What it IS!

Day 5: All the ways to say "is" (and "am" and "are")

On day 4, I explained a little bit about the differences between the two Spanish "to be" verbs, "ser" and "estar", and gave some examples of ways to use "es" (from ser) and "está" (from estar).

"Es" and "está" will allow you to talk about what outsiders ARE: i.e, what "he", "she", and "it" IS and what "you (outsider(s))" ARE.

What if you want to talk about what "we" are, or what "they" are, or "I" am, or "you (insider)" are? Well, then you will need to learn a little more Spanish.

This table presents, in bold text, the main personal subject pronouns of the Spanish language:

	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	yo (I)	nosotros, nosotras (we)
II. INSIDERS	tú (you [e.g., friend, child, coworker])	vosotros, vosotras (you guys, y'all)
III. OUTSIDERS	él (he), ella (she), usted (you [e.g., boss, stranger])	ellos (they), ellas (they), ustedes (you guys, y'all)

I say "main" personal subject pronouns because there is one missing here. In many countries of Latin America, the word "tú" is replaced by "vos" (which is not the same as vosotros!!!; it is the "same" as tú). If you plan to travel to Central America or Argentina, you will need to learn how to use vos instead of tú. We'll talk about vos later, but it is important to hear about it now.

Notice that there are two columns in these tables. The singular column is for when you are talking about one person or thing; the plural column is for when you are talking about more than one person or thing.

I used to struggle to explain why "you" shows up in both the second row and in the third row of these tables. The table rows are traditionally labeled "1st person", "2nd person", and "3rd person", which is what you will see everywhere else, but to me it doesn't make sense that what is strictly "2nd person" in English (the word "you") should show up as both "2nd person" and "3rd person" in Spanish! Not much fun to teach something that nonsensical, either. (I do understand the historical reasons, so don't e-mail me about those. I get it.)

I am hoping that my new classification will make more sense to you:

The first row is for talking about yourself (either alone (yo [I]), or with others (nosotros, nosotras [we])).

The second row is for talking to people who are close to you (and whom you are talking to directly) (your friend(s), your family member(s), your coworker(s), etc.)

The third row is for talking about people or things in some way not close to you, like those people or things "over there" whom you are not talking to directly (he, she, it, they) or the stranger/superior/outsider you are talking to (your boss, a client, someone much older than you).

So no longer 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, but:

I. oneself
II. insiders (when you are talking directly to them)
III. outsiders.

This next table shows the ways to "conjugate" (change) the verb "ser" depending on who or what is being described:

SER (to be)	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	soy	somos
II. INSIDERS	eres	sois
III. OUTSIDERS	es	son

Pronunciations:
SOY, SOH-mohs
EH-rehs, SOYSS
EHSS, SOHN

And here is a similar table for the verb "estar":

ESTAR (to be)	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	estoy	estamos
II. INSIDERS	estás	estáis
III. OUTSIDERS	está	están

Pronunciations:
ehs-TOY, ehs-TAH-mos
ehs-TAHSS, ehs-T"EYE"SS
ehs-TAH, ehs-TAHN


If you copy down or print out these three tables and compare them to anything written in Spanish, you should find many of these words, especially the ser and estar conjugations, almost everywhere you look.

Here are those three tables again, without all the intervening text:

	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	yo (I)	nosotros, nosotras (we)
II. INSIDERS	tú (you [e.g., friend, child, coworker])	vosotros, vosotras (you guys, y'all)
III. OUTSIDERS	él (he), ella (she), usted (you [e.g., boss, stranger])	ellos (they), ellas (they), ustedes (you guys, y'all)

SER (to be)	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	soy	somos
II. INSIDERS	eres	sois
III. OUTSIDERS	es	son

ESTAR (to be)	SINGULAR = 1	PLURAL = 2+
I. ONESELF	estoy	estamos
II. INSIDERS	estás	estáis
III. OUTSIDERS	está	están

To be or to be

Day 4: The two "to be" verbs, ser and estar

An American president once famously said, "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." Maybe he studied Spanish, because that is something every Spanish speaker and Spanish language-learner has to consider almost anytime they open their mouth to speak.

