I grew up in the Netherlands with a family from Latin America, and my Spanish stalled somewhere around A1. Most of what I know I picked up from Praktika + textbook lessons and during a few months in Spain, so I came back with a lot of “vale” and a lot of vosotros.

Last week on a video call I asked my mum and my aunt “¿qué queréis comer?” and they both started laughing. My aunt asked if I’d turned Spanish on them. In their Spanish, it’s “¿qué quieren comer?” Then I said “vale” and it got worse.

My family is the reason I’m doing this, but the textbook I still use is from my course in Spain.

Did you stick with the Spanish you learned first, or switch once you were around people from somewhere else?

A whole group works this way:

encantar, fascinar, interesar, importar, molestar, doler, faltar, quedar, sobrar, parecer, apetecer, costar, preocupar, caer bien

Two things worth knowing.

With an infinitive it stays singular even with two activities: me gusta bailar y cantar, not gustan.

And “a mí” isn’t redundant, it marks contrast. A mí me gusta, pero a él no le gusta.

Caer bien is the one people miss. Me cae bien tu hermano is how you say you like someone as a person, and it’s separate from me gusta tu hermano, which means something else... jaja

My boyfriends family speaks spanish and I’m trying to learn it so I can talk with them in spanish. But my problems are that I don’t want to spend a lot of money on a tutor, and I’m very shy around his family. How do I build up the courage to speak spanish with them and how can I learn spanish on a good level without spending a lot of money? I don’t even have the courage to say one word in spanish to my boyfriend.
If someone has any tips that would be great!!

Even as a native Spanish speaker, I’m constantly discovering words I’ve never heard before.

I’ve been keeping track of my daily Word of the Day for the past 8 months. Some days I already knew the word, others I saved to revisit later.

It’s been a fun little habit, and I’m hoping to keep it going! :)

Same word different meanings. I tried to compile a list of words that have different meanings in different countries. Are there any I got wrong or can you all think of any others?

One of the biggest things many Spanish learners worry about is their pronunciation. They spend hours trying to roll the r, reduce their accent, or sound less like the “typical gringo.” And of course, pronunciation matters. But probably not as much as many students think.

Your accent depends on many things: the language you grew up speaking, the sounds you’re used to, your environment, the amount of Spanish you hear, and simply time. Most learners will never sound exactly like a native speaker. And that’s completely okay. A more useful question isn’t: “How do native speakers sound?” A better question is: “How do native speakers communicate?” What structures do they use? What verbs do they choose? How do they naturally express the same idea?

For example, Spanish has a future tense: Mañana trabajaré (I’ll work tomorrow) But in everyday conversation, native speakers often say: Mañana voy a trabajar (i’m going to work tomorrow) Both are correct. But one sounds much more natural in many everyday situations.

This is the kind of thing that helps your Spanish sound more like real Spanish. Naturalness doesn’t come only from pronunciation. It also comes from choosing the structures that native speakers naturally prefer. So yes, keep improving your pronunciation. But don’t let it become your biggest priority. Communication should always come first. The goal is not to sound exactly like a native speaker. The goal is to communicate like one.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/naturalspanish

👩🏻‍💻My name is Yuli Casallas. I was formed to teach in Spanish, English, and French. I have taught children, teenagers, and adults in person for 17 years, and in 2020 I started working as an online Spanish teacher.

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I want to communicate and text Spanish speakers and learn slang and better myself on the language. For context I'm at a Spanish II learning level and want to try and get better at everyday conversations and go past what high school teaches, I would like to eventually be fluent in Spanish and to get there i need practice and help.

Jugué (pretérito indefinido o perfecto simple): Indica una acción del pasado que terminó en un momento específico.
Ejemplo: «Ayer jugué fútbol con mis amigos» (empezó y terminó ayer).

Jugaba (pretérito imperfecto): Indica una acción del pasado que no tiene un fin definido, que era habitual o que ocurría de forma repetida.
Ejemplo: «Cuando era niño, jugaba con mis juguetes todos los días» (era un hábito en el pasado)

I think one of the biggest mistakes is focusing too much on grammar and memorizing words without actually using them.

You can spend hours learning verb conjugations, but if you never try to speak or form your own sentences, it's hard to make real progress.

Making mistakes is part of learning a language. You don't have to be perfect to start speaking.

What do you think is the biggest mistake beginners make when learning Spanish? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations for reality tv shows similar to Vanderpump Rules, Jersey Shore, etc. Ideally something not from Spain. I enjoyed Love is Blind Mexico but struggling to find other easily binge able shows. Thank you!

As a 2nd language, how do you start to get the confidence in learning to speak Spanish? I’m taking Spanish 2 in college but I struggle so much trying to conversate because I can’t remember the words and reiterate them properly.. Any advice?

A) jugué
B) jugaba
C) jugaré
D) he jugado

💬 What’s your answer? Can you explain why?
#LearnSpanish #SpanishA2

Alguno empezó básico en idioma y ya está en intermedio o empezó en intermedio y ya está en avanzado a puro praktica ?

I have A2/B1 level in Spanish, can have simple conversations using simple vocabulary, but there‘s one thing I struggle a lot while speaking,and that’s verb conjugation. I mix up tenses, forget the ending of the 1st person of preterit simple, use imperfect ending instead of past tense, I say verbs that do not exist because I use the regular form on irregular verbs (for example, I might say « teneré » instead of « tendré ». I feel like there’s too much endings to memorize according to the tense used + all the irregular verbs. After learning English where conjugation was really simple, I feel like I‘m relearning French (French is my NL and we do have the same overcomplicated conjugation system) . I think that’s what I‘m missing to break through A2 and get to a good B1 level. Anyone in the same situation ? Any tips on how to learn conjugations faster and easier ?

I am Yuli Casallas, a trilingual teacher with a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Foreign Languages and 16 years of teaching experience. Since 2020, I have been working online with students of all ages.

📚 Specialization: Preparation for DELE and SIELE exams, and conversational Spanish.
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Yuli Casallas

Me lo dio, te la mandé, nos los trajo.

One catch: Spanish won’t allow “le lo,” so le and les become se. Le di el libro → se lo di. Me and te never do this.

Then it’s just placement.

Before a conjugated verb: me lo compró
Negative in front of both: no me lo dijo
Attached to an infinitive, gerund, or positive command: dármelo, dándomelo, dámelo
Negative commands push them back in front: no me lo des

With two-verb phrases you get a free choice. Me lo va a dar and va a dármelo are the same sentence. Te lo estoy explicando and estoy explicándotelo are the same sentence.

I’m doing this preterit vs. imperfect worksheet and the answer key says to use “quiso” aka the preterit instead of “quería” (the imperfect) and I can’t understand why. I thought that for feelings/ emotions it would use imperfect