Topic: The Basics
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Ser Vs. Estar
“To be or not to be? That is the question.” I know very few lines from Shakespeare. But it’s no surprise to me that one of the few I do know, contains the verb “to be” twice. You see, I consider “to be” to be the mother of all verbs. I’d bet a lot of money that “to be” is the most frequently used verb in English and in Spanish. Anytime you say “is” “am” “are” “was” or “were”, you’re actually saying a conjugated form of “to be”. But here’s the thing. In Spanish, they have two different “to be’s”.
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Subject Pronouns
Subject pronouns in Spanish are pretty easy and straightforward. The words are small and they work generally the way they do in English. But there are a couple common pitfalls for gringos like you and me. Formal/Informal, Latin America vs Spain. Don’t worry, though, that’s what we’re here to talk about today.
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The Flashcard Strategy
Ahhh, The Flashcard Strategy… this one is near and dear to my heart. Anybody that knows my story knows I have a deep affection for making flashcards to memorize words. But you shouldn’t just throw the words on the cards and jump in randomly and haphazardly. Oh no.
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The Infinitive & Conjugation
One of the main reasons I failed Spanish my first time through is I was lost from the beginning. On the first day, the teacher starting using words like “conjugation” and “infinitive”. I didn’t even know what those words meant in English. Woulda been nice of her to explain that, no?
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Basic Spanish Pronunciation
Spanish pronunciation is pretty easy and straight forward. To be honest, if you can read English, you can basically already read Spanish. I don’t think it’s a wise use of your time to practice pronunciation much.