Spanish and English differ in that Spanish uses double or even triple negatives and the meaning stays negative. Once any one part of the sentence is in the negative the entire sentence must stay in the negative:

I do not know anybody at this party.                            No conozco a nadie en esta fiesta.

All other words appear in the following sequence: Time + Manner + Place

Time: “tomorrow” or “Wednesday of next week.”

Manner: how something is carried out “with my sister” or “on foot.”

Place: can refer to any location “Toronto” or “in the garden.”

Option A:

(Time) + (verb) + (subject) + (place)

Morgen fahre ich nach Hamburg.

Option B:

(Subject) + (verb) + (time) + (place)

Ich fahre morgen nach Hamburg.

If all three elements are present, time is always placed first.

(Time) + (verb) + (subject) + (manner) + (place)

Morgen fahre ich mit meinem Auto nach Hamburg.

In yes/no questions, verbs appear in the initial position.

Spielst du?                                       Are you playing?

Ja, ich spiele.                                   Yes, I am playing.

With two verbs the second verb always goes to the END.

Ich muss jetzt gehen.                         I must go now.

Ich habe die Pizza gekocht.               I cooked the Pizza.

Ich werde bald reisen.                       I will travel soon.

Idioms can be fun and a challenge to learn in a foreign language. Here are some great ones in German!

1. um den heißen Brei herumreden

Literally: to talk around the hot porridge
English equivalent: to beat around the bush

2. Da kannst du Gift drauf nehmen

Literally: You can take poison on that
English equivalent: You can bet your life on that

3. sich zum Affen machen

Literally: to make an ape of oneself
English equivalent: to make a fool of oneself

4. eine Extrawurst verlangen

Literally: to ask for an extra sausage
English Equivalent: to ask for special treatment

5. Da steppt der Bär

Literally: The bear dances there
English Equivalent: It will be a good party

6. Tomaten auf den Augen haben

Literally: to have tomatoes on one’s eyes
English Equivalent: to be oblivious to what is going around you

7. Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof

Literally: I can only understand “train station.”
English equivalent: It’s all Greek to me.

Adjectives-there are two kinds of adjectives: limiting adjectives and descriptive adjectives. Both kinds describe nouns. Limiting adjectives give some sense of number. Words such as some, few and four are examples of limiting adjectives. Descriptive adjective examples include: beautiful, yellow, big etc.

Adverbs-adverbs are words that tell you something about a verb, adjective or another adverb. In English, many adverbs have the ending -ly. German has lost many distinct adverb forms: good/well = ‘gut’ but sometimes we add: -erweise

Affirmative-affirmative sentences make statements that are not negative. For example, she is always happy rather than she is never happy.

Articles-there are two kinds of articles: indefinite (a, an) and definite (the). Indefinite articles refer to unspecified items whereas definite articles refer to something specific. For example, I saw a man vs. I saw the man.

Auxiliary verbs– Auxiliary verbs couple with other verb forms to create tenses. Have is a common auxiliary verb. For example, I have eaten, Ich habe gegessen.

Cognates– Words that are similar in spelling and meaning between two languages.

Conjugating-to conjugate is to take the base form of a verb and to add the appropriate ending for each person. Example, I eat but he eats. Ich esse, wir essen

Demonstratives-these words indicate proximity. Examples are: this or dieser

Gender– English does not generally have gender for inanimate objects. All German nouns however are feminine, masculine or neuter!

Imperative-imperatives are commands. For example, Get up!

Infinitives- the infinitive is the non-conjugated form of a verb. In English infinitives require the proposition ‘to’. For example: to eat, to study. In German, an infinitive always ends in -en or -n: essen, spielen.

Interrogatives-Interrogatives are question words: who, what or wer, wo etc.

Nouns-nouns are people, things, animals and concepts. For example, table, beauty and freedom. German nouns are always capitalized: Tisch, Freiheit.

Objects-there are two kinds of objects: direct and indirect. A direct object receives the action of the verb whereas the indirect object usually answers the question to/for whom something is done. For example, Tony bought a car for Maria. In this example, ‘car’ is the direct object and ‘Maria’ is the indirect object.

Object pronouns-these words take the place of a noun functioning as an object. For example, I read the book becomes I read it. The book is replaced by ‘it’ and therefore avoids repetition.

Past participles-a past participle is the part of the verb used to form a compound tense. For example, we have finished. In German, the majority of past participles are formed by taking the root of the verb and adding ge- to the beginning and –t to the end: gespielt. About 20% of past participles are irregular: gebracht.

Possessives-possessives indicate to whom something belongs. For example, it’s mine, our books. In German, possessive pronouns must agree in gender and case with the item being possessed: mein, deinem etc.

Predicate-the predicate tells you something about the subject. The predicate can be a noun, adverb or adjective. For example, he is a man or he is tall. Man and tall refer back to the subject.

Prepositions-prepositions give information such as location, time and direction. Examples: towards, with, in, under, between or mit, unter, ohne etc.

Pronouns-pronouns take the place of nouns. For example, Terry runs well. He runs well. ‘He’ is a pronoun. German examples: ich, er, sie etc. Pronouns help us to avoid repeating the names of people and things!

