Revista de las lecciones pasadas....Review of past lessons

¡A ver!  Let's see!!


Since the first day of class, we've covered TONS of information.  We've covered:

• el abedecedio (el alfabeto aka the alphabet)
• the uses of ser vs. estar
• salutations and greetings and introductory conversation
• the uses of the verb gustar and verbs like them i.e. encantar, interesar, importar, etc
• definite articles when using the verbs like gustar
• me, te, le, nos, os, les
• conjugation
• Verb basics i.e. why verbs are important and what the verb tells us:
• what the action is
• who's performing the action
• when the action is occurring
• Regular vs. Irregular verbs
• the differences
• present tense conjugation of both regular and irregular verbs
• Las emociones (emotions)/los sentimientos (feelings)
• los números (numbers)
• addition/subtraction/multiplication/division
• from 0 to 1000 and beyond
• Las estaciones/los meses/los días (the seasons, months, days of the year)

Whew!!  I know it seems like a lot, but actually you're equipped to hold basic conversations with Spanish speakers.  You're doing great!  

Be sure to check out previous blog postings because there are lessons and videos available!  More to come...hasta luego...

Copyright Lennis Dionne Sample. Creative Commons License Allowed with permission.

¿Qué hora es? What time is it?

Telling Time


When telling the time of day, the word "time" is rendered as "hora".  The verb ser is used along with the definite articles la (for one) or las (for two through twelve).

¿Qué hora es?         What time is it?
Es la una.                 It's one o'clock.
Son las cinco.           It's five o'clock
Requerda!  Remember...
The aforementioned conjugations of the verb form of SER are in the PRESENT TENSE.
yo soy                                                         nosotros somos
tú eres                                                        ellos/ellas/Ustedes son
él/ella/Usted es
Now, minutes after any hour (up to and including the half hour) are added to the hour and connected with y .
Es la una y veinte.                                         It's 1:20.
After the half hour, the minutes are normally subtracted from the following hour and connected with menos...
Es las cuatro menos diez.                            It's 3:50.
However, in everyday usage the tendency is to add the minutes, even past the half hour, just like in English.
Son las dos y treinta y cinco.                         It's 2:35.
Time before the hour may also be expressed with the verb faltar (to be lacking)...
Faltan cinco minutos para las doce.           It's five minutes to twelve.                                                               ORFive minutes are lacking from twelve.
The quarter hour may be expressed either with cuarto (quarter) or quince (fifteen).  The half hour in like manner may be expressed with media (half) or treinta (thirty).
Son las cinco y media/treinta.                    It's 5:30.
Es la una menos cuarto/quince.                 It's 12:45.
To express "at" a certain hour, us a.
A las dos hoy, voy a casa.At two today, I'm going home.
am and fm are expressed as follows:
am = de la mañana (morning)           de la madrugada (the wee hours)          pm = de la tarde (afternoon)           de la noche (night)
Llegamos a la una de la madrugada.We arrived at 1:00 in the morning.
Note:  Por la mañana/tarde/noche is used when no specific time is stated...
Por la tarde, tomo una siesta.                   In the afternoon, I take a nap (siesta).
To express "a little past the hour," use y pico.
Entré en casa a las cinco y pico.I got home at a little past 5:00.
To express "at about" a certain hour, use a eso de...
El tren va a llegar a eso de las dos.The train is going to arrive at about 2:00.
Las expresiones del tiempo...Expressions of time
Past Time:
anoche....................................................last nightanteanoche.............................................the night before lastayer.........................................................yesterdayanteayer..................................................the day before yesterdayayer por la mañana/tarde/noche..........yesterday morning/afternoon/eveningel mes/año pasado.................................last month/year
Present Time:
ahorita....................right nowhoy...........................todayhoy día.....................nowadaysahora.......................nowen este momento.....at this time/momentesta noche...............tonighttodo el día...............all daytodos los días..........everydaytodo el tiempo.........all the time
Future Time:
mañana....................tomorrow (also means morning, but depends on context)mañana por la mañana/tarde/noche...tomorrow morning/afternoon/eveningpasado mañana..................................the day after tomorrowmañana y pasado................................tomorrow and the next dayde ayer en ocho días...........................a week from yesterdaydel (lunes) en ocho días.....................a week from Mondayla semana que viene/próxima............next week 
Recuerda.....Remember!

• You are officially speaking AND reading in Spanish.  

• h (hache) = ALWAYS SILENT

• Pay attention to those accent marks...

           días = dEE-ahs
           próxima = PrO-xi-mah
Revista los números y el alfabeto...review the numbers and the alphabet.

Copyright Lennis Dionne Sample. Creative Commons License Allowed with permission.