In Spanish, there are two ways to say 'is':

If you are talking about how something is at the moment (some impermanent state that it is going through) or where it is, then the 'to be' verb to use is the verb 'estar' and the translation of 'is' is 'está'.

If you are talking about what something is like (some permanent or inherent characteristic of that thing), then the 'to be' verb to use is the verb 'ser' and the translation of 'is' is 'es'.

Su objetivo es alcanzar la paz.
His goal is to achieve peace.
His goal is what it is (it's not going to change), so 'es'.

Es neurocirujano.
He is a neurosurgeon.
That is what he is fundamentally, so 'es'.

El virus es similar a los virus H5N1.
The virus is similar to the H5N1 viruses.
It's similarity is not something about it that will be changing, so 'es'.

Está muy arrepentido.
He is very sorry.
This is about how he is feeling, not about a permanent personal characteristic, so 'está'.
(The distinction between permanent personal characteristics [es] and temporary feelings [está] can be demonstrated with the word 'aburrido': "Ella está aburrida" means that "She is bored" [at the moment] and "Ella es aburrida" means that "She is boring" [always].)


El caso está en un 70% resuelto.
The case is 70% solved.
That is where the case is at the moment, so 'está'. (It might be simpler to think of 'estar' [and therefore 'está'] as describing the state of something in space or in time.)

No está de ánimo para celebrar el Año Nuevo.
She is not feeling like celebrating the New Year.
Again, something changeable (her feeling), so 'está'.

Your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to go find some Spanish somewhere and see how many times you can see the words 'es' or 'está'. Sometimes you might even be able to understand enough of the rest of the sentence to notice that 'es' is being used for permanent things and 'está' for things that are changeable in time or space.

While you are at it, see what other words you can understand or figure out. Sometimes just knowing English helps (even if sometimes it gets in the way). Other times, seeing words next to a picture can give you a clue.

"There are 178 parent languages on our planet with over 1000 dialects. It's amazing we communicate at all...

Day 3: A, E, I, O, U, how to pronounce Spanish vowels

Languages and dialects, with this one...thing...in common: A E I O U, Sometimes Y Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! A E I O U, A E I O U, A E I O U, A E I O U, Sometimes Y!"

American English, or its "Midwestern" (television) dialect anyway, has about 23 vowel sounds, if I remember correctly. Spanish can be considered to have 5 vowel sounds, though a case could easily be made for a couple more.

The 5 "main" vowel sounds of Spanish are:

AH [letter a]
EH [letter e]
EE [letter i and letter y]
OH [letter o]
OO [letter u]

A common rhyme using these sounds is this one:

A, E, I, O, U [AH, EH, EE, OH, OO]
El burro sabe más que tú [ehl BOO-rroh SAH-bay MAHS kay TOO]

which means, "A, E, I, O, U, the donkey knows more than you."

It's a little confusing that the Spanish letter e is pronounced EH (like the name of our letter a) and that the Spanish letter i is pronounced EE (like the name of our letter e). I run into this sometimes when I am interpreting, and the nurse or doctor is trying to guess what the patient is spelling before I interpret the letters. The patient says "EH," and before I can interpret it as the letter e, the nurse thinks it's the letter a. Kind of annoying, but everyone is doing their best, so I just deal with it and make sure the nurse ultimately gets it right.

As you can see already, from "el burro sabe más que tú," the letter e really has two sounds, a shorter sound as in "el" [ehl] and a longer one as in "sabe" [SAH-bay]. Basically, the shorter sound appears when the e is within a syllable, and the longer one when the e is at the end of a syllable, so:

la empresa [laehm-pRAY-sah] = the business (f.)
la gente [la-HEHN-tay] = the people (f.)

