Pedro Teaches Conjugation – The Simple Present Tense Of Spanish

For most Spanish leaners, the present indicative tense, or simple present, is invariably the first step into the utterly confusing and demotivating world of Spanish verb conjugations. While conjugations eventually come naturally once you have acquired even a basic level of proficiency with the language, you are often left with no choice but to memorize them painfully until that stage comes. And memorization using traditional rote method, as we all know, is far from efficient, inspiring, or even interesting. So, is there any trick to commit these conjugations to memory without any repetition whatsoever? Of course there is!

Why start with present indicative?

Grammatical labels aside, present is the time around which which most of our day-to-day conversations revolve. In any language. Not only is it the most heavily used tense, it’s also an extremely versatile one to boot. Apart from the present, you could use this tense to express events well in the future or even the past. Let’s see some examples:

• I want to buy a new cell phone (the plain vanilla present form)
• We are visiting Cancún this summer (future tense expressed using the present tense)
• The train leaves in another five minutes (again, a future event expressed using the present tense)
• By the time the movie ends, the hero is revealed to be the bad guy (a past event expressed using the present tense)
• He struggles for a few minutes and then he is dead (a past event being recounted using the present tense)

Thus, we see how versatile this tense can be. Another benefit of mastering the conjugations for this tense, specific to Spanish, is that many other tenses conjugate in patterns similar to that of the present tense to varying extent. One notable example is the Spanish imperfect tense which closely follows the pattern of present tense conjugations. All these reasons make the present indicative tense the best candidate to start with when you are starting out with Spanish tenses.

The conjugation

The present indicative conjugation is perhaps the simplest of all and my experience shows that people find it quite easy to memorize this tense in comparison to the others such as the preterit or the imperfect. Technically, each of the three verb classes (-ar, -er, and -ir) conjugate differently but the difference is extremely small. Learning just the -ar conjugations, in most cases, automatically takes care of the other two without any real effort.

Here’s how -ar verbs conjugate using cantar (to sing) for illustration:

-o (canto I sing)

-as (cantas you sing)

-a (cantas he/she/it sings)

-amos (cantamos we sing)

-an (cantan they sing)

Using beber (to drink) as example, here’s how the -er verbs conjugate:

-o (bebo I drink)

-es (bebes you drink)

-e (bebe he/she/it drinks)

-emos (bebemos we drink)

-en (beben they drink)

The -ir verbs conjugate in exactly the same way as above with the only exception being the “we” form where -emos becomes -imos, e.g., vivir (to live) becomes vivimos (we live). What a relief!

Now for the trick

Pedro Almodóvar
Photo credit: Roberto Gordo Saez licensed CC BY 3.0

This is the best part. If you are not too beat up with all the grammar jazz above already, that is. So what’s the deal with remembering the present tense conjugations? Well, it’s a simple sentence acting as a memory hook to remind you of the -ar conjugation pattern with ease – a mnemonic device if you will.

Before we get to the magic sentence, do consider the -ar conjugation once again; note the pattern. It all boils down to a sequence of endings which you need to remember in exactly the right order: -o, -as, -a, -amos, and -an. This is what the mnemonic is going to facilitate:

Pedro is a famous man

Now, it doesn’t matter if you even know any famous Pedros out there; though there are more than a few indeed. You have one Pedro on the FC Barcelona team for the soccer fans in you and then you have a Pedro Almodóvar for the Spanish movie buffs. And there are many, many more.

Anyways, regardless of whether you know any famous Pedro, it’s not too hard to imagine someone who goes by the name Pedro and happens to be famous. So, what’s this Pedro got to do with my present tense -ar conjugation? Read the sentence once again and notice the portions in bold. List them out in exactly the order they appear in. You’ll easily see how easily they rhyme with the five verb endings of our conjugations!

Pedro – -o

is – -as

a – -a

famous – -amos

man – -an

Is life any bit easier now? As for the -er verbs, all you need to do is replace the a’s from the conjugated -ar endings with “e”. Thus, -as becomes -es, -a becomes -e, -amos becomes -emos, and -an becomes -en. No mnemonic needed for this one. And we have already seen how -ir conjugations follow the same pattern with just one exception.

