Track 17

1. The "we" form: take off the ending, add -amos Grammar

The one version of the verb still missing. For -ar verbs, take off the -ar and put -amos, exactly the same move you have been making all along.

tomar → tomamos · hablar → hablamos

With -amos you are adding two syllables, so the accent, still on the second-to-last syllable, sits in a different place from the other versions. Run through tomo, toma, toman, tomas, tomamos and you can hear it moving.

Hablo · Habla · Hablan · Hablas · Hablamos

2. The "we" form does not split Rule

This follows from the whole point of the splitting rule: the vowel splits because you stress it. In the "we" form you no longer stress it, so it stays intact.

encuentro

I find: stressed, so it splits

encontramos

we find: unstressed, so it is safe

Muestro but mostramos · Pienso but pensamos · Cierro but cerramos

The e's and o's splitting really is an issue about stress, and only about stress. When you stress them they split under that pressure. When you do not, they are intact.

3. Both splits, all the way through Pattern

Now that you have every version, you can run a splitting verb right across the set.

quiero, quiere, quieren, quieres
but no split in the we form

pierdo, pierde, pierden, pierdes
to lose

cuelgo, cuelga, cuelgan
to hang

encuentro, encuentra, encuentran, encuentras
to find

muestro, muestra, muestran, muestras
to show

pienso, piensa, piensan, piensas
to think

cierro, cierra
to close

¿Qué quieres? · Lo cuelgan · Los cuelgan · Los cuelga · Pienso que sí (I think so) · ¿Qué piensas hacer? (what do you plan on doing)

There is no way to know for certain which verbs split. Comer gives como, no split. Most of the time it will split, so experiment and you will always get feedback. You will also develop an intuition for it.

4. Words starting al- came from Arabic Pattern

English words that begin al-, as opposed to ending -al like normal or metal, come from Arabic. That al- means the in Arabic, and it is written joined to the word, so words arriving from Arabic mostly came in carrying it.

So when you say the alcohol, you are saying something like "the the alcohol".

alcohol
alcohol

azúcar
sugar

arroz
rice

álgebra
algebra

aceite
oil (Arabic zet)

aceituna
olive (Arabic zetun)

alfombra
carpet

almohada
pillow

In Arabic the l of al assimilates to match the next letter when the two are close, which it does with about half the letters. So al zucar became azúcar, and al ruz (the rice) became arroz. English took sugar and rice without the the, which is why they look so different now.

Spanish has far more Arabic than English does. The south of Spain was part of the Muslim world for 800 years, so the languages had a lot of contact. Where you find al- at the beginning, with maybe a couple of exceptions, it is from Arabic.

5. Spanish never doubles s, but does double r Pronunciation

Two s's together are not a combination you find in Spanish, which is why azúcar takes a z. English possible and passion come across with one s.

posible, pasión

one s, always

arroz

two r's, to mark the rolling r

Double r does exist, precisely because it differentiates the normal r from the rolling r.

6. New vocabulary Vocabulary

tomar
to take, and also to drink

beber
to drink

una bebida
a drink (from beber)

colgar
to hang

cerrar
to close

una
a (for feminine words)

Tomar is used generically like take but also for drinking, and it is extremely common. Beber exists but tomar is what you will hear.

No tomo alcohol · No tomo azúcar · Quiero arroz · ¿Qué tomas? (a way of asking what you want to drink)

Cerrar sounds /therrar/ in most of Spain. De- in demostrar means of in Spanish.