Next!

One, or several, of the stumbling blocks which trip up Spanish learners is the fact that Spanish frequently offers a choice of two words, where only one exists in English.

The commonest of these, in no particular order, are:-
'Ser' and 'Estar', both represented in English by the verb 'to be'
'Por' and 'Para' -'For' in English
'Saber' and 'Conocer' - 'To know'

There are multitudes of references on the Internet, dealing with these common choices, along with whether to use the Imperfect or Preterite Tense, when talking about the past, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel ,or pass off someone else's work as my own. I'll just refer you to Google.

No, the subject of this post is a choice which I personally have had difficulty with, in the past, but is actually quite straightforward, once you look at what you're really trying to say.

Look at these examples.

'I arrived the next day'
'I will arrive next week'


In English, it's quite simple. If one thing comes after another, it's 'next'
In Spanish, you have a choice 'Siguiente' or 'próximo/a'

So how do you remember which to use?
Simple. Change the way you use English.
Let's rewrite the examples a little.

'I arrived the following day'
'I will arrive in the coming week'


It might sound a little odd, but it underlines the difference between 'siguiente' and 'próximo'
'Siguiente' is from the verb 'seguir' which means 'to follow'
If you accept that 'Próximo' means 'forthcoming', then it stands to reason the 'próximo' can only be used to refer to things which have not happened yet so, for anything which happened 'next'  in the past, you must use 'siguiente'.

So,
'Llegue el día siguiente'
'Llegaré la próxima semana'

Of course, there's always the odd exception to the rule.
Consider:

'I caught the next bus'
It's in the past, so it must be 'siguiente'
'Cogí el siguiente autobus'

and

'I'll catch the next bus'
Not in the past, so you can use 'próximo'
'Cogeré el próximo autobus'
but, in this case ,the 'next' bus also happens to be the 'following' bus, so you could also use 'Cogeré el siguiente autobus'
In fact if you type the phrase into Google translate, using either option, it will just come back with 'I'll take the NEXT bus'

So, if anyone else has the same 'blind spot' as me, when it comes to the 'next' choice (surely it's not just me?) just remember not to use 'próximo' in the past, and you're halfway to solving the problem.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Demystifying Spanish Grammar (with impenetrable English explanations?)

It's rare that I buy books on Spanish grammar. There are just so many resources available free on the Internet, but I was recently searching for a definitive list of 'when to use the imperfect' (yes, for last week's posting) and I followed a link to Google books, where I came across a book called 'Demystifying Spanish Grammar', by an author called Brandon Simpson.

So, here's a short review.

Brandon begins with a statement that the book is not for beginners. Up to a point, I would agree. Some of the explanations and background assume a good grounding in English grammar and language; by chapter 2, he is already talking about 'diphthongs'.

Don't let this put you off, though,as there is a lot in this book which can be of use to beginners, as well as students of other levels. You can always skip sections that are currently beyond you, and return to them, as your studies progress.

It's not a big book, by any means, according to the Google books version, it's 111 pages ( I mention this, because it's available in a variety of formats, at varying prices - but more on that later ) but it is split into clearly defined sections, each dealing with a specific Spanish 'problem area', some of which you may have already encountered.

1) Written accents

2)Ser/Estar

3)Para/Por

4)Imperfect/Preterite

5)The Subjunctive

Now, as I mentioned, Brandon has a habit of using some pretty esoteric English grammar terms, like 'Monosyllabic Homonyms', but he does, usually give an explanation of each term, and follows it with examples.

So 'monosyllabic'? - not difficult - having one syllable. 'Homonym'? - a word that sounds like another word. The term 'monosyllabic homonym' crops up in chapter on accents, and the words in question are 'el' and 'él', so don't be blinded by the technical vocabulary.

Throughout the book, Brandon explains the rules which underpin the correct usage of the various parts of Spanish Grammar, adds acronyms of his own, to help you remember how they should be applied, gives  a wealth of examples, and there are even exercises for you to work on, with answers in the appendices.

Overall, I think this book falls into a difficult niche.It is dealing with a number of grammar constructs, which vary in difficulty from Ser/Estar up to the Subjunctive which, to be honest, deserves a book to itself. Consequently, there are areas which intermediate students will probably already have mastered, and areas which are, as Brandon states, too advanced for the beginner. In his bibliography, he even recommends a book on English grammar, to assist in the understanding of any foreign language. Having said that, it's a compact volume, which is structured in such a way that it can easily be used as a reference book, just picking out the parts you need, as you need them.

For this reason, and the quality of the content, I found the book to be a very useful addition to my Spanish learning toolkit and, what's even better is the price.

You can buy the book in paperback from Amazon.co.uk for £4.95 or you can do what I did, and buy the Kindle version at £3.08 !

Don't worry, if you don't have a Kindle. For the one payment, I now have the book on my Kindle, my iPod, my Android phone, and my Laptop, all running the Kindle application and, what's even better, if your devices are continuously Internet connected, you can close the book on one, and open it on another, in the exact same place where you left off!

If you want to have a browse through some of the book's content, before deciding to buy, click over to http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=d1OIX0BEB-sC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false and have a read, but be aware that only selected pages are available to view.

Let me know if you find it useful.

¡Hasta luego!