NOTE: FROM NOW ON I WILL BE IN THE CLASSROOM 15 MINUTES EARLY TO ASSIST ANYONE WHO WANTS EXTRA HELP WITH SPANISH.
The main focus of the classroom grammar we covered today was how to translate verb forms after prepositions. Think about how we do it in English: if a verb comes after a preposition in English, we make it into the -ing (present participle) form of the verb.
Example: He took on coaching his son's team. "On" is a preposition and the verb after it "coaching" ends in -ing.
Now let's look at how this works in Spanish. In Spanish, the verb form that is used after a preposition is the infinitive (ar/er/ir) form of the verb. But the translation of that verb is as an -ing form.
Example: Despues de cazar la ballena, el barco fue a la costa de Chile.
"Despues de" is a preposition meaning "after." "Cazar" is the infinitive meaning "to hunt." Thu we would translate this: After hunting the whale, the boat went to the coast of Chile.
FINALLY, there is one unusual prepositional phrase that you may meet often in translating: Al + infinitive. This means "on doing something" or "upon doing something."
Al matar la ballena, el cazador se murio. (Upon killing the whale, the hunter died.)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Post: Week 7, Day 1, Friday, October 10, 2008
Today we worked on some tricky parts of the "ballena mapuche" reading. Specifically, we talked about some strategies for studying.
A. Tenses you should focus on.
(I realize that you are given a whirlwind tour of all tenses, but some are more important than others). The four big ones you should know cold are:
Present, preterite, imperfect, and present perfect. About 95% of what you read will include those.
B. Irregular forms you should focus on.
(You should be able to recognize the irregular stems of these cold -- in the four tenses given above): ir, ser, estar, querer, tener, decir, poner, venir.
Thus you should be able to look at a sentence such as:
The balleneros tuvieron un barco.
and recognized that "tuv" is the irregular preterite stem form of "tener" and that "ieron" means the third person plural (they). Thus this means "they (the balleneros) had."
C. We looked at the way the present participle is formed in Spanish. This translates as the -ing form of the verb.
- ar verbs: drop "r" and add "ando." Hablar>>> hablando
- ir/er verbs; drop "ir" or "er" and add "iendo." Comer >>> comiendo; salir >>> saliendo.
NOTE: It is really common for students to confuse the PAST participle form of the verb (ado/ido) with the present participle form of the verb (ando/iendo). Be careful! "Hablado" and "hablando" look a lot alike!
D. We talked about common prepositions. Here are some you need to commit to memory:
a: to/at/in
por: by/for
de: from/of
con: with
sin: without
en: in/on/at
This is a non-exclusive list, but you should have these general senses in mind.
Then we did a bit of translation. One sentence that gave a lot of people problems was the one with this clause in in:
Es un combate mortal . . . el que enfrenta cara a cara en alta mar a la enorme ballena con sus cazadores
This is one of those places where a really good dictionary -- the big one that we have recommended -- is invaluable. If you don't have such a dictionary, I suggest you get one.
For most people the problem starts with "el que" -- which is masculine and singular and means "which" -- and refers back to a masculine, singular noun "un combate." So "el que/combate" is the subject of "enfrenta." If you look up "enfrentar" in the Oxford, you will see that "enfrentar a alguien con algo" means "to bring someone face to face with" --- so in this case the "combate" brings the enormous whale ("a la enorme ballena") face to face with its hunters ("con sus cazadores). However, I note that this fine distinction is not made in the online Merriam Webster or in the pocket dictionary. Again, I'd strongly recommend that to do these translations, you get hold of a high quality dictionary and use that as needed --- the pocket and the online work about 95% of the time but 5% of the time you do need to work with something more advanced.
A. Tenses you should focus on.
(I realize that you are given a whirlwind tour of all tenses, but some are more important than others). The four big ones you should know cold are:
Present, preterite, imperfect, and present perfect. About 95% of what you read will include those.
B. Irregular forms you should focus on.
(You should be able to recognize the irregular stems of these cold -- in the four tenses given above): ir, ser, estar, querer, tener, decir, poner, venir.
Thus you should be able to look at a sentence such as:
The balleneros tuvieron un barco.
and recognized that "tuv" is the irregular preterite stem form of "tener" and that "ieron" means the third person plural (they). Thus this means "they (the balleneros) had."
C. We looked at the way the present participle is formed in Spanish. This translates as the -ing form of the verb.
- ar verbs: drop "r" and add "ando." Hablar>>> hablando
- ir/er verbs; drop "ir" or "er" and add "iendo." Comer >>> comiendo; salir >>> saliendo.
