Complete Spanish

Track 20

1. Two routes to the future, both using the present Grammar

Spanish has no need of a separate future here. Either some future context in the sentence carries it, or you use ir a exactly as English uses going to.

future context  ·  or voy a / vas a / va a / vamos a + "to" form
mañana
tomorrow
más tarde
later
esta noche
tonight
pronto
soon (English "get here pronto")
la semana que viene
next week, the week that comes

La semana que viene is worth unpacking: la semana (the week), que (that, which), viene (it comes).

Vamos a verla · ¿Vas a verlo pronto? · ¿Vas a vernos pronto? / ¿Nos vas a ver pronto? · ¿Por qué no vas a vernos pronto?

2. ver is slightly irregular in the I form Grammar

By the rule I see would be "vo", which was too short, so it became veo, v-e-o. Everything else is regular.

veo
I see
ve, ven, ves, vemos
the regular rest

La veo más tarde · La veo esta noche · La vemos pronto · Las vemos pronto · Las ve pronto · ¿Las ves pronto? · ¿No las ves pronto? · ¿Por qué no las ves pronto?

3. No guessing. It is the only rule. Method

Asked for we are seeing her soon, the student produces "la venemos". The correction is blunt and worth quoting: no guessing at all, it is the only rule.

The remedy is the same as always. Ask what the "to" form is, then build from it. Guessing at a form that sounds plausible is the one thing to refuse to do.

4. nos also means each other Vocabulary

Nos covers us, ourselves and each other, all of it.

Nos vemos. (we see each other)

That is a common way of saying goodbye in Spanish. The future context here is simply the fact that you are saying goodbye: nobody thinks nos vemos means you are seeing each other right now. The context is never even stated, and it still licenses the present.

Nos vemos la semana que viene · Hablamos la semana que viene (let's speak next week)

The "we" form doubles as let's, the way vamos does.

5. Reduce it to the smallest piece you can Method

The student stalls holding a whole sentence in mind, trying to translate it. That process works when you are memorising, but this is not memorising: it is building.

Reduce it down to the smallest piece you could possibly think about. Think about that piece, get it out, then forget it. All of your mental energy on we see each other, and not yet on how you will say next week.

hablamos · la semana · que viene

6. Forgetting a word is not a problem Method

The student forgets viene mid-sentence. That is fine. Every time you find it again, you strengthen the process, and the process is what you actually need.

It is not important to remember viene. Memorising it would only glaze over the problem. What you want to internalise is the process of how to find it.