SUBJUNCTIVE WITH DOUBT AND UNCERTAINTY

      
Refer to the Subjunctive section of Chapter Eight, where I use the "WEDDING" example.

Here are some more examples of this kind of use:

ex:  No estoy seguro de que seas una mala persona.  (I'm not sure that you're a bad person.)
ex:  Dudo que la clase vaya a ser difícil.  (I doubt that the class is going to be difficult.)



THE USE OF "MENTE": MAKING ADVERBS IN SPANISH


Formation of Adverbs



Adverbs are words that describe, or modify, verbs, adjectives or other adverbs.








        
 Most Spanish adverbs are formed by adding -mente to the feminine 
          singular form of the adjective. This ending corresponds to -ly 
          in English.


        

          
 
            Adjective
            Fem. 
              Form
            Adverb
          

          
 
            claro
            clara
            claramente
          

          
 
            constante
            constante
            constantemente
          

          
 
            difícil
            difícil
            difícilmente
          

        

        
        

Note: When an adjective has a written 
accent, the adverb retains it.






        
 Another way to form an adverb is to use the preposition con 
          + the singular form of the noun.

        
cuidadoso (carefully)

          cuidadosamente or con 
          cuidado

          

          perfecto (perfectly)

          perfectamente or con 
          perfección

          

          cariñoso (affectionately)

          cariñosamente or con 
          cariño 





        
 Some adverbs do not follow any pattern of origination, and must simply 
          be memorized. Here is a list of some common ones: 









When two adverbs modify the same verb, only the second one uses the -mente ending.  
Note that the first adverb is the same as the feminine singular form of the adjective.






HOW DO I TALK ABOUT AGE AND TIME IN THE PAST?


We use a tense called the IMPERFECT to indicate age in the past.

You already know that we use the verb TENER in order to talk about age.
Here, I'll give you a side-by-side comparison of the PRESENT and the PAST:	

ex:  	Tengo diez años.  (I am ten years old.)
		Cuando tenía diez años...  (When I was ten years old...)

		Tienes veinte años, creo.  (You're 20 years old, I think.)
		She was 20 years old in 1978.  (Ella tenía 20 años en 1978.)

And so on...

The verb TENER looks like this when talking about age:

tenía				teníamos
tenías			teníais
tenía				tenían

The same idea holds when we tell TIME in the past.

We have to use the IMPERFECT form of SER.

You remember that we told time by using a form of SER:

ex: 	Es la una y media.  (It's 1:30)
		Son las tres y veinte.  (It's 3:20)

and so on...


Well, in the past, you have to use ERA or ERAN to tell time:

ex:	Era la una y trece.  (It was 1:13)
		Eran las cinco y veinte.  (It was 5:20.)
		Cuando la clase empezó, eran las 8 am.  (When class began, it was 8 in the morning.)

And so on...


THE PASSIVE USE OF "SE"


Se and the English Passive Voice
If you're new to learning Spanish, you might easily be confused by some of the signs you 
could see in a Spanish-speaking area: 
    SE VENDEN ORO Y PLATA 
    SE SIRVE DESAYUNO 
    SE AQUILA 

Translate the words the best you can, or type them into a portable translating 
device, and you very well could end up with translations such as these: Gold and 
silver sell themselves. Breakfast serves itself. It rents itself. 

Obviously, those literal translations don't make much sense. But once you become 
familiar with the language, you realize that such usages of se and verbs are quite 
common and are used to indicate objects being acted upon without stating who or what 
is doing the action. 
That explanation might be a mouthful, but we do the same thing in English, only in a 
different way. For example, take a sentence such as "The car was sold." Who did the selling? 
Out of context, we don't know. Or consider a sentence such as "The key was lost." Who lost 
the key? Well, we probably know, but not from that sentence! 

In English, we call such verb usages the passive voice. It is the opposite of the active 
voice, which would be used in sentences such as "John sold the car" or "I lost the shoe." In 
those sentences were are told who is performing the action. But in the passive voice, the 
subject of the sentence is acted upon by someone (or something) unspecified. 

Spanish does have a true passive voice corresponding to the English one: El coche fue 
vendido ("The car was sold") and el zapato fue perdido ("the shoe was lost") are two 
examples, but it isn't used nearly as much as in English. Much more common is use of 
the third-person reflexive verb form, which uses the pronoun se. (Don't confuse se with 
sé, which means "I know.") Rather than saying that something is done to something, Spanish 
speakers have the object doing it to itself. 

Thus, se venden oro y plata, although translated literally would mean "gold and silver sell 
themselves," can be understood to mean "gold and silver are sold" or even "gold and silver 
for sale," neither of which specify who is doing the selling. Se sirve desayuno means "breakfast 
is served." And se aquila, which might be seen as a sign on a building or object, means simply 
"for rent." 

Keep in mind that the function of such reflexive verb forms is to avoid stating who or 
what is performing the action, or simply to recognize that the performer of the action 
isn't important. And there are ways of doing that in English other than using the passive 
voice. As an example, look at the following sentence in Spanish: 

    Se dice que neverá. 