There is a similar distinction to be made with shorter and longer pronunciations of the letter o, again with the shorter sound appearing within a syllable, and the longer one when the o is at the end of a syllable, but that is a much finer distinction, harder to represent phonetically, and one that you will probably be more likely to do correctly without realizing it or having to put in any extra effort. In fact, I will tend to always write the sound for o as "oh," in either position, even though there really is an ever-so-slight difference, for example, in the o sounds in:

pronto [PROHN-toh] = quickly, soon (adv.)

Basically the first o is "colored" by the n (or other consonant) that follows it in the same syllable. It's really not a big deal. The sounds are close enough to be practically identical, imho.

This is cute (and better than I could do, too):

Something new. It's gonna blow your mind, blow your mind.

Day 2: Spanish nouns, masculine and feminine

Oh, let's just get this out there and over with, shall we?

In English, we are used to people being generally male or female, and to most animals being male or female, and that's biologically true regardless of what language you are speaking, really.

In Spanish, however, you can pretty much count on every noun (noun = a word that is the name of a person, place, or thing) being either masculine (male) or feminine (female). Sometimes you might even be able to make some kind of sense out of why something would be considered masculine or feminine, but more often than not there is no real rhyme or reason for it; it's just whatever gender it is, and you will do best to just try to learn it and remember it, without trying to find a logical reason for it.

It can be tempting to not worry about learning the gender of each noun, but if a noun is feminine (for example), then the Spanish word for "the" has to be feminine, and any words that describe the noun (adjectives) also have to be feminine, as well as any words that substitute for the noun (pronouns, like "it" or "that"). Trust me. If you don't bother to learn the gender of each noun, your Spanish will be very hard to understand later!

Here are some nouns, followed by "f." if they are feminine or by "m." if they are masculine. It's best to learn them with the preceding "la" (feminine "the") or "el" (usually masculine "the") as a way to remember the gender of each noun.

el hombre [ehl-OHM-bray] = the man (m.)

la mujer [lah-moo-HAIR] = the woman (f.)

el niño [ehl-NEE-nyoh] = the boy (m.)

la niña [lah-NEE-nyah] = the girl (f.)

el papá [ehl-pah-pAH] = the dad (m.)
[pronounce the "p"s more lightly than in English!]

la mamá [lah-mah-MAH] = the mom (f.)

el padre [ehl-pAH-dray] = the father (m.)

la madre [lah-MAH-dray] = the mother (f.)

el hijo [ehl-EE-hoh] = the son (m.)

la hija [laEE-hah] = the daughter (f.)
[no consonant separates the "la" and the "EE," so they are pronounced together (as one syllable)]

el hermano [ehl-ehr-MAH-noh] = the brother (m.)

la hermana [laehr-MAH-nah] = the sister (f.)

el perro [ehl-peh-RROH] = the (male) dog (m.)

la perra [lah-peh-RRAH] = the (female) dog (f.)

el gato [ehl-gAH-toh] = the (male) cat (m.)
[light pronunciation on the "g"s and "t"s, too!]

la gata [lah-gAH-tah] = the (female) cat (f.)

el amigo [ehl-ah-MEE-goh] = the (male) friend (m.)

la amiga [lah-MEE-gah] = the (female) friend (f.)
[no consonant separating "la" and "ah," so pronounced together as "lah"]

la persona [lah-per-SOH-nah] = the person (f.)

No matter whether someone is male or female, he or she is "una persona (f.)" [a person] and the word for person, in either case, is always female.

To say "the sisters," you would say "las hermanas"; "the brothers" is "los hermanos." To say brothers and sisters, you would traditionally say "los hermanos," and that is true of other nouns as well. As long as there is at least one male in the group, the plural (more than one) form used is the masculine plural form. So, your girl friends are "las amigas," your guy friends are "los amigos," and any group of your friends that has at least one guy as part of the group are "los amigos."

(There are other ways to handle this, especially if you are a Latin American politician giving a political speech, but they sound as natural and pleasant in Spanish as always saying "he or she" and "him or her" and "his or her" sounds in English. Even in writing, if you want to say "los amigos" to describe your mixed-gender group of friends and yet still be "gender inclusive," you can write it as "l@s amig@s" [which means "los amigos y las amigas"], and is similar in its effect to using "s/he" as a pronoun in English, so generally better avoided.)

