The Language Chronicles: El Choro Lingüístico 💬

The subjunctive mood in Spanish is a nuanced aspect of the language that expresses doubt, subjectivity, uncertainty, and hypothetical situations. It adds depth to communication by indicating feelings, emotions, desires, or possibilities . Understanding its formation, usage, and triggers is essential for achieving fluency and effective communication. Here's a concise explanation, with a trick, to help you navigate the world of subjunctive verbs in the present tense. Formation and Elements of a Subjunctive Sentence To form the subjunctive, begin with the first person present tense conjugation of a verb, like "hablo." Identify the stem by taking off the ending -o ("habl-") and apply the opposite endings: "-ar" verbs take "-e," "-es," "-e," "-emos," "-éis," and "-en," while "-er" and "-ir" verbs take "-a," "-as," "-a," "-amos," "-ái

[Bajar para español.] The Spanish language, like many others, is a treasure trove of rules and exceptions that sometimes leave even its most seasoned speakers bewildered. One such linguistic quirk involves the conjunctions 'y' and 'o,' which take on different forms depending on specific phonetic environments. In this exploration, we'll delve into the intricacies of these transformations and shed light on a lesser-known exception. The Transformations of Conjunction 'Y'  The rule that 'y' ("and") changes to 'e' before a word beginning with the sound /i/ , whatever its spelling , is a familiar one - tela e hi lo (fabric and thread, remember h is silent in Spanish), Yvonne e Y vette , llavero e i mán (keyholder and magnet), Juan e E than - pronounced   /ˈiːθən/, etc. However, one exception beckons the attention of Spanish learners and native speakers alike. "Y" as an Adverb  The exception is the intriguing use of conjunction

[Bajar para leer en español reseña sobre el uso del ChatGPT.] ---------------------------- Learning Spanish? See here some of the most common mistakes made by English speakers. Learning Portuguese? See here some of the most common mistakes made by English speakers. Você aprende espanhol? Veja aqui alguns dos erros mais frequentes cometidos por lusofalantes. ¿Aprendes portugués? Ve aquí  los errores más frecuentes cometidos por hispanohablantes. ---------------------------- I recently joined a webinar by participants of the Language Flagship Program, a US initiative sponsored by the National Security Education Program (NSEP) and implemented in partnership with my organization. It offers intensive language education in critical languages, including Portuguese and Chinese, with college programs and regional initiatives. Students engage in immersive study and cultural experiences to achieve professional proficiency, enhancing Americans' language skills and global competencies. The

[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

[Contenido en portugués - Content in Portuguese] ¿Ya conocías estas palabras o expresiones brasileñas? ¿Cuáles serían los equivalentes en español? Você é brasileiro e está aprendendo espanhol? Veja o gráfico com erros que falantes de português cometem aprendendo espanhol.  

[Contenido en portugués - Content in Portuguese] [Bajar para español] Na gramática normativa, só tem/há duas opções; ou está certo, ou está errado. Na gramática descritiva, o contexto é fundamental para saber se está adequado ou inadequado. Tem lugar para os dois tipos de gramática, mesmo com o primeiro não reconhecendo o conceito de contextos.  Lembremos que aqueles indivíduos que possuem domínio de um idioma são os mais capazes de se adaptarem a diferentes contextos através do uso de registros linguísticos. Aqueles que usam apenas um registro (mesmo que seja o mais culto), ficam restritos às suas limitações. Um registro é uma forma de linguagem usada em situações de comunicação específicas. Por exemplo, em contextos oficiais, falantes de um idioma geralmente seguem normas formais, evitando expressões informais como "né", "tá" e "cadê", no caso do português do Brasil. Existem vários registros que não possuem fronteiras definidas entre si, então afirmar qu

Para ver una lista de 12 errores comunes en portugués, clic aquí .  Si estás en una computadora de escritorio, haz clic derecho para abrir la imagen en otra pestaña y visualizarla en la mayor resolución posible.   

Hablemos de redundancias y pleonasmos . En cualquier lengua hay redundancias, y algunos especialistas hacen una distinción para pleonasmo cuando es una figura retórica  y redundancia cuando es un vicio del lenguaje , pero usualmente son considerados sinónimos. Sin embargo, no por tratarse de una redundancia o pleonasmo automáticamente se debe censurar - o sea, no es ni correcta, ni incorrecta - solo es, y el contexto determinará si se debe omitir o no. Son admisibles en expresiones hechas o frases utilizadas para efectos expresivos o de énfasis . Por ejemplo:  Lo vio con sus propios ojos. Su hermano le pegó a puño cerrado. Lo escribí de mi puño y letra. ¡Cállate la boca! Insistir reiteradamente/insistir e insistir. Todos y cada uno de nosotros. Voló por los aires. Para contrastar, aquí algunos ejemplos de redundancias que simplemente no aportan énfasis ni expresión, y, por lo tanto, se sugiere evitarlas:  Tener #  años de edad;  no es necesario decir "de edad". El día de hoy;

In Latin, the verb iungere (join or put together) has the past participle iunctus/iuncta/iunctum . From these words, we get words like cónyuge (spouse, "conjugal"), yunta (two bulls that pull the weight in a farm and are joined by a yunta (yoke), juntar (put together), subjuntivo (it joins two clauses), ayuntamiento , etc. Ayuntamiento means city/town hall because people come together for these. Funnily, at some point, ayuntamiento also meant intercourse since you can come together with someone else for different purposes 😉, but it's an old-fashioned word, as far as I know. The suffix - miento in ayuntamiento is also to be found in conocimiento (knowledge), requerimiento (requirement), sufrimiento , etc, and it signals the way something is done or its result. Latin mens/mentis (the mind) ended up being used in Romance languages as a marker of adverbs ( interesantemente, tristemente, correctamente ) because things were done in an "interesting/sad/correct" stat

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

[Contenido en portugués - Content in Portuguese] [For English, see below.] Hoje é o Dia Mundial da Língua Portuguesa A data de 5 de maio foi oficialmente estabelecida em 2009 pela Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP) - uma organização intergovernamental que está em parceria oficial com a UNESCO desde 2000, e que reúne povos com a língua portuguesa como uma das bases de sua identidade específica - para celebrar a língua portuguesa e as culturas lusófonas . Em 2019, a 40ª sessão da Conferência Geral da UNESCO decidiu proclamar o dia 5 de maio de cada ano como "Dia Internacional da Língua Portuguesa". A língua portuguesa não é apenas uma das línguas mais difundidas no mundo , com mais de 265 milhões de falantes espalhados por todos os continentes, mas também é a língua mais falada no hemisfério sul . O português continua sendo, hoje, uma língua importante de comunicação internacional e uma língua com forte projeção geográfica, destinada a aumentar. (Acesse o tex

[Para español, ver abajo.] This article explains two grammatical concepts that share a characteristic - they use particles that are considered optional in most cases, but they provide an  additional   nuance  or  meaning  if used, all while making you sound like a native Spanish speaker ! The use of se for verbs that aren't usually reflexive, which is known as  se aspectual and puts reflexive pronouns me, te, SE, nos, and os to work. And a phenomenon known as  dativo de interés , dativo ético , dativo aspectual , dativo intensivo or dativo concordado, which involves the use of indirect pronouns  me , te , LE , nos, os. Aspectual SE (and its other forms me, te, nos, os) To illustrate the concept, let's use a very common verb: comer . It's a verb that usually doesn't require a reflexive pronoun. You can say "Mi hermana come pizza", and we all understand it's a  habitual action in the present tense, but if I say "Mi hermana se come la pizza"