Verbs I

Verbs up through Level 1 Unit 2 lesson 1
Order of conjugation: yo, tú, [él, ella, Ud.], nosotros, [ellos, ellas, Uds.]

Notes on verbs:
1. -ar verbs, drop the -ar and add -o, -as, -a, -amos, or -an to the stem (part with the -ar).
2. -er verbs, drop the -er and add -o, -es, -e, -emos, or -en to the stem.
3. -ir verbs, drop the -ir, and add -o, -es, -e, -imos, or -en to the stem.
4.  Some verbs are irregular and don't conjugate like the rest. You will learn these as you go and just have to memorize them.

Su and sus

Unit 2, ...

ENGLISH LESSON FIRST: Possessive adjectives vs. possessive pronouns.
Adjectives are used to modify nouns, whereas pronouns are used to replace nouns.
Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns can be easily confused at first because of the similarity in words, so you have to look at how they are being used.

Possessive adjective:
my
your
her
his
its
their
our

Ex.
my dog, your cat, his canary, their car

All of these are modifying a noun, changing what we know about it, further describing it.

Possessive pronouns:
mine
yours
his
hers
theirs
ours

ex.
That is Sally`s.
That is hers.

That is Brina's.
That is his.

These would be used to replace possessive nouns. Without pronouns, mine and yours would simply be the names of the people involved, rather than the pronouns we usually use.

SPANISH LESSON, POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES AND POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS:

Possessive adjectives:
1. Must match the nouns they modify in number and gender
ex. la pelota amarilla - the yellow ball
las pelotas amarillas - the yellow balls

el papel amarillo - the yellow paper
los papeles amarillos - the yellow papers

2. Spanish has two forms of possessive adjectives, a short form before nouns and a long form after nouns. The short form is more common, and the long form can have a more formal, literary feel. The long is more often used when translating -of ours, yours, etc...

Short form of possessive adjectives, before a noun, sometimes known as possessive determiners - 
mí, mís - my
tu, tus - your (single, familiar) - notice the lack of accent on 'tu.' Tú means 'you'
su, sus - your (single or plural formal), its, his, her, their
nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras - our (same in long and short forms)

ex. Quiero comprar tu coche - I want to buy your car.
Quiero comprar sus coches - I want to buy her cars. (whether it's her, his, and such is determined by context)

Long form of possessive adjectives, after a noun - 
mío, mía, míos, mías - my, - of mine
tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas - your (singular, familiar), of yours
suyo, suya, suyos, suyas - its, his, her, your (formal, singular or plural), of its, of his, of hers, of yours (sing, formal), their, of theirs
nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras - our, of ours
There is one more form which is not used in Latin America, for you, plural, familiar.

ex. Prefiera la casa tuya.  I prefer your house. I prefer the house of yours.
Es un coche nuestro. It is our car. It is a car of ours.


DIFFERENCES IN USE:
1. For body parts, clothing, and items intimately associated with an individual,  Spanish uses el, la, los, or las - the equivalent for the.' However, it is still translated as a possessive adjective.
ex. Sam arregla el pelo. Sam brushes his hair

2. Repetition of possessive adjectives
In Spanish, a single possessive adjective refers to one noun only, unless multiple nouns refer to the same person or object.
Son mis amigos y hermanos - They are my friends and siblings. However, a better translation might be 'They are both my friends and siblings.'

Son mis amigos y mis hermanos. This is to say 'They are my friends and siblings' and mean that some of them are your friends and others of them are your siblings.

So 'my cats and dogs' would be 'mis gatos y mis perros.'


Possessive pronouns: EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE LONG FORM POSS. ADJ.

1. They match the noun that would be 'modified' by them as if they were poss. adjectives. 

Example: Tu madre y la mía no pueden cantar. Your mother and mine can't sing. We use 'la mía' because it matches 'mother,' and mine represents: my mother. 

