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Paul's big and exciting ab initio Spanish thread

Well I've been learning Spanish during the holidays for a while now, and thought that I'd start a thread where I can ask questions when I find a problem with the language. This will save me from cluttering up the forum with new threads when I find myself with a new problem on my hands :smile:

Could I please ask that others don't come in here to hijack the thread with their own questions? Sorry, that probably sounds really harsh but I kind of want a thread where I can pin point my own specific queries if I find a problem with it again. Your own problems may also confuse me, which is not what I want at this stage of my language learning :p:

So, first thing's first - the conjunction "y" means "and", right? I've just come to this point of the grammar section of my revision book (yep, I'm really starting from scratch :p:

), and the example it gives is: "me gusta jugar al fútbol" and "me gusta jugar al rugby" = "me gusta jugar al fútbol y al rugby". However I also read a few days ago that you use "me gustan" in the plural, so I'd have thought the sentence would have been "me gustan jugar al fútbol y al rugby" as there are two things which are being noted afterwards? :confused:

Would anybody care to help? :smile:

Thanks in advance!

Reply 1

Greatleysteg

19

Good idea. I won't hijack, but I might have a nose. I've been doing the ab initio Spanish thing since December. :smile:

Reply 2

megan28

If the "me gusta" is followed by a verb, it is always singular. Well to the best of my knowledge.

Because in me gusta jugar al fútbol y al rugby, the thing you are liking is the playing - jugar not the actual sports.
however it would be me gustan el futbol y el rugby if just talking about the sports in general.

Hope that helps!

Reply 3

Gooner

OP

14

megan28

If the "me gusta" is followed by a verb, it is always singular. Well to the best of my knowledge.

Because in me gusta jugar al fútbol y al rugby, the thing you are liking is the playing - jugar not the actual sports.
however it would be me gustan el futbol y el rugby if just talking about the sports in general.

Hope that helps!

That's great thank you! :biggrin:

Reply 4

Llamaaa

15

If you need any help feel free to pm me. I'm fluent in Spanish (Peru) and have lots of spare time :biggrin:

Reply 5

Gooner

OP

14

Llamaaa

If you need any help feel free to pm me. I'm fluent in Spanish (Peru) and have lots of spare time :biggrin:

Ooh, really? I'll make note of that :biggrin:

Thanks!

Reply 6

generalebriety

16

Llamaaa

If you need any help feel free to pm me. I'm fluent in Spanish (Peru) and have lots of spare time :biggrin:

Ahem. Though I should point out you said this to me weeks ago and haven't been on msn since. :hmmm:

Paul: in case it helps, to draw a small connection with German: "me gusta" means the same as "...gefällt mir", and the thing that's pleasing you is the "jugar (al fútbol y al rugby)". However, you would say "me gustan el fútbol y el rugby" - same as "...gefallen mir".

Reply 7

Llamaaa

15

generalebriety

Ahem. Though I should point out you said this to me weeks ago and haven't been on msn since. :hmmm:

Paul: in case it helps, to draw a small connection with German: "me gusta" means the same as "...gefällt mir", and the thing that's pleasing you is the "jugar (al fútbol y al rugby)". However, you would say "me gustan el fútbol y el rugby" - same as "...gefallen mir".

I'm not very good at going on MSN. I'm good at emails though :p:

I'll be better on msn as of next week when I've stopped spending 14 hours a day in the stables :p:

Reply 8

Gooner

OP

14

generalebriety

Ahem. Though I should point out you said this to me weeks ago and haven't been on msn since. :hmmm:

Paul: in case it helps, to draw a small connection with German: "me gusta" means the same as "...gefällt mir", and the thing that's pleasing you is the "jugar (al fútbol y al rugby)". However, you would say "me gustan el fútbol y el rugby" - same as "...gefallen mir".

After thinking about that for a few minutes that's really helped :biggrin:

Thanks, Billy!

Reply 9

Gooner

OP

14

Wow, I can't believe it's been a week since I created this thread.

Another question guys! :smile:

I've been learning about the weather in Spanish and came across two phrases which have confused me slightly: 1) Hace buen tiempo & 2) Hace mal tiempo.

As I understand it, bueno/-a = good, and malo/-a = bad, but why have the phrases above omitted the -o which would normally be placed at the end of an adjective in front of a masculine noun? :s-smilie:

Reply 10

megan28

they just do!
My teacher did explain it once.....but it's just one of those things.
There are others too, the most common one being UNO, which of course become un in front of masculine nouns.

Just trying to say hace malo tiempo sounds so strange.
I will track down my punto por punto tomorrow and see if I can give you a better explaination.

How's the Spanish going?

Reply 11

Gooner

OP

14

Thanks!

The Spanish is going well thanks :smile:

It probably sounds really simple, but I've done stuff on nouns, and the present tense and can conjugate all regular verbs now :smile:

But obviously I'm trying to balance out the grammar and the vocab learning so I don't do like...tonnes of grammar, but no vocab learning :yes:

Reply 12

megan28

Well that sounds great, and don't worry about it sounding simple - we all have to start somewhere.
It's got to be hard to strike that balance when learning for your self, becaus eyou haven't got a teacher with months of planned out lessons!
But as a previous language learner I'm sure you will have picked up on the tricks before, its just a matter of appliing them to new material.

I found this to add to my point :s-smilie:

HORTENED FORM OF ADJECTIVES
The following adjectives drop the final -o when they precede the noun
they modify: bueno, malo, uno, alguno, ninguno, primero,
tercero. (No change is made when they precede a feminine noun or nouns in the plural.)

un hombre bueno (a moral man)

un buen hombre (a good man)

The words grande and ciento lose their final syllable when they precede the noun they modify.

una gran ciudad (a great city)

cien libros (one hundred books)

Hope that helps!!

Reply 13

Gooner

OP

14

Ooh thanks for that! :biggrin:

That's a great help, Megan. :hugs: