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Bill_N

Jun 4, 2003, 5:20 PM

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Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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Mis collegues estimados, I am taking my first "adult education" class in Spanish one night a week for two hours each week. We have had a total of six classes. Each week we must prepare a narrative on different themes. This is for practicing certain constructions and vocabulary. We are only learning present tense verbs in this class but our profesora showed us that we can make "future tense" by using "ir + infinitive" construction which is the same as in English. I am going to "do something". Please understand that I have no flexibility with Spanish as yet. My narrative is limited and silly because for this assignment we are to "go shopping" for our family members. Where will we shop? What will we buy them? How will they like it or why are we buying them this item? If you wish to offer any suggestions, I would welcome them. I understand there may be better ways to say these things but please read this within the context of "a beginner's attempt". I hope it is at least comprehensible. Gracias
Memo

La tarea de la escuela de Memo - Número Seis

Yo voy a comprar para mi familia. Para mi esposa voy a gastar mucho dinero. Yo voy a ir a la relojería. Yo voy a comprar el anillo oro diamante grande con los aretes que emparejan. Ella va a usar ellos y ella va a gustar ellos. Para mi nuera, Carmen, voy a comprar la pulsera plata con muchos esmeraldas. Yo voy a ir a la carnecería. Para mi primer hijo voy a comprar dos salchichas que son hecho a mano porque mi hijo vive en Alemania. Entonces yo voy a ir a la librería. Para mi más joven hijo voy a comprar tres lápices, un libro y el diccionario de español porque él está un estudiante. Para mi mismo, voy a ir en ninguna parte y no voy a comprar nada porque no tengo ningún dinero.

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jerezano

Jun 5, 2003, 6:42 AM

Post #2 of 14 (3061 views)

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Re: [Bill_N] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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Hello Bill,

Colleagues in Spanish is colegas and it is both masculine and feminine. Mis colegas can be both, all male, or all female. To be more specific you change the article: Los colegas all male, or both Las colegas all female. Mi colega can be either so if you want to be real clear Mi colega la profesora Juanita Santoyo or Mi colega el profesor Juan Santoyo. Adios. Jerezano

Brad

Jun 5, 2003, 8:52 AM

Post #3 of 14 (3049 views)

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Re: [Bill_N] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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"to go shopping" is "ir de compras" .

Here is something that may help.

Use a few less "yo"! Spanish verb endings indicate which person i.e. 1st person, 2nd person etc. performing the action. The personal pronoun pronoun is sometimes used for emphasis but many times it is completely unnecessary and tends to clutter the sentence.

Bill_N

Jun 5, 2003, 10:48 AM

Post #4 of 14 (3046 views)

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Re: [Brad] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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Brad,

Thanks for that tip about "overuse of pronouns". I sort of understood that rule implicitly but am still not sure when it is appropriate or not. In general, "not" I take it. I understand that the verb conjugations pretty much take care of the pronouns.

Thanks

Guillermo

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Bill_N

Jun 5, 2003, 10:53 AM

Post #5 of 14 (3045 views)

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Re: [jerezano] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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Jerezano,

Thanks for the correction regarding Mis colegas. Although the gender of words is most often pretty regular, there are those "pesky" exceptions. Thanks for explaining that.

Guillermo

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Bill_N

Jun 5, 2003, 11:00 AM

Post #6 of 14 (3046 views)

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Re: [Brad] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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Brad,

Can you put that phrase "ir de compras" in a sentence of the sort that I was making.

For example, would I say Voy de compras and it would me "I am going shopping"?

Could I say, Voy de compras para mi familia.? and it would mean "I am going shopping for my family.

Also, while I am at it could someone explain how to use "por" = "for" versus "para" = "for" I took a chance and used "para" in my narrative, but it was a complete guess and I have no idea why. Since no one has said anything yet, I am assuming "para" was a good guess. Or maybe you all are just so kind as to overlook that linguistic boo boo. Anyway, maybe if it is not too difficult to explain, someone could show me how to use those two versions of "for" correctly. A few simple examples might suffice.

Gracias

Guillermo

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jennifer rose

Jun 5, 2003, 12:54 PM

Post #7 of 14 (3040 views)

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El Shopping

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And to confuse you even further, "el shopping" has crept into the vernacular.

