Adventures in Spanish

¡Hola Chamacos! ( I'll explain later ;¬)

I'm not talking about the Great Adventure of learning to speak another language, then being able to talk to people in other countries, although that's why we're here.

No, I'm talking about Adventure Games.
From the original Pirate Adventure, which was pure text, through classic point-and-click adventures, like 'Beneath a Steel Sky' and 'Monkey Island', right up to brand new point-and-click graphic adventures, just out on Android, PC and Apple.
And all availablein Spanish!

That's right, a great way to practise your Spanish and play some excellent games at the same time.

Most of the adventures I've looked at are based on the Android platform as, even though I use a PC, my Android tablet and phone are so portable that I do most of my Spanish learning and playing on them, wherever I happen to be, but there are lots of examples of programmes on PC and Apple too, if you take the time to search.

So, let's start with some of the simplest offerings.
Text only adventures:

There are several text-only adventures available via Google Playstore, including

Aventura Pirata:
A Spanish translation of Scott Adams' 'Pirate Adventure'.
With a very simple parser (i.e. small vocabulary) this is an early text adventuring classic.
By the way text adventures in Spanish are called 'aventuras conversacionales'

Santiago:
This is a slightly different slant on the text adventure, as you don't actually type anything in.
This is an electronic rendition of the old 'fighting fantasy' books, where you picked an option from a list at the bottom of each page, then were told which page to go to next, to continue your quest.
Santiago has some nice, simple but atmospheric graphics and plays quite smoothly
unlike . . .

Lobo Solitario:
Don't bother downloading this one. It's another multiple choice adventure, but the graphics wouldn't fit my screen properly and were barely readable on a 7 inch tablet, so forget it on a phone! (unlike Aventura Pirata which works quite well on my phone ;¬)

Aventura Original:
A reworking (in English and Spanish) of the Colossal Cave Adventure.
The program is a little buggy as selecting certain features in the main menu (book/libro) causes a crash, but generally it works quite well.
There's some atmospheric 1980's music and some classic 8-bit artwork, to illustrate the locations.
On my tablet, it also read the descriptions to me, in Spanish.
There are some in-game ads, which always annoy me, but someone's taken the time to create this from scratch so, I suppose, I shouldn't complain.

 

All of the above are available FREE!

There's a site at http://textadventures.co.uk/  dedicated to the development of text adventure games using the Quest authoring system, which allows those gifted with talent, time and imagination to write adventure games which they can share on the site, and can be played either via a web browser, or converted to applications, to be played on Windows, or Android or Apple platforms.
Some of the games listed above are created in Quest.
If you have an idea for a text adventure (preferably in Spanish) why not get hold of Quest, for free, and get writing. There are some examples of adventures, in Spanish, playable in your browser, but I'd love to see some more.

So, moving on to the 90's . .
We began to see 'point-and-click' adventures like 'Monkey Island', 'Simon the Sorcerer' and 'Maniac Mansion'

The last is of particular interest because, a few years ago, a clever bit of software called SCUMM (scripting utility for Maniac Mansion' appeared, which allowed you to play your old adventure games, written using the Maniac Mansion 'engine', on other devices.
Such games include 'Flight of the Amazon Queen', 'Lure of the Temptress', and my favourite ever point-and-click adventure 'Beneath a Steel Sky'.
Well, I installed SCUMM on my trusty Android tablet, fired up 'Beneath a Steel Sky' and, guess what? there's a language option, and it includes Spanish!!!
I am just SO excited at the moment.

 

So how about writing your own point-and-click adventures in Spanish?

Yes, you can do that to!

Just download Adventure Game Studio at http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/

I searched the site using the filter 'Spanish' and found one game listed but, unfortunately, the writer's website appears to have disappeared.

Why not have a go, and create a Spanish p-and-c adventure?

 

Finally, let's come bang up to date, with a (FREE!) offering from Pendulo Soft, called Yesterday.

