Need help in Spanish!

[Noley]

I need some help in Spanish can anyone give me some tips that might help me. iwould greatly appreciate it. Thanks

[shooraijin]

Like what, exactly?

[ClosetOtaku]

Es verdad, no sabemos lo que desea.

Pero, aquí está un cierto consejo: No ponga su teléfono de la célula en agua.

¿Más?

[dreamhacker]

Well, I'm learning Spanish myself, but can't give any tips if I don't know what YOU think is difficult :\

[Saint Kevin]

Yep, I'll agree with the people above. If you're having trouble conjugating verbs, try a "501 Verb" book or something. If it's vocabulary, then I'm sorry to tell you that the only remedy is to put in time. Maybe try writing 5 or 10 words on an index card, keep it in your wallet until you know them, and then file it away for review later. That actually sounds like a plan I might implement myself.

[shooraijin]

Es verdad, no sabemos lo que desea.

Pero, aquí está un cierto consejo: No ponga su teléfono de la célula en agua.

¿Más?

Speaking personally, I try to avoid putting anything electronic in that.

[K. Ayato]

Same here.

What exactly do you need help with in Spanish? You mean like remembering the words and their translations? I agree with Kevin. Get the 501 Spanish verbs book, if available where you're at. Helps out A LOT.

[uc pseudonym]

I believe that you will have more than enough help as it is, but I will also post to state that I am at least a student of Spanish and I may be able to help you in a number of areas (including just standard tips). As has been said before, please be more specific; you'll find we're glad to help.

That having been said, this is a phrase crucial to understanding most Hispanic cultures that I find I often need in everyday conversation:
Hoy una vaca!

[Kura Ookami]

[quote="uc pseudonym"]I believe that you will have more than enough help as it is, but I will also post to state that I am at least a student of Spanish and I may be able to help you in a number of areas (including just standard tips). As has been said before, please be more specific]

I'm curious what does Hoy una vaca mean?

[Slater]

"Hoy una vaca"? uhm...
are you sure it isn't "Hay una vaca?"
Hoy una vaca = Today a cow
Hay una vaca = There is a cow

[shooraijin]

Maybe there was.

[Noley]

I need help in voc words and verb conjections

[ClosetOtaku]

I need help in voc words and verb conjections

I assume you mean "conjugations".

Actually, verb conjugations for many regular verbs in Spanish are pretty straight forward; it's the irregular verbs that can be tricky. For most basic conversations, you need to master only a couple of tenses. Once you've got those down, you can move on to moods.

On the other hand, vocabulary words... that's a pretty open topic. Care to narrow it a little?

[Slater]

lol, surely you jest. verbs aren't easy. there are 17 tenses in Spanish, a number of which are rarely used in modern english.

[shooraijin]

But most of them are either extremely regular, or follow easily learned patterns. Probably the one that gives most people fits is the subjunctive mood, and/or the concept of imperfect vs. preterite (that took me awhile). However, indicative and imperative moods are very straightforward and most of them correspond directly to English.

English (and German)'s system of strong, weak and irregular verbs, on the other hand, is nightmarish.

[ClosetOtaku]

lol, surely you jest. verbs aren't easy. there are 17 tenses in Spanish, a number of which are rarely used in modern english.

Few languages make verbs easy -- Japanese is a great example. However, for most purposes, mastery of a couple basic tenses is enough for conversational Spanish. You aren't going to improve your vocabulary by mastering 17 tenses -- you're going to master Present, Preterite, and Future tense while learning the basics of sentence construction and 'proper' word use (such as the difference between por and para) -- and go on from there.

I've studied German, lived in Germany, never really caught on to the language. I've tried studying Japanese, been to Japan, am still scared to speak anything beyond basic Pimsleur. For me, Spanish was the easiest to learn, the closest to English in structure of all the languages. I'd only had two years of Spanish when I traveled to Spain, and I was able to converse competently (e.g. make myself understood without having to resort to hand signals). I haven't studied it in over 20 years, yet I can still get the gist of a conversation on Univision.

I think that's probably where our friend who needs help is now, and I want to encourage him that it's really not that difficult to start to speak. Yes, it is difficult to speak well, and if you want to speak like a native speaker, you need to really work at it (and, honestly, unless you devote years to it, you will probably never achieve that goal). But you gotta start someplace...

[uc pseudonym]

"Hoy una vaca"? uhm...
are you sure it isn't "Hay una vaca?"
Hoy una vaca = Today a cow
Hay una vaca = There is a cow

Ah; typo, sorry.

Personally, I've found the systems of verbs to be the simplest part of the Spanish language (outside of basic vocabulary, of course). The only trouble I've had with them is the fact that I never use them in normal conversation, so the infinitive forms slip from my memory. With a good understanding of English, it isn't that difficult.

But now we have an actual problem mentioned, and I'm afraid I still can't be helpful. Presuming that you are learning Spanish in a structured setting of some sort, what verb tenses have you learned?

[Noley]

Most of the things you all are talking about. I'm just tring to pass Spanish I.
I need help with commands. If anyone can give me help with that I would greatly thank you.

[shooraijin]

Easiest way I've found is to do this (at least for Ud. commands):

1. Take the "yo" form. Example: tener => yo tengo OR cerrar => yo cierro
2. Drop the o. tengo => teng OR cierro => cierr
3. If the verb was -er or -ir, add -a; if it was -ar, add -e. teng => tenga OR cierr => cierre

There are some irregular ones, like: ser => sea, ir => vaya, estar => esté and a couple others.

For tú, it's even easier. Most of the time, it's the same as the Ud. form in the regular present tense (like hablar => habla). There are a few irregular ones also, like tener => ten, venir => ven, decir => di, and so on.