Expat Community > Ecuador

Toad490
Joined 2013
Posts: 78

Trying to learn some Spanish.

11 years ago

First off, I know there is no substitute for actually living in the local and useing the language daily, for learning a new language. Never the less as our first trip in November is only 15 days I want to be able to communicate basic things. With that in mind I got the Rosetta Stone program in preperation for our trip to Ecuador. It is good, but for me it has some things I have trouble with. Such as getting pronouns and grammer from pitures, so I've been looking up some words online as a supplement to the program. Trouble is I've found different sites have different definitions for the same word. Perhaps this is because some are Latin American and some Europian Spanish? Anyways I've been useing this alot and am wondering how accurate it is.

guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 February 2010 00.05 GMT
YOU, ME AND EVERYONE ELSE

Singular: yo I, tú you, él he, ella she. Plural: nosotros we, ellos they (male or group of men and women), ellas they (female)

Note: The formal word for "you" is usted (singular); it is treated as third-person pronoun. Ustedes (plural) adopts the same form as the pronoun "they".

TO BE (ESTAR)

estoy I am, estás you are, está you are (usted), está he/she/it is, estamos we are, están they/you are (ustedes)

TO BE (SER)

soy I am, eres you are, es you are (usted), es he/she/it is, somos we are, son they/you are (ustedes)

Note: In Spanish there are two verbs for the English verb "to be". There are various rules but the general rule is to use ser when you are referring to a characteristic of an object or person that is permanent or fixed, eg "I am English" is soy inglés/esa. Estar is used when describing a situation or characteristic that can change eg "I am happy" is estoy contento/a as one's mood can change.

TO HAVE (TENER)

tengo I have, tienes you have, tiene you have (usted), tiene he/she/it has, tenemos we have, tienen they/you have (ustedes)

TO GO (IR)

voy I go, vas you go, va you go (usted), va he/she/it goes, vamos we go, van they/you go (ustedes)

TO WANT (QUERER)

quiero I want, quieres you want, quiere you want (usted), quiere he/she/it wants, queremos we want, quieren they/you want (ustedes)

WORD GLUE

sí yes

no no

por favor please

gracias thank you

y and (Note: use e before words beginning with i/hi) eg jamón y queso (ham and cheese) but jamón e higos (ham and figs))

o or (Note: use u before words beginning with o/ho eg ojos o labios (eyes or lips) but ojos u orejas (eyes or ears))

con with

sin without

pero but

¿por qué?/porque why?/because

¿qué? what?

¿cuál/cuáles? (pl) which?

¿cuándo? when?

¿dónde? where?

¿cómo? how

más more

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