Mis calcetines son rojos. Los suyos son verdes. My socks are red. Yours/his/hers/yours pl/theirs are green. Suyos is plural and masculine to match the word socks, but doesn't give us any idea whether this is his, hers, yours, etc....

The pronouns:

mío, mía, míos, mías - mine

tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas - yours (singular, familiar)

suyo, suya, suyos, suyas - its, his, hers, yours (formal, singular or plural), theirs

nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras - ours

Some linguists consider them possessive adjectives, still. These are NOT used the same way we use poss. pronouns in English.


DIFFERENCES IN USE:
1. Possessive pronouns are usually preceded by the article el, la, los, or las.  The exception is when the poss. pronouns follows the verb 'ser,' like in es or son. It is usually not used then, although it can be kept for emphasis.

2. Suyo - This is obviously pretty ambiguous. If the context doesn't reveal what suyo should mean, it can be left out and replaced with things like 'de él,' 'de ella,' 'de ellos/ellas.' To mean of his, of hers, of theirs.
Ex. No es mi coche. Es de ella. It isn't my car. It's hers.

3. The singluar masculine form can also be treated as neuter and preceded by 'lo.' Even though it is singular, the pronoun can stand for multiple objects. The neuter is used when no specific object is being referred to.
Ex. No toques lo mìo. Don't touch what's mine. Don't touch my things.
Lo mío es importante. What's mine is important. My things are important.

Sources for this information:
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-difference-between-a-possessive-pronoun-and-a-possessive-adjective.htm#did-you-know
spanish info long form - http://spanish.about.com/od/adjectives/a/long_form_possessive_adjectives.htm
Spanish info short form - http://spanish.about.com/od/adjectives/a/possessive_adjectives.htm
Spanish info poss. pronoun - http://spanish.about.com/od/pronouns/a/possessive_pronouns.htm

Ships and boats

Rosetta Stone
Level 1, Unit 2, Lesson 3
Words for boats

un barco - a ship, boat, or barge. Usually larger.

una barca - a small boat, dinghy

un bote - a small boat, like a rowboat or dinghy. Often used for something smaller than 'una barca.'

un buque - a ship but with a particular role, like un buque de guerra (warship) or un buque de carga (cargo ship)

'un baque' is totally unrelated but I thought you'd like to know it. It means 'the blow which a body gives when falling.' Or a bang or thump, in other words.

Tools

Rosetta Stone
Level 1, Unit 2, lesson 3
Tools

el herramienta - tool

More tools:

sierra(f) - saw (usually a hand saw)

martillo(m) - hammer

clavo(m) - nail, as in 'to hammer.' Uña is a nail as in a fingernail (uña del dedo)  or toenail (uña del pie).

llave(f) - wrench (only for the tool)

la pala(f) - shovel

el rastrillo (m) - rake

Plural and singular noun rules

Rosetta Stone
1-2-3
umbrellas and other strange nouns

Paraguas - umbrella

Paraguas is a special kind of noun in spanish, called a compound noun, which is made by forming two words into one (I'm not sure which two words are involved for paraguas). What is special about this is that when you have compound nouns like this, the singular and plural are the exact same word, only the article changes.

el paraguas - an umbrella

los paraguas - the umbrellas

Another compound noun is 'abrelatas' - abre + latas = open + cans

el abrelatas - a can opener

los abrelatas - the can openers

The general rules for singular and plural nouns are:

1. If a noun ends in a vowel (a,e,i.o,u), simply add an -s at the end to make it plural.

ex. el gato + s = los gatos

el perro + s = los perros

2. With a few exceptions, if a noun ends in a consonant, add -es.

ex. la universidad + es = las universidades (universities)

la ciudad + es = las ciudades (cities)

3. If a noun ends in -c, change the -c to -z and then add the -es.

ex. el lapiz becomes lapic + es = los lapices (pencils)

la voz becomes voc + es = las voces (voices)

