Anastasia, the polyglot, is learning Spanish
As a new person into the language, before I begin to actually speak, I would like to know:
– the practical words that I can use right now (about 2000)
– the structure of the language, what are the parts of the speech and the principles of how I have to put them together in the sentence (10 lessons, 2 months max of the actual study and 1 month of repetition, exercise and digestion)
– Active lazy learning program
Content
About the Spanish language – General PLAN:
(very quick part to get to part 2 asap): alphabet, reading, adjectives, gender (briefly) – 2 lessons, may have included a lesson with exercises and the question word WHAT LIKE, but it’s complicated, it can be left for later.
Just having gone through Part 1 of 2-3 lessons the person is already able to use the language because: he or she knows to read and pronounce, knows adjectives and a few more words and knows how to say the listed above useful and common phrases.
Beginner level A1-A2
– Step 1. Adjectives, nouns, articles + question words WHO, WHAT- briefly (1 lesson) + Exercise lesson with 2 texts.
– Step 4. Prepositions – basic and brief (1 lesson)
SECOND PRIORITY FOUNDATION (1 lesson) – short texts
– The sentence building, types of sentences, orders and inversion
– Conjunctions
– Question words
– Active and passive voice (may be in the end, depending on its complexity)
THIRD PRIORITY FOUNDATION (4 lessons)
– Adverb
– Gerund
– Present participle
– Past participle
Another 10 lessons that give the student the possibility to be just fluent in the language only missing tenses and complex grammar usual for the Intermediate level. The basic knowledge of this level allows the student to feel comfortable speaking in the daily life, inside places as well as out on the street. These 10 lessons are a sufficient foundation for the future Advanced level. This level is achieved within 3 months maximum. The Third Priority Foundation gives the ground for a super easy acquisition of the tenses and the following grammar. This is the complete basic course. Even without learning much further it is possible to catch up the language living in the language environment only and without any specific learning process. Something that I call “The Active Lazy Learning.” Going through Part 3 is recommendatory.
Total of 12-13 lessons
– Classical Tenses and Moods short overview
– Present Simple
– The Conditional Mood
– Future Simple
– Past Simple
– Present Perfect
– Sequence of tenses, complex sentences
Total of about 7 lessons
Special Tense Cases (3 lessons):
– Proche
– Used to
– Continuous forms and possibilities
The Cases (3 lessons)
– The Cases overview
– like I wonder… There is… It is…
Decorations (3 lessons):
– Particles: exactly, whether, nevertheless
– Interjection: A word or phrase used to express strong emotion or surprise. Example: Wow!, Ouch!, Hurray!
– Moods and decorations. What if… I wish… If only…
Total of 17 lessons (altogether about 30 lessons)
Special topics (6 lessons) – can be made as BONUS ADDITION:
– time
– weather
– numbers with money
– years and floor
– self-description
– food
Total course of 36 – 40 lessons
Content
About the Spanish language – General PLAN:
(very quick part to get to part 2 asap): alphabet, reading, adjectives, gender (briefly) – 2 lessons, may have included a lesson with exercises and the question word WHAT LIKE, but it’s complicated, it can be left for later.
FIRST PRIORITY FOUNDATION (4 lessons)
– Step 1. Adjectives, nouns, articles + question words WHO, WHAT- briefly (1 lesson) + Exercise lesson with 2 texts.
– Step 4. Prepositions – basic and brief (1 lesson)
SECOND PRIORITY FOUNDATION (1 lesson)
– The sentence building, types of sentences, orders and inversion
– Conjunctions
– Question words
– Active and passive voice (may be in the end, depending on its complexity)
THIRD PRIORITY FOUNDATION (4 lessons)
– Adverb
– Gerund
– Present participle
– Past participle
Total of 12-13 lessons
– Classical Tenses and Moods short overview
– Present Simple
– The Conditional Mood
– Future Simple
– Past Simple
– Present Perfect
– Sequence of tenses, complex sentences
Total of about 7 lessons
Special Tense Cases (3 lessons):
– Proche
– Used to
– Continuous forms and possibilities
The Cases (3 lessons)
– The Cases overview
– like I wonder… There is… It is…
Decorations (3 lessons):
– Particles: exactly, whether, nevertheless
– Interjection: A word or phrase used to express strong emotion or surprise. Example: Wow!, Ouch!, Hurray!
