VENIR & TRAER

The usage of the verbs venir (to come) and traer (to bring) are a little different in Spanish (I am told that it is the same as in British English). The main difference comes with the destination of venir and traer.

In Spanish, venir means to come, but only if the destination is HERE, not elsewhere. Anywhere else, you go with ir.

The same goes with traer which means the same as llevar (to take something or someone from one place to another). The difference is that the destination of traer is ONLY HERE. If the destination is elsewhere, you have to use llevar.

For example in English, if you were speaking with a coworker at the office you may say:

“There is going to be a party in my house in the suburbs. You may come and bring your wife too.”

So obviously the party is not here, so (in Spanish) you cannot come or bring, but have to go (ir) and take (llevar). In Spanish we would say:

“Va a haber una fiesta en mi casa en los suburbios. Puedes ir y llevar a tu esposa también.”

must vs. should

Hola Bloguers,

Now, when do we "must" versus "should"? To me, must sounds more like an obligation and should like a recommendation.

Much has been, is and will be said about the matter, but I like to abbreviate as follows:

• Deber (in present tense*) + infinitive verb = must + infinitive verb

Por ejemplo: Debo aprender español (I must learn Spanish)

• Deber (in conditional tense**) + infinitive verb = should + infinitive verb

Por ejemplo: Debería aprender español (I should learn Spanish)

*Present tense: debo, debes, debe, debemos, deben

**Conditional tense: debería, deberías, debería, deberíamos, deberían

Be aware that sometimes we use "deber de + infinitive." The truth is that it does not matter if you use de or not.

Buena suerte y hasta pronto,

Juan

What's the deal with "there to be"?

I find that none of my students seem to understand the concept of there to be. However, everybody does seem to know how to use it -- in English, that is. I will now address this matter in a concise manner.

Fact 1: The action there to be DOES exist and is not the same as to be.

Fact 2: There to be is haber, and to be can either be estar or ser.

I will now list the common uses of haber (there to be) to indicate “existence”:

1. hay - there is, there are
2. hubo - there was, there were (used with events)
3. había - there was, there were (used with everything other than events), there used to be
4. habrá - there will be
5. habría - there would be
6. quizás haya - there might be (pres. subj.)
7. aunque hubiera/hubiese - even if there were (imp. subj.)
8. ha habido - there has been, there have been
9. había habido - there had been
10. habrá habido - there will have been
11. habría habido - there would have been
12. quizás haya habido - there might have been (pres. subj.)
13. aunque hubiera/hubiese habido - even if there had been (imp. subj.)

Other important and common uses of there to be:

1. va a haber - there is/are going to be
2. tiene que haber - there has/have been
3. puede haber - there can be
4. debe haber - there must be
5. debería haber - there should be
6. necesita haber - there needs to be

Hope this was helpful.

Hasta pronto,

Juan

Why “EE.UU.” and not “E.U.” for “Estados Unidos”?

This is a common question I get. The answer is very simple.

In Spanish, when we want a word to be “initialized” (for the sake of this explanation we are going to assume that “to initialize” means “to write the initials of a word”), we have to use double letter if the word is in plural. See the examples below:

• Estados Unidos EE. UU.
• Naciones Unidas NN. UU.
• Relaciones Públicas RR. PP.
• Recursos Humanos RR. HH.
• Servicios Higiénicos SS. HH.

That was a short and easy explanation to give.

Let's "try"

In Spanish, we can "try" with either "tratar," "intentar," or "probar." It all depends on what you are "trying" to do. To the point:

1. "To try" will be "tratar de" or "intentar" if you mean "to attempt." Therefore you can say something like "Voy a tratar de estudiar más los fines de semana" or "Intentaré ser más organizado."
2. "To try" will be "probar" if you mean "to sample" or "to taste." For example, "Quiero probar ese carro antes de comprarlo" or "Tienes que probar la comida peruana."

Yesterday, my student was confused because he thought that "to taste" was "probar." The truth is that "to taste" will ONLY be "probar" if it ALSO means "to try." So if you say something like "This food tastes like.... " it will not work. "To taste like" is "saber a," therefore "to taste" - when not meaning "to try" - is "saber." For example "¿A qué sabe esa comida?"

¿Entienden? Espero que sí.

The Diary of a Spanish Teacher

Hola blogueros,

I had originally launched this blog (over a year ago) with the intention of posting Spanish lessons. My original title was “Learning Spanish.... Let’s Keep It Simple.” A few minutes ago I renamed it as “Learn or Teach Spanish... Let’s Keep It Simple”... but that won’t do either. I had actually abandoned this blog since I first started it more than a year ago... and shamefully forgotten about it. Good thing nobody was following it. I just accidently ran into again after googling myself to see what I was up to in the cyber-space.

I will actually follow my own advice and “keep it simple” for me too. I have too many things going on in my professional life (running my school, teaching classes, trying to beat the recession, writing and editing my books to be published soon) and my private life (my two little girls, wife and mother) to be devoting much time to actually posting well elaborated teaching lessons.

This blog will be a diary of some of the interesting occurrences that come up during my exciting life as a Spanish teacher (profesor de español) during my classes. I will keep the anonymity of all of my students and not share any personal information about them or their stories. However, I will share any interesting facts about the Spanish language for those interested in learning or teaching Spanish.

I will now rename my blog (for a third time) as “El Diario de un Profesor de Español” (The Diary of a Spanish Teacher). Who knows? Maybe some day a movie like “Julia and Julie” will be done about me and my blog. Maybe it could be called “Juan y su Blog” and I could be played by Jimmy Smits or Benjamin Bratt.

We’ll see how this venture goes.

Hasta pronto,

Juan

twitter.com/spanishlc

Hola Blogueros,

I am currently involved in several huge projects that have kept me away from my blog. However, I now have a twitter account (www.twitter.com/spanishlc) where I post phrases in Spanish every other day.

I will try to continue with this blog as I continue with my other projects.

Hasta pronto,

Juan