I second everything jenna just said!

I know what you are struggling with because we all struggle with the same things. I've been there. That's why I am so good at choosing topics for videos...lol.

It’s very helpful learning subjunctive triggers other than “que ”. Fortunately, 20 years ago, my Spanish teacher taught the Preterite first using Paul’s cognate -ar verb trick, the present second, the present subjunctive third& lastly. The future using ir+a+ infinitive. I’m really enjoying your lessons,Thanks! Keith Briscoe

Glad you like them!

Thanks!

Haha, I like both of them. I suppose that's a compliment.

Con mucho gusto.

Thanks!

I'm glad you like it!

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I want the channel to be beneficial to as many people as possible so I am always open to suggestions to make that happen. :)

También sigo estudiando “peninsular spanish” . Gracias por incluir el formulario vosostros. Estoy convencida de que tu forma de enseñar es la mejor manera de aprender - si quieres hablar el idioma. ❤

You bet!

This comment is so fascinating because native Spanish speakers are seriously perplexed by 'used to' when learning English. It's one of those things where teachers tell you 'You just have to accept that this is how it is'. We just don't understand why it exists at all, since we see it from the perspective of 'soler'. 'Suelo ir al parque' / 'Solía ir al parque' are actually not two different meanings, it's the same thing in the present and in the past. It's like 'In the present, I usually go to the park' and 'In the past, I {past-usually} went to the park'. Since we have a simple way of saying that, we just don't feel the need for a different construction like 'I used to go to the park'. But I would have never imagined that an explanation could be 'I usually' and 'I used to' being seen as carrying different meanings (as opposed to the same meaning in different points of time). And, as a consequence, that native English speakers might themselves perceive 'yo suelo' and 'yo solía' as having different meanings as well!

You're welcome. :)

Aw, thanks. :)

Great use of the construction!

Glad you enjoyed it

I'm glad you like it.

Thanks for watching!

Thank you!

Happy to help!

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

Me alegra que te gustara.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it :-)

That description is a beast, but it's not that tough in actual practice.

You're welcome. I'll be taking a two week break as we travel around Costa Rica the rest of the month.

@@QrooSpanish I remember you mentioning that have a great time!

That's a great example of this construction. I wish I had thought to include it in the video. :)

Excellent lesson Paul. I’m one of those weirdos obsessed with the subjunctive. I would go as far to say that learning the subjunctive will make you sound way more native. It’s worth learning!!!

De nada. :)

Glad you liked it.

More on the way!

Thank you so much!

There is an expression for that: irse por las ramas. Me fui por las ramas. I went iff on a tangent.

Haha

¡Mil gracias !

Verbal comprehension is one of the most difficult aspects of learning any language. Also, people often speak in the past tense and I haven't gotten into that at all in that course by Lesson 6. It is, however, making an appearance in Lesson 8.

As a noun, yes suelo means floor.

¡Mil gracias! Sigue practicando y aprendiendo :-)

@@QrooSpanish It should have been " no sea tan malo" right?

Correct. Sea because it is a subjunctive trigger.

@@QrooSpanish Muchas gracias señor.

@@QrooSpanish Interesting. Even though it is specified? I just watched #6 so the idea is rattling around in my head. It's probably in a separate group. That separate object triggering subjunctive is still an unclear area in my mind.

That is a good topic idea. I'll at to my ever-growing list. :)

I actually picked up most of them before I met my wife. I learned them from the grammar book I mention and speaking with migrant workers from Mexico. As far as how often we speak Spanish at home, I would say it's about 60/40 English/Spanish. Speaking Spanish regularly definitely helped me get better.

Yes, that works for "tell me."

Perfect example!

Definitely. The triggers will be the same but that the conjunctionscan be trickier because there are two possible sets to choose from.

Hi. We nornally use this in the present tense pensar + infinitive. We do the same in English. We say, " We plan to go to the beach this weeekend." Because the planning is happening now. Pensamos ir a la playa.

@@QrooSpanish Muchas Gracias I understand about the ir It’s the pensamos that I have the question. Shouldn’t it be pensáramos?

Would you say in English, "We will plan to go to the beach." Or, "We are planning to go to the beach." The planning part is going on now, the going part later. That's why in both languages it is most often expressed in the present tense. Juan plans to go to New York in October(he is planning now to do that later: Juan piensa ir a Nueva York en octubre.

@@QrooSpanish I get it now. I misunderstood what you said in the video. Muchas Gracias 🙂

You can substitute that.

There is a regular pattern to conjugating the verbs. It is explained here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iMifpaRq2tSWoGQ.html

@@QrooSpanish Okay, cheers mate. I'll check it out now.👍

What helped me was to make a promise to myself that I would dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to it. That could be broken up over the day. That kept me working on it. On days when I had more time, I would often spend more time working on it; however, I never did less than 30 minutes. Just keep some study materials in the bathroom...lol.

Eww.. don't study. Just listen to the language. Let your brain absorb it during your day to day through music, movies, tv shows, sports, the same stuff you like in your native language, just find it in Spanish and enjoy. Then videos like this become clarification of what you're already hearing in the language, rather than some note taking lecture. Just my two cents on the matter.

