Written accent

 Hi everybody!

 In this lesson, we are going to talk about written accent, or accent mark. As you know, Spanish words have a mark to difference in which syllable you have to make a strong sound.

 But... not all the words have an accent mark. That doesn't mean they don't have sound. There are special rules to difference where you have to accentuate.
 First of all, you have to know that there are three types of accents:

• Acute accent: The words in which the accent is in the last syllabe. E.g: Canción (Song)
• Grave accent: The words in which the accent is in the penultimate syllabe. E.g: Lápiz (Pencil)
• Esdrújula accent: The words in which the accent is in the antepenultimate syllabe. E.g: Círculo (Circle)

 In all this cases, all the words have a mark. But there are cases in which words haven't got a mark. For instance, "cantar" (To sing), is an acute word, and it have no mark. First of all, you have to separate in syllabes, in this case, "can-tar".You have to accentuate the last syllabe ("tar"). But, how do you know when is acute or when is grave if it doesn't have a mark. Well, here comes the rule:

• Acute words: When they finish in a vowel, "n" or "s", it has a mark. If not, they don't have a mark. E.g: Bebé (Baby), Final (Ending)
• Grave words: When they DON'T finish in a vowel, "n" or "s", they have a mark. If not, they don't have a mark. E.g: Débil (Weak), Casa (House)
• Esdrújula words: They ALWAYS have a mark in the accentuated syllabe. E.g: Hipopótamo (Hippo), Cómodo (Confortable), Ejército (Army).

 Dificult? Well, it really is, but if you study hard, you will memorize the rules. Remember, if you have any doubt, you can ask me, and I'll answer as fast as possible.

 ¡Hasta luego! ¡Estudia mucho! (Study hard)

The letter Q

Hello again!

 Well, I decided to post something about letter Q. Despite it is not used so many times, I would like to talk about it, because it's usually used in Question Words. So get started!

 In my post "Abecedario", I taught you that this letter is ALWAYS used with "u", and is always followed by "e" or "i". It's important to remember this, because you will never find words like "qua" or "quo", at least in Spanish words.
  Another important thing, is the pronounciation of this letter. The letter alone, has no sound, it must be an "u" after "q", but you mustn't pronounce it. For example, when you write "queso" (Cheese), you don't pronounce  "kueso", you pronounce "keso". This is similar to letter "g", when you write "gue" or "gui". Although, with "q", we don't use "ü". This is only used with "g".

 Examples:

Que (What/That/Which)
Quien/Quienes (Who). Quien is singular, and quienes is plural.
Aquí (Here)
Aquel (That)
Aquellos (Those)
Queso (Cheese)
Quemar (To Burn)

 Well, I hope you understood the uses of "q". If you don't understand, ask me, and I'll answer as fast as possible.

 ¡Hasta luego! (See you later)

Numbers! (1 - 20)

Hello Everybody!

 Today, I'll teach you the numbers. First, I'll show you Cardinal Number, which are easier than Ordinal Numbers.

0: Cero
1: Uno                                                                          
2: Dos
3: Tres
4: Cuatro
5: Cinco
6: Seis
7: Siete
8: Ocho
9: Nueve
10: Diez
11: Once
12: Doce
13: Trece
14: Catorce
15 : Quince
16: Dieciséis
17: Diecisiete
18: Dieciocho
19: Diecinueve
20: Veinte

The letter Ü

 Have you ever thought that this letter was used in Spanish? Well, I have to tell you that it isn't a mistake. This letter is used in Spanish, not many times, but is used.

 Probably, you see it, and you think in German. This letter is used in German in words like "Fünft".
 Although, this letter is completely different from the Spanish "ü". Would you trust in me if I told you that letter "ü" it's pronounce the same as "u"? Yes, I'm not joking!

 Let's see, Remember letter G? Well, I taught you that when you pronounce "gue" or "gui", the letter "u" is not pronounced. But... If you need to say "gue" or "gui", pronouncing "u"? Well, there it takes part letter "ü". Then, we form "güe" and "güi", and it's different from "gue" and "gui", because you have to pronounce "g" like "go", "u", and "e" or "i".

 Examples:

 Vergüenza (Shame), Pingüino (Penguin)

 Of course, these are the only uses of "ü"

 Well, I hope you understood it. If not, ask me, and i'll answer you as fast as possible

¡Adiós!

The letter G

Hi people!

 In this lesson, I'll teach how to use the letter G in the correct way. For me, this is the most dificult letter in Spanish, because it has different sounds. If you see my post "Abecedario", you can see the different pronounciation of the letter g. You can see that when it's follewed by "a", "o" or "u", it sounds like "g" in "go". But when it's followed by "e" or "i", it's pronounces like an English "h", for example in "hello".

 But.... What happens when you want to make the sound of "g" in "go", but followed by "e" or "i". Well, this has a special rule, and it's the following:

 If you want to make that sound, you have to add an "u" between "g" and "e" or "i". After that we form "gue" and "gui", but remember, you musn't pronounce letter "u", this is an exception.

