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StudySpanish.com Newsletter

August 25, 2008

Vol. 5, No. 5
http://www.studyspanish.com/


¡Hola!

Contents for this week:


-- Common Mistake
-- Cultural Note
-- Speak Spanish Conversationally
-- New Podcast
-- Idioms


COMMON MISTAKE

When a feminine singular noun begins with a stressed "a" or "ha" use the article "el" rather than "la." This is done simply for pronunciation purposes. Let's look at a common example:

el agua

To understand why we use "el" rather than "la" try pronouncing the following very rapidly three times:

la agua
la agua
la agua

Notice how the final "a" in "la" tends to blend with the beginning "a" in "agua" with the result sounding like a different word altogether:

lagua

So, to avoid this, we simply change the "la" to "el." Say the following rapidly three times:

el agua
el agua
el agua

But the common mistake is for the student to believe that because "agua" is preceded by the definite article "el" it must be masculine. It is not! "Agua" is still feminine, even though it uses the definite article "el." As a feminine noun, it calls for a feminine adjective. The following would be correct:

el agua sucia (the dirty water)

Notice that even though we use the definite article "el" we do NOT use the masculine adjective (sucio). Notice also that the masculine definite article is only use for the SINGULAR form. In plural, we do not have the same pronunciation problem. Say the following rapidly three times, and notice that there is not a pronunciation problem:

las aguas
las aguas
las aguas

Thus, each of the following is correct:

el agua (the water)
las aguas (the waters)
el águila (the eagle)
las águilas (the eagles)

You can read more about this topic at studyspanish.com on the following page:

http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/defart2.htm

CULTURAL NOTE

We were on the hunt. Traveling south in our rented Ford Festiva with tires of varying ages and treads, I concentrated on staying on the narrow road, trying not to think about our solemn promise to the rental agency that we would not cross the border. We were after big game. Our quarry stood nearly 70 feet tall and weighed up to 25 tons. Some were over 300 years old, and can be found only in mid to lower Baja California. We scanned the horizon for the giant cardón, the largest cactus in the world. ... The rest of the story, complete with audio, can be found here:

http://www.studyspanish.com/comps/cardon.htm

SPEAK SPANISH CONVERSATIONALLY

Have you tried to learn Spanish but just couldn't get it? Lots of people have. Did you study Spanish in high school or college, without any real success? You're in good company. Unfortunately, most classes meet only a couple of times a week, and are simply too crowded to allow individual attention. To reach a conversational level of proficiency, you need a different approach:

http://www.studyspanish.com/audiocourse.htm

NEW PODCAST

Number 16 in our series is "Ser and Estar Part II" and is available to all premium members:

http://www.studyspanish.com/membersite/podcasts/serest2.htm

IDIOMS

What's an idiom? An Idiom is an expression that cannot be understood by simply analyzing the meaning of it's individual words. For example, the English phrase "to break one's word" -- how could you "break" a word?

Here's one Spanish idiom, taken from our collection of over 1500:

cosa de – approximately, about

La espera será sólo cosa de una hora.

The wait will be approximately one hour.


For more Spanish idioms, just go here:

http://www.studyspanish.com/idiom.htm



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