Reflexives-reflexive verbs use object pronouns that refer back to the subject. In English we accomplish this by saying -self. For example, I wash myself. He gave himself a massage. English does not use reflexives as much as German. Many verbs in German can be used both reflexively and not reflexively with different meanings. Ich wasche das Auto vs. Ich wasche mich.

Subject-the subject is the person(s) or thing(s) performing the action in a given. sentence. For example, He is eating the bread. Er isst das Brot.

Superlatives-formed in English with the ending ‘the -est’. For example, he is the oldest man in the village. In German, the superlative is formed by using ‘am -sten’.

Tenses-tenses are verb forms that refer to different planes of time. For example, the present, future and past.

Verbs-verbs show actions, states of being or transformations. For example, I worked. I was happy. It began to rain.

Voice-there are two kinds of voice: active and passive. In an active sentence, the doer of the action is emphasized whereas in a passive sentence it is the receiver of the action that is emphasized. For example, active: She ran over the cat. Passive: The cat was run over by her. Passive voice is commonly used in the news.

Nothing in the Spanish language can seem quite as confusing to English speakers as the subjunctive! It’s not surprising, as this is one area of grammar in which English and Spanish are very different. The use of the subjunctive in English is very limited and can often sound arcane or old-fashioned whereas it is a fundamental part of everyday Spanish being used in about 15% of everyday conversation. This is the highest among all modern romance languages (French, Italian, Portuguese etc.)

MOST IMPORTANTLY: The subjunctive is not a tense; it is a mood.

A tense expresses when something is occurring ie. present, past, future. The subjunctive is a mood. It shows the probability or likelihood of something occurring.

All verb tenses in Spanish are divided into the indicative or subjunctive mood. (There is a third mood, the imperative, used for commands)

Indicative: that which is known to be fact and true, habitual events

Subjunctive: that which is open to subjectivity, unknown future events.

Common Indicative mood conjugations: present tense, imperfect, preterit, future, present perfect, past perfect

Common Subjunctive mood conjugations: present subjunctive*, imperfect subjunctive, present perfect subjunctive

*Note: About 80% of the use of the subjunctive is in the present tense so that is our focus here.

Overall, there are less subjunctive mood conjugations than indicative. Over the centuries, many subjunctive conjugations have become obsolete or relegated to legal use only.

Now that we have put the subjunctive into context let’s start looking at some specific examples.

Examples of the use of the subjunctive in English:

Long live the King!                                (live replaces lives to show a wish)

Let there be light!                                   (be replaces is show a desire)

He insists the child stay put.               (stay replaces stays for a command)

May she rest in peace.                          (rest replaces rests to show a wish)

If I were you….                                       (were replaces am as it’s not real)

Examples of the subjunctive in Spanish:

As the use of the subjunctive is much more widespread in Spanish it is useful to have an acronym:

C ~ Conjunctions                                    (cuando, para que)

O ~ Ojalá                                                    (also: quizás etc.)

W ~ Wishes/Wants                                 (desear que, querer que)

R ~ Requests/Recommendations   (pedir que, insistir que)

I   ~ Impersonal Expressions            (es posible que, es probable que)

D ~ Doubts/Denial                               (Dudo que, no estoy seguro que)

E ~ Emotions                                           (me alegro que, estoy triste que)

Each category above (COW RIDE) has a long list of verbs or expressions associated with it that must be memorized! The general concept behind the subjunctive is always the same: someone/thing wishes/insists etc. for someone/thing else to behave in a certain way.

Rosa         quiere            que         su novio   trabaje    menos.

El padre   insiste            que         su hijo      estudie     hoy.

El posible                        que          ellos        trabajen    hoy.

Formation of the present subjunctive

Forming the present subjunctive is a two-step process:

-First find the ‘yo’ form of the present indicative: vivo, tengo etc.

-Then, drop the letter ‘o’ and replace it with the ‘opposite vowel.’ That is to say, if your verb is an –ir/-er verb you replace it with an ‘a’ and for –ar verbs you use an ‘e’. Examples:

Final notes:

As the first and third person share the same form, it is more common to see the use of the personal pronouns with the present subjunctive to avoid confusion.

Take heart, as the consistent and correct use of the subjunctive often takes years to develop as a non-native speaker of the Spanish language. The true and natural use of this mood means you have ‘arrived’ as a fluent speaker of the Spanish language.

It seems that nothing frustrates learners of a foreign language more than idioms. Idioms are those phrases that cannot be translated directly from one language to another. They often involve turns of phrase, animals, colors or emotions in strange combinations! Here are some amusing idioms from various languages that, when translated directly, would make any foreigner to the language scratch their head.

He has been blue. = He has been sad.

He was caught red-handed. = He was caught in the act.

Por si las moscas (in case of flies!) = Just in case.

Andar como perros y gatos (walk like dogs and cats) = to always be arguing.

Das Blaue von Himmel versprechen (to promise the blue from the sky) = to promise someone the moon.

Tomaten auf den Augen haben (to have tomatoes on your eyes) = to be oblivious to what’s going on.