It can be played in Spanish, English, French, Italian or German. My only gripe is that all of the introductory sequence, with audio, is in English and you can't actually change the language until you're into the game.

That said, it's free (did I mention that?), it's very pretty, and it's available on Android, Apple and PC.

 

You can find download links at http://blog.mispgames.com/en/semana-de-aventuras-graficas-espanolas-para-moviles-yesterday/ and there's a promotional video on YouTube.

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy investigating this facet of gaming in Spanish as much as I did, but that it doesn't keep you away from your studies and your 'tarea'

¡Que lo disfrutes!

Oh, chamacos?
It's a term much used by a Mexican radio presenter Brozo 'el payaso oscuro' (the dark clown) and it means 'kids'
Brozo does the early morning show on W Radio in Mexico city but, as we in the UK are six hours in front, I can listen to it on TuneIn radio at lunchtime, without having to get up early :)
If you like talk radio, I can recommend it.
http://tunein.com/radio/W-Radio-969-s16553/ or you can go direct to the Radio Station's site at http://www.wradio.com.mx/ and click on 'Al Aire'

Spanish does not speak itself here - that's your job!

'¿Como se llama?'
'Me llamo David'

Two of the first phrases most people learn, when beginning to speak Spanish and, for most people, their first introduction to, what appears to be, a reflexive verb.
'Appears to be?

Well, let's consider the translation.
'Me llamo David' doesn't really translate to 'I call myself David', it's 'I am called David'
Not sure?
OK, you may have seen a sign which reads 'Aqui se habla español'
Now, that definitely does NOT mean 'Spanish speaks itself here' - it means 'Spanish IS SPOKEN here', from which you can see that 'hablarse' is not a reflexive Spanish verb (if it even exists)

One more example, before we begin to look at the theory.
In Lila Downs' song La cumbia del mole the first verse opens with the words
'Cuentan que en Oaxaca se toma el mezcal con café' which translates as 'they say that in Oaxaca mescal is drunk with coffee' - it definitely does NOT 'drink itself with coffee'

So, what's going on?
Well, a true reflexive verb is one where the subject and object are the same
(Quick refresher - Subject is the do-er, Object is the recipient of the action)
so 'él se lava' means 'he washes himself', so 'se' comes to mean 'himself, itself, herself' etc.

However, in the construction we're looking at today, the verb isn't really reflexive, it's more like a way of expressing an action in the 'passive voice'
In that case (this will probably make grammar teachers cringe) 'se' acts more like the verb 'to be', while the verb acts more like an adjective.
So 'se habla' becomes 'it IS SPOKEN'
and 'se llama' equals 'he IS CALLED'
and you may have seen the signs on buildings in Spanish-speaking areas saying 'SE VENDE' ?
You can probably guess now that it means 'it IS FOR SALE' (OK 'for sale' might not be a real adjective, but the principle still applies.)

Now you know about this construction, you'll be able to spot it more easily, and it will make sense out of some of those apparently nonsensical 'reflexive' phrases you've seen.

I came across one only today, in a Podcast from http://www.spanishpodcast.org/ . The podcast was actually about the use of the imperfect tense, but contained, by way of example, a typical use of this method:
'Cada invierno, los prados se cubrían de nieve'
'Every winter, the meadows WERE COVERED with snow'

Apart from '¿como se llama?' you may even have been using this structure without knowing it.
Ever asked your teacher '¿Como se dice en Inglés?'
'How IS IT SAID?' - passive voice - NOT 'how does it say itself?'

There's a good reference page (in English :-) at http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/passive.htm which explains more about the use of the passive voice, and about another method of invoking it, using the verb to be, which is beyond the scope of this posting, but includes examples like 'el libro fue escrito por Manuel' - 'the book was written by Manuel'
It also includes a quiz, so you can test yourself on a number of examples.

