What is the difference between usted and tú in Spanish?
This is a question that many learning Spanish wonder about and may not be sure when to use which in conversation. If that is your case, then I will give you a few pointers that will help you differentiate the two.
First off, you should know if not already that both “tú and usted’ mean “you” in English. However, it’s important to know which pronoun to initiate almost ALL conversations if you are unsure.
Tú versus Usted
I want you to remember that “tú” is used specifically with people that:
are your same age or age group
with close friends / family members (brothers & sisters)
or with those that as asked you to use this pronoun.
Whereas “usted” is used primarily for people such as:
adults
teachers
any superiors
individuals with authority or rank
someone that you don’t know / meet for first time
etc…
In Spanish, why is it so important that you know what is the difference between usted and tú and use correctly?
Well, think about it for a minute. In most cultures, typically you would never greet someone that you don’t know by their first names on your first encounter, right? It is always polite to address the person using titles or salutations such as Mr., Mrs, Ms. etc. followed by their last names. Why? Well, to do otherwise could be considered as a lack of manners, respect or being overly familiar. Some may even feel offended.
In Spanish, using the Spanish pronoun “tú” would be like a person in English inviting you to call them by their first name. This shift in address is like the official crossover from “I don’t you… to now we are cool and friends” stage in my opinion.
Yes, although these Spanish pronouns usted and tú both mean “you” in singular form, it’s important to recognize what the difference is & when it is deemed appropriate to use each.
I hope that this brief overview has helped you to clear up any doubts and to really appreciate what is the difference between usted and tú and when to use them in Spanish conversations.
How to Conjugate Vivir in the Present Tense in Spanish
Today, I will show you how to conjugate vivir in the present tense in Spanish.
Vivir, means “to live” in Spanish and in really easy to conjugate in the present tense. As you can see vivir is an ir verb. To form the present tenses in Spanish, you simply have to drop the ir ending and then apply the correct tail below.
yo vivo (I live)
tú vives (you live) (informal)
él vive (he lives)
ella vive (she lives)
usted vive (you live) (formal)
nosotros vivimos (we live)
ustedes viven (you all live)
ellos viven (they live) for all males or mixed group (plural)
ellas viven (they live) all female (plural)
Now, I want you to view some examples below of how to conjugate vivir in the present tense in Spanish:
Yo vivo en este vecindario. I live in this neighborhood.
¿Vives tú en esa casa roja? Do you live in that red house?
La escuela está muy cerca adonde él vive. The school is very close to where he lives.
Ella vive en Argentina. Shelives in Argentina.
Los muchachos viven en con padres. The boys live with their parents.
¿Donde viven ustedes? Nosotros vivimos en New York = Where do you all live? We live in New York.
¿Vive usted en este edificio? Do you live in this building?
I hope that these brief examples above have helped you to see how to conjugate vivir in the present tense in Spanish.
How to Improve Your Spanish Listening Comprehension Skills
Looking for tips on how to improve your Spanish listening comprehension skills today? If so then we will cover this today on this post.
If you just started learning Spanish, then you are probably having a really hard time understanding different Spanish accents. This was something that I discovered when I started learning Spanish years ago. Keep reading below to see some simple Spanish learning tips that you can apply today to improve your comprehension of the language.
How to Improve Your Spanish Listening Comprehension Skills Using Spanish Tutoring Services
If you are having trouble comprehending Spanish in class, then Spanish tutoring services maybe key to help sharpen your listening skills. Sometimes students may not understand their Spanish teachers in school because they speak to fast. Is that your case? If so, you should try working one-on-one with a private Spanish tutor who can work with you personally and do things at your pace.
How to Improve Your Spanish Listening Comprehension Skills Watching Spanish Movies
You may not believe it, but you can learn a lot of Spanish by watching Spanish movies. I think that one good way to go about this is by watching videos with subtitles. By watching Spanish videos or tv programs, you will be able to improve your listening comprehension skills when hearing different accents.
How to Improve Your Spanish Listening Comprehension Skills Listening To Spanish Music
Spanish Music is great to help improve your comprehension. If you have a local Spanish radio station, you can listen to it daily. If not, try subscribing to radio services like iHeart, Pandora, or even Spotify. All of these have Spanish music stations that you can listen to. They have free versions and paid versions. Stick with the freebies.