Cuando tenga tiempo -- when you have time, that's the part in the subjunctive. As for ¿me trae más servilletas? Spanish often uses the present tense to make polite requests. It does not sound as harsh as the imperative (command form) - Tráigame más servilletas. You could use it with poder but it would be more common with the conditional. ¿Me podría traer más servilletas? or ¿Podría traerme más servilletas?

@@QrooSpanish Muchas gracias por tu repuesta rapida.

I meant 7!!! 😁

This playlist is in order: kzfaq.info/sun/PLlo8JO-R9k-J189PSyr3U2n-LUFuWBFjO&si=p4FDqBCEBSoDywgR

It is a standard Spanish word used everywhere. Go to Google and do a search for "solemos" (we usually). You'll get over 14 million hits and you can see how it is used in sentences. Here is an example: www.fundeu.es/blog/38-palabras-que-solemos-escribir-con-tilde-y-no-la-llevan/ You will see it a lot in the perfect form for "used to do something". Mi papá solía fumar todos los días. My father used to smoke.

No, unfortunately when you use decir as in to tell someone to do something, you have to use this construction: decir+ que+ subjunctive. This is the same pattern you would use with querer too. I talk about it in this video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qZ51qsZ-u7OylWQ.html

@@QrooSpanish Grax!

Online interactions like Italki.

No, not yet. In this series, I discuss when to use it but I don't go through the conjugations. I plan to do a separate video dedicated to that. Those conjugation videos are just so boring that I have been putting it off....lol.

It's all about context. In this usage, it means to notify and is a good equivalent for the English "let me know." It is a common Spanish expression. The reason I am keeping the English as "advise" is to help people remember the Spanish better. Word association is a useful study tool. In my former profession, we commonly used the English "to advise" as to tell or inform. Advise me when you have completed the assignment. Etc. I guess that sticks in my head too...lol.

@@QrooSpanish Cool. I really appreciate the effort you put into these videos Paul.

avisar...to warn, to inform, to let me know. love this verb because (avisame cuando) will always have the subjunctive after and I am always saying "let know when..." avísame cuando puedas ayudarme.

You can work in some other verbs. I commonly use: Llámame cuando puedas (estés listo) Mándame un mensaje cuando....

llegará is future, llegara is imperfect subjunctive

Do you mean INDICATIVE? Also, if I explain that the subjunctive is not required if the action as already occurred, it might confuse some students when we are using this construction in the past tense. It is also important to point out that antes de que does not follow the pattern. It will always take the subjunctive. The subjunctive triggers are so short, that I actually found it much easier to learn the subjunctive this way. I broke the language down to some plug-and-play formulas. I didn't have to put much thought into it, and after awhile it wasn't even necessary to use them anymore. I was just creating the same sentences without thinking about it. There won't be 50 triggers. So far, I've covered six of them. Just these six allow folks to translate a wide range of sentences in Spanish correctly . The one today was the most complex, but the others are quite simple and can be learned quickly. I'm all about minimal effort, maximum results.

@@QrooSpanish I did indeed mean INDICATIVE. What a dumbass I is! Sorry. Dude, I hate all the grammatical terms, one and all but, that´s no excuse to get them wrong. There´s going to be rules and rule breakers and like you, I like it easier. I suppose «easier» can be a pick-n-choose from options, right on? Most of my married male friends LOVE the triggers. Maybe it´s a gun thing. I´m nowhere near your level so, deferring to your experience is an easy out. You´re like, the ONLY non-Spaniard I listen to concerning Spanish because of the way you present the material, the experience you have and the exceptional intelligence with which you organize. I do stand by my method, especially for explaining how two sentences of the same structure can vary only between INDICATIVE (make sure I get that right) and SUBJUNCTIVE. Paul, we´re going to Spain at the end of August!! Be there 8 days in Málaga. You´re channel is growing!! Damn it. Now I gotta go play with Antes de que for an hour!

I like to know general rules, but without specific examples, the rules mean nothing to me. So the whole explanation about things being as expected - well, that's good information, but it just leaves my brain blank. The triggers are super helpful!

@@Zzyzzyx Cool! I agree but, let´s take the assumption that antes de que is ALWAYS subjunctive. I content that is not true. It´s only subjunctive IF the event has not happened. If the event has happened, and the account is being given, it would simply mean this before that and be indicative. Triggers are GREAT but, if you don´t know why something is subjunctive when the same thing can easily be indicative then, you miss the entire nuance and point.

It's true. It ALWAYS takes the subjunctive. Well, when people use it correctly, that is. Just one of those quirky little things about the subjunctive: Suelo despertarme antes de que mi padre llegue a casa. See how easy it was to learn that rule? It probably took less than 30 seconds. ;)

Thank you!

You can say 'Me he ido por la tangente'. Also 'coger la tangente'. If it's an intentional excursion, like in this case, you would say 'Cogí / Me fui por *una* tangente'. If you are disapproving someone else's lack of topic coherence or their intent to avoid the topic at hand, it's *la* tangente, 'Los políticos se van por la tangente en cuanto les hacen preguntas difíciles'.

Thank you very much!

Thank you very much!