One final point:
The sentence or phrase doesn't even have to include the subject, as in the 'Se Vende' example above, where we don't know who is doing the selling, just that the building is being sold .

¡Hasta la próxima!

From Pirates to Dracula, in search of the perfect 'R'

I've heard it said that one of the most difficult things about learning to speak a new language is learning to make sounds which don't exist in your own language.
My own take on that is that it's even harder if there is a similar sound in your own language.

So, in this post, we're going to concentrate on one letter -  the letter 'R'

You may have, like me, listened to Spanish podcasts, seen American actors speaking Spanish on TV, or watched recordings of other people's lessons on Verbling.
A lot of people, as you will notice, have problems with pronunciation of the 'R' sound in Spanish.

I want to pronounce my 'R's like a Spanish speaker, not like a Pirate.

I asked my Spanish teacher, Eunice, about this, as I'm quite aware that my 'R's are a little weak, and she explained the root cause of the problem with a short lesson in anatomy.

 

 

Apparently, just behind your upper teeth is a flat ridge, just before the roof of your mouth arches upwards to the hard palate.

This is called the Alveolar Ridge, and sounds which are produced with the tongue positioned against this ridge are called Alveolar sounds, and include 'd' 't' 'l' and 'n' in English.

 

 

In the illustration 'A' shows the Alveolar Ridge and 'P' shows the palate.

 

The letter 'R' in English is not an Alveolar Sound.

Trying saying 'Arrrr!', as if you were practising for International Talk Like A Pirate Day and be aware of where the tip of your tongue is, in your mouth.
Unless your anatomy is significantly different to mine it's probably about midway back along the roof of your mouth, making it a Palatine Sound.

 

In Spanish, you guessed it, 'R' is an alveolar sound, which means it's formed with the tongue in a completely different position.

So, if you've been trying to make that fantastic rolling 'R' in Spanish, and failing miserably, it's quite possible that your tongue has been in the wrong place all along.

 

There is quite a lot written on the subject of getting your tongue position right, but most of it is down to practise.

 

That in itself can be a challenge, if you don't have a 'feel' for where the correct position is.

So, before trying the 'R', it's best to limber up with a few Alveolar Sounds you do know.

 

Try saying 'do, do , do, to, to, to' then while your tongue is in pretty much the right position, try 'rroo, rroo, rroo' trying to make the trilling 'R' as the air vibrates over the tip of your tongue.

 

So, by now you're probably saying one of two things, either 'YESssss!' or 'Huh?'

If you don't get it immediately, just keep practising. Having your tongue in the correct place greatly increases the chance of success.

 

You'll soon want to have a go at some real Spanish words but pick carefully.

Some combinations of letters are easier than others.

For instance, I find that 'R' following 'O' as in 'dorado' is much easier to enunciate than 'R' following 'I', as in 'mirar', and 'R' after 'B', as in 'abrir' is easier than 'R' after 'N', as in 'enriquecer'.

Start with combinations you find less difficult, and work up to the ones you have problems with, as you improve.

Oh, and have plenty of water handy. I don't know why, but practising the 'R's makes my mouth incredibly dry.

 

Finally, once you've mastered the rolling 'R', you need to be aware that some 'R's are pronounced with more emphasis than others, so you have a 'Strong R' and a 'Soft R'

 

The 'Strong R' is found . .

At the beginning of words e.g. Remo, Rojo.

At the end of words .e.g. Hablar, Comer.

Where the R is double e.g. Cigarro, Ferrocarril (ouch, double double R)

Before a consonant e.g. Horno, Armas

Before a vowel, but after 'L', 'N' or 'S' e.g. Alrededor, Enrique,Israel

In all other cases the 'R' is 'softer'

 

Oh, where did Dracula come in?

That's just one example of a word I use when practising the Alveolar sounds.