Brad

Jun 5, 2003, 4:08 PM

Post #8 of 14 (3030 views)

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Re: [Bill_N] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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In Reply To

Could I say, Voy de compras para mi familia.? and it would mean "I am going shopping for my family.

Guillermo

Sure Bill, that is how it's said.

Por vs. para....run a Google search for that exact phrase and you'll get a ton of hits. Find the site that you find explains it the best for you.

Bill_N

Jun 5, 2003, 4:52 PM

Post #9 of 14 (3022 views)

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Re: [Brad] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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Brad,

Thanks for the "google" tip. I found many great places to practice grammar.

Bill

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esperanza

Jun 6, 2003, 6:31 AM

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Re: [Bill_N] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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Hiya Bill...you're making great progress! There are a few ways your escrito could be modified to be more understandable. See what you think about this:

Voy de compras por mis familiares. Por mi esposa, voy a gastar mucho dinero. Voy a la joyería a comprarle un anillo de oro con un diamante grande, con aretes que le combienen. Le van a gustar muchísimo y los va a usar muy seguido. A mi nuera Carmen, le voy a comprar una pulsera de plata con muchas esmeraldas. Luego voy a la carnecería. A mi hijo que vive en Alemania le voy a comprar dos salchichas hechas a mano. Después voy a la librería. A mi hijo más joven que está estudiando español le voy a comprar tres lápices, un diccionario de español, y otro libro demás. Para mi, no voy a ninguna parte a comprar nada! Ya se me acabó el dinero!

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pathall

Jun 6, 2003, 8:25 AM

Post #11 of 14 (3013 views)

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Re: [Bill_N] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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If it's any consolation, those "pesky" exceptions usually come from the Greek, rather than the Latin (which Spanish is mainly based on). Just to let you know that it's not all random action for gender.
Pat

Bill_N

Jun 6, 2003, 1:53 PM

Post #12 of 14 (3007 views)

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Re: [pathall] Ayuda con mi escribo en español por favor

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Pathall,

Thanks for that tip. Yes, mi Profesora mentioned that many of the gender exceptions are based on Greek roots. Well I studied 8 years of Latin between high school and college and I took I think 1 or 2 semesters of Greek. For whatever that was worth. I do see that my study of Latin for those many years is helpful when I am tackling Spanish now. The conjugation of verbs is familiar to me from Latin and the roots of many of the Spanish words I can recall in the Latin. Now if I had only skipped the Latin and studied Spanish right from the start, I would probably be "correcting" posters to this forum instead of seeking correction. Ha ha ha.... Oh well... I'll just keep chipping away and with all of the assistance of Mi Amigos on Mexconnected, one day I'll be speaking Spanish with the best Gringos in Mexico. :-)

Regards

Bill

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quevedo

Jun 6, 2003, 6:38 PM

Post #13 of 14 (2998 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Detalles

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Voy de compras por mis familiares. Por mi esposa, voy a gastar mucho dinero. Voy a la joyería a comprarle un anillo de oro con un diamante grande, con aretes que le combienen. Le van a gustar muchísimo y los va a usar muy seguido. A mi nuera Carmen, le voy a comprar una pulsera de plata con muchas esmeraldas. Luego voy a la carnecería. A mi hijo que vive en Alemania le voy a comprar dos salchichas hechas a mano. Después voy a la librería. A mi hijo más joven que está estudiando español le voy a comprar tres lápices, un diccionario de español, y otro libro demás. Para mi, no voy a ninguna parte a comprar nada! Ya se me acabó el dinero!

¿Pudiera comentar sobre algunos pequeños detalles, estimada Esperanza?

1) Voy a comprar algunas cosas para mis familiares.
2) En mi esposa voy a gastar mucho dinero.
3) ... con aretes que le combinen.
4) Carnicería.
5) ... y otro libro además.
6) Para mí no compraré nada.

Un saludo cordial,

Quevedo

esperanza

Jun 8, 2003, 11:08 AM

Post #14 of 14 (2999 views)

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Re: [quevedo] Detalles

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Ay Quevedito, gracias por los detallitos. Cada que te veo, me enseñas algo más.

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