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The Spanish Preterit: Once And For All

Past actions in the Spanish language can be expressed in two ways depending on whether they were completed once for all or otherwise. Spanish grammar categorizes them as the preterit and the imperfect. While the imperfect handles all habitual, continuous, or repetitive actions and verbs denoting a state of being, preterit covers pretty much whatever is left – actions that were performed and also concluded well within the past. This article delves into the latter and tries to make life easier for those of you who are still struggling to remember and recall the preterit conjugations. Rest assured, they only appear scary.

So what is preterite again?

In simpler terms, preterit is the tense used in Spanish, as well as other Romance tongues, for past actions that are seen as completed. Completion here implies that the event had a definite beginning and an equally definite end. This is in sharp contrast to the imperfect tense where there is no such well-defined completion, hence the name.

Some examples illustrating this tense:

• I ate a taco last night (preterit because I started and finished eating well within last night)
• I ate tacos when I was in Mexico (imperfect because I am implying eating as a habitual action in the past; I used to eat tacos when I was in Mexico)
• She was beautiful (imperfect because being beautiful is a state of being, a characteristic, a trait and the trait hasn’t been implied to have changed in the past; this can also be rendered as “she used to be beautiful,” a tell-tale sign of the imperfect tense)
• Juan spoke for 5 hours (preterit because the act of speaking did end after 5 hours)
• It began to rain in the evening (preterite because even though the rain could have lasted indefinitely, the event in question – the beginning of rain – had a specific time of occurrence, evening)
• Ana ran through the woods (preterit because Ana ran only once and this wasn’t a repetitive or habitual action)

So, we see how preterit is in sharp contrast to the imperfect tense in Spanish when it comes to past actions. And it is important that we recall these differences while communicating in Spanish in order to sound correct and appropriate. Let’s see how the preterit conjugations work in Spanish.

Basically, regular verbs – verbs that follow the standard conjugation pattern, such as hablar, vivir, beber, etc. – follow either of the two conjugation rules depending on whether they end in -ar or otherwise. All regular verbs with the -ar ending conjugate as below (illustrated using hablar as example):

-é (hablé I spoke)

-aste (hablaste you spoke)

-ó (habló he/she/it spoke)

-amos (hablamos we spoke)

-aron (hablaron they spoke)

The regular -ir and -er verbs follow a slightly similar pattern with some minor differences. Here’s the conjugation using beber as example:

-í (bebí I drank)

-iste (bebiste you drank)

-ió (bebió he/she/it drank)

-imos (bebimos we drank)

-ieron (bebieron they drank)

Alright, enough of that dead-beat grammar dope; now where’s the trick? Don’t tell me you got to memorize the whole shebang like the rest of my class does...hell, no! Relax, this article wouldn’t be here if that’s what you were expected to do. So, yes, there is a mnemonic just for you; actually, more than one.

Trick to remember the -ar conjugation

First of all, I’d recommend that you stop giving a dead rat’s ass about what this tense is called. Knowing that definitely completed actions in the past are known in Spanish grammar as preterite is not going to serve you one bit during your conversations with them natives. What you must remember, however, is the conjugated endings and the fact that these endings are to be used when discussing past actions that were completed for sure. Doest’t matter if they call it preterit or whatever.

I ate tasty donuts...
Photo credit: Bev Sykes licensed CC BY 2.0

So, what’s the trick to remember the endings? Let’s start with singular subjects. We have seen the conjugation pattern for singular subjects has 3 endings for each person, i.e., -é (I), -aste (you), and -ó (he/she/it). Here’s a mnemonic to remember this sequence of three verb endings:

Yesterday, I ate a tasty donut

Isn’t this a delicious sentence to remember? Just the very thought makes me drool! So, what’s the trick here? Well, for starters, did you notice the general tense of this statement? It’s very clear that my action (of eating that donut) was performed once and completed at a specific point in time in the past, i.e., yesterday. What does this tell you about the tense? Yes, the preterit!

...while they had bottles of rum!
Photo credit: Simon Law licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Now imagine the bold portions in their exact sequence. Rings a bell? No? Well, don’t they rhyme with the singular conjugated endings for the -ar verbs we saw above? Look again:

ate – -é

tasty – -aste

donut – -ó

I hope the memory hook has driven home now. As for the plurals, the first person (we) conjugation is a no-brainer as it’s exactly the same as the one in the simple present tense. So, hablamos could mean both “we speak” and “we spoke”. Context is your friend. The third person ending, -aron, rhymes with ron, the Spanish for “rum”. Now, extend the donut visual to include your friends who had rum with their donuts. this should easily fit in with the overall image and help you recall the entire preterit table for -ar verbs comfortably.