Don't bite your tongue :)

 



Using the right 'Whatever', whatever the occasion

One of the things to remember, when you're searching for help and guidance with your Spanish, is that nobody knows Spanish, like the Spanish.
So, rather than just searching in English, try searching in Spanish.

I recently came across this excellent Blog posting, by Alberto Bustos on the subject of 'Cualquiera' , and its plural, which is NOT 'Cualquieras' but 'Cualesquiera'
View Alberto's Blog

I won't try and pass his work off as my own, but I appreciate that not everyone will be able to read and understand his blog in Spanish, so I'll translate the important parts into English here.

Firstly, let's translate the word. It equates with 'any', or 'whatever/whichever' in English.
For instance,
'Puedes practicar tu Español en cualquier bar en España'
'You can practice your Spanish in any bar in Spain'

It looks simple enough but, as Alberto explains, people become confused as there are three versions of the word, 'cualquiera', 'cualquier' and 'cualesquiera' and knowing which one to use when is important.

Alberto begins by saying that the first thing to do, to determine the correct form, is to decide whether it is accompanied by a noun, or not.
Secondly, if there is a noun, we need to identify whether 'Cualquier(a)' goes before, or after the noun, and whether it is singular or plural.

If it goes before the noun, and the noun is singular, then we will always use 'cualquier' whether the noun be masculine or feminine (Hey! look at that. I just used the Subjunctive, in English 'whether it be . . . ')
The example Alberto uses is
(1) [...] el [teléfono] móvil es el mejor disfraz, el que te permite disimular cualquier cosa, camuflar cualquier sitio, el que hace que el enemigo no sepa dónde mirar cuando te está buscando [¿Quién es Juan? / e-life, acceso: 26-4-2008]

(The mobile phone is the best disguise, which permits you to hide any thing, camouflage any place, which means that the enemy doesn't know where to look when he's searching for you)

If it goes after the noun, then we would always use 'Cualquiera', again irrespective of the gender of the noun.
Example:
(2) Trabaja en una oficina cualquiera, en un polígono cualquiera [Ideario Personal sin Censuras, acceso: 26-4-2008]

(Works in any office, in any area)

'Cualesquiera' is the plural form, used after a noun. The gender, again, is irrelevant.
(3) Una mañana cualquiera, en un tren cualquiera, unos ojos cualesquiera [Más de Cien Mentiras, acceso: 27-4-2008]

(Any morning, on any train, any eyes)

This example also shows a contrast with the singular version.

There's also the form 'Cualesquier', which can be used before the noun but, in practice, it's rarely seen as, rather than saying, for example 'Cualesquier problemas', we'd just use the singular 'Cualquier problema'

Finally, if there is no noun in your construction, you can only use 'Cualquiera' or 'Cualesquiera', depending on whether you are talking in the singular or the plural.
Examples:
(4) Como sabe cualquiera, en un principio todos los elfos eran blancos: formas blancuzcas de niebla, espíritus claros [Escritos e ideas, acceso: 27-4-2008]

(As anyone knows, in the beginning, all elves were white: misty white shapes, bright spirits)

(5) Cualesquiera que sean su cuna o ascendencia común, lo cierto es que en la época del profeta Mahoma [...] existían varios dialectos entre las tribus de la Península Arábiga [Silvia Peralta Morillo, acceso: 27-4-2008 (texto eliminado de la web a 8-12-2009)]
 (Whatever may be their origin, or common ancestry, it is certain that, in the time of the prophet Mohammed, there existed various dialects among the tribes of the Arab Peninsula)

Alberto finishes his brilliant post with an example of how 'Cualquier' is used.
'Con esto debería quedar resuelta cualquier duda que pudiera surgir sobre el uso de cualquiera, pero, de todas formas, lo mejor que puedes hacer para afianzar estos conocimientos es resolver unos ejercicios.'
Which translates as
'With this you can resolve any doubts which might arise over the use of 'cualquiera' but, in any case, the best you can do to reinforce this knowledge is to solve some exercises.'

