ALGUIEN HABLA ESPANOL? - Page 6

Muchas de nada :-D

When do you use tenía as opposed to tuve?

When do you use tenía as opposed to tuve?

Tenía is past imperfect - used when an event started in the past, but might still be ongoing - tenía desayuno más temprano - I had breakfast earlier (not the best example but best I can think of right now)

Tuve is preterite or past perfect - an event that has passed and is finished with. - tuve cena anoche - I had dinner last night

I think If I stop and analyse whether Pude usar .... tenía or tuve it will interrupt my flow at the moment - which ‘I had’ do you think is most common? I will use that one whilst I get to grips with the finer points - I left school at 16 with very little education so saying something is pretérito or adjective or pronoun is gobbledegook to me and does one actually need to know what type of word it is to speak a language - I hope not! I am fairly fluent in French just by reading, listening and talking so I am hoping the same will happen with my Spanish! Maybe I am being un poco unrealistic pero aprendo muchas cosas todos los días y mi encanto los gente que ayúdame 💝🙏

I guess I operate on the principle that to fully understand a language, you need to understand the grammar, which is the foundation.  Unless you are wanting to use the language at an academic level, then picking it up as you’ve picked up French will be fine - you’ll be understood and that’s what counts.

As to which past tense to use - the imperfect is easier to form, and you’ll always be understood.  I say easier to form because for the imperfect past, -AR verbs end -ABA and -IR and -ER verbs end -ÍA ... it’s a hell of a lot easier than the preterite which has rules ... except when .... well you get the picture.

Perfecto maestro Darío gracias. Seré fluida con la práctica .... your tips are muy útil 

🙏

I should probably lay my educational cards on the table. Yes, I can most definitely speqk English, and can do so using correct grammar. However, this has never been as a result of actually studying the language. Far more a product of learning on the fly. I know what a noun is, the same for a verb, an adverb and an adjective. But there it stops. Hearing you guys talk about past imperfect, etc, etc.is, for me, like adding to the English which I know, the Spanish which I want to know and introducing yet another language.

I am of an age when kids took the 11+ and dependant on the result, went to grammar school or not. I was quite a clever lad, passed it and went to said grammar school. However, a combination of very low boredom threshold and a teaching staff that had more thana couple of alcoholics among their number, meant that I was not inspired to learn anything and left whwn i was barely 16.

Anything that i learned inlife after that was self taught, and also because it was knowledge that I wanted to aquire, as opposed to being told that i had to aquire it. Not a great attitude, but i turned out OK.

And so we cone to the present day. As you all know the desire to learn Spanish comes from the imminent move to Spain by my wife and I.

What level do I want to get to?

If I had to sum it up in one word, that word would be, "sufficient."

I can already find my way around a menu in a restaurant. I've has that ability for many years,  but until now, never had any need to go beyond that narrow field.

I now want to be able to converse on a decent, but not neccessarily, a fluent level.

Ask a shop assistant where the sugar is. Give a painter accurate instructions about which wall in the house to paint, and what colour. Tell the doctor Ive got a pain in the backside. Or should that be I am a pain............

Maybe in time, ba able to chat about my beloved football.

I dont see myself being able to read i  Spanish, by that I mean a book. But as long as I can converse accurately on everyday matters, i will be very happy.

You know the one about old dogs and new tricks. Well I'm pretty close to 68.

Again, thanks to all for the help.

Regards .......Lee

Hi Lee, I enjoyed your very entertaining account of where you were and where you want to be - very much our own speed, i.e. products of the good old university of life in the main. I can highly recommend it. The kind of Spanish you are aiming for is easily achieved. We've been living off and in in Spain for over 16 years. Still can't speak Espanol fluently but have enough to run a business, communicate in restaurants, garages, insurance matters, banks and so on..... no problem.

 How did I pick it up sufficiently well to do all that? A combination of listening to CD's by Michel Thomas who largely dispensed with tiresome but sometimes necessary grammar & more recently Synergy Spanish which takes a similar approach.  Very easy to do in the car, at home or wherever the fancy takes you. Would highly recommend either option. No books, no studies as such - you just absorb it as you go along, very easy. Check them out and I wish you well, I reckon you'll be amazed at the progress you'll make. I was., not by any means perfect but it gets me where I want to go every time. Maybe you already know of these options in which case I apologise for wasting your time. Cheers Ann