There are a number of excellent reasons to start learning to speak Spanish. The prime motivating factor, as strange as it might sound, is that everyone else is doing it! This is not some warped linguistic variant on keeping up with the Joneses, but more a very practical choice when it comes to learning a language. You’ll never be short of people to speak to in Spanish – it’s the world’s second most spoken native language, and the third most spoken other language. Behind English and Chinese, it’s also the third most popular language of the internet.

Therefore it doesn’t matter whether you’re attending Spanish lessons London with no intention of visiting Spain or Latin America, you can get all the Spanish practise that you need online! Of course, a Spanish language sojourn is always recommended – as much for the purposes of tourism as for study!

A Spanish course London can provide you with the basics that you need before taking a Spanish study break abroad, and it can also keep you up-to-date and in practise with your language level.

No matter where in the world you decide to study, cover the essentials before your departure. German classes London and Italian classes London provide any language learner with an unbeatable exposure to the language in preparation for a fuller immersion through an in-country study. Attend a French class London and stay ahead of the pack in terms of both grammatical ability and cultural knowledge.

Learning these languages will also ensure that you’re in a good position to learn other languages. Studying Spanish can aid comprehension of other Romance languages such as French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian. It’s even thought to be beneficial to understanding other Indo-European languages, such as German and Russian, due to the presence of certain grammatical features that are absent in English.

Whichever new language you decide to learn, be it Spanish, Greek or Vietnamese, there are a number of helpful hints that you can try to really get that vocabulary and grammar to stick in your head! Have a go of these handy suggestions to improve your Spanish or when taking the plunge to study a different language, and see how you go for progress!

Puzzles and games are always a popular choice for language learners. Crosswords, for instance, are a great way to expand your vocabulary in a new language, and can also be a valuable source of cultural information. You can start to keep a diary in your target language, or make sure that all your shopping lists are in the new language! This is especially helpful if you’re studying Spanish Spain, as then you’ll be able to locate all your list items without having to think about translating between your list and the products on the shelf. The same applies for French France or English England, and it makes it easier to start a conversation with someone about the whereabouts of a certain product – it’s all effective practise!

Another suggestion, even though it’s slightly offbeat, is to sing in the shower. Belt out a song that you’ve learnt at Spanish courses Spain or Italian courses Italy whilst enjoying the acoustics of the bathroom! It doesn’t matter if you know all the words correctly either, for who does when they’re in the shower?

Talking to yourself is also permitted when learning a new language. Why not practise conjugations as you walk, corresponding with the rhythm of your stride – or even brush up on your numbers? Use street signs, number plates and house numerals as visual stimulation and make sure that counting and recognising numbers in your new language is as easy as 1, 2, 3!

“And”

Regardless of whether you’re reading, writing, or speaking Spanish, the word “and” is represented by the letter “y”. As in English, the word “and” is meant to form a conjunction, as well convey a sense of addition or gain. For example, “I speak German, English and Spanish” would be written in Spanish as “Yo hablo aleman, ingles, y espanol.”

“Or”

In Spanish, “or” is written simply as the letter “o”. As with English, the word “or” in Spanish is used to convey that the reader or listener has a choice between one item or another. Because “and” and “or” are both expressed with just one letter, it’s important to make sure that you don’t confuse them. In addition, when you’re working with verbal Spanish, it’s important to make sure you know which word is being used to be sure your meaning is clear.

“The”

Even though the word “the” has no meaning, it gives a great deal of structure to a sentence. While it’s only represented by one word in English, you’ll find it has four different spellings in Spanish. As with nouns, you will need to match “the” based on gender and the number of items involved. Male nouns would be preceded by “el” if singular and “los” if plural. On the other hand, singular female nouns are preceded by “la”, while plural nouns are preceded by “las”. As an example, “the book” would be “el libro” while “the jigsaw puzzle” would be “la rompecabeza.

“Of”

As you may know, the word “of” is translated to “de” in Spanish, which is often used to indicate ownership. In many cases, you’ll find that “de” is used instead of an apostrophe and often results in the enormous difference between the syntax of an English and Spanish sentence. For example, in English we might write “Tom’s book is on the table”. On the other hand, in Spanish we would say “El libro de Tom esta en la tabla”. This does take some getting used to, but with practice you’ll find yourself constructing sentences this way out of habit.

Chances are, when you start studying Spanish, you’ll come across a number of basic words that help form the structure of a well defined sentence. While these words and their usage are no more complicated than their English versions, it’s important to be aware of them. Because Spanish is verbalized at such a high speed, you’ll often have to listen carefully for these words. The last thing you want to do is confuse words like “y” and “o”, and translate something entirely different from your original meaning!