The link takes you to a page if exercises which, if you've read the explanations carefully, you should be able to solve with ease.
There's also a link to the solutions, so you can see how you did.

I'd also recommend following Alberto on Google+, for some reading practice, and some excellent Grammar tips.

¡Que esto les sirva!

A descriptive way to remember gender

Getting back to basics, you'll probably remember some of the rough-and-ready rules that you learnt, to remind you how to use the correct gender for certain nouns.

Let's do a quick recap:

If it ends in 'o', it's masculine
If it ends in 'a', it's feminine
If it ends in 'ción' it's feminine
If it ends in 'umbre', it's feminine
If it ends in 'ama' it's masculine

You probably know a few more, but you will certainly have found that, while they're useful guidelines, they're not always right.

How about 'la mano'?
and 'Mama' ends in 'ama' but she's not (usually) masculine.

There are other groups of words, too, which share an ending, but seem to have no reason or rhyme to their gender
'el coche'
'la leche'

'la mente'
'la fuente'
'el puente'
'el diente'

So how do you remember the gender?

Thankfully, there's a trick you can use, which works quite well in Spanish, simply because most adjectives must 'agree' with the gender of the noun they describe.

So, if you can remember a combination of a noun and an adjective, it makes it a lot easier to remember the gender of the noun.

Let's take an example.
How about 'nube'? (cloud)
There's no handy rule you can apply to remind you of the gender but I always remember it with the phrase 'las nubes negras'
This just happens to be a phrase from a Gloria Estefan song 'Te tengo a ti' (aren't I always saying music is a great learning tool?) but I won't ever forget that 'nube' is a feminine noun

Another example 'torre'.
My key phrase here is 'las torres gemelas' (the twin towers)
Now, whether that reminds you of the World Trade Center, or the second book of 'Lord of the Rings' is immaterial, but it reminds me that 'torre' is another feminine noun.

So, looking back at the words I mentioned earlier, how about
'manos limpias' (clean hands)
'un coche rojo' ( a red car)
'leche fría' (cold milk)
'una mente aguda' ( a sharp mind)
'una fuente escondida' ( a hidden source)
'un puente largo' ( a long bridge)
'dientes blancos' (white teeth)

So, over to you.
Make a short list of problem nouns and have a go at creating some brief descriptive phrases to remind you of their gender.
I hope you find it useful.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Time to say goodbye

Now, don't panic.
The title doesn't mean I'm winding up the Blog.

Here's a puzzle for you.
I call this picture 'Anna says goodbye to her sister'

 

So tell me, which of the women is Anna, the one on the train, or the one left behind?

 

In English, there's no way of knowing.

There's a Spanish verb 'despedir', which means 'to say goodbye'
You may have heard of a 'despedida' or Farewell Party?

We could say 'Ellas se despiden', which simply means 'they say goodbye to each other', but that's no more informative than the English version.

Ah, but Spanish is cleverer than that  ;¬)

Consider 'Anna despide a su hermana'
and 'Anna se despide de su Hermana'

You might have had to look twice to see the difference.

Here's the clever part
'Anna despide A su hermana' means 'Anna says goodbye to her sister' but carries the implicit meaning that her sister is the one who is going away, while Anna remains.

'Anna se despide DE su hermana' has the same literal translation but implies the opposite situation, Anna is gong on the train, while her sister remains behind.

I freely admit, it took me quite a while to get a grip on this one, and I frequently mixed them up, until I came up with a little rhyme to jog my memory

'Yo despido A alguien que se VA' - 'I say goodbye to someone who is leaving' (which means I'm staying)
You only have to remember the meaning of one of the uses, to remember both, after all.

