Complete Spanish Blog

When it comes to Spanish in the United States, most people start learning a little Spanish in grade school/junior high and then start taking it full time. (This is thankfully changing though, and many schools are starting Spanish education younger.) However, one thing that does not seem to be standard across the United States is whether people are taught Vosotros. I have talked with many people about this topic: professors, other students, etc.

I am of the opinion that vosotros should be taught instead of completely omitted. Not only that, I am also in favor of teaching “vos” as well, or at the very least, introducing it a few times.

The main argument I hear against teaching vosotros is that vosotros shouldn’t be taught in high school Spanish, because in the United States, students are unlikely to hear it much. While it is true that you don’t often hear much use of vosotros in the U.S., what about all the culture coming out of Spain that students will see, read, etc.? This goes for vos as well. I remember way back when I was in high school and saw sentences that used vos, I had no idea what those strange verb endings were. I remember thinking they were mis-spellings! I think a lot of students that aren’t taught vosotros or vos think everyone uses “ustedes” for plural familiar you, and that everyone uses “tú” for singular familiar you. Of course, both of those assertions are wrong.

I think it would be like teaching someone Brazilian Portuguese and just completely ignoring anything to do with the Portuguese of Portugal (yes, it’s a more extreme example than with Spanish but you get the point).

And besides, isn’t one of the fun things about language learning seeing how a language has evolved in different areas of the world?

There are quite a few Spanish verbs that seem to give native English speakers problems. The obvious problematic verbs are “ser” and “estar” but I’d like to focus on some other ones in this post.

How do I say “to take”?!

From my experiences with native English speakers, most usually just use tomar anytime they are trying to say “to take”. However, when you are talking about taking people or objects to a different location, you must use llevar.

Darse cuenta de vs. Realizar

If you are wanting to say realize, you need to use darse cuenta de. Realizar is used as the equivalent of the English verb to succeed.

Saber vs. Conocer

The difference between these two is that saber will relate to knowing facts, knowing how to do something, etc.  Conocer can better be understood as meaning to be familiar with or to be acquainted with. Use it when you’re trying to say or ask if someone is acquainted with a person, place, or thing.

How to Say You’re Moving

Finally, remember that if you want to say that you are moving (as in changing your residence) that you need to use mudarse instead of moverse.

If you learned Spanish in the United States, it is likely that you have either never heard of the pronoun “vos”, or don’t know exactly what it is. (This might be true if you learned Spanish elsewhere but I am not completely sure.)

The countries that make use of “vos” (in most areas of the country) include: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, & Guatemala.  There are areas in the north of Venezuela and in the south of Mexico where it is also used.

However, don’t worry if you never learned about vos, because you will still be understood if you use tú, and in a lot of the countries that use vos, they will address you in tú if you’re a foreigner.

Wikipedia gives some example conjugations for those that are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voseo