4. If a noun ends in -ión, drop the accent before adding -es.

ex. el avión becomes avion + es = los aviones 

la televisión becomes television + es = las televisiones (televisions)

5. A plural masculine noun is also masculine. A plural feminine noun is always feminine. But if a plural noun refers to a mixed group that includes both masculine and feminine, the plural is always masucline. 

ex. 1 gato (male cate) + 1 gata (female cat) = dos gatos

Information from here: http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/plnoun.htm

Fish and other meats

Rosetta Stone notes
1-2-3
Animals and meats

un pez - a fish, such as one swimming in the water. Un pez está nadando. A fish is swimming.

un pescado - fish, as in food that you eat. Un pescado en tu plato. (A fish on your plate) Although I'm still checking to make sure that 'un pescado' is correct. Seems to be.

Other meats:
vaca(f), toro(m) - cow, bull
carne de res, carne de vaca - beef
hamburguesa(f) - hamburger

gallina(f), gallo(m)(more in the USA) - chicken, rooster
pollo(m) - chicken meat, chicken that you are eating

cerdo (m) - pig
carne(m) de cerdo or chancho(m) -pork
chuleta - porkchop

cordero (m) - lamb
chuleta(f) de cordero - lambchop

guajolote or jolote (m) (used in Mexico), pavo (m) - turkey, turkey (used more in Spain)
pavo (m) - turkey meat

salchicha (f) - sausage
Chorizo (m) - cured sausage

Spanish - personal a

Personal 'a'
This is a concept that doesn't exist in English, so it can be a bit tricky to figure out.

Basically, why you would say:
Está tirando la pelota.

but then say:
Está tirando al niño.
Note: "al" is a word that is what is used when you have a + el together. a + el = al

It's all because of the concept of a personal 'a' in spanish.


Personal 'a'
If a person is a direct object of a verb, unless it's the verbs  'tener' or 'hay,' the spanish language adds an 'a' before the person. There is nothing like this in english. 

What is treated as 'a person?'
Actual people: 
A person can be Marta, girl, boy, my mother, your son. It can be used for objects that are unspecific or indefinite people, like doctor or carpenter, but it is usually only used in these cases if you KNOW the people.

Like, for 'I know two doctors' you would use an 'a' before 'mèdicos.'

ex.  Conozco a dos mèdicos.

'I need two doctors' - no 'a,' because you have no personal feeling toward these mèdicos.

ex. Necesito dos mèdicos. 

Pets:
You also use a personal 'a' before an animal if there is close feelings toward it, like a pet. You would not do this with a random animal, like a wild bird or random animal.
ex. Veo a mi gato, Batman. I see my cat, Batman.

Some pronouns are also treated like a person:
Alguien (somebody), nadie (nobody), quién (whom) require a personal 'a'. So do alguno (some) and ninguno (none) if they refer to people.
Ex. ¿A quién pertenece esta silla? Whose chair is this?
¿Médicos? No vi a ningunos. Doctors? I don't see any.
¿Carros? No vi ningunos. Cars? I don't see any.

Countries and objects:
A country or object can be personified, although it implies a personal relationship, such as great emotion. Like a country that an expatriate misses, or a favorite doll or toy.
ex. Yo extraño a los Estados Unidos. I miss the United States. (implies greater relationship or feeling)

Basically, personal 'a' denotes a personal aspect toward the object in question, is my impression.

Exceptions:
There is a personal 'a' used after tener if it is used to mean holding someone or having someone somewhere.
ex. Tengo a mi hermano en los brazos. I have my brother in my arms.
Tengo a mi hija en el pesebre. I have my daughter in the crib.

It can also be used when tener is used to indicate an exceptionally close relationship. Like, if one were talking about how you often feel alone and sad, but then you have your friends to help, you could say tener a mis amigos. But just saying I have friends would be, 'tengo amigos.'



My information came from these two sources:

The basics on this are here, although they miss a few things - http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/persa.htm

More details, examples, and exceptions shown here - http://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/personal_a.htm