Ultimate guide of personal pronouns in Spanish

Personal pronouns (pronombres personales):

Singular:

I: Yo

You: Tú

he / She : El / Ella

Plural:

We: Nosotros

You: Ustedes

They: Ellos / Ellas

Clarifications:

- In Spanish you don't need to use personal pronouns all the time as in English.

For saying: "Yesterday I went to school" you just say "Ayer fuí a la escuela".  Including the personal pronouns (Ayer yo fuí a la escuela) sounds unnatural.

- Note that in Spanish you use different personal pronouns for the second person depending on if it is in the singular or plural form ('tu' o 'ustedes' respectively, meanwhile in English you use just 'you' in both cases).

- You probably see in many places that they use 'vosotros' for the second person plural. It is the way that they say it in Spain, in any other Spanish-speaking country this form sounds extremely old fashioned.

- 'Tú' is the most common form for the second person singular in Spanish. However, in Buenos Aires and other Argentine provinces, we don't use this but 'vos', or, in any case, in a formal situation 'usted'.

- Note that in Spanish the third person changes from male to female not only for the singular form but also for the plural.

In English you say "They go to school" both if the referred group is composed of guys or girls. In Spanish, however, you say "Ellos van a la escuela" for a group of boys, and "Ellas van a la escuela" for a group of girls.

Spanish vocabulary about travel with a video (English subtitles)

This Argentinian airlines' ad may be useful to acquire some Spanish vocabulary about travel. It already has some years, so the quality is not the better, however, I think it is still worth of watching. (There are versions with a better quality on YouTube, but don't have English subtitles as it does).  

After watching the video you may be able to elaborate a short list of words related to travel like this: 

Avión = Plane

Volar = To fly

Isla = Island

Roma = Rome

Viajar = To travel

Esperando = Waiting

Llegar = To arrive 

(Todos necesitan que ese avión llegue / Everyone needs that plane to arrive)

Aerolínea = Airlines

Viaje = Trip

Desde - Hasta = From - to

I hope this be useful, if you have any doubt don't hesitate in asking me.

Learn Spanish with newspaper

Translation: An enormous crack in the ice forces to evict an Antartic Base.

We have here two verbs. The first one is "obliga". Its infinitive form is "obligar" (to force, to oblige). The subject is the enormous crack in the ice, therefore the verb present the third person singular (It).

To force / To oblige = Obligar
It forces / It obligues = Obliga

The next verb is "desalojar" (to evict). In this case, the verb is in its infinitive form as in the English version.

To evict = Desalojar.

It forces to evict = Obliga a desalojar.

Read the complete news (in Spanish) at Diario Clarín (Largest newspaper in Argentina).

Martin Luther King in Spanish

Some years ago I was visiting the United Stated with my brother and two friends. Among the cities we visited was Washington, where we had the opportunity to take some photos of the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. Taking into account today is the anniversary of his birth, I post pictures of some of the quotes that appear in the monument, along with their translation into Spanish. I write in parentheses some possible variations of the same expression.

“La oscuridad no puede hechar fuera (o expulsar) a la oscuridad, sólo la luz puede hacerlo. El odio no puede echar fuera (o expulsar) al odio, sólo el amor puede hacerlo”

"... labrar (o forjar) de (o a partir de) la montaña de desesperación una roca de esperanza..."

“Tengo la audacia de creer que las personas (o la gente) en todo lugar pueden tener tres comidas al día para sus cuerpos, educación y cultura para su mente, y dignidad, igualdad y libertad para su espíritu”

“No es suficiente decir: 'No debemos hacer la guerra'. Es necesario amar la paz y sacrificarse por ella. Tenemos que concentrarnos no en la mera expulsión negativa de la guerra, sino en la afirmación positiva de la paz”

“La medida máxima de un hombre no es qué postura adopta en momentos de comodidad y conveniencia, sino qué postura adopta en tiempos de desafío y controversia”.

If you have any doubt please don't hesitate to contact me, and remember that you can have also free Spanish classes via Skype. Bye!

Spanish vocabulary, history, 

"La llama que llama": Learn Different meanings of the word Llama

"La llama que llama" is an old series of commercial in which the Argentinian telecommunications company Telecom announced long distance plan. The ad basically consists of the character making silly (really silly) jokes on the telephone. The point is that, anyway, the calling is very cheap. 

The commercial is quite silly but I think it can be useful for adding some vocabulary. Particularly, you could hear here the different meanings of the word "Llama".

I leave you a little glossary before the video, and then I write the English translation after It:

Llama: First meaning, animal from the Argentine North. You may google it. The characters of the commercial are llamas.

Llama: Second meaning, the verb to call (llamar) for the second person singular.

Llama: Third meaning, flame of fire

Calentarse: "Calentar" literally means to heat or to warm up (calentar agua = to heat water) but in this context is a very Argentinian slang for "get angry".

Estar en llamas: being on fire (in the sense of being very angry)

This is the translation:

"La llama que llama" (Written)
"the llama that calls"

0:09
- Hola, cuartel de bomberos de Paraná?
- Hello, Paraná fire station?

0:12
- Ah, Sabe quién habla?
- Ah, do you know who speaks?

0:13
- Habla la llama
- The llama speaks (They laugh)

(It supposed to be funny because the name of the animal is the same for "flame" which is what firemen fight against.

0:20
- Pero no se caliente hombre!
- But man, don't get angry! (literally "don't warm up yourself" or something like that).

0:23
- El bombero está en llamas!
- The fireman is on fire! (He is very angry).

0:29
- ¿Porqué llama la llama?
- Why does the llama call? (It's what the speaker says, not what it's written).

0:31
- Porque con los planes de larga distancia de Telecom... pagas menos.
- Because with the Telecom's long distance plans... you pay less.

I hope it will be useful, and remember, if you are starting to learn Spanish and you are interested in free classes via Skype, don't hesitate in contact me!