One final word, if you use the verb 'despedir' in its non-reflexive form, the common meaning is to fire, or lay-off someone.
e.g. 'le despidieron por ser constantemente tarde' - 'they sacked him for being constantly late',
rather than
'Le despidieron a él por última vez' - 'they said goodbye to him for the last time'

So, until next time 'tengo que despedirme de ustedes' (me voy)

The Owl is a real Nag - welcome to Duolingo

Most online learning sites will tell you the same thing - little and often is best.
Better to do a half-hour of Spanish practise per day, than try and do three hours in one day, in an attempt to catch up.

I recently came across a site, which gives you just that, and more, as it's available on your PC, through whichever browser you use, and also as a mobile app.

The website is www.duolingo.com, where you can choose between Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese ( or learn to speak English in one of ten other languages)

To be honest, I've not looked closely at the very basic sections, as the site allows you to 'Test in' and makes an assessment of your current level of fluency, and you begin from there.
So far I can't say I've learnt anything new, as I think it rated me a little low, but where Duolingo wins is as a fantastic practice and refresher tool.

I personally use the app on my Android device but, when you log in, your performance is saved so you always start where you left off, even if you switch from PC to Tablet to smartphone and back.

Duolingo divides the language up into skill areas such as groups of nouns(e.g.Family,Animals,Colours etc), conjunctions, tenses, adjectives, adverbs, object pronouns etc.

A new skill will appear in your list of choices as greyed-out, if you haven't attempted it  yet.
Once you've mastered it, it turns orange (gold?)
The interesting part is what happens after that.

Although you can continue to plough through the subjects, increasing your 'Level' (part of the 'gameification' of learning which Duolingo uses) skills which you have learned previously lose 'Strength' and you have to keep revisiting them and retesting to bring them back to 'Gold' status
In the image to the left, you can see grey untried skills at the bottom, a gold completed skill on the fourth line, and other skills in various stages of 'Strength' in different colours.

This process of reinforcing skills which you have already mastered, to ensures that you don't forget the basics, while accumulating new skills, is one of the features which makes Duolingo different from some other applications.

So, let's take a look at some of the exercises in Duolingo.
1) Translate Spanish to English

2)Translate English to Spanish

3) Type what you hear - good listening practice

4)Mark ALL correct translations - increases awareness of multiple persons and tenses

5)Select the missing word

There's also a feature which I've not seen in other comparable apps - the ability to speak into your microphone, and have the software assess your pronunciation

Now, it has to be said, there's quite a lot of leeway here. I did manage to make it reject several efforts by deliberately mispronouncing words, but it's quite forgiving, but a nice feature nonetheless.

 

There are also other exercises which ask you to type in words, to match a picture - simple vocabulary, and a feature I haven't explored much, an opportunity to contribute to the translation of online resources such as Wikipedia.

This helps build your confidence, as it's always aimed at your current skill level, but it's a way of giving something back, while you're learning, which reminds me . . I've left the greatest feature of Duolingo until last  . . . .

 

Access to both the website and the application for your mobile device is absolutely FREE!!

 

So, I'm not saying Duolingo will teach you Spanish from scratch although, looking at some of the basic pages, it's not half bad but, if you want a regularly daily dose of Spanish, to help polish up your vocabulary and grammar, and build confidence, that won't take up too much of your day ( a typical session only consists of 20 questions) then look no further than Duolingo.

I personally use it every day.

 

Finally, one caveat.

The mobile app has a built in 'Nag' feature, which reminds you to practice each day, either by email, or by sounding (typically) your 'incoming text' alert.

This is OK as far as it goes but, the last time I got an alert was 26 and a half hours after my previous session (24hrs, wait a bit, then remind you)

Unfortunately, I'd done my previous session at 10p.m. so I was awoken, rather annoyed, at 00:30 by the nagging Duolingo Owl reminding me to practice my Spanish.

So, be warned, practice early, or turn the reminders OFF!

 

In any case, make the most of this great free product.

 

 

 

 

 

Would have, could have, should have

¡Felíz año nuevo! and welcome to my first post of 2014.

