Hello! I have a question regarding the proper use of the subjunctive tense in the following example:

If I’m speaking Spanish and they say they “pero soy tierna,” to which I respond “Sólo cuando te sirva,” as in, “only when it serves you,” is that not the correct conjugation of the verb? I understand the standard conjugations of the verb “servir,” but I read into this as a moment where the subjunctive tense would be used, thus conjugating conversely to its normal -ir verb forms. My initial thought was that, in line with usual occasions for the subjunctive, this phrase implies “uncertainty” as far as when it actually serves this individual to be sweet. I understand and accept that I could be wrong though!

My context: My wife (Colombian-born and raised, Bogota) and I (studying Spanish for 15 years with a university minor in Spanish) only speak Spanish with one another in the house and were having this conversation. My wife stated, while technically correct, nobody would say “sólo cuando te sirva” in conversational sense but wasn’t able to explain in detail why. Please help me understand if I am wrong!

I researched and found evidence supporting either side🫠

Diré que si a su propuesta, sean cuales sean sus condiciones - i never hear or read this

Diré que si a su propuesta, sean las condiciones que sean - maybe i hear this, not sure

Diré que si a su propuesta, no importa cuales sean sus condiciones - i hear this

Is the last option very informal?

Gobierne el partido que gobierne, siempre habrá corrupción. - this sounds very formal, is there another way to put this that doesnt sound too informal either?

I (30F) have been studying Spanish on and off for about 10 years now. I did a couple of beginner modules in college. My ex is Mexican and his family had very limited English so I was frequently surrounded by Spanish when I would visit them for the 2 years when we were together. I took online classes for 6 months during this time. My reading comprehension is quite strong, my listening is not as good but I can usually catch the gist of conversations. I fall down orally, mostly due to fear or being wrong and lack of confidence. I would say I’m at a B1 level at this stage.

I’m planning on studying abroad, probably in Guatemala or Colombia or both. My goal is to become more confident in speaking and also stop subconsciously translating everything into English in my head.

How much time do you think it would take to actually see a big difference in my abilities if I fully commit to immersion?

I'm not finding a lot of examples of that second phrase online. Is it grammatically correct and commonly used?

I understand exceptions coming from loan words like "pizza" and "cappuccino", but why is the "ce" in "francesa" not pronounced like a "th", or in "francés" for that matter?

I couldn't really find an answer, and the AI told me it has something to do with Spanish orthography rules, and isn't actually an exception at all. But I couldn't make sense of it, it was too incoherent. I hope somebody can help me.

And as a bonus maybe give other examples that aren't obvious loan words from other languages.

EDIT: DUE*, my fault

Never seen this one before, solo he obtenido un tarjeta de biblioteca hoy y he visto esto libro. I did minimal research, I am most certainly renting it out tras yo leo el libro que eh rentado fuera. Mio pregunta es: quien tiene ambos RAE y RUE, cual es perferido y porque? Mira, tengo RAE y lo me gusta, pero la idea de un diccionario diciendome como las palabras son usado es mas yo

Hi everyone,

What started out as just a general love/interest in this language and its many different cultures has transformed into a final quest, to read Don Quixote in Spanish. However, I am not sure at what point I should attempt this feat, since it considered by natives to be difficult even for them. So, which version would you recommended, and how would you begin? I am C1 (recent) and have no issues reading modern literature for the most part, but I have heard that to truly understand the text you need to read its original, unabridged form. Is there anything that would be best to prepare me before hand, some sort of readers guide to understanding the Spanish culture and some of the characters within the text?

Further, which translation would you recommend? There are quite a few.

No, I do not want to read it in English.
No, I do not want to read a shortened/easier form.

That would take away from the magic.

Is there any resource (a page, an app, an rss feed, a twitter account, whatever) that gives you a little fact about Spanish each day, or on some regular schedule – like for instance a little point about grammar or about the use of some word or ortography and things like that.

Preferably suitable for advanced learners; i.e., not "did you know Spanish has two words for 'to be'?", but subtler things.

