Complete Spanish

Track 14

1. sé is very irregular, the rest of saber is not Grammar

By the rules, I know should be "sabo". It is sé, spelled s-e, and it is very irregular. Every other form of saber is regular.

sé
I know
sabe
he/she/it knows, you (formal) know

Because sé on its own is a bit short, you often hear lo sé, literally I know it, rather than a bare sé.

No sé · No sé qué quiere · Quiero saber qué tiene

You must feel comfortable with two English words becoming one: I don't know what he wants is no sé qué quiere, with no separate word for he at all.

2. The subject words, used for emphasis and contrast Grammar

These have been held back on purpose so you would rely on the verb. The verb already contains the person, so these are added for emphasis, to clarify who you mean, or to draw a contrast.

yo
I
él
he (e-l)
ella
she (e-l-l-a)

Do not confuse these with the object words: lo is him, not he, and la is her, not she.

Position is flexible: no sé qué él quiere and no sé qué quiere él are both fine, one sounding more emphatic than the other. That distinction is much better picked up in live practice, because the emphasis is not only in the sentence but in the hands, the facial expression and the tone of voice.

Ella ve · Yo no quiero invitarlo, pero ella sí

For but she does, you can simply say but she yes: pero ella sí.

You will do this naturally once you are practising, because your native language does the same thing. English always puts the she in, but you still stress it with your voice: "I don't want to invite him, but SHE does." That stress carries over by itself, as positive language transfer.

3. Double l sounds like /y/ Pronunciation

Ella is spelled e-l-l-a. A double l in Spanish is pronounced like /y/.

ella
she, pronounced /eya/

4. tengo que gives you "have to" Rule

Add que to tengo and the meaning shifts from plain possession to have to, in the sense of must.

tengo (I have) + que → tengo que (I have to)

Que is what or that, and there is no comfortable translation for it in this use. Just take it that adding que gives you the have to meaning.

Tengo que hacerlo / Lo tengo que hacer · Tengo que verla / La tengo que ver · Tengo que comer ahora · Supongo que sí (I suppose so, literally I suppose that yes)

Debo against tengo que works exactly as in English. Must is a bit more serious and severe, have to is the everyday one. The usage matches English so closely that you can rely on your instinct.

5. Generalise the irregularity: -go and the tiene group Pattern

The -go pops up only in the "I" version. Every other person is built normally, and you can generalise the pattern to related verbs.

tengo, tiene, tienen, tienes
to have
vengo, viene, vienes
to come
salgo, sale, salen, sales
to leave, to go out
pongo
I put (from poner)
obtengo
I obtain, used like "I get"

Salir is a verb of movement, so it takes the connecting a: salgo a comer, I am going out to eat.

Lo tengo · Los tengo · Lo obtengo (I get it) · ¿Cuándo vienes? · ¿Cuándo vienes a comer?

Cuándo is when. Do not let the English are you coming confuse you: there is a lot going on in that English which Spanish does not need.

6. poner is -pose, and the verbs that take a "to" form Pattern

Poner is to put, and like tener it hides inside English verbs. Wherever English has -pose, Spanish has poner.

componer
to compose
suponer
to suppose
imponer
to impose
exponer
to expose
oponer
to oppose

Generalise the irregularity and suponer gives supongo, oponer gives opongo.

Lo opongo · Supongo

A recap of the useful verbs that take a "to" form straight after them:

quiero comer
I want to eat
voy a comer
I am going to eat
tengo que comer
I have to eat
puedo comer
I can eat
debo comer
I must eat
When you hear -ar on the end, suspect a verb. Voy a intentar comer más tarde is I am going to try to eat later: intentar is the verb to try, not the noun la intención.