 Examples:
 Guerra (War), Gueto (Ghetto)
 Guitarra (Guitar), Guión (Script)

Pronounciation

 Hi everybody!

 In my las post, I taught you how to pronounce the letters in Spanish. But it doesn't finish yet. As you know, there are some exceptions, that you are about to see. Please, take down notes

CH: like "ch" in "chinese". e.g: Chocolate

SH: like "sh" in "shadow". e.g: Show

LL: similar to "y" in "yellow". e.g: Llama (Llama)

CC: like "x" (ks): e.g: Acción (Action)

RR: You have to "double" roll the "r". If the letter "r" is at the begining of the word, it sounds like "rr" too. e.g: Arroz (Rice), Rojo (Red)

Abecedario (Alphabet)

Hello people! In this lesson, I'll teach you the alfabet, in Spanish, "abecedario". In Spanish, there isn't any diference between the pronounciation in the alphabet, and the pronunciation in the sentences, at least, the vowels. Let's see it!

  As you can see, It's really easy. The only "strange" thing is the letter "Ñ". What's that?
Well, I haven't studied phonetics, but I can say it's like a "N", but pronuonced with the nose. It's quite similar to "GN" in Italian. If you can't pronounce it, doesn't matter. You can pronounce it like a common "N".

Let's see the pronounciation of the different letters:

A: like "a" in "apple". e.g: Ala (Wing)
B: like "b" in Boat. e.g: Banana (Banana)
C: It has two pronounciations. It's like a "K" in"kindergarten", when it's followed by "a", "o" or "u", and like an "S" in "silver", when it's followed by "e" or "i".
e.g: Cartero (Postman), Cielo (Sky)
D: like "d" in "duck". e.g: Dedo (Finger).
E: like "e" in elephant.. e.g: Estudiar (To Study)
F: like "f" in finger. e.g: Fuego (Fire)
G: It has two pronounciation. It's like a "h" in "hello", when it's followed by "e" or "i", and like a "g" in "go", when it's followed by "a", "o" or "u". e.g: Gato (Cat), Gengibre (Ginger)
H: It has no sound. e.g. Helado (Ice-Cream). It's pronounced "Elado".
I: It's pronounced like "i" in "India". e.g: Impuesto (Tax)
J: It's pronounced like "h" in "house". e.g: Juego (Game)
K: like in English. There aren't many words with "K", generally it's used in names. e.g: Kilogramo (Kilograme)
L: like "l" in "loser". e.g: Listo (Ready)
M: like "m" in "many". e.g: Muñeca (Doll)
N: like "n" in "nurse". e.g: Norte (North)
Ñ: No translation. e.g: España (Spain), Año (Year)
O: like "a" in "all". e.g: Ola (Wave)
P: like "p" in "Paul". e.g: Pez (Fish)
Q: it's only followed by "ue" or "ui" (Que, pronounced "ke", and qui, pronounced "ki"). e.g: Queso (Cheese)
R: No translation. Yo have to roll it, like in Swedish. e.g: Ropa (Clothes)
S: like "s" in "see". e.g: Sol (Sun)
T: like "t" in "tower". e.g: Taza (Cup)
U: like "oo" in "moon". e.g; Usar (To use)
V: like "v" in "vowel". It's the same as "b". e.g: Vela (Candle)
W: like in English. It's only used for names. e.g: Walter
X: "ks", like in English. e.g: Xilófono (Xylophone)
Y: like "y" in "yellow". e.g: Yema (Yolk)
Z: The same as "s". E.g: Azul (Blue)

 I know it's difficult, so if you don't understand something, ask me.

¡Adiós!

How to introduce yourself

 First of all, I'd like to share you some of the phrases and common questions to introduce you. 

 Probably, you will be quite confused, because you don't know how to pronounce them, but i like you to take notes. Let's Start!

Hola

Hello

¿Cómo estás?

How are you?

Estoy bien, ¿y tú?

Fine, and you?

¿Cómo te llamas?/ ¿Cuál es tu nombre?

What's your name?

Me llamo ... / Mi nombre es ...

My name is ...

¿Cuántos años tienes?

How old are you?

Yo tengo ... años

I'm ... years old

¿De dónde eres?

Where are you from?

Yo soy de (Argentina)

I'm from (Argentina)

Adiós
Good Bye

Let's start studying Spanish

Hi everybody!

 I created this blog in order to teach you how to speak Spanish. As you know, Spanish is one of the most difficult languages, at least in Europe. In this blog, I will try to teach it in an easy way, so as you to understand it. I hope you'll enjoy learning this beautiful language, which is the second most spoken in the World, after Chinese. If you have any doubt, you can write a comment and I'll answer you as fast as possible.
 I'm from Argentina, and, as you know, Argentinians don't speak like Spaniard, but I'll teach you Standard Spanish. If you want to know the "Argentinian way", I'll post it to you.