanish
When you are learning Spanish one of the things that you will want to learn is how to compare things. Even if you don’t like judging things or people, in everyday life you often need to compare things to make simple decisions.
For example, you may be discussing with friends which bar you want to go to, which meal you want to order or suggest to someone else to order.
Here are the rules to make comparisons in Spanish: Continue reading
How the Spanish Language and Culture Impacts Today’s World
There were a lot of things that I learned from my French classes Brisbane. One of the surprising and most interesting thing amongst them was the importance and the need to learn a second language. No matter what your mother tongue is, it has become a necessity to learn another language if you want to survive in today’s rapidly globalizing world. If you speak English there are countless options available for you to learn. For example, French, Italian, Chinese, Dutch, Spanish are popular foreign languages to learn. Continue reading
Essential Spanish Phrases to Ask For and Understand Directions
One of the first things that beginners of Spanish who regularly travel to Spain want to learn is how to ask for directions and how to understand the answers you might get.
For some reason, people either love or hate this subject in Spanish.
It is just a case of learning the key verbs and words, you don’t need to understand long complex sentences. With the whole topic of asking for and understanding directions abroad, the most important thing is to be able to understand what the Spanish words mean and to be able to listen to them and interpret into English rather than learn to say them in Spanish, unless of course you are mistaken for a local and know the area really well so you can give directions. Continue reading
7 Common Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make in Spanish
Many people studying Spanish do the same mistakes all the time without even realizing it. For them, these mistakes might seem minuscule, but when conversating with a native, things look differently. We must pay attention not to embarrass ourselves, or make the other person feel uncomfortable.
Here are seven mistakes any Spanish student should avoid. Continue reading
How to Use ‘Tiempo’, ‘Hora’ and ‘Vez’ in Spanish – all meaning “Time”
In Spanish there are several words to use to say “time”; tiempo, hora and vez. They are not interchangeable, you use each one in a different context which makes learning them somewhat tricky. To further complicate matters, the word “tiempo” also can mean “weather”!
In this blog post you will learn how to know when to use each word for “time” whether it is talking about time in general, the time of the day or a time as in an occasion. Continue reading
20 Common Reflexive Verbs in Spanish
Reflexive verbs in Spanish often cause learners a real headache because they are so different to how we use the same verbs in English and because they can completely change the meaning of the verb when used with a reflexive pronoun. For example, ‘ir’ means ‘to go’ whereas ‘irse’ means ‘to leave / go away’.
The best way to get your head around Spanish reflexive verbs is to stick with the ones you will need to use most.
When are reflexive verbs used?
Reflexive verbs occur when the subject and the object are the same in a sentence. For example, when you wash yourself, when you look at yourself in the mirror, when you put clothing on yourself. Continue reading
When Do You Need to Use Subject Pronouns in Spanish
When should you use “yo”, “tú”, “él”, “ella” in front of verbs in Spanish?
What are Subject Pronouns?
The subject pronouns in Spanish are:
yo – I
tú – you
él / ella – he / she
usted – you (formal)
nosotros / nosotras – we
vosotros / vosotras – you (plural)
ellos / ellas – they
ustedes – you (formal, plural)
For people just starting to learn Spanish they often want to keep using these every time they say a verb, however this is often unnecessary as the ending of the verb tells you the subject of the verb. In this blog post, we will tell you when you should include the subject pronoun and when you shouldn’t. Continue reading
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