Topic: The Basics
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Possessive Adjectives
Pronouns haven’t been very hard for us so far. We’ve only covered subject pronouns. It gets more confusing every time you add another set of pronouns. Not only is it more little words to remember, but you also have to choose which to use and when. In this video, I go over the second set, possessive adjectives, and compare them to subject pronouns.
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Spanish Adverbs–How to Use Them Without More Rules
When you’re learning Spanish, lots of rules are important to see once, then forget. How adverbs work, is a good example. When I did a little Googling, I saw there are five ways adverbs are used. Ugh. More rules. Then, after a few seconds, I noticed something… adverbs in Spanish, work exactly like they do in English! There’s NO REASON to memorize five rules when you can just use them as you naturally would. But like I said, this is an example of a time when it’s good to see the rules once, then forget them and just use them. In this case, knowing isn’t just half the battle, it’s the whole enchilada.
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Formal Conjugation in Spanish
If you watched the lesson called Personal Pronouns, you know there are two ways to say “you” in Spanish–formally and informally. At first this really sucks–especially since most teachers and programs don’t explain it all that well. But for this lesson, I made the video I wish I had when I started speaking Spanish.
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Put Your Pronouns In, Take Your Pronouns Out
I talk fast. I like to get as many words out as possible in as short of a time frame as possible. It’s my nature. So… I took it as really good news when I found out: In Spanish, you usually don’t have to use subject pronouns (I’ve been referring to them as Personal Pronouns in past lessons). That means, you can say the same thing with fewer words. Kind of like the equivalent of “works” instead of “he works”. Ha ha ha. It just doesn’t work in English. And there’s a very specific reason for that–and I explain it in today’s video.
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Spanish Adjectives
There are a couple tricky parts with adjectives. In this lesson, not only do I tell you the rules and exceptions to the rules for adjectives, but I go over those tricky parts to. It’s not difficult if you just focus. Then you’ll never have to worry about it again.
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More Than One One?
There aren’t many words to learn in this lesson–all but one have been taught in past lessons (see the Related Lessons section). This is more of an “idea” lesson. So just sit back, relax and listen to what I have to say.
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Definite & Indefinite Articles
Sometimes using terms when you’re learning a language can hurt more than it helps. This is possibly one of those times. But we need to refer to stuff somehow, right? In today’s lesson, I go over Definite & Indefinite Articles in Spanish. If you don’t know what those are, join the club. Even when I learned Spanish, since I learned on my own, I never knew what those were.
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Plural Forms of Nouns
Plural forms of nouns in Spanish are very much like plural forms of nouns in English. The sounds are almost exactly the same too. In this quick video, I give you two rules that have no exceptions and give you some examples of both rules–and how they compare to what we do in English.
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The Sexualization of Nouns
In this lesson, I go over the whole masculine/feminine thing in Spanish. While not nearly as hard to “get” as all the verb conjugations, the sexuality of nouns still gives Spanish students a lot of trouble at the beginning. Or at least that’s how it was for me.
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The Three Enemigos
In this lesson, I present “ser”, “estar” and “ir” together. Very few books present “ser” and “estar” together. I don’t know why. Probably because the people who make those books have no idea how our Gringo minds work.