It is Latin´s fault

Some fine day you decide to learn Spanish, thinking that it will be a sweet and easy step to take... but then you realize you have to think about things that have never been an issue for you, like knowing by heart the gender of every single thing: útero (uterus) is a male noun in Spanish; naranja (orange) is a female one, but limón (lime) is male; sartén (pan) can be both male or female...

What about the verb? A single "eat" may be translated as: como, comes, come, comemos, comen, coma... Or think about the coincidence between the past forms of the verbs ser and ir: both "I came" and "I was" would be said yo fui...

This facts of Spanish are found in other romance languages: Ho mangiato una mela, tu hai mangiato un dattero, in italian, may be translated as: "I ate an apple, you ate a date" or "I have eaten an apple, you have eaten a date". Actually, all this is Latin´s fault.

Latin, that has a lot to do with Greek, left us the male and the female gender (Latin had even a neuter one, but we just keep some signs of it); the Spanish verb system comes also from Latin´s (a mixture of Latin conjugations explains, for example, why yo fui is the past form for two different verbs).

Deo gratias, you will have several clues that will help you to master these details of my language, like the rule (every rule has exceptions...) that says that every noun that ends with o is male and the one that ends with a is a female, or the rules for the 3 groups of (regular) verbs: if you know how to conjugate one verb, you know how to conjugate the whole group.

So, yes, Spanish may be a little difficult sometimes, but think about this: children can speak fluently in our language, we are ca. 600 millions of Spanish speakers in the world and Spanish is the most spoken romance language (47% of romance speakers are Spanish speakers)... There is no reason for you not to became the next Spanish speaker! ;)


2019년 1월 11일
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Alejandra Piña

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Испанский
globe
Мексика
time
7 724
Язык(-и) общения:
Испанский
Родной
,
Итальянский
C2
,
Английский
C1
,
Латинский
B2
,
Французский
A2
,
Шведский
A2
,
Немецкий
A1
,
Японский
Hello, I am Alejandra! :) I was born in Mexico City. I completed my postgraduate studies in Italy, then I lived in Playa del Carmen for a couple of years, and now I am based in Puebla. I hold both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Classics. I worked as a research fellow for the Diccionario del Español de México. In 2007, I started teaching at universities, subjects such as Latin, Italian, English, Literature, advanced Spanish for Mexican students, Spanish writing, and Spanish as a foreign language. I have also been an online teacher for more than 9 years. I love learning languages because I believe they are a gateway to embracing a whole new culture —a whole new world— in a truly charming and enjoyable way. I am currently studying Japanese; it is not only one of my favorite activities, but also a great way to keep in mind the challenges my students face. I love teaching Spanish. Sharing my language and culture allows me to understand and appreciate them more deeply... and I ...
Flag
Испанский
globe
Мексика
time
7 724
Язык(-и) общения:
Испанский
Родной
,
Итальянский
C2
,
Английский
C1
,
Латинский
B2
,
Французский
A2
,
Шведский
A2
,
Немецкий
A1
,
Японский
Hello, I am Alejandra! :) I was born in Mexico City. I completed my postgraduate studies in Italy, then I lived in Playa del Carmen for a couple of years, and now I am based in Puebla. I hold both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Classics. I worked as a research fellow for the Diccionario del Español de México. In 2007, I started teaching at universities, subjects such as Latin, Italian, English, Literature, advanced Spanish for Mexican students, Spanish writing, and Spanish as a foreign language. I have also been an online teacher for more than 9 years. I love learning languages because I believe they are a gateway to embracing a whole new culture —a whole new world— in a truly charming and enjoyable way. I am currently studying Japanese; it is not only one of my favorite activities, but also a great way to keep in mind the challenges my students face. I love teaching Spanish. Sharing my language and culture allows me to understand and appreciate them more deeply... and I ...
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