Tricks for -ir and -er verbs

The conjugations for these verbs are dominated by the letter, “i” with “a” taking a backseat. For the memory hook this time, try having pistachios instead of donuts. Confused?

Yesterday, I ate pistachios

Notice how the bold portions rhyme with the singular subject -er/-ir endings in the conjugation table:

I – -í

pistachios – -iste

pistachios – -ió

As for the plurals, the trick almost remains the same as that for them -ar verbs. The “we” form remains the same as the “we” form present indicative conjugation for -ir verbs, e.g., vivimos could stand for either “we live” or “we lived”. The “they” form for -ir verbs is also same as that in -ar conjugation with a slight difference in the “a” being replaced by “ie”.

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Tú Or Vos? The Culture Dilemma

English, as we know it today, is a very simple language when it comes to addressing people. You have just one word (you) that can be used for strangers and acquaintances alike regardless of your level of intimacy with them. With Spanish, life gets a bit complicated because depending on where you are and who you are with, you must carefully choose from three different pronouns to sound appropriate. While knowledge of tú and usted is commonplace, it’s vos that’s relatively unknown to most Spanish learners. Here, we will try to explore voseo – the usage of vos – in different cultural contexts throughout the Hispanic world.

Why is it important?

Voseo on a billboard in Buenos Aires: Note “vení” instead of “ven”
Photo credit: Qqqqqq licensed CC BY-SA 3.0

Voseo stands for the usage of vos for the second person singular pronoun. A similar word for the usage of tú is tutear. Although not a part of standard Spanish anymore, vos does have significant currency in certain parts of Latin America where its knowledge is an absolute necessity.

It’s only ironic, however, that it’s now completely extinct in the country of its origin, i.e., Spain. Most courses skip this pronoun simply because the two largest dialects of Spanish, Castillian and Mexican, don’t have it in their inventories. But if the dialect you’re aiming to acquire is, say Argentenean or Uruguayan, you just can’t do without vos.

As mentioned before, voseo is not a global phenomenon. It’s rather dialectical and, more often than not, an aspect of non-standard, regional speech. So, what cultures actually embrace this practice and to what extent? You can take it for granted that regardless of its currency in other countries, voseo is non-existent in Spain and most of Mexico. As for the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, let’s see this one culture at a time.

Cultures with predominant voseo

Voseo at a Nicaraguan airport
Photo credit: Mbhskid520 licensed CC BY 2.0

• Argentina and Paraguay – Tú is practically non-existent in the Rioplatense and Paraguayan dialects, the ones spoken in these countries. In these cultures, usted is sometimes used in some formal settings but vos is the way to go otherwise.
• Uruguay – Uruguay, too, follows the Rioplatense dialect and runs predominantly on vos. In several areas, however, tú is also used albeit with the vos conjugations. Usage of tú with verbs conjugated in the tú form is alien to Uruguay.
• Costa Rica and Nicaragua – Here, just as in Uruguay, vos can be used with verbs conjugated in both vos as well as tú forms. Usage of tú as a pronoun is non-existent in Costa Rica and rare in Nicaragua. Usted is generally used for new acquaintances or strangers but can, in certain parts, be extended to all situations. Unlike Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, however, tú is still preferred in Costa Rica and Nicaragua when it comes to formal communications, such as media, formal correspondence, or while addressing foreigners.

Cultures with extensive voseo

• Guatemala – Here, vos coexists with tú and usted; however, its usage is generally frowned upon by the older generations and those who come from the upper economic class who see voseo as vulgar or uneducated. Usted is the way to go with the elders; vos is the most intimate form and is used with younger family members or close friends; tú, on the other hand, is a little less intimate. One peculiarity here is that vos is preferred amongst men regardless of their intimacy; two men using tú with each other is seen as a sign of homosexuality. Many couples, despite their intimacy, choose to use the less casual tú with each other as a sign of romance and respect.
• Chile – Here, usage of vos conjugations with tú is spreading rapidly while vos as a pronoun is generally reserved only for very intimate encounters. Usted is the preferred pronoun with strangers and the elders; also, some couples use usted despite their intimacy to show respect for each other out of mutual love.
• Bolivia – Voseo is universally used in the Lowlands of Eastern Bolivia where the population is predominantly mestizo, Criollo, or of German ancestry (e.g., Tarija, Beni, Pando, Santa cruz, and the Lowlands of La Paz). In the Highlands of Western Bolivia, however, where the population is predominantly indigenous (e.g., Potosí, Oruro, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, and the Highlands of La Paz) tú is predominantly the pronoun of choice albeit with verbs conjugated in the vos form.
• Honduras and El Salvador – Here, vos is the most intimate of the three pronouns showing maximum familiarity and, often, least respect. Usted is preferred with strangers and the elders while tú is the way to go with new acquaintances or not-so-close friends.

