Learning tips, Grammar and vocabulary guides and more
Our posts have been written to help with your Spanish learning. The list of posts below can be a good reference for you to check when you have a question and want to learn more. You can also suggest topics for future posts!
Check this list regularly for new additions and share it with your friends!
Grammar:
- Guide to mastering TENER
- Beginner’s guide to GUSTAR
- Impersonal use of SE
- Making comparisons in Spanish
- EL, LOS, LA, LAS
- Beginner’s guide to Spanish reflexive verbs
- 2 ways to use HAY
- Spanish regular verbs in the present
- Contractions in Spanish
- When an accent makes a whole differen
- Spanish possessive adjectives: MI, MIS, TU, TUS, etc.
- Superlatives in Spanish
- -ÍSIMO, -ÍSIMA: Absolute superlatives in Spanish
- Ir + a + infinitive to talk about the future
- Infinitives in Spanish
- Plural nouns in Spanish
- Always plural - Always singular: invariable nouns in Spanish
Vocabulary:
- TÚ, USTED or VOS? A guide for which to use and why
- SER or ESTAR? That’s the question
- CONOCER vs SABER
- 100 common Spanish cognates: Nouns
- Words that change meaning when they change gender
- False friends in Spanish
- PARA or POR?
- 50+ ways of saying COOL in Spanish
- Phrases and expressions with colours in Spanish
- MUY or MUCHO?
- Food words that change according to the region
- Spanish expressions with parts of the body
- Same words different meaning - part 1
- 25 Daily expressions that are totally different in Spanish
Language in use:
- Useful phrases for your Spanish class
- Spanish greetings
- The weather in Spanish
- How to show agreement and disagreement in Spanish
- Restaurant Spanish
- Alternatives to GRACIAS and DE NADA in Spanish
- Telephone Spanish
- Telling the time in Spanish
- 10+ ways to apologise in Spanish
- How to write the date in Spanish
- ¿Con qué frecuencia….? How often do you….?
- 15+ ways of saying Goodbye in Spanish
117 Comments This discussion is locked.
Hey! I just wanted to leave a few things I learned in my high school Spanish class. 1- Adios is only used when saying goodbye for a long time, use hasta lavista or hasta pronto other wise 2- Lo siento is only used as a very serious apology, use perdon for little things.
Hope these helped somehow! I love learning spanish!
Thank you so much! Little distinctions like these are hard to know unless you're surrounded by native speakers I guess :)))
This is great, but it would be even more helpful if it were organized like this: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/3732817/Overview-of-grammar-explanations
Hi! Do you know what to do when there is no way to report an error? Should I just file a BUG report?
For example, Duolingo accepts only "No pagues por ella" for "Don't pay for her" even though other options are also correct answers.
It does NOT accept "No pague por ella" or "No paguen por ella." However, the only choice to report it is "The Spanish is unnatural or has an error." As that's not true, there is NO way to report it.
When something like this happens, there is a little button you can press and explain your option to us.
We read everything! :)
I know the button well and have used it many times. However, there used to be a fill-in form where you could type if needed. After the redesign, that is gone. So, there is no way to explain anything now. I'm very surprised that you appear to be unaware of this change.
There are one to five boxes that you can check and nothing else. In many cases, there is only one option and if it doesn't fit the problem, you are out of luck and cannot report it.
I understood that the way to report when you give an answer that you believe is correct and they mark it wrong- then you click 'my answer should be accepted'-- people review those submissions at some point and update the lists of accepted answers-- I know that was working the last time I was on here for an extended period, and after reporting that way, I got several emails telling me my suggested answer was added to the list of answers that they accept..... I don't know if things have changed so that is no longer an option......but it worked pretty well for the answers I submitted
No pagues por ella is a possible option as well as the the other ones. You can press the little button or i guess if you want to check before you report, you can always go to a site called www.spanishdict.com to better understand why you're right or wrong.
Is there an easy keyboard way to add an accent to a letter? It is taking me too much time clicking on the image on the screen.