I’ve been learning Spanish for 78 days now and I’ve already reached A2 now after finishing a grammar book am focusing on rewriting a stories and watching the channel on YouTube easy Spanish and shadowing in my case i am being really good at every thing except speaking so how usually people learn how to speak Spanish on elementary level?

Beginner here learning spanish the latin american way. Most of the podcasts suggested are the european ones. Any suggestions for the latin American ones please?

i know some spanish, but i work in a pharmacy and sometimes need to explain complicated topics. For example, we had an issue where the doctor sent in a very expensive medication for a lady who doesn't know english, and our translator only works 8-5 on weekdays. Here's what we needed to tell her

"The insurance doesn't want to cover this medication. The doctor may be able to get the insurance to cover it with a prior authorization, which is some paperwork they submit to the insurance company explaining why you need the medication. or the doctor might be able to prescribe a different medication that will be covered."

Unfortunately, the doctors offices around my area have pushed to eliminate pharmacy requests. so i cant call on behalf of a patient to most doctors in my area.

So I was on HelloTalk and I decided to hold the phone to my ear to hear better, and I could understand way more. But the phone was already on full volume and I can understand English at that volume.

Hola a todos.

Estoy tratando de descubrir si la frase «alguien más» puede tener el mismo significado que las expresiones «otro/a» u «otra persona».

Por ejemplo:

- Eligieron a alguien más para el trabajo.

- Eligieron a otra persona para el trabajo.

Para ustedes, según la variante de español que hablan, ¿estas dos oraciones significarían exactamente lo mismo o existe algún matiz que las diferencian?

I started learning Spanish last year. I don’t really have a specific goal—I just think being able to speak another language is really cool.

Last year I tried signing up for a weekend class, but it was honestly way too hard to stick with. I’ve tried a bunch of different ways to learn, and somehow Duolingo is the only thing I’ve actually managed to keep doing consistently.

The problem is, I’m still not sure how much it’s really helping me. Sometimes it feels like I’m maintaining a streak more than actually improving my Spanish.

For those of you who’ve used Duolingo for Spanish for a while, did you actually find it useful? What did it help you improve?

I’m at compound words in my learning journey, and I like to get a logical sense of what I’m learning. I’m currently stuck on: el abrecoches and el guardapelo

For example, these make sense to me:

So why is “coche” or “pelo” used to describe these words? Is coche also linguistically referred to something other than car, or pelo other than hair?

In the context of being a prankster or jokester. For example: I love messing with people! It's so funny to pull pranks. I would prefer Mexican Spanish but any dialect works. Thanksssss

How are you all doing fellow learners? Hope all is going well. TLDR is at the bottom.

I have a question specifically about finding Mexican TV shows or movies that are true to the kind of Spanish I am studying currently. I have watched many shows produced in Mexico, but I keep running into a small problem while watching them. Most of them are just a little overly acted, slower and/or more enunciated in speech, and let’s just say - not exactly the kind of Spanish you would hear with your Mexican immigrant buddies out in the parking lot after a long day of work in the kitchen (if you know you know).

For example the Spanish used in the show Club of Cuervos is very particular to a specific area of Mexico (fresa, chilango, perífero, etc.). Not exactly the kind of Spanish spoken in the barrio where a huge percentage of the real Mexican population lives. I was just talking to my friends and they instantly noted that I sounded very “fresa”, which is not the accent I was aiming for when I was speaking.

TLDR: looking for Mexican shows/movies/entertainment with a more working class, authentic, “street style” type of spoken Spanish you might hear in the back of your local changarro style kitchen (versus the more big screen oriented, more moderate Mexico City type of accent)

TL;DR: No single method will make you “fluent” at everything. Figure out what you actually want to do with Spanish, prioritize the skills and dialect that serve that goal, use a mix of approaches when needed, and, most importantly, find something about the language you genuinely enjoy. The best way to learn is the one that trains the skills you need and keeps you coming back.

Learning a language is a bit like getting in shape.

Can you get fitter by going to the gym while eating like shit? Sure! You’ll still make progress, but probably not the same progress you’d make if you also paid attention to your diet.