Cultures with voseo in some areas

• Ecuador – Voseo is predominant only in certain regions, i.e., the Esmeraldas, the center, and the Sierras.
• Venezuela – Voseo is prevalent in the northwest of the country, especially in Zulia State.
• Peru – Apart from some areas in the north and the south of the country, voseo is also widespread in Arequipa.
• Mexico – Overall, voseo is not a Mexican thing; vos is almost alien to Mexican ears. However, it is widespread amongst the poor indegenous peoples of rural Chiapas. Usage of vos in once-voseo states, like Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Yucatán, is on the decline.
• Colombia – The Spanish of Colombia is a whole new world. Here, tú must be used with caution, though voseo is not a common feature in this country. Not only is its usage considered gay between two men, it’s also taken as a sign of being flirtatious or romantic if a man uses it with the opposite sex! Generally tú is reserved for family members and strangers (except for the situations just mentioned); for younger people, usted is preferred. Usted is preferred between two men, where tú would sound uncomfortably effeminate. Vos is preferred amongst people from western (Chocó, Nariño, Cauca, and Valle del Cauca), central (Primarily the Paisas of Caldas, Antioquia, Quindío, and Risaralda), and north-eastern (Cesar, La Guajira, and Norte del Santander - Ocaña Region) Colombia.

Conjugations

Before you fret over the thought of having to learn yet another conjugation for a new pronoun, let me assure you that vos conjugations are much simpler than their tú counterparts.

Let’s start with the present indicative tense, for example. All you do here is drop the -r from the verb, replace it with an -s ending, and accent the last syllable. That’s it. And no stem-changing nonsense. Sweet, ain’t it? So, your hablar becomes hablás, vivir becomes vivís, and comer becomes comés.

Now the commands, or in other words, the imperative. Again, simplicity is the name of the game here. Just drop the -r ending and accent the last syllable and you are done. So, vivir becomes viví, andar becomes andá, and comer becomes comé. The only tricky verb in the vos world is ir which cannot be conjugated in this method. Solution? Use the synonym, andar instead! So, the command to go would be andá. Hasn’t this simplicity won you over already?

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Tricks To Instantly Recall The Spanish Imperfect Conjugations

The Spanish language, like its other Romance cousins, is notorious for its myriad spirit-throttling conjugations. The first conjugation set any novice learner memorizes is the one for the simple present tense. While that one was relatively easier, it turns out there are many more such sets to be mugged up – for at least a dozen other tenses – and that’s where it starts to get intimidating. In this article, we’ll see how simple mnemonic cues and tricks can be exploited in committing one such set to memory – the Spanish imperfect tense. This is the tense for habitual or incomplete actions in the past and is quite important.

So what is this imperfect tense anyway?

Imperfect is the tense we invoke in Spanish whenever we are dealing with past actions that were either incomplete or repetitive; basically, anything that could otherwise be expressed into English with a “used to”. Here are some illustrations:

• I went to Yale (what I essentially mean here is that I used to go to Yale for my studies; a repetitive action)
• I was eating street food every day (I used to eat street food everyday; habitual action)
• Juan was sick (he was sick for an undefined period of time; hence, this can be considered an imperfect action like any other statement on feelings or state)
• We were returning when we saw Enrique (the act of returning is imperfect in nature because it’s incomplete)
• My father often drove me to school (my father used to drive me to school; a repetitive action regardless of its frequency)
• Every year, the entire family would come together on the Day of the Dead (This line, again, can be rendered using a “used to” and hence becomes a repetitive action)

Let’s now see how regular Spanish verbs conjugate in this tense. There are two sets of conjugations; one for the -ar verbs and the other for the -ir and -er verbs. The conjugations for the -ar verbs go first (using hablar for illustration):

