Hola a todos!
Hello everyone.
This thread is dedicated to lovers of the Spanish Language.

I started learning the Language in 2020 and I hope to get better.

I would be sharing my daily lessons here.
You can tag along if you want.

Vamos!

Pronunciation Tips

1. All the letters in a word are pronounced. Some may sound silent when spoken by natives.

2. Span.ish words are strezzed on the last syllables if they end on consonants other than n or s e.g. acTOR, ciuDAD(city), cociNAR (to cook), juGAR (to play games).

3. Span.ish words are strezzed on the second to the last syllable if they end with - n, s or a vowel. E.g. camaREro (waiter), QUEso (cheese), GUApa (gorgeous), BEllo (cute).

3. You stre.zz wherever you see the accent marks e.g. Qué (What) - in this case we put much emphasis on the last letter é.


4. Letter J and is silent. Remember how we write Hahaha, when we want to show we are laughing. In Spanish, we write jajajaja.

Never Pronounce J in any word.
Nunca olvides - Never forget!

When G is followed by E it is silent
La gente - The people, will be pronounced as la hente

So whenever you see a word with letter j, skip the J part and pronounce the rest of the letters e.g. Hijo (Son) pronounced Ey-ho (the ho is forceful like you want to slightly get a phlegm out your throat.

Otro ejemplo /another example is Trabajo(Work/job) - you pronounce the last syllable the same way you pronounce hijo.

In some cases you pronounce the j letter as y
e.g. ojos (eyes) pronounced as you (oh-yos).

5. The letter v is pronounced as (sometimes it's sounds like a mix of both).
Vivo en Francia - I live in France (Bibo en...
Quiero beber una cerveza - I want to drink a beer

6. Pronouncing C and Z
When the letter C is followed by "a", "o" or "u" we pronounce the sound as K, otherwise it's pronounced the usual way. e g. Cádiz, Cual (what) Cual es tu nombre - What's your name?
Cuántos años tienes - How old are you?(Literally how many years do you have?)

7. Whenever you see double l in a word (as in LL) it's automatically pronounced as y [/b]e.g. llamar (to call), cómo te llamas (What's your name?) Literally, "What are you called?".
llover (to rain), llevar (to take)

[b]8. When the letter C is followed by an i or e, we pronounce the sound by putting our tongue between our teeth as in th for thanks.
This rule applies in words like Gracias (thanks), Cien (Hundred), Cena (Dinner) etc.

Ahorita sabeís como pronunciar las palabras diferentes en español.
Now you guys know how to Pronounce different words in Spanish.

Hasta luego!

Ojos/Watch out!

Be careful of Homonyms

1. Sólo and Solo
sólo here means only/just
e.g. me gustas tú y tú y sólo tú
I like you, and you and only you
Solo (without the accent marks)
Means "Alone"
E.g Yo vivo solo - I live alone

2. como/cómo - Eat/How or as
Como solo pollo - I eat only chicken
Cómo estas - How are you (informal)
No sé cómo lo haces - I don't know how you do it

3. si/sí - If/yes
si me escuchas bien, vas a ganar
If you listen to me well/properly, you are going to win.
Dime sí o sí - tell me yes or yes.
Tell me yes or yes. When Spanish people say this to you, it means they can't take No for an answer.

iv. tu y tú
cuantos años tiene tu abuela -
How old is your grandma.
Quién eres tu - Who are you?

v. Cuando/Cuándo - When/When?
Cuando era un niño bailaba con mi papá
When I was a boy, I used to dance with my dad
Cuándo llegaste ayer?
When did you arrive yesterday?

v. Donde/Dónde - Where/Where?
Dondequiera hay el amor, hay siempre vida
Wherever there is love, there is always life
¡Oye Chulo! ¿Dónde estás exactamente?
Hey dude! Where exactly are you?

v. Que/Qué - That/What?
Lo que es bueno esta siempre bueno
That which is good is always good
¿Qué es tu deporte favorito?
What is your favorite sport?