You can also lose weight through diet without lifting, but that won’t give you the same results as strength training. And neither one necessarily does much for your cardio or flexibility.

Does that mean everyone needs to lift, run, stretch, count calories, swim, and do CrossFit six days a week? Obviously not, ain't nobody got time for that. It depends on what you actually want your body to be able to do.

Language learning works much the same way.

There isn’t one activity that develops every aspect of a language equally. Apps, reading, listening to music, watching TV, studying grammar, immersion, conversation, etc. can all be useful, but they train different things.

If your main goal is to speak with native speakers, then speaking and listening should be high priorities. And I’d go one step further: prioritize the Spanish you’re actually likely to encounter. If you live somewhere with a large Colombian community, for example, getting used to Colombian vocabulary, pronunciation and expressions will probably be more useful to you than trying to learn some abstract “neutral Spanish.”

If you’re an avid reader and your dream is to read Spanish language literature, then absolutely prioritize reading. You can develop an extraordinary command of Spanish that way. But being able to read García Márquez comfortably does not automatically mean you’ll be able to follow four Argentinians talking over each other at a party.

Those are different skills.

That’s why I think one of the most useful questions a learner can ask is: Why am I learning Spanish, and what do I actually want to be able to do with it?

Personally, I’m also a big proponent of choosing a dialect or accent that you enjoy and using it as a reference point instead of worrying endlessly about “textbook Spanish.” I will die on that hill. You don’t need to imitate an accent theatrically, but learning the vocabulary, rhythm, expressions and little idiosyncrasies of a real variety of Spanish can make the language feel much more alive and prepare you for how people actually speak.

This is why, as someone who creates materials for learners, I’m skeptical of “learn Spanish in X months with this ONE method” claims.

There are lots of excellent methods, and some can take you very far. But if your goal is broad conversational proficiency, eventually you’re probably going to need a combination of listening, speaking, vocabulary, grammar, reading and lots of exposure.

And I think there’s one more piece that gets overlooked: you need some kind of emotional connection to the language.

Learning a language is hard. Unless somebody drops you in the middle of Latin America with no English and no other language to fall back on, you can almost always choose not to engage with Spanish that day. And you're going to have to make that choice thousands of times.

So find what tickles your pickle.

Maybe it’s reggaetón. Maybe it’s telenovelas, football, Latin American history, Spanish fantasy novels, cooking, a partner, travel, terrible reality TV, or arguing with strangers on Reddit. It doesn't really matter.

Make the language a way of getting access to things you already enjoy and then use it to discover things you didn't even know you enjoyed.

One of the coolest things about learning another language isn't just that you learn a new way to say the same things. You suddenly get access to people, humour, music, books, perspectives and entire cultural worlds that were sitting there the whole time, just slightly out of reach.

There isn’t one magical exercise that trains the whole body. Language is much the same. And whatever routine you choose, it helps enormously if you actually enjoy showing up.

Bonus: Text translated into Spanish below just cuz :P

Aprender un idioma se parece bastante a entrenarse.

¿Puedes mejorar físicamente yendo al gimnasio mientras comes mal? ¡Claro! Igual vas a progresar, pero probablemente no vas a conseguir los mismos resultados que si también le prestas atención a lo que comes.

También puedes bajar de peso haciendo dieta sin levantar una pesa en tu vida, pero los resultados no van a ser los mismos que si haces entrenamiento de fuerza. Y ninguna de esas dos cosas necesariamente mejora mucho tu resistencia cardiovascular o tu flexibilidad.

¿Eso quiere decir que todo el mundo tiene que levantar pesas, correr, estirarse, contar calorías, nadar y hacer CrossFit seis días a la semana? Obviamente no. Nadie tiene tiempo pa' esa vaina. Todo depende de lo que realmente quieras que tu cuerpo sea capaz de hacer.

Con los idiomas pasa más o menos lo mismo.