– Moods and decorations. What if… I wish… If only…
Total of 17 lessons (altogether about 30 lessons)
Special topics (6 lessons) – can be made as BONUS ADDITION:
– time
– weather
– numbers with money
– years and floor
– self-description
– food
Total course of 36 – 40 lessons
Part 1. Introduction
Lesson 1
The Spanish alphabet
The Spanish alphabet consists of 27 letters.
The letter “Ñ” (eñe) is soft N: español (Spanish)
The letter “H” (hache) is silent and is not pronounced. It does not have a distinct sound of its own: ¡Hola! – Hello!
The letter “J” (jota) produces a rough, guttural sound: joven (young). Its exact pronunciation can vary based on regional accents and dialects within the Spanish-speaking world.
The letter “Y” (i griega) can sound like English Y in the beginning of the word: yo (I, me), or it can sound like E: soy (am), muy (very).
- ¡Yo soy Anastasia! – I am Anastasia!
- ¿Y tú? – And you?
- Yo soy…
Say your name here! In Spanish you can simply say: Soy… You don’t have to say YO. - Soy Anastasia, ¿y tú?
- Soy… (your name). Soy joven. – (I) Am young. Soy muy joven. – (I) Am very young.
Tilde
In Spanish, the “tilde” refers to the diacritical mark or accent mark placed above certain letters, such as “ñ” (eñe) and “á,” to indicate pronunciation or stress. The tilde can also be used to differentiate between words that might otherwise be spelled the same but have different meanings.
Read the Spanish alphabet out loud.
A – “a”
B – “be”
C – “ce”
D – “de” like TH in the English word “this” – see the next lesson
E – “e”
F – “efe”
G – “ge”
H – “hache” – always mute
I – “i”
J – “jota”
K – “ka”
L – “ele”
M – “eme”
N – “ene”
Ñ – “eñe” – soft N
O – “o”
P – “pe”
Q – “cu”
R – “ere”
S – “ese” – sounds always like [s] – una* casa (a house)
T – “te”
U – “u”
V – “ve”
W – “uve doble” or “doble u”
X – “equis”
Y – “i griega” or “ye”
Z – “zeta” – classically can be pronounced as the English TH like in the word “both” – zero (zero) or like a regular S (in the US).
- CH is pronounced like the English “ch” in “cheese” – ocho (eight), chocolate (chocolate), un* coche (a car)
- LL used to be pronounced like the “y” sound in “yellow,” but in many regions, it’s now pronounced the same as “y” or “j” depending on the dialect: lleno (full)
- RR is a rolled or trilled “r” sound, produced by tapping the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth: un* perro (a dog), arroz (rice)
Keep in mind that pronunciation can vary slightly depending on regional accents and dialects in the Spanish-speaking world.
The letter “V” is generally pronounced like the English “B.” The “V” sound is often indistinguishable from the “B” sound, both of which are pronounced as a voiced bilabial sound, similar to the English “B.”
V = B [b]
- valiente – brave
- viejo – old
Ojo! – Attention!
Adjectives ending with O are masculine.
Their feminine version would have the ending A, for example, “vieja” – Soy vieja. – I am old, referring to a woman.
Adjectives ending with E are used without change for both genders: Soy valiente. – I am brave, referring to a woman as well as to a man.
So: Soy viejo (masculine). Soy vieja (feminine). Soy valiente (masculine). Soy valiente (feminine).
Got it? We have two genders in Spanish: feminine and masculine. Usually, feminine has the A-ending and masculine has the O-ending. Both genders might have the E-ending.
Such words as joven (young), ending with the consonant are also the same for the both genders. Soy joven (feminine). Soy joven (masculine). - verde – green – is the same form for both masculine and feminine, right?
- vivo – alive / lively – this is the masculine form, what is the feminine form? VIVA? Right! With the A-ending, yes?
- violento – violent – what is the feminine version? VIOLENTA? Correct!
- vasto – vast – the same question. What is your answer? VASTA! Good job!
- verdadero – true – What is the feminine? VERDADERA!