Try listening to Spanish music on Youtube also. Try searching for songs that you know already in English. Type in the name of the song follow by “Spanish version”. This will give you Spanish artists who have done a rendition of the same song, but in Spanish. Sometimes you can even get subtitles in English. This is a great fun way to learn new Spanish words and will sharpen your listening comprehension skills.
Example: Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars (SPANISH VERSION)
How to Improve Your Spanish Listening Comprehension Skills Speaking To Natives
In most schools across the US, Spanish is taught with an emphasis on two main countries: Spain and Mexico. However, the reality is that there are 21 countries in the world the official language is Spanish. This means that if you stick to one way learning, then you are missing out on other accents, cultures, idiomatic expressions that you would never learn in a classroom setting. This explains why most students when hearing a Spanish word pronounced slightly different from the way it’s taught in school they are often lost.
For this reason if you live in or near an area where there are a lot of Spanish-speaking people from different countries, you could improve your Spanish listening & comprehension with them and become well rounded with the language. The more exposure you get, the more fine tuned your comprehension of the language will be.
How to Improve Your Spanish Listening Comprehension Skills Using Spanish Software
There are so many Spanish language learning software online that you can utilize to improve your listening skills. One of the main benefits of using them is that you can also hear accents from different countries. Some are inexpensive, while others may cost a pretty penny to buy. I recommend buying a Spanish software that’s in your budget. Most, if not all come with audio CD’s along accompanied by phrase books. To discover more ways to improve your listening skills using Spanish software, visit here.
As you can see in this brief discussion, there are many ways how to improve your Spanish listening comprehension skills. These are just a few of many that can get you going in the right direction. I hope that these tips will not only help you to understand Spanish, but also to build your confidence while communicating with natives.
What do you think about these suggestions? Your comments below.
If you are looking for ways to learn English for Spanish Speakers Free Online, then today I will share one source that is great to utilize.
Whether you have been living here for a long time or recently arriving to the US, you no doubt recognize the importance of learning English.
According to Wikipedia, the English language is not only the official language of the US, however also that of 67 countries and 27 non-sovereign entities. It is said that some 360-400 million are native English speakers.
These figures are quite impressive and might blow your mind. But, I will not bore you with facts and stats about the English language. Rather, I want to give you want you came to site today for: How to “Learn English for Spanish Speakers Free Online“.
How to Learn English for Spanish Speakers Free Online?
Recently I came across a great site called esldesk.com that has some really ways to learn English for Spanish speakers. How does it work? Well, it’s quite simple. Watch this video below on how Spanish speakers can use esldesk.com to start learning English as a second language.
As you were able to see in the video above, esldesk.com is one of the best ways to learn English for Spanish speakers free online. You can learn basic Spanish vocabulary like:
Colors
Days
Months
Seasons
Cardinal Numbers
Ordinal Numbers
Weather
Family Related Terms
Personal Pronouns
Learn about Body Parts
Learn About Fruits & Vegetbales
How To Tell Time
Food
Why EslDesk.com Is Great To Learn English for Spanish Speakers Free Online?
Something that I think you will like about this site is that after each set of English vocabulary that you study, there is a quiz to take. Some students may not like quizzes or tests, but I think they are great because they help to retain quickly what a student has just learned.
After you finished the quizzes that esldesk gives you, you will see your score or grade. This is great because it allows you to test your knowledge quickly while the new English vocabulary is fresh in your mind.
Esldesk.com is simply one of many sources to learn English for Spanish Speakers Online Free. In addition to the free vocabulary, there are over 40 external ESL Links that are extremely helpful to improve your grammar, listening and comprehension skills on the site.
I hope that this site helps you to improve your writing, reading and speaking skills in English. I invite your comments below. Tell me where you are from and why you want to learn English.
Have you heard of Digital Dialects Spanish? If not, then you should know that it’s a great FREE website online with Spanish games for kids.