There is a guide to various keyboards on Mac, Windows, etc. in the Wiki: http://duolingo.wikia.com/wiki/Guide_to_keyboard_layouts_and_input_methods I use the US International keyboard in Windows 10, which makes it very easy to add accented characters
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You can download a google keyboard in multiple languages depending on your device. Try the app store. Free.
I kinda want to know more animals and not so much of the same animals eating each other Ex: El lion come los monos
Hi,
thank you for your hard work. This sticky is very helpful. I wish there would be similar help in the course spanish from german. It's pretty hard to learn without.
Even it is hard for me to learn from english to spanish it is a helping hand.
best regards Angel
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Just click the up or down arrows. Post a good answer or a helpful comment. Even a positive comment. Here is a lingot for you as well.
Well .. that's a lot of subjects that almost will help us a lot ,, and i wish if you add a list of the most words common in Spanish including nouns+verbs .. not just nouns
and if there are a subject about how to remember all kinds of verbs because there are a lot ,, about ( Tu , yo , ellas ... etc )
and thank you very much for your hard work ^_^
I've used Duolingo for five years and I have a pretty good handle of grammar and vocabulary. However, I have one question regarding the grammar. I can't describe my question exactly, but I have an example. Quiero tratar. Voy a tratar. Is there an "a" after the "voy" because "voy" doesn't end in a vowel and words like "quiero" do? I've picked up a lot and this seems like my best hypothesis. Please correct me if I am wrong.
I'm learning Spanish along with you. However, the "a" after voy is used to indicate a future action. Translating your two examples, "quiero" is I want to try whereas "voy a" is I am going to try. I hope this helps.
Hi Treecie, thank you for your clarification. Forums are useful so we can help each others. I can add to your comment the following: "A" precedes the following verb most of all in "perífrasis verbales". A lot of "perífrasis verbales" require a preposition (a, de...) or some other conjunction (like que, in tengo que). Some examples are:
•Empezar/comenzar/iniciar/principiar a [verbo]: empiezo a comer •Ir a [verbo]: voy a comer
"A" doesn't precede verbs when it can be replaced by a pronoun (i.e., when it's a subject or a direct object):
•Quiero comer — "comer" is a DO, and so it can be replaced by "eso": quiero eso •Me gusta comer — "comer" is the subject, and so it can be replaced by "eso": me gusta eso.
Bottom line: if you can susbstitute the verb by "eso", don't use "a". Three exceptions are "soler", "deber" and "poder", which don't require "a" even though you can't substitute the verb by "eso". Never use "a" before a gerund.
I've found that confusing too. From what I remember from studying French, some verbs take a preposition or even more than one, and sometimes the meaning changes based on which preposition is used.
This link might help clarify: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/spanish-verbs-with-prepositions/
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That is a good suggestion. Phrasal verbs as a learning category would also be great.
Hello, someone who wants to practice Spanish (it's my native language) with me and help me practice English?
Hola! I would like (actually need) some practice in Spanish. But I don't think we can do this here...Any suggestions?
Hi, l would be happy to do that with you. I have only started learning Spanish about a month ago but I am really enjoying it. Hola, Me gustaría ayudar. Puedo leer español bastante bien y hablar un poco ;)
Sí. He leido todos los novelas y "historios" de Harry Potter en Castellano, y hay muchos zarzuelas en YouTube para ver. No logro entender los comentarios de fútbol, pero puedo ver las noticias, como Al Punto, con la ayuda de las capciones. Doy respuestas a preguntas sobre diversos temas en español, inglés y, a veces, francés en Quora.
You guys know what would be more helpful? If people who knew Spanish gave tips to the people who are new to Spanish. So it would be nice of us to start taking requests for Spanish tips that are more easily explained than on Duolingo. BUT, there's a catch: If you need some Spanish tips or advice, you give a Lingot (or Gem if you're an IOS user) to anyone with a Spanish level of 5 or more(or to anyone with a Spanish Fluency level of 50% or more) and then reply on that person's comment with the Spanish question of your choice(state the person's username, so they know that the request is to them). IF you do not have any Lingots (or Gems) and you need the information ASAP, then tell the person you are asking for advice that you have no Lingots (or Gems) and that you need the information as quickly as can be. Other people can also answer you're question for free (since we can't stop them from doing so) to satisfy your needs. Like if you agree with this and reply if you have any suggestions. Also, if you'd like to (seriously. I can't stop you from doing anything. Go crazy) you can start doing this right now(but if you are, leave a comment that you are taking part in this, so everyone knows who's in it or not). That's all I wanted to say. I hope you agree with me, and if you don't, that's all right. (Phew! Writing so much in so little time really wears you out!)
