I'm Learning Spanish. Notes of A Teacher of Foreign Languages. (Week 3. Summary)
(WEEK 2 Summary is here)
¡Hola, dear Russian (and any other) language learners!
:)
On January, 9 I started to learn Spanish via this MOOC (the course is in English, 4 weeks long).
As I wrote here I need it mostly for my professional needs as a Teacher and a Consultant of foreign languages.
But also I just LIKE learning languages.
Week 3 is finished. And here is its SUMMARY (for me and everybody interested):
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Key expressions:
¿Dónde vives? (tú)
¿Dónde vive? (usted)
= Where do you live?
Vivo en Italia.
NB vivir en is different from ser de
Examples:
Mi amiga Luz es de Galicia, pero vive en Irlanda.
-¿De dónde eres y dónde vives?
-Soy irlandesa y vivo en Buenos Aires.
-¿De dónde eres?
-Soy cubana pero vivo en Miami.
Useful dialogue: (audio is here)
-Hola, ¿cómo te llamas?
-Me llamo Marina.
-¿De dónde eres?
-Soy de Pamplona.
-¿Dónde vives?
-Vivo en Pamplona.
-¿Qué lenguas hablas? (¿Qué idiomas hablas?)
-Hablo español y un poco de inglés.
The gender of nouns
Grammar
Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine.
As a general rule, feminine nouns end in -a (or -ión, d, z) and masculine nouns end in -o (or -e, i, u, l, n, r, s ).
Género Masculino
Género Femenino
- o
el techo
el suelo
- a
la ventana
la mesa
- e
- i
- u
- l
- n
- r (or)
- s
el poste, el parque
el zurriburri
el espíritu
el árbol, el hospital
el pan
el dolor, el amor
el mes
- (i)ón
- d
(-ad/-ed)
- z
la unión
la lección
la pared
la verdad
la paz, la voz
Exceptions:
Género Femenino
Género Masculino
-o -
la mano, la radio,
la foto (from “la fotografía”),
la moto (from “la motocicleta”)
la disco (from “la discoteca”)
-a -
Greek words in -ma, -ta
el idioma, el problema, el cometa,
el planeta, el poeta
+ latin word: el mapa
+ words:
el día, el tranvía, el clima, el vodka
-e -
-i -
-u -
-l -
-n -
-r -
-s -
LA...
ave, clase, fiebre, leche, llave,
madre, parte, noche, sangre,
tarde, viaje, coraje, liebre, serpiente...
metrópoli...
tribu;
cal, col, miel, señal...;
imagen, desazón, razón, capitán...
flor, labor, mujer...
some Greek words (mostly in -sis): elipsis, hipótesis, síntesis, tesis, tos.
-ión -
-d -
-z -
EL...
avión, camión, bastión,
gorrión...
abad, ataúd, sud, talmud...
arroz, matiz, pez, lápiz...
Vocabolario (nouns NOT following the rule (exceptions) are marked as red ones)
Masculine
Feminine
el niño (the child/kid/boy/infant/baby)
la niña (the child/kid/girl/infant/baby)
el amigo (the [male] friend)
la amiga (the [female] friend)
el semáforo (the traffic light)
la plaza (1.square, 2.place)
el globo (the globe, the ball, the balloon)
la paloma (the dove)
el bocadillo (de jamón) (the (ham) sandwich)
la mesa (the table)
el balcón (the balcony)
la silla (the chair)
el farol (the lantern)
la cerveza: (the beer)
el hombre (‘the man’)
la mujer (the woman)
el chico (the boy)
la chica (the girl)
el pintor (the painter)
la ventana (the window)
el cuadro (the picture)
la fuente (the fountain, the source)
el camarero (the waiter)
la radio
el banco (the bank, the bench to sit)
la noche
el monumento
la mano (the hand)
el señor (Мr)
la calle (the street)
el árbol (the tree)
la avenida (the avenue)
el pastel (the cake)
el problema
hay: there is, there are
también: also
azul: blue
The plural of nouns
These are the rules to make the plural of nouns.
Singular
Plural
Noun ends in a vowel ==>
chicO, chicA, mamá, café
+ S
chicoS, chicaS, mamáS, caféS
… in a consonant ==>
mujeR
+ ES
mujerES
…in accented vowels “í” or “ú” ==>
tabú, rubí
+ ES
tabúES, rubíES
…ends in “Z” ==>
actriZ, lapiz
Z => CES
actriCES, lápiCES
FOREIGN word ends in a consonant ==>
filM
+ s
filmS
Noun ends in “S” ==>
la crisiS
* the noun here should have
1) two or more syllables,
2) the final syllable should not be accented
NO CHANGES (except for the article)
las crisiS
Definite and indefinite articles
Grammar
Learning dictionary skills
Using your dictionary
"Online dictionaries are extremely useful not only because you can find the meaning of words but also because you can listen to the pronunciation of words. For example, listen to the pronunciation of 'hijo' (son) http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/hijo "
"Looking up a noun in a dictionary not only helps you to find out what it means, it also gives you useful information such as its gender and often some examples of its use(s)."
As I need a Russian-Spanish translation and info about gender and pronunciation, I use this ONLINE dictionary.
And when I need to find equivalents to translate phrases from English into Spanish, I use this site (thanks to our MOOC's mentors)
¡Hasta pronto!
Your Foreign Languages Consultant,
Russian Language Teacher,
Anna Barskaya
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*Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net