- vago – lazy / vague
- variado – varied
- veinte – twenty
- ¡Yo soy Anastasia! – I am Anastasia!
- Soy joven. – (I) Am young.
- ¡Muy bien! – Very good!
Numerals from 1 to 4
zero (zero), uno (one), dos (two), tres (three), cuatro (four)
* un – is the indefinite article for the masculine nouns
una – is the indefinite article for the masculine nouns
un coche (a car), un perro (a dog)
una casa (a house)
As you can see, un perro is masculine, una casa is feminine, as we can tell by the ending. Un coche is masculine because it is, we can only tell its gender by the article. It is very important to learn nouns with the articles to remember the gender of the words from the first time we meet them.
Exercise – homework
¡Hola! – Hello!
Soy Anastasia, ¿y tú?
- español (Spanish), joven (young), yo soy (I am), muy (very)
- ocho (eight), chocolate (chocolate), un coche (a car)
- lleno (full)
- un perro (a dog), arroz (rice), una casa (a house)
- arroz (rice), zero (zero) – can be just a regular S-sound or TH-sound like in the word THING
- uno (one), dos (two), tres (three), cuatro (four)
- valiente (brave), viejo (old), verde (green), vivo (alive / lively), violento (violent), vasto (vast), verdadero (true), vago (lazy / vague), variado (varied), veinte (twenty)
The gender: masculine and feminine.
un perro (a dog), un coche (a car) – masculine, ending with O or E and having an article UN, like A in English.
una casa (a house) – feminine, ending with A, having the article UNA.
LL – words
pantalla (screen), zapatillas (sneakers), calle (street), apellido (surname), silla (chair), belleza (beauty), botella (bottle), mantequilla (butter), sillón (armchair), mejilla (cheek), pollo (chicken), cigarrillo (cigarette), galleta (cookie), pasillo (hallway), lavavajillas (dishwasher), cabello (hair), llave (key), rodilla (knee), cuchillo (knife), calle principal (main street), servilleta (napkin), cuello (neck), cebolla (onion), pastilla (pill), lluvia (rain), anillo (ring), calle (street), olla (cooking pot), pantalla (screen), zapatillas (sneakers), apellido (last name), cepillo de dientes (toothbrush), calzoncillo (men’s underwear), billetera (wallet), toalla (towel)
- pantalla (screen)
- zapatillas (sneakers)
- calle (street)
- apellido (surname)
- silla (chair)
- belleza (beauty)
- botella (bottle)
- mantequilla (butter)
- sillón (armchair)
- mejilla (cheek)
- pollo (chicken)
- cigarrillo (cigarette)
- galleta (cookie)
- pasillo (hallway)
- lavavajillas (dishwasher)
- cabello (hair)
- llave (key)
- rodilla (knee)
- cuchillo (knife)
- calle principal (main street)
- servilleta (napkin)
- cuello (neck)
- cebolla (onion)
- pastilla (pill)
- lluvia (rain)
- anillo (ring)
- calle (street)
- olla (cooking pot)
- pantalla (screen)
- zapatillas (sneakers)
- apellido (last name)
- cepillo de dientes (toothbrush)
- calzoncillo (men’s underwear)
- billetera (wallet)
- toalla (towel)
la pantalla (the screen), las zapatillas (the sneakers), la calle (the street), el apellido (the surname), la silla (the chair), la belleza (the beauty), la botella (the bottle), la mantequilla (the butter), el sillón (the armchair), la mejilla (the cheek), el pollo (the chicken), el cigarrillo (the cigarette), la galleta (the cookie), el pasillo (the hallway), el lavavajillas (the dishwasher), el cabello (the hair), la llave (the key), la rodilla (the knee), el cuchillo (the knife), la calle principal (the main street), la servilleta (the napkin), el cuello (the neck), la cebolla (the onion), la pastilla (the pill), la lluvia (the rain), el anillo (the ring), la calle (the street), la olla (the cooking pot), la pantalla (the screen), las zapatillas (the sneakers), el apellido (the last name), el cepillo de dientes (the toothbrush), el calzoncillo (the men’s underwear), la billetera (the wallet), la toalla (the towel)