The Language Chronicles: El Choro Lingüístico 💬

¿Se dice “talk-ed” con dos sílabas o “talkt” con una? Si alguna vez te preguntaste eso, ¡esto te interesa! Hoy descubriremos un truco rápido y fácil para saber pronunciar los verbos regulares del inglés en el pretérito indefinido - también aplica para el participio pasado. Es simple: si tu verbo termina con el sonido “t” o “d” en presente, se agregará una sílaba adicional al verbo en pasado, / ɪ d/ (-ed) – rate (verbo de una sílaba, /reɪt/, que termina con el sonido t) se pronunciará /ˈreɪ ɾɪd/ (dos sílabas), grade (verbo de una sílaba, /ɡreɪd/, que termina con el sonido d) se pronunciará /'ɡreɪ ɾɪd/ (dos sílabras), bat (verbo de una sílaba, /bæt/, que termina con el sonido t) se pronunciará /'bæ ɾɪd/ (dos sílabas), debate (verbo de dos sílabas, /dəˈbeɪt/ que termina con el sonido t) se pronunciará  /dəˈbeɪ ɾɪd/, etc. Ahora bien, si termina en cualquier otro sonido , no se le agregará una sílaba adicional: work > /wɜɹkt/, row > /ɹoʊd/, laugh > /læft/, meow > /miˈa

[Also see other topics that can be challenging for English-speaking learners, here ] In Spanish, we use two important and common verbs, ser and estar , to talk about different aspects of things and people. These verbs usually have one translation into English (to be) and other languages. Let's break it down:  ESTAR  is used for  incidental, so usually temporary,  conditions - it is like a snapshot of a situation. It comes from Latin stare , which means to stand and is linked to English status , stance , standing , and state . If you know French, you may be surprised to know English stay likely comes from Old French ester (ester>estre>e(s)tre> être) . It describes the condition or state in which something or someone happens to be in.   SER , on the other hand, is used for essential   qualities (not always permanent) and class membership . It expresses   fundamental cha racteristics  and  entity/identity   of what something or someone really is . Very important: such ident

As language learners, we often come across fascinating quirks and intricacies of the languages we study. One such example is the Spanish verb " jugar ," which holds a special place in the Spanish language.  Did you know that "jugar" (yo juego , nosotros jugamos ) - to play - is the only Spanish verb that changes from "u" to "ue" in its present tense conjugation when the "u" is stressed? It follows the same conjugation pattern as verbs like " probar ," ( o-ue changes : pruebo , pruebas , prueba , probamos , probaís , prueban ), " volar ," ( vuelo , vuelas , vuela , volamos , voláis , vuelan ), and " contar " ( cuento , cuentas , cuenta , contamos , contáis , cuentan ). This unique characteristic makes "jugar" stand out from other verbs in the Spanish language. Its history is just as interesting as its conjugation pattern. During the formation period of Spanish, the verb used to be pronounced with a

Note : If you are looking for a thorough review of how to tell time in Spanish, click  here . Why do we say "es la una"  (singular) and  "son las dos" (plural) in Spanish, but say "it's one" ,  "it's two" (only singular) in English? I love questions like these because they get us to question why we say things the way we do in both the language we're learning, but as important, at least to me as a linguist, in our own language. The answer to this question is quite simple in Spanish. Number-gender agreement : es la una (hora implied - feminine singular), son las dos (horas implied - feminine plural). In the past tense, era la una or eran las dos. Question solved! More than likely, though, that didn't really solve the question. We're really wondering why Spanish respects number agreement  with the verb to be , but English doesn't, at least in this case. The real issue, then, is to be found, not in Spanish, but in English!

[This article has clickable sound files in blue.] Historically in Spanish, there is a difference between the sound for "y" as opposed to "ll" , which still exists in several pockets in the Andes highlands (most of Peru and Bolivia, parts of Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina) ,  Guaraní speaking areas like Paraguay , some parts of  northern and rural Spain , and the Philippines , usually among older Spanish speakers . In these places, "ll" is realized as /ʎ/ - calle, llamarse, valle . This is the minority sound in Spanish that is still current in standard Catalan (filla) , Portuguese (filha) , and Italian (figlia) . The consonant "y" in Spanish is pronounced in a variety of ways, with [ʝ̞] , which is similar to English [y] , being the most widespread sound outside the Southern Cone . For [ʝ̞] , the tip of the tongue doesn't rest almost relaxed behind the bottom teeth like in English  [y] . Instead, when the back of the tongue gets close

Hoy quiero rescatar de mis recuerdos de Facebook una conversación entre uno de mis contactos y yo cuando puse que la forma " veniste(s) " es tan o más común que la versión normativa " viniste ". Mi contacto comentaba bromeando que él usaba la más vistosa y fonéticamente jocosa palabra " vinites " - ok, no usó exactamente esas palabras, pero esa era la idea. Y claro, su comentario desencadenó mi respuesta sobre un proceso lingüístico llamado metátesis : Ese proceso es muy común en la evolución de los idiomas - evolución pasada y presente. Sucedió con " axe " (" aks ") y " ask " en inglés medio (" ax " todavía está vigente en el inglés vernáculo afroamericano - AVE ), sucedió con " peligro " y "periglo" (de Latín períc[u]lum > periclu > periclo > periglo) y con " palabra " y " parabla " (de Latín paráb[o]la > parabla) en la evolución del latín popular al español, suc

For frequent mistakes in Spanish, click here . If you're on your browser, open the below image in a separate tab for best resolution. Another frequent mistake by Portuguese language learners is the formation of plurals with words ending in -l  - click the link for an explanation that will hopefully make it clear for you.  

[Bajar para español] To pave the way for a comparison between the shared simple past tense of “ir” and “ser”, let’s begin with the complex history of “ser”. Its origins combine Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésti (to be) and *bʰuH- (to become or to grow) via Latin “esse.” Its simple past forms, “fui, fuiste, fue,” link to the *bʰuH- root, which also appears in English "be" and German "bist." Other forms like “es,” “eres”, and “soy” via archaic Latin esum from esse link to *h₁ésti. This phenomenon of filling in gaps in verb conjugations or alternating roots, is called suppletion. Another instance occurred with the Latin verb sedere (to sit) > se(d)ere > Old Spanish seer> “ser” replacing the Latin infinitive “esse”. Examining "ir," the Spanish verb "to go," reveals another case of suppletion. The Latin verb “ire” complemented its conjugations in early Romance or Old Spanish and Galician-Portuguese with other verb forms. In the present tense, speak

why are there stem-changing verbs in Spanish? Short answer : Because of the distinction that was already lost in Vulgar Latin between long and short vowels in the evolution from Latin to modern Spanish.  Long answer : In Latin, long vowels were additionally naturally tense , while short vowels were additionally more relaxed . This makes sense, since to say a loooooong vowel, the muscles of the mouth have to be more tense than when you say a short vowel. When vowels were reduced from 10 in Latin to 5 in Modern Spanish , "things happened";  and among these, there was a phase where there came to be two vowels that had a closed or open quality ... "o" and "e" like in Portuguese.  Coincidence? I think not. Other Romance languages like Galician , Catalan , Italian , and French , in fact, stopped at this stage of evolution during the Vulgar Latin stage, with respect to "o" and "e" and remain today with at least 7 oral vowels , where the