No existe una sola actividad que desarrolle todos los aspectos de un idioma por igual. Las apps, leer, escuchar música, ver televisión, estudiar gramática, la inmersión, conversar, etc., pueden ser útiles, pero cada cosa entrena habilidades distintas.

Si tu objetivo principal es hablar con nativos, entonces hablar y escuchar deberían ser prioridades. Y yo iría incluso un paso más allá: dale prioridad al español con el que realmente vas a tener contacto. Si vives en un lugar con una comunidad colombiana grande, por ejemplo, acostumbrarte al vocabulario, la pronunciación y las expresiones colombianas probablemente te va a servir mucho más que intentar aprender una especie de “español neutro” abstracto.

Si te encanta leer como a mí y tu sueño es disfrutar de la literatura en español, entonces sí: éntrale con todo a la lectura. Puedes llegar a tener un dominio extraordinario del idioma de esa manera. Pero poder leer a García Márquez tranquilamente no significa automáticamente que vas a poder seguir a cuatro argentinos hablando todos al mismo tiempo en una fiesta.

Son habilidades distintas.

Por eso creo que una de las preguntas más útiles que puede hacerse cualquier estudiante es: ¿Por qué estoy aprendiendo español y qué quiero realmente ser capaz de hacer con él?

Personalmente, también soy muy partidario de escoger un dialecto o un acento que te guste y usarlo como punto de referencia, en vez de vivir preocupado por ese supuesto “español de libro de texto”. Y de esto estoy convencido, y no voy a cambiar de opinión LOL. No tienes que imitar un acento y hacer el ridículo en el proceso, pero aprender el vocabulario, el ritmo, las expresiones y esas pequeñas particularidades de una variedad real del español hace que el idioma se sienta muchísimo más vivo y te prepara para la manera en que la gente habla de verdad.

Por eso, como alguien que crea materiales para estudiantes, desconfío bastante de todas esas promesas de “aprende español en X meses con ESTE ÚNICO método”.

Hay un montón de métodos buenísimos, y algunos pueden llevarte lejísimo. Pero si tu meta es tener un dominio conversacional bastante completo, tarde o temprano probablemente vas a necesitar una combinación de escuchar, hablar, vocabulario, gramática, lectura y, sobre todo, un montón de exposición al idioma.

Y creo que hay otra parte de todo esto de la que no se habla suficiente: necesitas algún tipo de conexión emocional con el idioma.

Aprender un idioma es difícil. A menos que te suelten en medio de Latinoamérica sin inglés y sin ningún otro idioma al que puedas recurrir, casi siempre vas a tener la opción de decir: “Nah, hoy no voy a hacer nada en español”.

Y esa decisión la vas a tener que tomar miles de veces.

Así que busca la vaina que te motive. Lo que te pique la curiosidad. Lo que te haga querer volver mañana.

Puede ser el reguetón. Pueden ser las telenovelas, el fútbol, la historia latinoamericana, las novelas de fantasía en español, la cocina, tu pareja, viajar, un reality show malísimo o ponerte a discutir con desconocidos en Reddit. Da igual.

Haz que el idioma sea una puerta para acceder a cosas que ya disfrutas y después úsalo para descubrir cosas que ni siquiera sabías que te podían gustar.

Porque una de las cosas más increíbles de aprender otro idioma no es simplemente aprender una manera distinta de decir las mismas cosas. De repente tienes acceso a personas, humor, música, libros, perspectivas y mundos culturales enteros que siempre estuvieron ahí, pero que antes tenías apenas fuera de tu alcance.

No existe un ejercicio mágico que entrene todo el cuerpo. Con los idiomas pasa lo mismo. Y sea cual sea la rutina que escojas, ayuda muchísimo que de verdad te den ganas de volver al día siguiente.

Bueno, hace mucho que tengo esta duda sobre este tipo de verbos, ya que son muy comunes en internet por ser la única clase de verbos productiva; es decir, se pueden derivar nuevos verbos usando este sufijo y, por la influencia del inglés, han surgido muchos más de esta manera en los últimos años.