First Person Singular

Typically, the first person singular refers to action that is being taken, was taken, or will be taken by the speaker. For example, communicating about my personal act of writing a letter can be accomplished in a number of ways depending on the time frame. Since the root word for the verb “to write” is “escribir”, my conjugation choices would be narrowed down to the set of suffixes for verbs ending in “–ir”.

For example, for the verb “escribir”, I would remove the “-ir” ending, and add an “o” (”escribo”) to represent the first person singular in the present. If I were currently writing the letter, I would say “Yo escribo” – “I write”. On the other hand, if I wanted to convey that I’ll be writing a letter tomorrow, I would leave the verb root intact, and add é, creating the word “escribiré”.

Second Person Singular

Just like English, the second person singular refers to you as the subject. For example, “You were very thoughtful to send me flowers”. In Spanish, when the subject of the sentence refers to “you”, it will require the usage of verb endings dedicated to conveying this information. Follow the conjugation rules listed in the chart at the end of this article to modify these verbs properly.

Third Person Singular

Typically, when you see “him”, “her”, or a person’s name, this is an indication that you’ll be conjugating verbs based on reference to a third person. For example, in the sentence, “Mary opened the box yesterday”, the root form for “to open” is “abrir”. Since Mary refers to a third person performing a specific past action, “abrir” would be conjugated to “abrío”. In addition, if you are addressing someone in a formal or polite way, you would use the third person singular instead of the second person.

First Person Plural

The first person plural is often indicated by saying “we”, or “our” signifying a group of people of which you are a member. Typically, this type of verb is conjugated with the ending “-amos” or “-emos”. The phrase, “We go” would be conjugated to “Nos vamos”. As with other types of verb conjugation in Spanish, you’ll need to select from this category of suffixes in order to convey the subject to verb relationship.

Second Person Plural

The second person plural might be most often heard when addressing an audience. As an example, a teacher addressing a class of students might say “Yesterday, you learned ten new vocabulary words”. In Spanish, the second person plural can also be replaced by the third person formal to denote a formal or polite address.

Third Person Plural

Typically, the third person plural is associated with words like “they”, or “them”. For example, “They went to the store” would be translated to “Ellos van a la tienda.” It’s also appropriate to use the third person plural verb conjugation for the sentence “Mary and her brother went to the store”, since you could also use the term “they” to describe Mary and her brother.

Even though it’ll take some time before you’re able to correctly conjugate Spanish verbs on the fly, you’ll eventually find the multiple levels of meaning very useful. Among other things, as you listen to native speakers, you may well find that they will eliminate words that are already indicated by the conjugations. Once you learn to replicate this pattern, you’ll be able to understand verbal Spanish much more easily.

Spanish Nouns

Just like in English, Spanish nouns include the names of people, places, and things. If the noun refers to the specific name of an individual or location, it will be capitalized irregardless of its location in the sentence. Typically, the hardest part of learning Spanish nouns is just learning the meaning of each word as part of your vocabulary studies. Of course, you’ll likely find this to be the case in any language you study.

Denoting Gender in People

Typically, you’ll find that nouns describing male and female individuals will end in “o” for males, and “a” for females. This also applies to family relationships. As an example, “chico” and “chica” are boy and girl respectively. At the same time, “hermano” and “hermana” translate to brother and sister. In the plural form, the ending “-as” represents two or more women. On the other hand, the “-os” ending can represent males or females within the group. As an example, “hermanos” can represent brothers, or a group of siblings that also includes sisters.

Denoting Gender in Objects

Even though you may not think of a book or jigsaw puzzle as having a gender, most Spanish nouns are either male or female. Strangely enough, most words representing animals follow this gender pattern, but doesn’t change in order to specify the gender of a particular animal. For example, a jigsaw puzzle (”rompecabeza”) is considered a feminine noun because it ends with the letter “a”. On the other hand, the word for cat is “gato”. While a cat is a living organism, this Spanish noun does not change to “gata” in order to represent a female cat.

Nouns in Sentences

In some cases, you’ll find that the syntax of Spanish sentences is fairly different from what you will find in an English sentence. Among other thing, the lack of an apostrophe in Spanish often changes the way ownership is communicated. As an example, in English, we might say “Paul’s cat” in order to convey the fact that Paul owns a specific cat. On the other hand, in Spanish the sentence phrase would actually be formed as “the cat of Paul”, or “el gato de Paul”. This can take some getting used to for new Spanish speakers.

When learning Spanish, you may find that nouns are some of the most enjoyable parts of the language to work with – mostly since they don’t change in the complicated ways that the verbs do! Once you get the hang of some of the nuances of Spanish nouns, you’ll likely enjoy the fact that they adhere fairly well to the basic rules of the Spanish language. In addition, you may even find that you like the sound or spelling of a Spanish noun more than words used to represent the same object in your own language!