At DigitalDialects.com/Spanish, parents can find great resources online such as games for learning some basics of the Spanish language. There on their site, kids can things like:
Phrases & Greetings
Numbers 1-100
Food
Animals
Days and Months of the Year
Colors
Clothing
Telling the Time
Units of Time
Fruits and Vegetables
Animals and Insects
Essential Spanish Verbs
Some Highlights of Digital Dialects Spanish
So how does Digital Dialects Spanish work? Well, for many of the sections, you can see an English vs Spanish comparison of various vocabulary. Kids can also listen to audio of the Spanish words to see how they are pronounced in Spanish. After studying and repeating the new vocabulary, kids can play brief Spanish games that help them to remember the new Spanish words that they just learned.
These Spanish games for kids are so interactive that they will have fun while learning the language. As mentioned in the beginning, this resource online is absolutely FREE to use and does not cost anything. If you are a parent who wants to start teaching your kids Spanish, then I think that DigitalDialects.com is a great place to start.
Will Digital Dialects Spanish Teach Kids Everything In Spanish?
No. This is a great starting point to get your kid’s feet wet and exposed at an early age to the Spanish language. Kids can learn a lot of basic terms and expressions that will help them to start speaking almost immediately.
Cons Of Digital Dialects Spanish
Although you can learn many Spanish verbs and useful expressions, you will not learn how to groups these to form sentences. As a linguist, I feel that this is important to really advance with the language and see how to engage in conversations. That is really the only 2 cons that I see with Digital Dialects program. However, let’s not forget that although it has great Spanish games for kids, it is a FREE language learning tool.
Why Use DigitalDialects.com Now?
We all know that kids learn and soak up information way faster than adults. They often retain information and learn things subconsciously. They are easy learners and the format in which Digitaldialects.com is very simple and easy to follow. Kids love games. In my opinion, any language learning resource that unites text with games are a great start for retaining a kid’s attention.
Recently, I came across some other great Spanish games for kids online at Amazonthat you check out also to learn Spanish.
So today I will share with you 10 Free Spanish Learning Programs that you can use to learn Spanish from the comfort of your home. These are some great useful sources that I have found online that are completely free to use and don’t any person information on your part to utilize these. Now, with this small list here below, if you like you can click on them and they will take you personally over to their site.
However, before you review this list, I must state something important that you should keep in mind as a language learner. Free Spanish Learning Programs are limited and will not teach you everything that you need to know to speak it fluently.
If you want to learn Spanish on your own, then I think that these 10 free Spanish language programs below are a great start to get your feet wet. Another good thing about these sources listed is that although you DON’T have a personal one-on-one teacher, you DO have audio to be able to listen and hear vocabulary pronounced which I feel is extremely important for language learning.
How Can You Get The Most Out Of Free Spanish Learning Programs?
These Free Spanish Learning Programs listed above are just a few of many that are online that you can use at your disposal to learn Spanish for Free. They will help you to learn some basic vocabulary terms and preliminary expressions in Spanish. I hope that this list will serve you well and help you start learning Spanish today.
There is one important thing that I have learned to become fluent and master Spanish. It doesn’t matter if you utilize free or paid methods to learn Spanish. It’s essential that you start speaking from day 1 with natives so it will stick to your memory faster. Don’t worry too much about making mistakes because it comes with the territory. Simply strive to use the new words that you learn to form questions and complete sentences to communicate with natives.
Have you used other Free Spanish Language Programs that have been effective to learn Spanish? If so, then let me know in the comments area how it is working for you!
Should you use Spanish Software to learn Spanish or not? Read this first to see what I think!
My name is Wally, the guy behind spanishtutoringservices.com. Today I want to talk about Spanish Software and why I think they are great to learn Spanish. Although this website is dedicated primarily to Spanish tutoring services for kids and adults, this is a question that comes up. People have asked me what I think about the effectiveness of using software to learn Spanish. Would I use them or not? And if so, which programs are the best Spanish language learning software to use?
To see what think about using software to learn Spanish, watch this quick video below that I made at home.
As you can see above there are many different types of language learning software that you can purchase to help you learn Spanish on your own. As mentioned in the video above, I can’t highlight how extremely important it is that practice speaking Spanish with natives in public from day 1.