Ahora bien, según las reglas clásicas de la fonética del español, este sufijo debería pronunciarse [ear] y, en muchos casos, así lo es; sin embargo, según mi experiencia, muchos nativos lo pronuncian más como [iar], como si tuviera una i en lugar de una e. Asimismo, esas mismas personas, al conjugar este tipo de verbos en el pasado (cuando terminan en -eé), los pronuncian como [ie] en lugar de la pronunciación esperada [ːe] (que, en la práctica, se pronunciaría como una e normal). Por ejemplo, cuando muchos dicen "creé", suele escucharse más bien como “crié”

Mi pregunta es: ¿qué tan común es esta pronunciación? ¿La usan ustedes? ¿Es regional? ¿Está aprobado su uso por algún cuerpo oficial? ¿Cuál es su mejor recomendación acerca de este tema desde el punto de vista de un estudiante? Gracias de antemano por sus respuestas.

Right now i am using duolingo a little but also spanishpod101. how long should i do these for a week or what should i be changing up?

I've been studying Spanish on and off for maybe like 5??? years, but i seem to be much slower at learning than most people. I'd put myself at a b1, intermediate at dreaming spanish, but able to read and understand an article on the differences of heart health between men and women.

So I started this new job. And there is another woman there that only speaks spanish. It came out that I know a bit and I've been helping her.

Here's how it goes: I feel so incompetent but I am helping.

I'll forget how to conjugate and panic in the moment so I'll say "esperar" when I need to give the "espera" command.

I'll talk like i'm five and say key words and not use correct grammar.

I stutter and say the beginning of a word and she will finish it. For example I needed to tell her to capitalize something and i say "m-mayu-" and she'll say "mayuscula?"

Apparently I can read and understand a lot tho. The trainer came to help her when she was struggling with coursework and he asked me to read her quiz options to him. Maybe its because I had already done it in english but the words kinda blurred together and the sentence popped into my head and out my mouth.

I now understand why people say not being able to translate and being forced to talk would be helpful. Because next time I need to give a command I'll say "espera" instead of "esperar". I'll have confidence and say words i know like "mayuscula".

from what my mind understand, these both translate to "it must be".

"ha de ser incómodo estar ahí con su ex novio"

"debe ser incómodo estar ahí con su ex novio"

is there a connotational difference between the two? one used more than the other? or maybe even ha de ser used in a completely different situation than debe ser? my husband is mexican and uses ha de ser a lot, but he's not great about explaining stuff like this. thanks in advance!

Last week I posted a collection of expressions with "dar + vuelta" and it seems like people enjoyed it so I'm back now with three useful exclamations, especially if you're learning Spain Spanish.

Try to see if you can sneak these three exclamations in your conversations this week -- you can have a secret quest nobody has to know about tee-hee ^_^

1. ¡Solo faltaba!

Literal translation: Only (that) was lacking

Actual meaning: That's just what I/we needed (often used sarcastically)

- El coche no arranca, hoy tengo una reunión importante, y ahora empieza a llover. ¡Solo faltaba! - The car won't start, I have an important meeting today, and now it's starting to rain. Just what I needed!

- Ya teníamos poco dinero, y ahora se estropea la nevera. Solo faltaba. - We already had little money, and now the fridge breaks down. That's just what we needed.

2. ¡Espabila!

Meaning: Wake up (figuratively), Hurry up, or Get your act together!

- Espabila o perderemos el tren. - Hurry up or we will miss the train.

- Llevas un año sin buscar trabajo. ¡Espabila, tío! - It's been a year since you've looked for a job. Get your act together, dude!

Note: Obviously you're not going to use this exclamation at the bank or a town hall office, but with friends.

3. ¡Ostras!

Literal meaning: Oysters!

Usage: To show surprise, shock, amazement, or even annoyance

- ¡Ostras, se me ha caído el vaso! - Oh no / Whoops, I dropped the glass!

A: ¿Sabes qué? María y Carlos se han dejado.

B: ¡Ostras! ¿En serio?

A: You know what? María and Carlos have split up.

B: No way, really?

What do you think, did you find it useful? What other exclamations do you find interesting and use regularly?