Let's kick the new year off with a little puzzle.
Spot the odd man out.

a) I have done it
b) I would have done it
c) I could have done it

Got it yet?
How about a clue?
One of them will not translate exactly into Spanish
Another?
Two of the phrases will end with a past participle, while the other will end in an infinitive.

O.K. it's c)
Here's the reason.

'I have done it' translates as 'lo he hecho', ending in the past participle of the verb 'to do', just as in English, with 'done'

'I would have done it' is 'lo habría hecho', where we use the verb 'haber', in conditional, for 'would have' and end with the past participle of 'hacer'

When you get to 'I could have done it' things come unstuck.
'Could have' is'había podido' and you CANNOT say 'lo había podido hecho'

The issue lies with 'could'.
Even in English, there is no verb 'to can'.
The verb is 'to be able'
So, in Spanish, as I've mentioned in a previous post, the only way to say 'could' is to say 'would be able'

Now, if you do that to our phrase in English, you have to make a significant change to the structure, because you can't say 'I would have been able to DONE it'  so you say 'I would have been able TO DO it'
So, all of a sudden, our sentence doesn't end in a past participle, it ends in an infinitive.
And THAT'S how it translates into Spanish.
'Lo había podido hacer' or 'Había podido hacerlo', which I think sounds better.

Another example of a verb which doesn't behave is 'should'
We use it every day, but what does it actually mean?
If you use 'to have to' instead, I reckon it's a fair match for the verb 'deber' so the structure of 'I should have done it' becomes'I would have had to do it'

OK, it's not an exact match, but you can see how the structure changes from ending in a past participle to ending in an infinitive again, giving us 'Había debido hacerlo'

So, it's worth remembering, if you're struggling to say something in Spanish, think for a moment about what you actually mean in English and see if there's another way of saying it which translates more easily.

Don't forget your New Year's reolution, to practice your Spanish, and have fun doing it.
¡Hasta pronto!

What do you mean . . 'you couldn't do it'?

A simple enough phrase, 'You couldn't do it', but there are at least 12 different ways to say it in Spanish (16 if you're in Spain, not Latin America)

Let's start by looking at what the phrase actually means.
A common complaint, when people begin to speak Spanish is that the same word or phrase can mean different things, depending on the context.
Well, it's the same in English.

We'll start with the simple part, the word 'You'
There are four options here:
'Usted' - polite form of 'You' singular
'Tu' - familiar form of 'You' singular
'Ustedes' - plural of 'You'
'Vosotros' - plural of 'You', familiar form. Not used in Latin America

So, having determined who we are speaking to, now let's figure out what we're actually trying to say.
Is it 'You were not able to do it'
or 'You would not be able to do it' ?

Let's go for 'You were not able to do it'. Simple. Past tense.
Ah, but which one?
Is it Preterite, as in 'You were not able to catch the bus at 6 o'clock last night', or Imperfect, as in 'We played chess every night for a year, but you were not able to beat me'

OK, let's try the other option 'You would not be able to do it'
Is it 'You would not be able to do it, without my help': Conditional?
or 'I built a wall, in order that you would not be able to get in' : Past Subjunctive? ( following the construction 'para que')

Well, that gives us four (or three) different Persons and four different Tenses or Moods (Subjunctive isn't really a Tense)
Multiply them together, and you have 16 (or 12) different translations of an apparently simple English phrase.

Without wanting to complicate things, I'd best mention that there is another Past Subjunctive conjugation that you might see written but is rarely spoken, see the conjugation chart at the bottom of the page, which would actually bring our total up to 20! 

How about some examples?

