- Forum >
- Topic: Spanish >
- "Yo hablo inglés."
79 Comments This discussion is locked.
I believe Spanish has some proper nouns lowercase, such as the months(septiembre), and as you stated, "ingles". On the other hand, countries such as España (Spain) and (la) República Dominicana (the Dominican Republic) are capitalized, as many of my fellow commenters stated. Again, I'm not very fluent in Spanish, so correct me if I'm wrong.
326
Take Notes:
"Proper Nouns" name people, places, and things. Every noun is classified as either a common or proper noun. A proper noun has two distinctive features: 1) it will name a specific [usually a one-of-a-kind] item, and 2) it will begin with a capital letter no matter where it occurs in a sentence.
In the Spanish language:
NO: Do not capitalize "señor" or "señora" (Mr./Mrs.) even if used as a title before the proper name.
YES: Do capitalize "Sr."/"Sra." (Mr. Mrs.) if used before a proper name as a title. This is the same in English: we don't capitalize mister or ma'am but we do capitialize Mr./Mrs.
YES: Do capitalize the first letter of each word in newspaper and magazine titles/headlines.
YES: Do capitalize religious festivals and national holidays.
NO: Do not capitalize the first letter of each word in titles of books, films, and works of art, EXCEPT for the first word. In English, you do capitalize the first letter of each word.
NO: Do not capitalize the days of the week; months of the year; languages; nationalities; religions; nor the first word in geographical names.
Accents are very important in the spanish language. Without them, we would not be able to tell the difference between many words. For instince, the word 'bebe' is the 3rd person singular form of the word 'beber' to drink. But the word 'bebé' means baby. If you don't put on the accent, you can't really tell the difference between these words outside of context. Duolingo may not get on to you about them, but it is wise to get used to using accents now while you are learning the language.
326
@RoseAnneTa:
"el"/"la" are masculine/feminine definite articles you would use in Spanish for masculine or feminine nouns: in English, it is the word "THE." NOTE: "el" does not have an accent on the "e."
"Habar" is a verb that means "to speak" and the conjugations are:
Yo hablo (I speak)
Tú hablas (you speak) accent on the "ú" (singualr, informal)
Usted habla (you speak) singular, formal
Ustedes hablan (you speak) plural formal
Él / Ella hablan (He/She speaks) NOTE: "Él" has an accent on the "É"
Ellos/Ellas hablan (They speak)
Nosotros hablamos (We speak)
144
Would you actually bother with the pronoun normally? Having learned a bit of Latin in my youth I am tending to omit it, and Duo is ok with that, but I don't know which version would be normal usage. Does the pronoun not just add emphasis?
You can use it for comparisons: Yo hablo inglés y él habla español. In that case, it doesn't sound natural to omit it.
In this case, we would add it if, for example, someone was talking about the language(s) somebody else speaks, and then you go: (And) I speak English:
-
Además del español, ¿qué idioma hablan ustedes?
- Yo hablo inglés
- Yo hablo alemán
If you were already talking about that person, you wouldn't normally add it: (Yo) hablo inglés en la escuela y con mi familia hablo en español.
326
It's like that in just about every language. In English, you might say "That is not!" as "That's NOT!" and someone might hear "That's SNOT!"
326
@harsalanpoor:
When writing or speaking the English language, we have to use the word "speak" when referring to languages: you would say "I speak English," OR "I enjoy speaking in other languages," "I speak Spanish rather well." "I am learning to speak French" YOU DO NOT USE "TALK" WHEN YOU REFER TO A LANGUAGE. Also, the word "english" must be capitalized "English."
326
@RebeccaDanzig:
The Spanish language does not capitalize languages, nor nationalities. The Spanish word "inglés" can mean either the language English OR the nationality of Englishman from England. In this lesson, Duolingo wants you to put "English" (language). "Yo hablo inglés" = I speak English.
326
@TheDrWho:
The Spanish word for English/Englishman is "inglés" and it is masculine, singular.
326
No, there is no gender in "habla." Even though it ends in the letter "a," that does not mean it is feminine gender.
"Habla" is a conjugation of the verb "hablar" (to speak). You use it for both He /She speaks (Él / Ella habla) NOTE: "Él" has an accent on the "É"
Ellos/Ellas hablan (They speak)
326
@maileue:
I would be glad to help you with both English and Spanish. Here are a couple of tips:
...always capitalize the first letter of the first word in both English and Spanish languages.
..."you're" is a contraction of "you are."
"Your" is possessive and you would use it to say "thank you for YOUR time."
It's a regional variation, but I'd say the most common pronunciation for that letter would be as an English J.
You can listen to native speakers pronouncing it here: https://forvo.com/word/yo/#es