Students new to German will repeatedly encounter the verb werden. As it has three distinct functions, it often proves confusing. Here we will outline the three main functions with example sentences.

A. Idiomatic Expressions

Werden generally translates into English as turning, becoming or getting.

Er wird Arzt.

Es wurde kalt.

B. Future Tense

The present tense form of the verb werden can also be coupled with an infinitive (placed at the end of the sentence or clause) to express the future tense. Here werden translates as will.

Sie wird bald eine Mutter sein.

Wirst du hier schlafen?

C. Passive Voice

The passive voice is used to emphasize the action over the agent. It is used a lot in the press and to describe historical events and natural disasters. Here, werden is accompanied by the past participle (placed at the end of the sentence or clause). To express by, von is generally used, but durch may be used to express unforeseen events or natural occurrences.

Das Haus wird von ihm gebaut.

Es wird durch den Wind zerstört.

There are few things in the Spanish language more difficult for English speakers to get a grasp on than the subjunctive. One common fallacy is that students believe the subjunctive is a tense when in fact it is a mood. There are two moods in the Spanish-language: the indicative and subjunctive. The indicative mood is used to describe all that is concrete and habitual whereas the subjunctive describes that which is in any way hypothetical.

To learn to use the subjunctive one must look at the various situations in which it is used. In this blog we will focus on the uses of the subjunctive with verbs of influence, uncertainty, emotion and doubt.

In the sentence, “I hope that my brother prepares sushi,”  we find all the elements necessary to elicit the use of the subjunctive in the secondary clause:

1) one subject in the main clause (I) which is different than that of the secondary clause (my brother)

2) the use of the conjunction ‘que’

3) the use of a verb of influence (hope)

In simpler terms, just because I hope that something happens does not necessarily mean it will and this is reflected in Spanish by the use of the subjunctive mood in the secondary clause.

I hope that my brother prepares sushi.

Yo espero que mi hermano prepare sushi.

Other common verbs of influence:

desear – to desire

querer (e-ie) – to want

preferir (e-ie)  – to prefer

pedir (e-i) – to ask

prohibir – to forbid

persuadir – to persuade

rogar (o-ue) – to beg

aconsejar – to advise

insistir – to insist

exigir – to demand

mandar – to order

recomendar (e-ie) – to recommend

sugerir (e-i) – to suggest

impedir (e-i) – to prevent

Verbs of uncertainty, doubt and emotion are also triggers of the subjunctive.

I doubt Maria is working today.

Yo dudo que María trabaje hoy.

negar (e-ie) – to deny

temer – to fear

alegrarse de – to be happy

The expressions below are followed by the indicative in the affirmative but subjunctive in the negative!

no creer – to not believe

no estar convencido/a de – to not be convinced of

no estar seguro/a de – to not be sure of

no imaginarse – to not believe/imagine

no parecer – to not seem

no pensar (e-ie) – to not think

no suponer – to not suppose

Apocopation is a linguistic term given to the practice of shortening specific words when they precede certain other words. This occurs in Spanish with nine fairly common words.

Most commonly, certain words drop the final letter ‘o’ when they come before a masculine, singular noun.

uno (“a/one”): un libro (a book)

alguno (“some”): algún dinero (some money)

ninguno (“no/not one”): ningún gato (no cat)

bueno (“good”): el buen doctor  (the good doctor)

malo (“bad”): un mal hombre (a bad man)

primero (“first”): primer encuentro (first encounter)

tercero (“third”): tercer piso (third floor)

Variations on the pattern:

Grande: The singular grande is shortened to gran before a noun-whether it be male or female:  In that position, it usually means “great”: un gran hombre (a great man). However, grande is not apocopated when following más: la más grande casa (the greatest house)

Ciento: The word for one/a hundred is shortened before a noun or when used as part of a number: cien libros (100 books) or cien dólares (100 dollars). However, ciento it is not shortened within a number: ciento veinte mil dólares ($120,000).

Cualquiera: When used as an adjective, cualquiera (“any” in the sense of “whatever”) drops the final ‘a’ before a noun-whether it be male or female: cualquier día (whatever day).

Santo: The title for a saint is shortened before the names of most males: San Francisco (Saint Francis). However, it is not shortened if the name it precedes begins with Do- or To- (Santo Domingo)

1. venir: to come

We are coming at 5 o’clock.

Venimos a las 5 de la tarde.

2. viajar: to travel

She is traveling to Europe for the first time.

Ella viaja a Europa por primera vez.

3. visitar: to visit

I am visiting my parents on Sunday.

Visito a mis padres el domingo.

4. vivir: to live

My brother lives in Bolivia.

Mi hermano vive en Bolivia.

5. volar: to fly (stem change verb o-ue)

Are you flying to Barcelona?

¿Vuelas a Barcelona?

6. volver: to return (stem change verb o-ue)

Is he returning soon?

¿Vuelve pronto?

6. ir: to go (Note: although the infinitive does not have a ‘v,’ the conjugations do)

They are going to the church and I am going to the library.

Ellos van a la iglesia y yo voy a la biblioteca.