'Usted no pudo hacer un pastel anoche' - You (formal) couldn't make a cake last night (Preterito. Single action in the past)

'Tu no podías hacer un pastel jamás' - You never could make a cake (Imperfecto. Action repeated in the past)

'Ustedes no podrían hacer un pastel sin mi ayuda' - You (plural) couldn't make a cake without my help (Condicional: Would not be able)

'Escondí el azúcar para que no pudierais hacer un pastel' - I hid the sugar so that You (familiar) couldn't make a cake (Pasado de Subjuntivo: following 'para que' : 'so that you would not be able')

So, the next time you're struggling to figure out exactly how to translate a phrase, in English, to Spanish, stop for a moment, and figure out exactly what it is you want to say in English, and it might help you get to the correct construction in Spanish.

See?
I knew you COULD do it, really.
¡Hasta pronto!

P.S. some conjugations for you.

Indicative

	Preterit	Imperfect	Conditional
tú	pudiste	podías	podrías
Usted.	pudo	podía	podría
vosotros	pudisteis	podíais	podríais
Ustedes.	pudieron	podían	podrían

Subjunctive

	Imperfect	Imperfect2
tú	pudieras	pudieses
Usted.	pudiera	pudiese
vosotros	pudierais	pudieseis
Ustedes.	pudieran	pudiesen

Speak to the Future - 1,000 Word challenge

Learning to speak Spanish, or French or Italian brings with it a certain advantage over learning, say Japanese, or Korean.
The advantage is vocabulary,
Thanks to the Romans, the Normans, and the Catholic church's  long affinity for Latin, many words in these languages share roots, or are virtually identical.

This will give you a big headstart if you decide to take up the 'Speak to the Future' 1,000 word challenge. (http://www.speaktothefuture.org/1000-words-challenge/)

As the site's creators put it

Not everyone will become a fluent linguist, but the aspiration for EVERYONE to have 1000 Words in another language is realistic and achievable.

They put forward a number of reasons why we lazy English speakers should take up the gauntlet, from improved Trade (& job) opportunities, to intellectual growth, to improving our reputation internationally.

But, how difficult would you find it to reach the 1,000 word target.
You might be surprised at how wide your vocabulary is, already.

Let's start with the word 'vocabulary'
In Spanish, it's 'vocabulario'
So, all we did was remove the 'y' and replace it with 'io'
I've heard some Brits on holiday, who obviously think that's all there is to Spanish, I shudder at the memory of 'I-o want-o a drink-o' ;¬p

But there are other words it works with.
Dictionary- diccionario (OK, the 'ct' becomes 'cc', but the sound is the same)
Commentary- comentario
Estuary- estuario
Salario- salario
Mortuary- mortuario
And the list goes on.

But wait, there's more
How about all the words, in English, ending in 'tion'
Easy, just replace it with 'ción'
So
Education - educcación
Organisation (organization in the U.S.)- organización
Realization - realización
And so on.

How about
legislation - legislación
and, from that
legislative -legislativo
leading on to
imperative - imperativo
punitive -punitivo
And there we have another case -
if an adjective ends in 'ive', change it for 'ivo' or 'iva' depending on the gender of the noun.

Finally, lets look at a short list from a large selection (selección - getting the hang of it?) of words which are spelt the same, just pronounced slightly differently.
Simple
Probable
Possible (OK. just one 'S' in Spanish)
Inevitable

All of a sudden, the 1,000 word target begins to look a little more achievable.
From the Speak to the Future website, you can click through to the Vocab Express site (https://www.vocabexpress.com/speaktothefuture/) where you can sigh up for a free account which will give you access to the list of the 'best' 1,000 first words to learn.
As the site is new, the lists aren't complete yet but, in the meantime, you can access a vocabulary list and online tests at GCSE level (that's the General Certificate of Secondary Education, if you live outside the UK)
Once the new lists become available, you can practice towards achieving an electronic certificate for your efforts.

Who knows, you might be inspired to try learning an additional language.
Meanwhile, spread the word and tweet about it #1000words

Finally, I found a great little link on the site, to  http://www.languagegames.org/ where you can play Word Search, HangMan and do Crosswords, in your chosen Language.

¡Hasta la próxima!