SPAN 2120 Extra Puntos Capitulo 6

Hola clase! Aquí están las respuestas de los mandatos informales para los puntos extra del examen de Capitulo 6.
1. pon
2. pide
3. lava
4. piensa
5. habla
6. haz
7. mira
8. ve
9. compra
10. di
11. pongas
12. pidas
13. laves
14. pienses
15. hables
16. hagas
17. mires
18. vayas
19. compres
20. digas

Sabías que...

- El mes de los aztecas tenía veinte días.

- Aproximadamente nueve millones de personas en el mundo celebran su cumpleaños el mismo día que tú.

- Una de cada cuatro personas no sabe su signo astrológico.

- Hay teinta y un millones, quinientos cincuenta y siete mil seiscientos segundos en un año.

- Hay aproximadamente dos mil setecientos temblores cada día.

SPAN 2110 Puntos Extra, Examen #1

Hola clase!! I want to apologize about what I said in class Thursday...I DID give you the correct sheet for extra credit points. These are stem-changing verbs in the PRESENT tense, not in the Preterit like I thought they were. My apologies if some of you started to do it in the Preterit tense. Here are the answers for the sheet:

1. piensa
2. pido
3. quieres
4. sirve
5. almuerza
6. pueden
7. comenzamos
8. recuerdan
9.pienso
10. vuelven
11. cierran
12. quiero
13. pedis (vosotros, we don't study this)
14. comienzan
15. almorzamos
16. sirve
17. podemos
18. almuerzo
19. volveis (vosotros)
20. pensamos
21. pides
22. recuerda
23. comienza
24. piensan
25. pedis (vosotros)
26. vuelve
27. comienza
28. queremos
29. puede
30. almuerzan

1. Quiero almorzar aqui. 2. Piensan Uds. volver temprano? 3. No pueden comenzar el trabajo hoy. 4. Volvemos a la ciudad manana. 5. Por que no pides mas vino?

Nicaraguan's using the "Ch"

Today in class we talked a little about Nicaraguan history and I thought it would be fun to post some of the "dialect/slang" words that us Nicas use. For some reason we have a lot of words that are unique to our culture that start with "ch". I might assume that is comes from the phonetics of our ancestors native language, nahuatl. Here are some examples of words that we use mainly only in Nicaragua that start with "ch":

Chavalo(a): little boy or girl
Chinelas: sandals
Chunche: another way of saying "that thing"
Chochada: another way of saying "that thing" (situation)
Chele: non-offensive to calling someone light skinned
Chocho: wow!
Chancho: a pig (both literally and figuratively)
Chapas: earrings

Why the stem-change?

One of the more difficult aspects when learning how to conjugate verbs is knowing which verbs are irregular. Many of these irregular verbs are this way because they fall into the category of what we call: stem-changing verbs. This basically means that not only is the ending of the verb going to change (according to the subject pronoun), but also the stem (main part of the verb) is also going to change.

Why do we have to do this? The main purpose is to conserve the phonetics of the word or provide a diphthong in the word. Another reason might be to avoid, spelling another word. Take for instance the verb jugar. If you follow the rules of conjugation for the present-tense, this verb should conjugate in the yo form to: jugo. The problem with this is that jugo means "juice". The correct stem change for what I just explained would be: juego.

The are also verbs in which we change not so much the front part of the stem, but the ending. Once again this done to preserve the phonetics of the word. Take for example Buscar in the preterit. If we follow the rule of the preterit, and conjugate it to the yo form we get: buscé. The problem with this is that the "ce" together make a smooth sound and the "c" looses its hard sound. That is why we must conjugate it to: busqué

This is very tricky part to Spanish and you just have to remember which verbs change stems in the different tenses. Be careful though, just because a verb changes stem in one tense, it doesn't mean that it will change in all the other tenses. :-)

Gringo

The word Gringo can be a positive or negative term, depending on the context. The word gringo is used to refer to any sort of immigrant or foreigner, especially someone from the United States. Popular myth traces the word to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) or how the Mexican text books would have it as, La invasion Norteamericana. When the Army invaded Mexico, one of the songs the soldiers often sang began: "Green Grow the Rushes-O" and the first two words were supposed to have become the term for the soldiers.
Some scholars actually say that the term gringo actually evolved from the Spanish word griego (greek), which was sometimes used to mean "foreign and unintelligible speech." This was extended to mean "foreigner" or speaker of gringo.

The position of Adjectives

As a Spanish student you have probably always heard your Spanish instructor say that the adjective must always go after the noun, the opposite of what it would be in English. For example: The red car = El carro rojo. This correct, but don't get too comfortable always putting adjectives as the end of nouns.

The example that I showed above was an example of a descriptive adjective and those will always follow the noun. They must also always agree in gender and in form, like all nouns. Yet there are times when the adjective will go before noun. Here are some examples:

-Adjectives that express a quality or fact that is pretty much generally know about the modified noun, will be placed in front of this noun.
La bella ciudad de Paris
El maravilloso volcan de Nicaragua

-Possessive, demonstrative, indefinite adjectives as well as cardinal numbers will be placed before the noun.
Mis dos perros
Este reloj es de mi abuelo
Voy al octavo piso

- When you use the adjective mejor and peor, they will also be placed in front of the noun.
Es mi mejor amigo
Es el peor restaurante de la ciudad

-At times adjectives will be purposely put in front of the noun to give it emphasis in a poetic fashion.
Esta lindo el mar.
La hermosa mujer.