-aba (hablaba I spoke/used to speak/was speaking)

-abas (hablabas you spoke/used to speak/were speaking)

-aba (hablaba he/she/it spoke/used to speak/was speaking)

-abamos (hablamos we spoke/used to speak/were speaking)

-aban (hablaban they spoke/used to speak/were speaking)

Here are the conjugations for the -er and -ir verbs (using comer for illustration):

-ía (comía I ate/used to eat/was eating)

-ías (comías you ate/used to eat/were eating)

-ía (comía he/she/it ate/used to eat/was eating)

-íamos (comíamos we ate/used to eat/were eating)

-ían (comían they ate/used to eat/were eating)

Now, while we are sure you have quite understood when this tense is exactly to be used, it’s remembering this usage and the associated conjugations that hurts the butt.

The prerequisites for the trick

There is no need to memorize the names of the many tenses you are going to use in Spanish just as there’s no need to remember which tense you are in when you say, “I wish I had eaten that hot dog.” Memorizing grammar terms and labels is the most unrewarding of all language learning activities and serve you absolutely no purpose unless you want to teach a grammar class or write a grammar test. What you should aim at, instead, is to learn to recall what word and conjugation to use depending on the scenario you are in regardless of what the conjugated form is labelled as.

Is it possible to trick your brain into recalling not only the conjugation tables listed above but also the fact that they are to be used only with habitual, repetitive, and continuous actions without cramming up anything? The answer is, yes, provided you already know your simple present tense like the back of your hand. Let’s review the simple present tense conjugations for a while before we get to the mnemonic. Here’s the table for -ar verbs using hablar:

-o (hablo I speak)

-as (hablas you speak)

-a (habla he/she/it speaks)

-amos (hablamos we speak)

-an (hablan they speak)

The trick!

If you remember and can recall the simple present tense table in a blink, you can use the following mnemonic to cement the imperfect to your brain with absolute ease:

When my dad was young, he lived in India and used to listen to ABBA all day

Not that hard to visualize, is it? If you are familiar with ABBA, chances are you know how big they were back in the 80’s. Now, the first thing to note in this sentence is its tense; without any clue about what it’s called officially, you can instantly recognize that we are talking about habitual and repetitive actions in the past. My dad “used to” live in India and he “used to” listen to ABBA all day. So you know whenever we are dealing with such actions, this is the mnemonic to be invoked. No need to memorize that it’s called “imperfect tense” in grammar.

Who knew ABBA could help you with Spanish grammar!
Photo credit: Spensatron 5000 licensed CC BY 2.0

Next thing to notice is the name of the band itself, ABBA. This should give you a cue to the -aba ending for the singular first person conjugation of -ar verbs in this tense, e.g., hablaba. If you can recall hablaba (I spoke/used to speak/was speaking) for hablar (to speak), the rest of the table easily falls in place as everything else follows the pattern of the simple present tense conjugation based on the -aba ending. Take a minute, try it out. Play with a handful of -ar examples, such as cantar, cocinar, viajar, tomar, etc.

If you are now comfortable with the -ar verbs, take a look at the -ia ending in “India” which is in bold. This is a cue to the -ía ending in the singular first person conjugation of the -er and -ir verbs, e.g., vivía (I lived/used to live/was living) for vivir (to live) or ponía (I put/used to put/was putting) for poner (to put. Again, the rest of the table just follows the simple present tense conjugation pattern based on the -ía ending. Try playing with some verbs, like comer, beber, correr, conducir, crecer, subir, etc. If you still need some further reinforcement to this mnemonic, there is a popular Spanish song by the Latin pop group, Camila, just for that!

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Tips On Using The World's Largest Language Learning Community

In the process of acquiring Spanish, we have used and abused an insane amount of free resources both offline and online. It is only with hit-and-trial that you eventually appreciate what works best for you, be it learning Spanish or acquiring any other skill. One of the resources many learners have used quite extensively is Livemocha and this article is going to focus on our experiences – and those of many other Spanish learners all over the world – with it. Having ransacked all that Livemocha has to offer in terms of Spanish, we have managed to put together our own list of strategies around squeezing it for maximum juice.

