r/duolingospanish

Built a list of the 100 most basic but well used verbs in Spanish woth the English translations copier.

For new learners, knowing all these 100 puts you in a very good place to form sentences.

Making all these for my TikTok @rumbospanish if you want anymore of this kinda things, also have loads more free things I’ve built at rumbo

Ando leyendo un libro doesn't mean "I walk reading a book." Andar becomes a helper, signaling the reading is ongoing and happening here and there rather than in one sitting.

andar + gerund = ongoing, on and off (ando buscando trabajo)
ir + gerund = gradual progress (voy entendiendo)
venir + gerund = building up to now (viene diciendo lo mismo desde hace meses)
seguir + gerund = still going (sigue lloviendo)
llevar + time + gerund = how long it's been going (llevo dos años estudiando)
acabar / terminar + gerund = how it ended up (acabé aceptando)
echarse a + infinitive = a sudden start (se echó a llorar)

With participles, where the participle agrees with the object:

llevar + participle = a running total (llevo leídas cien páginas)
tener + participle = what you've got done (tengo escritas tres cartas)
dejar / quedar + participle = left in a finished state (dejé preparada la cena)

Question 1: ser or estar? Ser is what something is, estar is how or where it is.
Question 2: imperfect or preterite? Imperfect sets the scene, preterite marks a completed event.

Two questions, four answers:

era = what it was like, ongoing (era mi mejor amigo)
fue = it happened, start to finish (la boda fue en mayo)
estaba = how or where things were at the time (estaba cansado cuando llegué)
estuve = a state that lasted a set stretch, now closed (estuve tres días en Madrid)

Same adjective, different picture:
Era difícil = that's how it always was
Fue difícil = the whole experience, now over
Estaba enfermo = setting the scene
Estuve enfermo una semana = a bounded stretch that ended

And the one that trips everyone up: fue is also the preterite of ir. Fue increíble = it was incredible. Fue a la tienda = he went to the store. Ser and ir share their entire preterite, so only context separates them.

The show in English is very broad depending on where you live it can mean so many different things.
Can you only use “espectáculo” when translating the word show?

I’ve been making Spanish cheat sheets and content for my TikTok page @rumbospanish

Posted on here before and it was well received and them also thought I’d share them here too as peiple on TikTok seemed to like them.

Disfruta xx

The seven triggers:

1. Wanting — quiero que vengas, espero que estés bien
2. Emotion — me alegra que estés aquí, es una pena que no puedas venir
3. Doubt and denial — no creo que sea verdad, dudo que llegue a tiempo
4. Impersonal judgments — es importante que descanses, ojalá venga
5. Time that hasn't arrived — cuando llegues, avísame
6. Something that may not exist — busco a alguien que hable ruso
7. Purpose and condition — te lo explico para que entiendas

The pattern: two different subjects, a que in the middle, and a first half that isn't stating a fact. Quiero que vengas has two subjects. Quiero venir has one, so it takes an infinitive instead.

And you already use it. Every negative command is the subjunctive: no hables, no vayas.

Which trigger took you longest?

The conditional does most of the work. Quiero un café is correct, quisiera un café. ¿Puedes ayudarme? becomes ¿podrías ayudarme? Same request, completely different tone!

15 ways to soften what you say in public, from ordering to asking a stranger for directions.

Which ones would you add?

Tener, hacer, and dar do most of that work:

tener razón = to be right
tener ganas de = to feel like
tener sentido = to make sense
tener cuidado = to be careful
hacer falta = to be needed
hacer caso = to listen to someone
hacer un favor = to do a favor
dar igual = to not matter
dar las gracias = to thank
dar una vuelta = to go for a walk

Learn which nouns these three verbs pair with and you cover a large share of everyday conversation without new vocabulary.

Use no instead of no to mean no?

Note: I am promoting my own app, but only because I think it can help some of you.

I don’t believe in apps that make you fluent in a language. I don’t want to give you the idea my app does that. It’s a companion for studying. For instance, training the subjunctive:

You may understand the subjunctive but you might also have struggled with producing it in conversation.

• Quiero que comas - I want you to eat
• Quería que comieras - I wanted you to eat

What helped me is looking at triggers: Querer que triggers the subjunctive and many others do as well. By practicing these triggers you start to use subjunctive instinctively. To practice this I created Modo Spanish. Try it out and let me know what you think: ios.modospanish.com. I also added some other intermediate topics that often are annoying to produce in conversation. Open to add even more with your recommendations!