There are also a few adjectives that can change meaning depending if you put them in front of the noun or after, I'll list the most common:

grande
un hombre grande (big)
un gran hombre (great)

pobre
el señor pobre (poor, not rich)
el pobre señor (poor, unfortunate)

único
el hombre único (unique)
el único hombre (only)

viejo
un amigo viejo (old, elderly)
un viejo amigo (long-time)

mismo
la mujer misma (herself)
la misma mujer (same)

Lana

Just like in English, there are many words that can mean: money. Spanish is no different and it can vary from country to county on what the street word for money is. Lana is one of the most common street words for money in the Spanish language. Literally it means wool, but most people will understand it to mean money as well, especially if you are using it in the proper context. The slang use of lana for dinero dates from the colonial period, between the 16th and early 19th century. At that time Spain controlled all of Mexico and Central America, and most of South America. Sheep did not exist in the Americas before the Spaniards brought them, but conditions here were ideal for raising sheep. Given the great deman for wool in Europe, people who had lots of sheep also had lots of money. The wool industry is no longer as important, but the association of lana to mean money is still very common today. Here are some examples of how you can use this slang word:

-Necesito mas lana para comprar el video
-Ese hombre debe tener mucha lana, mira su carro.
-Se me olvido la lana en la casa!

The personal "a"

The personal "a" is a very tricky grammar concept to teach, for the simple fact that in English there is no equivalent. It is used in Spanish before a direct object noun that refers to a specific person or persons. When the direct object is a definite person or persons, an "a" goes before the noun. ( Remember, the direct object receives the action. You can find out the direct object by saying the subject and verb and then asking the question what? or whom?)

You can also use the personal "a" when the direct object is quien(es) or is a indefinite expression such as alguien or nadie.

If you choose to personify an object such as an animal or anything else, then you have to use the personal "a" once again. Example: Voy a llevar a mi perro.

You must also leave out the personal "a" after the verb tener when it means to possess.

This grammatical concept, is a tricky one, but Spanish speakers use it all the time and if you don't use it correctly or don't use it all, it could make you sound funny. I'll list a few more examples on when the personal "a" is used:

-Necesito ver a mi esposo.
-Visito a Pedro y a Maria.
-Yo tengo un perro.
-A quien esperas?
-Puedes llamar a mi hijo.

El Cuate

The word Cuate is used mainly amongst Mexican’s. It is a slang word that means: a good friend or buddy. Although the word is very common, it is actually a word that was derived from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs.

The Aztecs were Mexico’s most powerful Native group. One of their great gods was, Quetzalcoatl, who was represented as a feathered serpent. But coatl, the Nahuatl word for serpent, has also come to mean twin, for Quetzalcoatl was the twin brother of another god, Xolotl. The form and meaning of coatl eventually evolved into cuate, meaning a very close friend.

Here is an example on how it can be used:
Conoces a Roberto?
-Claro que sí, es mi cuate.

Grammatical Terms

Here are a few general grammatical terms that are frequently used for teaching Spanish.

Adjective: Describes a noun. In Spanish, the adjective has to agree in gender and in form to the noun.

Noun: A person, place, thing or thought. In Spanish, nouns are either masculine or feminine.

Article: The article generally goes before the noun. A definite article translates to: “the”. The indefinite article translates to: “a” or “some”. Articles must agree in gender and in form to the noun it modifies.

Verb: Basically a word that describes an action.

Verb-ending: Every verb in Spanish will end in either –ar, -er or –ir. These are also the verb endings, and are usually replaced when the verb is conjugated.

Stem of a verb: It is the main part of the verb or what is left after taking off the verb ending.

Stem-Change: Refers to the action of having the stem of the verb change when it is conjugated to a certain tense.

Preposition: Is a word that connects words and, according to the thought expressed in the sentence, serves to indicate the relationship between the words.

Gender: In Spanish every noun has a gender, either masculine or feminine. This is very important, because all adjectives have to agree with the noun's gender.

Singular/Plural: Singular means when you are indicating just one object. Plural, when you are indicating two or more objects.

Conjugation: The modification of a verb, according to what tense or mood you desire it to be.

Adverbs: A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

Compositions

I just want to remind everyone that every other week, you will have to turn in a composition. Each composition will have a different theme to write about. Please make sure that the compositions are typed and 1 page long. No more, no less. Once you turn in the composition, you have recieved 1/2 the points. After I hand back the corrections to your composition, you will then make the corrections and hand them back (with the original) to me for the remaining 1/2 points. It's a rather long process, but this insures that everyone is learning from their mistakes. I hope this clarifies any confusion. If you are not able to bring the composition to class, make SURE that you email me a copy at once. Gracias!

Hola Clase!

Aqui esta el primer Blog! Espero que esto trabaje!