The social network

This is how Livemocha is modeled
Photo credit: Linda Hartley licensed CC BY 2.0

Livemocha’s model is quite simple and intuitive. It merges social networking with language learning. So, basically you learn new languages using free online lessons, complete drills to assimilate your learning, and make friends with native speakers along the way to reinforce practical language skills. Now, Livemocha isn’t the only such site – you have others like iTalki as well – but being the largest community of learners has its own advantages.

Livemocha offers a free basic membership, much like most other social networking sites. When you join as a free user, you have at your disposal an array of free courses graded in levels along with several exercises and an entire community of fellow language learners to interact and socialize with. These courses have lessons covering every aspects of a wholesome language learning program, i.e., writing, reading, listening, and speaking.

The site has a rating system where you earn points and badges for performing various activities. You earn points not only for successfully completing your lessons but also for contributing to the community at large. For example, you earn points by chatting with other learners, reviewing their exercises, offering them feedback, etc. This is a symbiosis where your exercises are reviewed by those proficient in your target language while you review those of someone who is learning a language you’re fluent in. So, effectively, you are a teacher as well as a student, both at once. A brilliant concept that helped me acquire most of my Spanish skills without a formal teacher! Livemocha also offers a range of paid courses if you are willing to shell out some dough but this article is only going to discuss what comes for free.

Getting started

Just like any other social networking site, you start by creating an account and a profile with some personal details. Well, you don’t absolutely have to load up tons of personal information on this site as you would normally do on your Facebook profile. Almost every field is optional and you are free to decide how much you are comfortable sharing.

However, a profile devoid of any informtion looks pretty much spammy or insincere. Don’t forget that this is a community and the more you are invested in your social endeavors here, the more juice you get to draw. Since your profile is the first impression, it should be reasonably friendly and inviting. A decent mug as your profile picture counts as a necessary PR step.

Do put up a friendly note about yourself and your language learning interests in your “About Me” section as that’s the section that essentially introduces you. The next absolute necessity is telling what languages you speak and what you wish to learn. This will not only help other community members know what you are pursuing and what you know, but will also help Livemocha suggest the most relevant profiles whenever you perform a community search. So, if your profile says that your native tongue is English and you are learning Spanish, Livemocha would suggest to you native Spanish speakers who are learning English.

How to get the most out of it

Once your profile is up, you can immediately start engaging with the vast network of learners and learning resources. In the beginning, however, the whole array of options and tools might get you overwhelmed. So, let my experiences with Livemocha cut right through the clutter and bring to you the 4 most useful tips in order to maximize your benefits:

1. Focus solely on the reading and speaking lessons. A major portion of every course is composed of modules where you click on pictures and listen to an audio telling you what the picture stands for. In my opinion, this module is an utter waste of time and energy as it won’t get you anywhere in terms of either speaking or reading Spanish. Instead, it is best to just skip to the reading exercise where you record yourself reading a given passage in Spanish and submit the recording to the community of native speakers for review. This will help you with pronunciation and diction in the most effective manner.


2. Immediately start helping others with their work. So, if you are a native English speaker learning Spanish, you should immediately start reviewing the drills completed by native Spanish speakers trying to learn English. Don’t procrastinate on this one as helping others will get you more help which you so desperately need. A profile poor in “teacher points” is easily seen as someone selfish and unwilling to help – not the best impression you want the community to have of you. Helping others is the best way of making friends with native speakers and accelerating your learning.


3. Always acknowledge their helpfulness. As you start submitting your exercises, you will start receiving valuable feedback from other community members who review your work. You must get into the practice of rating every feedback in terms on helpfulness and, if possible, offer a comment of acknowledgement. This will not only earn you points but also show your gratitude for their help. Besides, a good rating from you would also add points to the members whose feedback was rated and this would act as an added incentive for them to review your work more often and more sincerely. On the other hand, not-so-helpful reviews are also weeded out organically in this process.


4. Interact with other members. We admit we are no fans of the Java-based chat interface of Livemocha but the activity nonetheless remains integral to your language acquisition program. Real-time interaction can teach you several finer nuances of colloquial Spanish which are otherwise not available on any course. If the interface peeves you, feel free to move over to something else like Skype once you have become reasonably comfortable with the chat-buddy.

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Positive Emotions In Spanish

Expressing one’s emotions is perhaps the single most important aspect of human communication in any language. Almost every real-life communication involves expression of the speakers’ feelings and sentiments, positive or negative, in varying degrees. Hence, it becomes obviously imperative for anyone learning Spanish to learn to be able to express themselves and their emotions efficiently in that language before they set out on any confident conversation with a native speaker. Regardless of circumstances, these expressions often form the pivot of any conversation that goes beyond asking for directions or ordering a cerveza.