The 2 initial software that I mentioned in the brief video worked great for me to get nice foundation of the Spanish language. However, although super effective, I must say that one thing I was determined to do was speak Spanish with natives every opportunity I had. This is was a key contributor to my mastery and fluency of the Spanish language.
More About Spanish Language Learning Software
I want you to know that these Spanish software that I have researched and listed above are highly recommended in the industry. If you click any of the 8 software above, it takes you directly to the Amazon site where you can purchase them. If you are already familiar with Amazon, then you know that Amazon provides a money back guarantee on these software. If you have a Mac or PC, you study from virtually any location which puts you in control of your study sessions.
I want to thank you personally for reading this quick overview. Once you decide which Spanish Software above is best for you, start learning Spanish today! I hope you much success!
What is the difference between Preterite vs Imperfect in Spanish?
One of the first things that you should understand is that both are past tenses formed in Spanish. However, to try to keep it simple, today on this post we will focus primarily on examples of AR Spanishverbs using these 2 past tenses.
With these examples, you will learn what is the difference between Preterite and Imperfect so you can recognize them in conversation. For this post, we will use the Spanish verb cantar (to sing).
For conjugation of Spanish –arverbs into the imperfect, you must drop the –ar tail and then add:
yo – cantaba
tú – cantabas
él/ella/usted – cantaba
nosotros – cantábamos
ellos /ellas / ustedes – cantaban
However, to form the Preterite of cantar you will have:
yo – canté
tú – cantaste
él/ella/usted – cantó
nosotros cantamos
ellos /ellas / ustedes cantaron
Typically when considering the Preterite vs Imperfect, the Preterite is used to simply express an action that has already happened in the past. However with the Imperfect, there could be a continued action in place. In Spanish, the imperfect is used to describe something that was happening or used to happen.
To illustrate this I will give a few examples below using the very same AR Spanish verb above cantar to see the difference between the Preterite vs Imperfect.
Preterite:
Ayer yo canté una canción en el show. Yesterday, I sang a song in the show.
Las muchachas cantaron en el concierto. The girls sang in the concert.
Imperfect:
Nosotros cantábamos mucho cuando estábamos en el grupo. We usedtosing a lot when wewere in the group.
Cuando ellos entraron en la casa, ustedes cantaban. You all weresinging when they entered the house. Or, they came inside the house when you were singing.
Today you will learn Spanish days and months of the year. Something that you will notice about the Spanish days of the week & months of the year in Spanish is that their English equivalents are written in uppercase.
The Spanish Days of the Week / Los Días de la Semana en Español
The Months of the Year in Spanish / Los Meses del Año en Español:
Here are some useful expressions to help you learn Spanish days and months of the year below:
el fin de semana = the weekend
¿Qué día de la semana es? What day of the week is it?
En qué mes del año es? What month of the year is it?
Telling time in Spanish is quite easy if you know your numbers 1-60 in Spanish.
There are some simple questions & expressions that you could use to ask for the time in Spanish. Notice some below:
Unidades de tiempo / Units of time:
a second = un segundo ; seconds = segundos
a minute = un minuto ; minutes = minutos
an hour = una hora; hours = horas
a quarter of an hour = un cuarto de hora
half an hour = media hora
Para preguntar la hora / To ask for the time
What time is it? ¿Qué hora es?
Can you tell me what time? ¿Me puedes decir la hora?
What time do you have? ¿Qué hora tienes?
Now let’s look at a few examples of expressions below of how to tell time in Spanish:
it’s twelve o’clock – son las doce
it’s exactly five o’clock – son las cinco en punto
it’s a quarter past three – son las tres y cuarto or son las tres y quince
it’a almost 11pm – son casi las once de la noche
around or about 4 p.m – alrededor de las cuatro de la tarde
sometime between 9 and 10 a.m. – entre las nueve y diez de la mañana.
If Spanish, if you would like to state a specify time in the morning, in the afternoon or at night, use the following:
in the morning – de la mañana
in the afternoon – de la tarde
in the evening – de la tarde/noche
at night – de la noche
midnight – medianoche
a mediodia – noon
Now that you have learned a few expressions about how to tell time in Spanish, why not try practicing these with a native speaker? The more you practice telling time in Spanish, the better you will be.
