Spanish Word of the Day

Quote: rdw4potus

zoot alore! c'est vrai!

Zut alors. :P

Quote: FarFromVegas

Zut alors. :P

LOL. je ne parle pas Francais.

Quote: rdw4potus

LOL. je ne parle pas Francais.

Je parle un petit peu, mais pas beaucoup.

Quote: FrGamble

I would appreciate any advice about how to best learn Spanish even if I am the pastor of a fairly busy parish.

This technique was suggested to me as a way to make yourself understood to a Spanish speaker. You won't sound natural, but it is a way to convey some basic concepts.

Spanish differs greatly from English in the complex verb structure. The normal protocol is to teach you the present tense, which has three basic standard forms for verbs, and hundreds of irregular verbs. Like English, all of the most commonly used verbs are irregular.

In English you would teach someone a regular verb conjugation for a verb like "to walk" as follows:
I walk, you walk, he/she/it walks - Present singular conjugation
We walk, you walk, they walk - Present plural conjugation
I walked, you walked, he/she/it walked - Past singular conjugation
We walked, you walked, they walked - Past plural conjugation

I am walking, you are walking, he/she/it is walking- Present progressive singular conjugation
We are walking, you are walking, they are walking- Present progressive plural conjugation
I was walking, you were walking, he/she/it was walking- Past progressive singular conjugation
We were walking, you were walking, they were walking- Past progressive plural conjugation

Regular verbs in English follow three simple rules
(1) Add the letter "s" in 3rd person present
(2) Add the letters "ed" to make past tense
(3) For progressive tense you add letters "ing" and follow standard conjugation for verb "to be" (am, are, is, was, were)

The first problem that you have in English is that well over half the time and English speaker says a verb, he says one of the 12 most common verbs. None of these verbs have a regular conjugation. The 12 most common verbs : be, have, do, say, get, make, go, know, take, see, come, think. For example we don't say "He goed to work", we say "He went to work". Only the 13th most common English verb, look is regular.

But all of the verbs in the English language are regular in the progressive tenses. You can say "I am doing", "you were thinking", "he was taking", etc. and the conjugation will be the same for every verb in the English language. In addition the present participle (i.e. the -ing form) is always the same in English.

The present participle in Spanish is not always formed the same way like it is in English, but there are a very limited group of variations and not many irregular forms. For example
comencar - "to commence", present participle: comencando - "commencing or beginning"
comer - "to eat", present participle: comiendo - "eating"
pedir - "to request", present participle: pidiendo - "requesting"

In Spanish it is much easier to learn the progressive form of verbs. You can memorize hundreds of verbs, and conjugate them in the progressive tense. You will sound very unnatural, but at least you can make yourself understood. In some ways you will sound more unnatural in Spanish than in English because a Spanish speaker does not normally use the progressive tenses as often as an English speaker.

At least it gives you a fallback position. Sounding unnatural is sometimes better than having no idea what to say, or saying the completely wrong thing.

Quote: Nareed

Actually it's French.

¡Oy! Let's go with a different word for today then.

Fecha: 4-11-12
Palabra: Desmayar

Today's (real) SWD means to faint. The dictionary says it can also mean "To be dispirited or faint-hearted, to want strength and courage. "

Ejemplo time.

Ella desmayó por que la película era tan asustada. = She fainted because the movie was so scary.

p.s. Padre, if you know just one other sentence in Spanish besides yo quiero Taco Bell, it should be Me gusta la biblioteca. = I like the library.

Quote: Wizard

Today's (real) SWD means to faint. The dictionary says it can also mean "To be dispirited or faint-hearted, to want strength and courage. "

desmayar =To be faint-hearted
desmayarse=To faint

Se desmayó por que la película era tan asustizo. = She fainted because the movie was so scary.

Use the reflexive version of the verb.

Quote: Wizard

¡Oy!

That's Yiddish.

Are you trying to set a record or something?

Quote:

Ella desmayó por que la película era tan asustada. = She fainted because the movie was so scary.

"Ella SE desmayó...."

This is somewhat (okay, very) off topic, but I have a question for FrG. I just saw the movie The Way. As an avid hiker, of course, I'm now inspired to do Camino de Santiago myself. That Wiki page says that the credencial, used to gain lodging along the way, can be obtained via a chuch. As the movie shows, as you stay at each posada, as you go, they stamp it.

So, Padre, does your own church give these out? It would mean a lot to me to get one directly from you to take along my journey.

American Pilgrims
American Pilgrims on the Camino is a non-profit organization whose objective is to facilitate communication within the community of North American pilgrims, particularly those in the United States. American Pilgrims continually seeks meaningful ways to support the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

If the crowds deter you, give serious thought to choosing the Via de la Plata (from Seville), even for your first pilgrimage, as an alternative route. It is perfectly feasible, very beautiful, and - so far - much less frequented.

The number of people doing the crossing in 2010 and 2011 (probably partly because of the film, and mostly because 2010 was a holy year) is exceeding all previous records.

Thanks for your advice. Indeed, I am concerned that the normal Camino de Santiago is too crowded and trendy. Another one I'm think of doing, at least the Spain part, is the E4.