Reference · module 15
The day, hour by hour
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Me levanto, me ducho
Describe a morning.
- A reflexive verb turns the action back on the doer: me levanto, me ducho, me visto. The dictionary form ends in -se.
- The pronoun changes with the person, not with the verb: me, te, se, nos, os, se. Te levantas. Se levanta.
- With body parts and clothes Spanish uses the article: Me lavo las manos, never mis manos. The me already says whose.
The mistake you are about to make
Me lavo mis manos.
Me lavo las manos.
English washes "my" hands, so mis comes out. Me already says whose; the body part takes the article.
With the pronoun or without
Tell the two versions of a verb apart.
- Many verbs exist both ways. Lavo el coche washes the car; me lavo washes me. The pronoun says who receives the action.
- Sometimes the meaning shifts further: dormir is to sleep, dormirse is to fall asleep. ir is to go, irse is to leave.
- poner is to put; ponerse is to put on, or to become: Se puso el abrigo. Se puso nervioso.
The mistake you are about to make
Voy ahora.
Me voy ahora.
Ir looks like it covers leaving. Leaving is irse: me voy ahora.
How often
Say how often you do things.
- The scale runs siempre, casi siempre, a menudo, a veces, casi nunca, nunca. Most of them sit before the verb or after it equally happily.
- nunca before the verb needs nothing else: Nunca fumo. After the verb it needs a no in front: No fumo nunca.
- los lunes means on Mondays, every Monday. Once a week is una vez a la semana, with a rather than por.
The mistake you are about to make
Fumo nunca.
No fumo nunca.
English "never" works alone after the verb. In Spanish, nunca after the verb needs no in front.
At home
Talk about the housework and the rooms.
- la cocina, el salón, el dormitorio, el baño, el pasillo. Five words and a flat can be described.
- hacer carries most of the chores: hacer la cama, hacer la compra, hacer la comida. Others take their own verb: fregar los platos, poner la mesa.
- tocar says whose turn it is: Hoy te toca a ti. It works like gustar, with the person as a pronoun.
The mistake you are about to make
Hoy tocas tú.
Hoy te toca a ti.
It is your turn, so tú looks like the subject. Tocar works like gustar: te toca a ti.