Tengo que lavar los trastes

Sometimes there are things that we just have to do.  Well, if you ever need to tell someone what that something you have to do is in Spanish, then you'll need the expression tener que.

Tener by itself means "to have".

Tengo 21 años
I'm 21

Tengo dos coches
I have two cars

Add the word que after it and now it means to have to.

Tengo que lavar los trastes
I have to wash the dishes

Tengo que recoger mi madre del aeropuerto
I have to pick my mom up from the airport

You may be thinking "Doesn't que mean what?" Well you're right, it does.  But combine it with the word tener and the meaning changes.  Don't try and figure it out, it's an idiomatic expression and you just have to memorize it.  

Tienes que memorizarlo
You have to memorize it

You'll hear tener que a lot, and if you actually use your Spanish in real life you'll end up using it a lot so commit this one to memory.


Here's a link to a free podcast on tener que.  Be sure to go get your free lesson right away because it won't be free forever.   It's a great podcast and it actually has even more great Spanish you need to know like the Spanish contraction al and the verb quedarse. You'll also learn about the word enamorados (people in love).

In fact, if you want to learn more about enamorados and how to talk about the different stages of romance, then take a look at this blog post:

Soy muy noviera

That's it for today, and be sure to follow or subscribe to this blog by email!  Also be sure to check out my other blogs My Spanish Notes and No Seas Pelangoche.

¡Chao!

Read More

Tuve un buen tiempo

I love to help people with their Spanish.  Every week I'm exposed to many beginners and people just starting their journey down the road to Spanish fluency.  With that said, I hear a lot of the same errors over and over again.  So this the first of a new series of posts called Spanish Blunders to help you identify and correct (and hopefully prevent) your mistakes.

I also do a lot of socializing with up and coming Spanish speakers, and it's not uncommon for me to get messages like this after a social event:

Tuve un buen tiempo
I had a good time

Bless their hearts, I'm so glad my friends are enjoying themselves.  Unfortunately, that's not how you say I had a good time.

In their defense this is a very common mistake, so today I'm going to talk about the right way to say this.

The correct expression in Spanish to talk about having a good time is Pasarla bien.

The verb is pasar and one of it's meanings is to pass, as in to pass time.  Now let's look at a few examples of how to tell someone you had a good time.

La pasé bien anoche
I had a good time last night

¿La pasaste bien?
Did you have a good time?

 ¿La pasaron bien?
Did you all have a good time?

 La pasamos super bien en el cine
We had a really good time at the movies

Que la pases bien
Have a good time

Que bien lo paso contigo
I'm having a good time with you

No la pasé bien
I didn't have a good time

Notice in some examples I used la and in others lo.  So what I really should have said earlier is you can Pasarlo bien or Pasarla bien.  What's the difference?  In all honesty, I would just chalk this up to a regional difference.  Based on my experience I would say Pasarla bien is used in Latin America and Pasarlo bien in Spain.  The truth is you can use which ever version you like, because at the end of the day, nobody cares.

You'll see how fun it is when snows, they said.  You'll have an amazing time, they said.

Pobrecito, looks like he's not having much fun at all.

Lastly, I'm going to point you to a book that will help you fix a lot of the common mistakes people make.

I have a copy of Correct Your Spanish Blunders myself.  It's certainly helped me out a lot.  While there are a lot of Spanish books out there, very few of them give you the return on your investment like this one will.  If you're serious about learning Spanish, you need to have this book in your collection.

That's it!  Be sure look to the top right-hand side of the page to follow or become an email subscriber to this blog to get more great lessons to help you learn Spanish.  And be sure to follow us on Facebook:

Be sure to Like Helping You Learn Spanish on Facebook!

¡Chao!

Read More

Hace mucho tiempo en una galaxia muy, muy, lejana

I run a Spanish Meet Up group in Atlanta and every week the same question comes up, "How long have you been studying Spanish?"  And my answer is always the same:

Llevo casi 10 años aprendiendo español
I've been learning Spanish for almost 10 years

Some of you may be surprised to see that you can answer that question with the verb llevar, but that's a lesson for another day.

There's nothing wrong with that response.  In fact, you will probably impress your Spanish speaking friends with it.  So what are we here to talk about you ask?  The fact that you can say the same thing with the verb hacer.

Enough chit-chat, let's get on with it.

Before I get to how to answer the question, let me explain to you how to ask the question.  For that you'll need the phrase "hace cuánto tiempo".  

¿Hace cuánto tiempo que estudias español?
How long have you been studying Spanish?

That isn't a literal translation, so don't get caught up by that.  Now that we've got that out of the way, let's find out how to answer the question.  It's actually pretty simple.  The same verb you used to ask the question is the same verb you use to answer it.

Hace 10 años que estudio español
I've been studying for 10 years

That wasn't hard was it?  Let's look at another example:

¿Hace cuánto tiempo que no fumas?
How long has it been since you stopped smoking?

You see, hace (from the verb hacer) is your verb of choice for talking about how long ago you've been doing something or how long ago something happened.  Here are a few more examples:

¿Hace cuánto tiempo te mudaste a los Estados Unidos?
How long ago did you move to the United States?

Me mudé a los Estados Unidos hace 5 años
I moved to the United States 5 years ago

Hace mucho que no sé nada del él
I haven't heard from him in a long time

Hace mucho tiempo que no voy al cine
I haven't gone to the movies in a long time

Here are a few other ways you could have answered that last question.  You may not find these in your Spanish book, but trust me they're very common responses.

Hace mucho tiempo
A long time ago

uuuy, hace mucho
hmmm, a long time ago

Notice in that last example I omitted the word "tiempo", but it's understood.

Here's one more example:

We've known for a long time that women bring us happiness.

Lastly let's translate the title of this post:

Hace mucho tiempo en una galaxia muy, muy, lejana
A long time ago in a galaxy very, very far away

If you don't know what movie this line belongs to, well, I just don't know what to say.

Ya esta!  Así de facíl.  Any questions?  I know, I didn't translate that.  Consider it your tarea (homework).

Be sure to subscribe to this blog via email (at the very top of the right hand side of the page) and follow me on FaceBook to get additional tips on the Spanish language and even more free resources!

https://www.facebook.com/HelpingYouLearnSpanish

Oh!  I mentioned I run a Spanish Meet Up group in Atlanta.  Feel free to pay us a visit if you find yourself in our neck of the woods.  Just ask for the Spanish group, everybody there knows us.

Marlees Spanish Class

¡Hasta la próxima!

Read More