ReVerb Spanish

Get more ReVerb Spanish verb-y goodness on Twitter

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If you have visited this blog a few times, you may have noticed a couple of things.
A). That it is pretty brand new (only about a month old) and…
B). That I don’t post entries on it daily.

To tell you the truth, there is a lot I want to share with you about Spanish verbs but some of it really doesn’t warrant a 400+ word blog entry.

That’s where Twitter comes in. Twitter is a web site where people can post very short messages on all sorts of topics. It’s like a blog but with entries that are extremely brief.  There is a 140-character limit per entry, and that includes punctuation marks and spaces!

Twitter is a great platform for ReVerb Spanish because you can get more helpful tips about different Spanish verbs without having to wade through lengthy explanations. In fact, it’s an efficient way for me to address some verbs that are interesting but maybe don’t have enough meat to devote an entire podcast to them.

Wondering what kinds of things I’m putting on Twitter? Here’s a sampling of a few verbs that were the focus in some recent “tweets.” (You’ll have to visit the ReVerb Spanish Twitter page to get the answers to these riddles.)

Armarse un lío vs. Hacerse un lío: They both mean trouble but in different ways.

Estar a cargo de vs. Hacerse cargo de: Who’s the boss between those two phrases?

Alumbrar vs. Deslumbrar: Shine some light on two similar verbs

Callarse la boca vs Cerrarle la boca: It’s the difference between keeping one’s mouth shut or causing someone to shut theirs!

As you can see, it’s a little bit of everything. But the focus is solely on explaining to you the nuances of Spanish verbs and verb phrases that are not only useful for you to know but also a lot of fun to use!

I post items over there more frequently than I do on this blog, so if you ever miss me (si me echas de menos) and wonder what I’ve been up to, you can find me twittering away at Twitter.com/ReVerbSpanish.  If you feel like it, sign up for your own Twitter account and we can also communicate with one another that way.

¡Hasta luego!

Podcast: Download (Duration: 2:57 — 2.7MB)

ESTAR: Audio Verb Drill

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This podcast is the audio verb drill for the present tense of the verb ESTAR and gives you an idea of what the ReVerb Spanish audio drills are like. The complete package of audio is roughly 35 minutes and includes the following tenses: present, preterite, imperfect, subjunctive and imperfect subjunctive. It is available on the ReVerb Spanish Audio Drills page. The price is $7.99.

As a bonus, you’ll also get audio practice sentences where you can listen to sentences where the verb is missing and then you have to come up with the correct answer. A PDF file containing all the ESTAR conjugations is also included.

Click here to get the ESTAR audio verb drills pack.

Purchase

Podcast: Download (Duration: 7:15 — 6.7MB)

Andar vs. Estar

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It may seem odd, but the verb ANDAR, which literally means “to walk” can be used as a replacement verb for ESTAR, which means “to be.”

A common expression in Spanish is ¿Qué tal andamos? or ¿Cómo andamos?

In English that is translated as “How are we doing?” or “What’s new?”

“¿Cómo andamos?” is just another way of asking “¿Cómo estás?”

But ¿Cómo andamos? es muy informal. That means it’s a very casual phrase you would typically use with people you know, like friends and family. It’s not an expression that you would use in a formal setting, for example, on a job interview. You wouldn’t greet the job interviewer with the line ¿Cómo andamos? but rather ¿Cómo está usted?

So, how do you know when it’s OK to use ANDAR as a substitute for ESTAR? Fortunately, there are some specific rules to this.

ANDAR + a gerund

Click here for an explanation of what a gerund is.

Normally, a Spanish gerund is paired with the verb ESTAR. In English, we say, “I am working” and, in Spanish that would be “Estoy trabajando.”

read more…

Podcast: Download (Duration: 8:09 — 7.5MB)

Spanish gerunds vs. English gerunds

In Spanish, gerunds are used to refer to an action in progress. There are 3 distinct gerund endings.  I know what I said in the “Andar vs. Estar” podcast but I was trying to keep things super simple.

The Spanish gerund endings are:

-ando (for verbs that end in -ar)

-iendo (for verbs that end in -er or -ir)

-yendo (A few -er and -ir verbs use this ending)

A gerund is used in both the present continuous and past continuous tenses. It is a way to emphasize an action that is happening in the moment. Estoy leyendo (I am reading). Estaba leyendo (I was reading).

To be more precise, the Spanish phrase “estoy leyendo” means “I am reading (right now)” while “yo estaba leyendo” means “I was reading (right then, at that very moment in the past).”

In English, we tend to use the -ing form a lot. In fact, English uses the continuous tense (also called the progressive tense) more frequently than Spanish does. As a result, it is very common for English speakers to use this form excessively when they speak Spanish.

read more…

SER: Audio Verb Drill

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The complete set of conjugations of the verb SER is now available. It contains over 30 minutes of audio covering the present tense, preterite, imperfect past tenses as well as the present subjunctive and imperfect subjunctive conjugations.

This podcast is the audio verb drill for the imperfect past tense of SER. Purchase the complete set of audio verb drills for SER on this page. The price is $7.99.

As always, I’m open to receiving your suggestions and feedback. You can contact me directly through this blog’s contact page.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 7:24 — 6.8MB)

Conocer vs. Saber, past tense

Everything that I’ve told you about CONOCER and SABER in an earlier post was related to the present tense of these verbs. When you use these verbs in the preterite past tense (el pretérito indefinido) and the imperfect past tense (el pretérito imperfecto) their meanings change once again.

What’s the distinction between the preterite and the imperfect past tenses in Spanish? The preterite past tense is used for “terminated actions” in the past. That means actions that started and ended at a specific point in the past. The imperfect past tense is used for describing actions in the past. This is an extremely simplified definition. There are numerous chapters in grammar books written on the subject of Spanish past tenses, so I don’t want this one particular 400-word blog entry to get bogged down. Suffice it to say that the imperfect past tense in Spanish is used for descriptions, for narration, for talking about an ongoing state of being or feeling in the past.

Conocer in the preterite tense generally is translated as “met,” as in the first time you met someone. If you use the preterite with a thing or a place, you’re emphasizing that moment of initial contact in the past.

For example:  ¿Conoces a Miguel? Do you know Miguel? Sí, lo conozco. Lo conocí anoche.   Yes, I know him. (I know who he is. I am acquainted with him.) I met him last night.

Conocer in the imperfect past tense means “knew,” but in the sense of used to know, used to be familiar with someone or something. Conocía ese restaurante cuando vivía en Barcelona. I used to know that restaurant (I was familiar with that restuarant) when I was living in Barcelona.

Saber, in the preterite tense, means “knew” or “found out.”
Let’s say that you’re talking to a friend who asks you if you heard that a mutual acquaintance of yours has gotten engaged. This is old news to you because you heard about the engagement before. So in Spanish you would say, Sí, ya lo sé. Lo supe ayer. (Yes, I already know. I found out [I heard] about it yesterday.)

In the imperfect past tense, saber still means “knew” but in a more general, descriptive sense. You can also translate it as “used to know.” For example: Cuando yo era niña, sabía tocar al piano. When I was a kid, I knew how to play the piano. I used to know how to play the piano.

A general rule of thumb that, while not 100% foolproof, will help you out the majority of the time:

If the action of knowing is something that can be pinned down to a specific period of time in the past: Use the preterite tense.

If the state of knowing is being described in the past: Use the imperfect tense.