v. Cual/Cuál - What? /Which?
¿Cual es tu apellido?
What's your surname?
¿Cuál opción prefieren?
Which option do they prefer?

vi. Quien/Quíen - Who/Who?
Lo quien me ayuda, le ayuda se mismo
He who helps me, and helps himself
Quién es eso hombre acá
Who is that man over there

vii. Está/Esta

Difference between Tú and Usted
Just like French, Yoruba, Chinese and several other languages , you can't address your boss, a stranger or an elderly person the same way you will address your colleagues, friends or girlfriend.

Cómo estás - How are you (Informal)
Cómo está usted - How are you (formal)

Now, you know that USTED (hu-STED) is the word that shows some sort of respect/formality.

Another example
Cómo te llamas - What's your name?
Literally "How are you called" - Informal

Cómo se llama usted - What's your name
Formal/polite.

Disculpe - Excuse me/Sorry (informal)
Disculpa - Excuse me/sorry (Formal)

Oye - Hey!
Oigo/oiga - Hey! Formal

Oigo - To a Man
Oiga - To a woman

.

Personal Pronouns in Spanish
Los pronombres en Español

Yo (sounds more like soft j) - I
tú - You (informal)
Usted - You (formal)
Él/Ella - He/She
Nosotros/Nosotras - We
Vosotros - You pl. (informal)
Ellos/Ellas - They
Ustedes - You Pl.

INDIRECT OBJECT PRONOUNS
There are only six indirect object pronouns for you to remember in Spanish:
me (to/for me)
te (to/for you)
le (to for him/her, you (formal))
nos (to/for us)
os (to/for you (informal, plural)
les (to/for them, you (plural/formal))

Por ejemplo
me das muchos dineros - You give me lots of money.
Can be re-written as
me los das - You give them to me
Los(them) replaces muchos dineros

The indirect object pronouns is necessary to avoid unnecessary repetitions in your oraciones - sentences.

Lets say, you are writing a story of two lovers - Robert and Roberta and you start like this:

Robert and Roberto are lovers made in heaven. It would be inappropriate and kindergarten-like, to continue your writing with
Robert and Roberto love each other so fondly that others thought they have been together for ages.

Instead you will use the Pronoun "they" here
They love each other so fondly that others thought they have been together for ages.

It's okay if you don't understand this for now, it took me weeks to get a grip on it.

In order to be able to string words together you need to understand indirect Pronouns.
It answer the question "TO WHOM" is the action given or who received the action.

Nos los das unos flores
You give us some flowers

Here US (NOS) is the indirect PRONOUNS.

Cantas a los niños
You sing to the children

Will become : Les cantas
(Them you sing, spanish sentence structure is the other way round. Remember? Te quiero/Te amo literally means you I want/love

Más ejemplos
She dance for me - ella baila para mi
Me le baila - She dance for me

HOW TO GUESS THE MEANING OF SPANISH WORDS

There are cues and hints that can help you understand Spanish words easily and consequently, help you remember them forever.

El agua - Water from aqua
El Señor - Mr. from Senior man
El arroz - Rice (aroso , Rice)
El luz - Light (Luminar)
La Compañía - Company
El Patrón - Boss (Patron). Not office boss though
Grand- Big/grand
Rápido - Fast
Lento - Slow (takes lots of length)
Fuego - Fire
Infierno - Hell (infernó)
Él Abogado - Lawyer (Advocate)
Aburrido - Boring
Interesante - interesting
Timide - Shy (timid)
Simpático - Nice (Sympathize with others)
Antipático - Unpleasant (anti-kind)
Valiente - Brave (Valiant)
Gordo - Fat (Gorodom )
Dormir - To sleep (To dream)
Abeja - Bee (A bee A)
Inteligente - intelligent
Parazeso - Lazy (Passive)
Enfermo - Sick (infermity)