NOTE: It is really common for students to confuse the PAST participle form of the verb (ado/ido) with the present participle form of the verb (ando/iendo). Be careful! "Hablado" and "hablando" look a lot alike!
D. We talked about common prepositions. Here are some you need to commit to memory:
a: to/at/in
por: by/for
de: from/of
con: with
sin: without
en: in/on/at
This is a non-exclusive list, but you should have these general senses in mind.
Then we did a bit of translation. One sentence that gave a lot of people problems was the one with this clause in in:
Es un combate mortal . . . el que enfrenta cara a cara en alta mar a la enorme ballena con sus cazadores
This is one of those places where a really good dictionary -- the big one that we have recommended -- is invaluable. If you don't have such a dictionary, I suggest you get one.
For most people the problem starts with "el que" -- which is masculine and singular and means "which" -- and refers back to a masculine, singular noun "un combate." So "el que/combate" is the subject of "enfrenta." If you look up "enfrentar" in the Oxford, you will see that "enfrentar a alguien con algo" means "to bring someone face to face with" --- so in this case the "combate" brings the enormous whale ("a la enorme ballena") face to face with its hunters ("con sus cazadores). However, I note that this fine distinction is not made in the online Merriam Webster or in the pocket dictionary. Again, I'd strongly recommend that to do these translations, you get hold of a high quality dictionary and use that as needed --- the pocket and the online work about 95% of the time but 5% of the time you do need to work with something more advanced.
Friday, October 3, 2008
POST: Week 6, Day 1, Friday, October 3, 2008
Today we worked on our big reading, which is linked here.
This is how we will proceed:
1. You will read five printed pages (it prints out to 14 pages) each week for class. DO NOT make the mistake of trying to "translate" this. Read and look up what you need to understand it.
2. Mark tough spots --- places where you couldn't understand what you were reading.
3. Bring it with you to class each week -- and we'll have a short in-class on some part of the five pages.
Today I noted that many of you had trouble with the superlative, so let's review what that is:
In English, we can take an adjective and modify it in either the comparative or the superlative:
Example: sweet
This is sweet candy. (ordinary adjective)
This is sweeter candy than that candy over there. (comparative --- ofter marked by "er" form of the adjective or the word "more" and the word "than")
This is the sweetest candy in the whole world. (superlative -- marked with "the" and the word "most" or the "-est" ending and the preposition "of" or "in")
Other examples:
beautiful
This painting is beautiful.
This painting is MORE beautiful than that one.
This is THE MOST beautiful painting OF the three on the wall.
In Spanish, the comparative and the superlative also exist. The comparative is marked with the word "más" (for "more") and "que" (for "than"). The superlative is marked with the article (for "the") the word "más" for "most" and often a phrase that has "de" and is translated as "of" or "in."
Valiente -- brave
Es una ballena valiente -- She is a brave whale.
La ballena es más valiente que su madre -- The whale is braver than her mother (note: "mas" and "que").
El mito de la ballena más valiente del mundo -- The myth of the bravest whale in the world (note: "la" and "más" and "del")
Example: El mito de la ballena más valiente del mundo
This is how we will proceed:
1. You will read five printed pages (it prints out to 14 pages) each week for class. DO NOT make the mistake of trying to "translate" this. Read and look up what you need to understand it.
2. Mark tough spots --- places where you couldn't understand what you were reading.
3. Bring it with you to class each week -- and we'll have a short in-class on some part of the five pages.
Today I noted that many of you had trouble with the superlative, so let's review what that is:
In English, we can take an adjective and modify it in either the comparative or the superlative:
Example: sweet
This is sweet candy. (ordinary adjective)
This is sweeter candy than that candy over there. (comparative --- ofter marked by "er" form of the adjective or the word "more" and the word "than")
This is the sweetest candy in the whole world. (superlative -- marked with "the" and the word "most" or the "-est" ending and the preposition "of" or "in")
Other examples:
beautiful
This painting is beautiful.
This painting is MORE beautiful than that one.
This is THE MOST beautiful painting OF the three on the wall.
In Spanish, the comparative and the superlative also exist. The comparative is marked with the word "más" (for "more") and "que" (for "than"). The superlative is marked with the article (for "the") the word "más" for "most" and often a phrase that has "de" and is translated as "of" or "in."
Valiente -- brave
Es una ballena valiente -- She is a brave whale.
La ballena es más valiente que su madre -- The whale is braver than her mother (note: "mas" and "que").
El mito de la ballena más valiente del mundo -- The myth of the bravest whale in the world (note: "la" and "más" and "del")
Example: El mito de la ballena más valiente del mundo
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