Reference · module 36
Saying it your way
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Moving the words around
Put the emphasis where you want it.
- Spanish word order is free enough to carry meaning: Llegó Juan announces Juan; Juan llegó reports what Juan did.
- Anything moved to the front is emphasised: A mí no me lo dijo. Eso no lo sabía. The pronoun is then repeated.
- An adjective before the noun is subjective rather than distinguishing: un gran hombre against un hombre grande.
The mistake you are about to make
Eso no sabía.
Eso no lo sabía.
Fronting the object for emphasis also needs a pronoun repeating it: eso no lo sabía.
The endings that add feeling
Use the diminutives and what they really say.
- -ito rarely means small. Un momentito is a friendly moment; ahorita is a softened now; Juanito is affection.
- -illo can dismiss or belittle: un trabajillo is a little job of no importance. -azo enlarges or hits: un golpazo.
- The ending changes with the word: casita, cochecito, pueblecito. A word ending in e or n usually takes -cito.
The mistake you are about to make
un momentito = a small minute
un momentito = just a moment
-ito rarely means small. Un momentito is a friendly "just a sec", not a short minute.
Saying exactly how much
Grade a statement instead of leaving it flat.
- The scale: nada, apenas, poco, algo, bastante, muy, demasiado. Each one moves the claim a step.
- casi is nearly and apenas is hardly: Casi lo termino. Apenas lo conozco. They sit at opposite ends.
- bastante means quite a lot, not enough. más bien corrects gently: No es feo, más bien raro.
The mistake you are about to make
bastante = достаточно
bastante = довольно много
Bastante looks like "enough". It means "quite, fairly": bastante caro is quite expensive.
Sounding like yourself
Drop the habits that give a learner away.
- Say Vivo en Madrid, not Yo vivo en Madrid. The pronoun is for contrast: Yo vivo aquí, él allí.
- The present covers what English puts in the continuous: ¿Qué haces? asks what you are doing right now.
- Where the owner is obvious, the article is enough: Me duele la cabeza. Se puso el abrigo. Adding mi or su sounds heavy.
The mistake you are about to make
Yo vivo en Madrid, yo trabajo aquí.
Vivo en Madrid y trabajo aquí.
English cannot drop "I", so yo appears every time. The ending already says who; yo is only for contrast.