Thanks, this is very helpful! I am learning Spanish at school but I'm trying to get better using Duolingo. This post will be very useful when it comes to revising for exams!
Herramientas de Español
For a future post -- how about the difference between the different kinds of past tense? For example, I'm confused about whether to say "yo estuve" or "yo estaba".
Estuve pensando en tu duda y la verdad que no encuentro una explicación sobre cuando usar "estuve" y "estaba", creo que es cuestión de aprender junto a nativos para saber cuando usar una u otra palabra. También hay ocasiones en que usando ambas palabras te podés expresar bien. Pero también hay otras ocasiones en donde yo elegiría una u otra dependiendo del momento y la situación.
Estuve es el pretérito del verbo estar y estaba es el imperfecto. Son situaciones en el pasado muy distintas. El pretérito es el pasado con un principio y final cuando el imperfecto es una situación que no acaba ex yo jugaba con mis muñecas cuando niño....versus you jugué con mis juguetes ayer.
https://es.wiktionary.org/wiki/estar#Conjugaci%C3%B3n
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gram%C3%A1tica_del_espa%C3%B1ol#Verbo_copulativo_y_auxiliar_estar
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiempos_verbales_en_espa%C3%B1ol
https://es.wiktionary.org/wiki/ser#Conjugaci%C3%B3n
A looooong pero interesante discussion here: [Toma un café grande y ponte tu gorra pensante :-) ] http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/sirveobras/35761630101354941976613/p0000004.htm#22
I agree. I wish you would include some information on present and past tense verbs.
Let's try get helpfulduo's comment to 100 likes and the lingots donated to 15
These lists are very helpful and will be very useful while learning Spanish. Gracias!
enviando publicaciones estado escritas a ayudar con su español aprender la lista de publicaciones abajo puede ser una buena referencia para tu comprobar cuando tu tienes una pregunta y quieres aprender mas.Tu puedes ademas sugerir temas a futuro publicaciones
comprobar esta lista y regularmente para una nueva edicion y compartiendo con tus amigos
nuestro publicaciones tienes estado escrito a ayuda con su español aprendiendo.Lista de publicaciones abajo pueden ser una buena referencia para tu comprobar cuando tu tienes una pregunta y quieres aprender mas tu puedes ademas sugerir temas para el futuro de publicaciones
Is there someone who can explain the difference between the different kinds of past tense? I need a "simple" overview... where can I find it? I think Duolingo is a very nice programm to lear languages! THX!!
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Have a look at this site. She explains the different past tenses very well: http://www.drlemon.com/Grammar/verbs.html
this is a good explanation - gives examples
http://mariaortegagarcia.com/spanish-blog/use-of-the-pasts-tenses/
Ellos is "they" referring to a group of all males OR a mixed group of males and females. Ellas is "they" referring to a group of all females.
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That sounds great. I need to know when to use estoy vs. soy (and things like that).
I was wondering about gender changing meanings as well, and found this article: https://www.thoughtco.com/doubly-gendered-basics-3079264
Strangely, that discussion still shows up in search results, hmmm...
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@DonnaThrog One place that you can find that selection is Duolingo TinyCards along with many other helpful flash cards.
Thank you for this list, Helpful Duo. I have posted a link to this discussion in my Duo Club.
Bebo is drink and tomo is take but is very comon to use when you refer to drinking or eating. the full verb is tomar.
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I don't seethe past tenses preterite and imperfect on the list. Are there tips and notes for these as well?
Do you have Learning tips, Grammar and vocabulary guides and more for English ??
"Learning tips, Grammar and vocabulary guides and more" Could anybody tell me, where could I find all these wonders ?
