U3A Basic Spanish

Querer means to want, to like or to wish – it's a very useful verb! In English, there are only two conjugations:           He/she/it wants                                                                                I/you/we/they want In Spanish, every group gets its own form of the verb and, of course, there's also the formal and informal to consider.                                         Present                  Preterite yo    ...

Basic Group – lesson two Buenos diás señores y señoras. Bienvenidos a la semana segunda de la clase de español. Empecemos. In Spain, women do not change their name when they are married, everyone keeps their name throughout their life. Children, both boys and girls, are given a surname which is the surname of their father and the surname of their mother. So when Lucía married my son, she didn't become Lucía Rayner, she kept her name  Lucía Rojas Rodriguez. Their children's surnames are Rayner Rojas. My Spanish surname would be Rayner Little from my dad (Eric Rayner) and my mum (Nellie Little). The man's surname always comes first. Nick Clegg's wife is called Miriam González Durántez, what would her mother's name be? What are your Spanish surnames? Checking into a Spanish hotel might cause some confusion. Spanish pronunciation of my name and how an English speaker would say it are quite different. You may be asked: ¿Cómo se escribe tu nombre? Or...

We have all been there ... Someone says something to you and you have no idea what they’re talking about. Cue awkward silence, comic mimes and shrugs. Here are some words and phrases to learn. They might not help with your translation, but you won’t need to suffer an awkward silence. Don’t forget to stress the accents and remember, the Spanish pronounce every letter. No entiendo … I do not understand No te entendí … I did not understand you No entendí lo que dijiste … I did not understand what you said No sé la palabra … I do not know that word ¿Cómo se dice ---- en español? … How do you say ---- in Spanish? ¿Qué dijiste? … What did you say? Necesito ayuda por favor … I need help please ¿Disculpe qué dijo? … Pardon, you said? ¿Puedes ayudarme? … Can you help me? ¿Puedes repetir por favor? … Can you repeat please? Más despacio por favor … more slowly please.

Verb of the week – Ser and Estar Each week, we are looking at a new verb in Spanish.  Ser and estar are two of the most important verbs in Spanish. They both mean “to be”. Unlike English, where there is only one verb “to be” in Spanish there are two. English seems fairly straightforward. Only one verb "to be", three conjugations in the present tense, two in the preterite and one in the future. Present tense       Preterite (simple past tense)    Future I am                      I was                                        I will You are                 You were                                  You will He/she/it is          He/she/i...

Learning a new language is never easy, but there are some things about Spanish that help? For a start there is a very precise way of pronouncing each letter and each word. For example: how would we pronounce the letter e in English? It can be pronounced 'ee' as in Peter or 'eh' as in Eric or 'a' as in rein. In Spanish, it is only ever pronounced 'eh'. Here is the Spanish alphabet ( El alfabeto español ). You will see that all letters have a precise and exact sound and it never changes. Some letters, such as C and G, are pronounced differently, depending on the following letter. El alfabeto español           Spanish               Pronunciation                          As in         ...