Literally, such a sentence would mean "it says itself that it will snow," which doesn't 
make a lot of sense. Using a passive construction, we might translate this sentence as 
"it is said that it will snow," which is perfectly understandable. But a more natural way 
of translating this sentence, at least in informal usage, would be "they say it will snow." 
"They" here doesn't refer to  specific people. 

Other sentences can be translated similarly. Se venden zapatos en el mercado, they sell shoes 
in the market (or, shoes are sold in the market). ¿Se comen mariscos en Uruguay? Do they eat 
seafood in Uruguay? Or, is seafood eaten in Uruguay? 

Sometimes in English we also use "one" or an impersonal "you" where a Spanish speaker might 
use a se construction. For example, se puede encontrar zapatos en el marcado. A translation 
in passive form would be "shoes can be found in the market." But we could also say "one can 
find shoes in the market" or even "you can find shoes in the market." Or, se tiene que beber 
mucha agua en el desierto could be translated as "one has to drink a lot of water in the 
desert" or "you have to drink a lot of water in the desert." The "you" in such cases doesn't 
mean the person being spoken to, but rather it refers to people in general. 

It is important to keep such meanings of English sentences in mind when translating to Spanish. 
You would be misunderstood if you were to use the Spanish pronoun usted to translate "you" in 
the above sentences. 

(courtesy: spanish.about.com)


REVIEW OF THE USES OF "POR" AND "PARA"




Here is one way to look at the differences between POR and PARA:

ATTRACTED is an acronym to help you know when to use POR.

A - Around (Is there a bank AROUND here?)
T - Through (I walk THROUGH the park every day.)
T - Time in general (Por la noche; por la tarde; etc.)
R - Reason (I arrived late BECAUSE OF the traffic.)
A - After (I'm going to the market FOR some tomatoes.)
C - Cost  (I paid twenty euros FOR this jacket.)
T - Thanks (Thanks FOR your help.)
E - Exchange  (I'll give you this jacket for that suit.)
D - Duration  (I studied FOR three hours last night.

PERFECT is an acronym to help you know when to use PARA.

P - Purpose  (IN ORDER TO dance La Bamba, you need...)
E - Effect  (I study at the University TO be a professor.)
R - Recipient  (This gift is FOR my sister.)
F - Future  (This assignment is due FOR tomorrow.)
E - Employment  (I work FOR an Italian restaurant.)
C - Comparison  (FOR a five-year-old child, he reads very well.)
T - Toward  (We are heading FOR Buffalo in an hour.)

If that doesn't help, here's a table to help you see it even
more clearly:










Por





Para







Expressing movement along, through,
around,
by
or about: Anduve por las calles de la ciudad. I walked through
the streets of the city. When used in this sense, por refers to
a general area, not a specific place. More
examples.

Denoting a time or duration when something occurs. Sometimes
is synonymous with durante. Viajamos por tres semanas.
We're traveling for three weeks. More
examples.

Expressing the cause (not the purpose) of an action: Me
caí por la nieve. I fell down because of the snow. Por estudiar
mucho, acabé mis tareas. By studying much, I finished my homework.
More
examples.

Meaning per: Dos por ciento. Two percent. Dos persons
por coche. Two persons in each car.

Meaning supporting or in favor of: Trabajamos por derechos
humanos.
We work for human rights. Another
example.

Introducing the agent of an action after a passive verb:
Fue
escrito por Bob Woodward. It was written by Bob Woodward. Fue construido
por my padre. It was built by my father.

Indicating means of transportation: Viajaré por avión.
I will travel by plane.

Used in numerous expressions: Por ejemplo. For example.
Por
favor. Please. Por supuesto. Of course. More
expressions.


Meaning for the purpose of or in order
to: Para bailar la bamba, necesita una poca de gracia. In order
to dance the bamba you need a little grace. Vive para comer. He
lives to eat. More
examples.

With a noun or pronoun as object, meaning for the benefit of
or
directed to: Es para usted. It's for you. La pintura
es para la casa. The paint is for the house.

Meaning to or in the direction of when referring to a
specific
place: Voy para Europa. I'm heading to Europe. 

Meaning by or for when referring to a specific time:
Necesito el regalo para mañana. I need the gift for tomorrow.
Vamos
a la casa de mi madre para el fin de semana. We're going to my mother's
for the weekend.







THE SUBJUNCTIVE IN EXPRESSIONS OF EMOTION


This is just a re-cap of what we've already seen.  Once again, if you are happy
that someone is doing something, that's a sure sign that SUBJUNCTIVE is going to
be used.  

Here are some other examples:

ex:  Estoy feliz que vayamos a ese restaurante.  (I'm happy that we're going to that restaurant.)
ex:  Sé que estás triste que yo no tenga mi trabajo.  (I know that you're sad that I don't have my job.)
ex:  Estoy extático que no tengamos clase hoy!  (I'm ecstatic that we don't have class today!)