August 17, 2007
Spanish Programs That I can Listen to in My Car
Following is a communication between me and a website visitor, regarding programs that is suitable for commuters driving cars.
Visitor John: I am looking for a Spanish language program that I can listen to in my car. Do your programs work for this or do you know of some other that will?
ESDICT Answer:
Regarding your situation, I think Comprehensive Pimsleur Spanish is the best program.
There are three levels for this program. Each level has 15 learning hours (or 30 lessons), either in CD or Cassette format. There are no textbooks accompanying this program.
Check them out here:
Pimsleur Spanish I
Pimsleur Spanish II
Pimsleur Spanish III
These comprehensive programs are costing roughly $220 for each level. You can
also try the first 8 lessons for Level I first (to see if it fits your need and
see if you can follow):
Pimsleur Quick & Simple Spanish
Besides Pimsleur Spanish, you might also try
Learning Spanish Like
Crazy. This program is quite similar to the Pimsleur Program. They have a
download version for less then $100. This is a nice option if you know how to
burn CDs from mp3 files.
Learning Spanish Like
Crazy Level I
Learning Spanish Like
Crazy Level II
Posted by lubw00 at 06:53 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2007
Spanish nouns that change meaning according to gender
Following are a few nouns that change meaning altogether according to their gender. Study and memorize this chart:
|
Masculine nouns |
Feminine nouns |
||
|
el capital |
capital (money) |
la capital |
capital (city) |
|
el coma |
coma |
la coma |
comma |
|
el corte |
cut |
la corte |
court |
|
el cura |
priest |
la cura |
cure |
|
el orden |
order (sequence, arrangement) |
la orden |
order (command, religious order) |
|
el papa |
Pope |
la papa |
potato |
|
el policía |
police officer |
la policía |
police department |
PDF download: Spanish nouns that change meaning according to gender
Posted by lubw00 at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2007
Days of the Week in Spanish
Following are the days of the week in Spanish.
lunes
Monday
martes
Tuesday
miércoles Wednesday
jueves
Thursday
viernes
Friday
sábado
Saturday
domingo
Sunday
Following are some observations and rules:
- Note that all these Spanish words are not capitalized.
- The days of the week are all masculine.
el lunes
el martes
el miércoles
el jueves
el viernes
el sábado
el domingo
- When used with the days of the week, the definite article el,
los has the special meaning "on."
No trabajo el lunes.
I don't work on Monday.
No trabajo los lunes.
I don't work on Mondays.
Hay una reunión el miércoles.
There is a meeting on Wednesday.
Hay muchas reuniones los miércoles.
There are many meetings on Wednesday.
- Days of the week ending in -s (Monday to Friday) do not
change form in the plural. Only the article changes. Sábado (Saturday) and
domingo (Sunday) do not end in -s and they follow the regular
plural form of nouns.
el lunes
los lunes
el viernes
los viernes
el sábado
los sábados
el domingo
los domingos
- The verb ser is used to express the day.
¿Qué día es hoy?
What day is today?
Hoy es lunes.
Today is Monday.
Mañana es martes.
Tomorrow is Tuesday.
PDF download:
Days of the Week in Spanish
Posted by lubw00 at 06:36 AM | Comments (0)
February 03, 2007
Masculine vs Feminine Spanish Nouns II
Following are more rules that might help you determine the gender of some nouns:
- Nouns ending in -dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre, -ción and -sión are generally
feminine:
la ciudad (city)
la universidad (university)
la libertad (liberty)
la dificultad (difficulty)
la actitud (attitude)
la gratitud (gratitude)
la certidumbre (certainty)
la muchedumbre (crowd)
la nación (nation)
la construcción (construction)
la televisión (television)
la decisión (decision)
- Masculine nouns that end in a consonant often have a corresponding
feminine form that ends in -a:
el profesor - la profesora (teacher)
el doctor - la doctora (doctor)
el señor - la señora (Mr, Mrs)
- Four of the nouns ending in -a are masculine and must be memorized.
el día (day)
el mapa (map)
el planeta (planet)
el sofá (sofa)
- A few nouns ending in -o are feminine.
la mano (hand)
la radio (radio)
PDF download: Masculine vs Feminine Spanish Nouns II
Posted by lubw00 at 01:57 AM | Comments (0)
January 31, 2007
Contraction of de el
Del is the contraction of "de el", meaning "of the; from the". Following are some useful rules.
- When de is followed by el, the two words are combined into del:
la capital del país (the capital of the country)
la oficina del director (the office of the director)
- De la, de las, de los, de él are never combined into one word:
el puerto principal de la república (the principal port of the republic)
el país de las pampas
la capital de los Estados Unidos (the capital of the United States)
el libro de él (his book)
- When de is followed by a proper name there is no contraction:
Tengo el libro de Felipe. (I have a book of Felipe.)
PDF download: Contraction of de el
Posted by lubw00 at 05:55 AM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2007
Plural forms of Spanish nouns
Following are the rules for plural Spanish nouns.
- Nouns ending in a vowel form their plural by adding -s:
el alumno los alumnos (student)
el presidente los presidentes (president)
el amigo los amigos (friend)
la muchacha las muchachas (girl, maid)
- Nouns ending in a consonant form their plural by adding -es:
el papel los papeles (paper)
el doctor los doctores (doctor)
la flor las flores (flower)
- Nouns having a written accent on the last syllable lose the written accent
in the plural:
la nación las naciónes (nation)
la composicion las composiciones (composition)
- Nouns ending in -z in the singular change z to c before adding -es
in the plural:
el lápiz los lápices (pencil)
PDF download: Plural forms of Spanish nouns
Posted by lubw00 at 05:28 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2007
Masculine vs Feminine Spanish Nouns
All nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine.
The definite article (the) is el before a masculine singular noun (or los before a masculine plural noun) and la before a feminine singular noun (or las before a feminine plural noun).
Following are some common rules:
- Nouns referring to male beings are masculine; nouns referring to female
beings are feminine.
- Nouns ending in -o are generally masculine: el libro (the book).
- Nouns ending in -a are generally feminine: la pluma (the feather).
- The gender of a noun not ending in -o or -a must be learned and remembered
individually:
el lápiz (pencil), la clase (class)
The following are more rules that might help you determine the gender of some nouns:
- Nouns ending in -d and -ión are generally
feminine:
La ciudad es grande. (The city is large.)
La pared es grande. (The wall is large.)
La nación es importante. (The nation is important.)
La construcción es importante. (The construction is important.)
- A few nouns ending in -ma, -pa are masculine:
El programa es interesante. (The program is interesting.)
El mapa es grande. (The map is large.)
El problema es facil. (The problem is easy.)
- Nouns ending in -ista may be masculine or feminine.
el turista, la turista (the tourist)
el artista, la artista (the artist)
PDF download: Masculine vs Feminine Spanish Nouns
Posted by lubw00 at 03:52 AM | Comments (0)
January 22, 2007
Spanish words meaning YOU
Spanish has several words meaning you.The formal ones are:
usted (singular)
ustedes (plural)
Usted and ustedes are used when speaking to strangers or to someone in a high
position.
The more common ones are:
tú (singular)
vosotros (plural)
Tú and vosotros are used by relatives and intimate friends or in speaking to
children.
Important notes: In Latin America, the informal plural, vosotros, is seldom used, even when talking with family members, so ustedes is used in plural cases. In Spain, vosotros is generally used as the plural of tú.
PDF download: Spanish words meaning YOU
Posted by lubw00 at 06:56 AM | Comments (0)