Ability to express your feelings is a real empowerment when it comes to learning Spanish. It gives you the confidence to move beyond the boring gracias, bien, and por favor while speaking real Spanish. Now, learning words of expression in any language is a pretty simple idea; there are dozens of word-lists out there on the Internet waiting for you to devour. But again, why would you be here if you could just snatch them off some website and cram them up? There’s got to be a lazier way to get our heads around those alien-sounding words! Is there? Yes, there is. Can we invoke mnemonics to just absorb them in a single scan without repeating them to death? Now we are talking.

Feeling good? Positive feelings

Basta por hoy...estoy contento
Photo credit: GabaGaba licensed CC BY 2.0

If you are like some of us, you probably prefer to start on a high. When there’s good news and bad news, we often tend to start with the good news first. It puts our spirit in the right place, prepared with the confidence required to face the bad news. In this article, we deal with words for some of the happier feelings – the positive emotions. Bits of etymology teamed with some mnemonics and visual cues are your key to instant assimilation.

• agradable (pleasant) – Does this word sound similar to agreeable? Well, when something is pleasant, isn’t it quite agreeable to our senses too?
• alegre (happy) – This word shares a common Latin root with the Italian word, allegro, which stands for a piece performed in a brisk, lively manner. And brisk and lively is quite how you feel when you are happy, isn’t it?
• contento (happy) – When you are happy to have finally done or received what you have been wanting to, you are obviously satisfied and content...and happy.
• enamorado de (in love with) – This one is a straight derivative from the Spanish word, amor, which stands for “love” in English. En carries the sense of “in” thus lending the phrase the meaning of being enamored with, ergo, being in love with.
• feliz (happy) – Remember Feliz Navidad or Feliz cumpleaños? This word comes from the Latin word, fēlīx, which means “happy” in English. Do note that fēlīx was also the source for “felicity” in English which, in a sense, also means “happy”.
• listo (ready) – Easiest way to remember this one is to ask the question: Is the list ready? By the way, this word also means “clever” just so you know.
• lleno (full) – Imagine being in your favorite restaurant and having this conversation with the server: More chicken? I am full; so, no more. The etymology of this word is too complex to be used as a memory cue.
• ordenado (organized) – Anything that’s organized is also ordered as against random and chaotic. Another way to remember this is by seeing anything organized as being pre-ordained.
• seguro (sure) – This one comes from the Latin, secūrus, which gave the English “secure” and “sure”. The Latin word carries a sense of certainty and self-confidence as an extension of security; and it is this sense of certainty or surety that came into Spanish as seguro.

Happiness in Spanish

So, what’s going on with “happy”? Three words in Spanish for one word in English? Not fair. How are we supposed to know which one to use in which situation? Well, cases like these are not uncommon in the life of a language learner. While more than one word can act as pure synonyms, carrying the same meaning in every sense, most often they happen to have some subtle differences. It is these subtle differences that sets the natives apart from the foreign speakers.

Well, the easiest one to sieve out is contento, which means “happy” in a sense of being content or satisfied. You could be contento when you are just done with your favorite dish of mashed potatoes or when you finally meet your family after a long trip abroad.

Este gato es muy alegre!
Photo credit: Paul Lewis licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

Alegre and feliz, on the other hand, have an extremely faint difference. Alegre is “happy” in a cheerful way, well manifested in one’s behavior or appearance, showing external signs such as a smiling face or a jovial attitude. Even objects or events could be described as alegre when their appearance or outlook evoke cheerful emotions, such as a party, a shirt, a house, or a painting. Also, alegre often indicates happiness in a more temporary sense.

Feliz, on the other hand is more permanent in nature, more innate and personal. One can be happy or at peace with themselves without appearing cheerful on the outside. This sense of being internally happy is captured by feliz. It’s a state of being, more about the emotion than about behavior or appearance. An example illustrating this subtle difference between the two word would be: Parece alegre, pero en realidad no es feliz (He appears cheerful but is not actually happy).