Some other common words and their genders:

el animal [ehl-ah-nee-MAHL] = the animal (m.)

la planta [lah-pLAHN-tah] = the plant (f.)

el árbol [ehl-AHR-bohl] = the tree (m.)

el insecto [ehl-een-SEHK-toh] = the insect (m.)

la bacteria [lah-bahk-TEH-ryah] = the bacterium (f.)

el virus [ehl-bEE-roohs] = the virus (m.)

el cielo [ehl-SYAY-loh] = the sky (m.)
[el Cielo = Heaven (m.)]

la tierra [lah-tYEH-rrah] = the dirt, the land, the earth [i.e., "the soil"] (f.)
[la Tierra = the Earth]

la estrella [laehs-tRAY-yah] = the star (f.)
[on my pages I use the English "y" for the pronunciation of "ll," which is the Mexican way to do it; some countries pronounce the "ll" more like "zh" (like the second "g" in the English word "garage," Costa Rica [laehs-tRAY-zhah]) or "sh" (Argentina [laehs-tRAY-shah])]

el planeta [ehl-plah-NAY-tah] = the planet (m.)
[ends in "-a," but still masculine; it's a Greek word]

el cometa [ehl-koh-MAY-tah] = the comet (m.)
[another Greek word]

la cometa [lah-koh-MAY-tah] = the kite (f.)
[I'm sure there's an explanation, but I don't know it.]

el sol [ehl-SOHL] = the sun (m.)

la luna [lah-LOO-nah] = the moon (f.)

el aire [ehl-EYE-ray] = the air (m.)

el viento [ehl-bYEN-toh] = the wind (m.)

el fuego [ehl-FWAY-goh] = the fire (m.)

el agua [ehl-AH-gwah] = the water (f.)
[uses "el" only because the word begins with an accented "AH" sound, and it is not permitted to say "lah-AH," though "la-ah" (unaccented, which becomes "lah") is allowed]

las aguas [lahs-AH-gwahs] = the waters (f.)

la arena [lah-RAY-nah] = the sand (f.)

el alga [ehl-AHL-gah] = the alga (f.)
[see "agua"]

el alma [ehl-AHL-mah] = the soul (f.)

el organismo [ehl-ohr-gah-NEES-moh] = the organism, the (living) body (m.)

el hongo [ehl-OHN-goh] = the fungus (m.)

el liquen [ehl-LEE-kehn] = the lichen (m.)
[granted, not a common word, but I felt it should be mentioned once I mentioned the words for "alga" (plural = "algae") and "fungus"]

Don't be too concerned about learning all these words right away. There will be time later. Mostly I am just using them to introduce you to the concept of masculine and feminine words in Spanish, and to a few of the weird rules that make it all just a little more complicated than one might hope. There are some rules around gender in Spanish that I still don't have straight, and I deal with Spanish for a living, so if you haven't figured it all out by tomorrow, don't worry about it. Learn what you can, and then later learn some more. That's all you can do.

Something New

Something New by Vallejo, one of my favorite bands

Spanish from the very beginning: Free your mind, the rest will follow

Day 1: Spanish is its own thing

The first thing to know is that Spanish and English are different! In Spanish the letters sound different than they do in English, the order of words in sentences is different, even words that look familiar to you will often mean something very different and word combinations that make sense in English will make no sense in Spanish.

What I am trying to tell you, right up front, is that you may actually learn Spanish better—and maybe even faster—if you will let go of the idea that Spanish is "like English"; it isn't.

Instead, do your best to remember this:

"Different language. Different rules."

You may even wish to repeat that to yourself now and then.

As the song says, "Free your mind, and the rest will follow." Instead of struggling to make Spanish be like English, just let go of that idea, realize that Spanish is its own thing. Then relax, and allow yourself to just focus on learning how things are said in Spanish.



"Before you can read me, you've got to learn how to see me. I say 'Free your mind, and the rest will follow.'"