Swan(sea) Song – personal research during my six years at Swansea ... and bey...
Spanish made simple
1. Spanish is very similar to English, with a huge exception
CONJUGATIONS
Verbs are conjugated.
This means that the spelling and pronunciation of a verb is changed
to add more information, such as who is doing the verb, and when
they are doing it.
For example, “Comer” means “To Eat”
To say “I eat” you write “Como”
“Necesitar” means “To Need”
“Necesito” means “I need”
2. How to say “I do (something)” in Spanish
All you do is change the last 2 letters of the verb to “o”
Here are some verbs:
COMER (to eat), NECESITAR (to need), CORRER (to run),
BEBER (to drink)
Here are the same verbs, except they are conjugated:
COMO (I eat), NECESITO (I need), CORRO (I run), BEBO (I
drink)
3. How to say somebody ELSE does something
It's simple. If the verb ends in “ar” change the last 2 letters to “a”
If it ends in “er” OR “ir” change the last 2 letters to “e”
This applies whether it is HE doing the verb, SHE doing the verb,
or IT doing the verb.
For example:
AMAR = To Love, and AMA = He loves (or she loves, or it loves)
CORRER = To Run, and CORRE = He runs
SUBIR = To Climb, and SUBE = He climbs
4. Here are some more examples to make it even more obvious
COMER (To Eat)
COME (He/She/It Eats)
COMO (I eat)
AMAR (To Love)
AMA (He Loves)
AMO (I Love)
5. More examples. Remember, AR changes to 'A', and both ER
and IR change to 'E'
SUBIR (To Climb)
SUBE (He Climbs)
SUBO (I Climb)
TOMAR ( To Take)
TOMA (He Takes)
TOMO (I Take)
6. Unfortunately, there are some exceptions
For some reason, some verbs don't follow this rule perfectly.
This may sound complicated, but it really isn't.
When SOME particular verbs are conjugated, the letters in the
middle of the verb can change.
“E” turns to “IE”, and “O” turns to “UE”
Here is an example:
TENER (To Have)
(He Has) is NOT (Tene), but it's actually (Tiene)
You see, you had to change the ending, but ALSO change the E to
IE.
7. Here are examples of E turning to IE
TENER (To Have)
TIENE (He Has)
CERRAR (To Close)
CIERRA (He Closes)
CIERRO (I Close)
VENIR (To Come)
VIENE (He Comes)
8. More examples, this time of 'O' turning to 'UE'
MORIR (To Die)
MUERE (He Dies)
MUERO (I die)
DORMIR (To Sleep)
DUERME (He Sleeps)
DUERMO (I Sleep)
9. Sadly, there is one more important exception to the main
rules
Sometimes, whenever you conjugate for “I do ____”, a new rule
comes into play. Well, it's more of an exception, because it is rare
and ONLY happens for a FEW, commonly used verbs
Instead of changing the ending of the verb to 'O', you change it to
'GO'
TENER (To Have)
TIENE (He Has)
TENGO (I Have)
10. More examples of the ending of a verb changing to 'GO'
instead of just 'O'
VENIR (To Come)
VIENE (He Comes)
VENGO (I Come)
PONER (To Put)
PONE (He Puts)
PONGO (I Put)
11. I think that instead of saying “He/She/It, you should just leave
that out. I think it makes things easier to understand, see
what I mean below
TIENE would NOT be “He/She/It Has”, that is just too confusing
TIENE would be, simply, “Has”
So...
I want to say “He has a pencil.”
Ignore pronouns, because we don't need them
Think “has a pencil.”
Has = Tiene
A pencil = un lápiz
Has a pencil = Tiene un lápiz
12. All verbs end in AR, ER, or IR until you conjugate them
And most verbs end AR. ER and IR are uncommon.
I think 85% are AR and the rest are ER and IR.
Just some more example sentences:
I HAVE A PENCIL.
TENGO UN LÁPIZ.
SHE HAS A PENCIL.
TIENE UN LÁPIZ.
14. I hope this made Spanish make more sense.
There is reason for the random rules, by the way.
A long time ago, before Spanish became a written language, the
people who spoke it had a peculiar accent.
This accent made it hard for them to pronounce certain letters
properly whenever they were the stressed syllable.
So when E became the stressed syllable, they tried to say E, but it
sounded like IE. That's why E sometimes turns to IE.
Same thing for O. When it is stressed, they said it so it sounded
more like UE.
And the reason for sometimes verbs ending in 'GO' instead of just 'O',
well that's because they were fucking retarded.