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Irregular Spanish Imperative Made Easy With Vin Diesel

Few real-life Spanish language interactions can last meaningfully long without the use of the imperative. This is the quintessential tense you speak in whenever you make a direct request or a command. Hence, it’s imperative that you master this tense quite early on while learning Spanish. While the English imperative is pretty straightforward with a single word for both requests and for commands, both negative and positive, Spanish has different words for each one of them! This article attempts to make it easier to master some of the most heavily used words of command (used with tú) that are also irregular in conjugation.

We all love mnemonics, don’t we? Mnemonics are the magic potion that makes committing seemingly impossible things to memory with little to no effort on our part a breeze. Often, a good mnemonic is the lazy learner’s (unfair?) advantage. And learning Spanish is no exception when it comes to their application. In fact, the number of ways in which mnemonics can enhance your Spanish acquisition capabilities are only limited by your creativity and ingenuity.

The 8 most common verbs in Spanish

Coming back to the subject at hand, it’s the Spanish imperatives, particularly the irregular familiar forms, that we are interested in. Spanish has quite a collection of verbs that go inexplicably irregular in their imperative forms, abandoning whatever pattern they would otherwise follow in other tenses. Let’s see some of the most irregular yet ubiquitous ones:

venir (to come)

decir (to say)

salir (to leave)

hacer (to do, to make)

tener (to have)

ir (to go)

poner (to put)

ser (to be)

Now, these are not the only irregular ones but it won’t take a genius to guess how important these verbs are for regular, real-life conversations regardless of the language. And when it comes to direct commands, instructions, or orders – in a familiar sense – these are the most heavily used words of action. So, mastering their familiar (tú) imperative forms should take care of most of your real-life scenarios in Spanish. And, by the way, we are only discussing the affirmative imperatives (come, go, sit, etc.) here. Negatives (don’t come, don’t sit, etc.) will come at a later time.

The imperative anarchy

Before we even begin with the trick, let’s first review the words that we are dealing with; the familiar, affirmative, imperative conjugations of the verbs listed above. Here you go:

venir – ven (¡Ven aquí! Come here!)

decir – di (Dime. Tell me.)

salir – sal (¡Sal ahorita! Leave right now!)

hacer – haz (¡Hazlo! Do it!)

tener – ten (!Tenlo! Have it!)

ir – ve (Ve a donde quieras. Go wherever you want.)

poner – pon (Ponlo sobre la mesa. Put it on the table)

ser – sé (¡Sé un hombre! Be a man!)

What a persistent pain in the butt, ain’t they? No pattern, no rule, a complete anarchy! Mugging them up appears to be the only option and is perhaps just right if you have to write a grammar test tomorrow morning. But heaven knows what a disaster rote learning is when it comes to learning Spanish for more practical purposes, like speaking with native speakers. So, what would the lazy learner do? Call upon Vin Diesel! Yes, the handsome baldie has just the right weapon to help you assimilate these anarchists with no chances of ever forgetting them again.

Vin Diesel saves your day!

Vin Diesel has ten weapons
Photo credit: _mixer_ licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

The star savior of the day is this mnemonic:

Vin Diesel has ten weapons

Easy-peasy? Well, how hard can it possibly be to imagine the Fast Five star with an arsenal of ten formidable weapons while he is on a mission to save your day? Let’s see how this line actually works:

• Vin – ven (ignore, for a moment, the fact that the two words don’t sound precisely the same)
• Die- – di (this one should be a no-brainer as long as you don’t pronounce the “die” as “hi”)
• -sel – sal (again, ignore the slight difference in the way the vowels sound in the two words)
• has – haz (do remember that the Spanish z sounds like the English s)
• ten – ten (another no-brainer)
• wea- – ve (they do sound almost similar if you try pronouncing the “wea-” with a German accent)
• -pon- – pon (exactly the same!)
• -s – sé (this one will need your efforts – the vowel, that is)

What we have done here is, break up the entire mnemonic sentence into its syllables, every syllable corresponding to one target word in Spanish. The only anomaly is the last syllable, -pons, which is further broken down to give two words, one for pon and the other for sé

See a pattern there? This is the magic of mnemonics. They bring order in what otherwise seems to be a chaos beyond repair. We can bet our last penny that you will now have a very hard time trying to forget these irregular words. Learning Spanish couldn’t get any easier, could it? If only you open up your own cans of imaginations, there are mnemonics for almost anything and everything. There’s a pattern in every irregularity. You just need an open and curious mind to see them!

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