Posts Tagged ‘Grammar Tips’

Grammar Tips: Commonly Confused Verbs in Spanish Part 2

Grammar Tips: Commonly Confused Verbs in Spanish Part 2

Nothing is more confusing for the beginner student of a language than words that look similar. Over the years I have seen students struggle with remembering the following verbs simply because they are common and all begin with a the letter ‘v’. In addition, a large number of them also have to do with travel. Below is a complete list of these verbs along with some example sentences.

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Grammar Tips: Commonly Confused Verbs in Spanish Part 1

Grammar Tips: Commonly Confused Verbs in Spanish Part 1

Nothing is more confusing for the beginner student of a language than words that look similar. Over the years I have seen students struggle with remembering the following verbs simply because they are common and all begin with a double ‘l’ combination. Below is a complete list of these verbs along with some examples sentences.

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Grammar Tips: Expressing ‘to’ in German with verbs of motion

Grammar Tips: Expressing ‘to’ in German with verbs of motion

Unlike English, German uses a variety of prepositions to express ‘to’ with verbs of motion. What follows is a concise study guide to this tricky aspect of German grammar.

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Grammar Tips: Special Expressions with ‘to have’

Certain daily expressions in Spanish and German use the verb ‘have’ in a figurative sense. Below is a list of common expressions in which both Spanish and German function in this manner. As these expressions do not always translate literally into English, they are best memorized.

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Grammar Tips: Spanish use of the personal a

In Spanish, the preposition a is placed in front of a noun or pronoun that refers to a specific person or persons functioning as the direct object of the sentence. Remember, the direct object is that which receives the action of the verb directly.

For example, in the following sentence Sandra is the subject and Miguel is the direct object.

Sandra sees Miguel.                                                   Sandra vee a Miguel.

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Grammar Tips: Determining Gender

Both Spanish and German are gendered languages which means that inanimate objects are either male or female and in the case of German even neuter. However, gender in neither of these languages is totally arbitrary as in many cases the final letter or letters of the word can be a key indicator in determining its gender.

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