Beginners – Lightspeed Spanish

In this lesson we help you to understand SER and ESTAR with some easy to follow concepts that include a banana and some sand. Come and join us for some great information on how to understand SER and ESTAR and on how to use them the way native speakers do!... Read more » The post 42 Beginners Spanish Understand SER and ESTAR appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

In this lesson we laugh our way through the main issues that we have with Spanish pronunciation and we offer some tips on how you can improve your soft Rs. This is the first in the new series of videocasts for all levels. So, if you want to develop some... Read more » The post 41 Beginners Great Spanish Pronunciation LightSpeed Spanish appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Why check my Spanish listening skills? There really is something very strange about what happens to people when they embark on the task of learning Spanish. In our experience, the vast majority of students only want to read and write most of the time. Of course, we know fine well... Read more » The post 40 Beginners Spanish Listening Test appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Des in Spanish. In this podcast Cynthia and I realised something very important. That was that the verbs with DES in Spanish don’t always have a logical explanation to them. Of course, we have the same kind of verbs in English, only in English they tend to have many and... Read more » The post 39 Beginners Verbs that begin with DES in Spanish. appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Lo in Spanish. So, just what is Lo in Spanish and what does it mean? Well, to answer the first question, LO is what we call an indirect pronoun. What that means is that it is a shortened version of certain Spanish words and we use it to speed up... Read more » The post 38 Beginners Lo in Spanish and Lo Importante appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

What is so special about the verb Poder in Spanish? Well, that’s an interesting question. A more appropriate one, however, would be: What’s so special about the verb To Be Able in English? Because to be frank, it’s quite weird and very irregular in English. That’s not to say that... Read more » The post 37 Beginners The Verb Poder in Spanish Such an important verb! appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

What is the Definite article in Spanish? Good question. Before we start to talk about how to use it, we had better clear up just what on earth it is. Actually, when you think about what it’s called, for once the grammatical name that they’ve given it actually makes sense.... Read more » The post 36 Beginners Spanish The Definite Article in Spanish A Real Puzzle appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Spanish Prepositions….What the devil are they? Basically, these words are the glue that sticks sentences together. They are words like: with, without, for, from, between, to, along with many, many more. They are the words we use in our own mother tongue with grace, heightened ability and class. However, when... Read more » The post 35 Beginners Spanish Prepositions The small, important words. appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Spanish Culture and Gestures. I recall one of the very first times I went to Spain to visit my wife’s family and was introduced to her ‘tía Maribel’. Maribel was chatting animatedly with me and mid flow, without any warning she stuck her two fingers up at me. My immediate... Read more » The post 34 Abs Beginners Spanish Culture Gestures appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Let’s help you to know how to say ANY in Spanish.   What’s really interesting is the fact that in English we use ANY in a couple of ways. We have this way: 1, Do you have any glue in your workshop? and then there’s this kind of ‘any’: 2,... Read more » The post 33 Abs Beginners Saying ANY in Spanish Algunos/Unos appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Your Listening Spanish Test. In this Podcast we offer you a story about a concert that we went to in Barcelona. It was a show put on by Mónica Naranjo to celebrate her 40th birthday.  Mónica has probably the best, strongest voice in the whole of Spain and yet during... Read more » The post 32 Abs Beginners Spanish Test your Level The Mónica Naranjo Concert appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

The confusion around Spanish Pronunciation One of the most confusing issues with Spanish pronunciation is knowing how we should pronounce the Y and the LL, closely followed by the B and the V. In this podcast we cover the correct way to pronounce these letters according to what is called... Read more » The post Beginners Spanish Pronunciation 31 LL, Y, B, V. Let’s clear this up! appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Learning grammar is so important for any student of the Spanish language. In fact, it’s a vital part of building up your listening skill. However, there comes a time when the grammar needs to be put to one side and the real work of listening to a genuine conversation in... Read more » The post Beginners Spanish Podcast 30 – Test Your Listening Skills appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Learning Spanish Conversation In the past One of the most frequent reasons we hear for people learning Spanish is so that they can have “a chat” with the locals in their favourite holiday resort.  Naturally, “a chat” can mean many things to many people and there are different levels of... Read more » The post Beginners Spanish Podcast 29 – Learning Spanish Conversation with Opinions appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Easy Spanish? This may sound like a cliché and let’s be clear, what we are saying here is NOT the following: Easy Spanish in one weekend! Easy Spanish with 300 words! Easy Spanish without verbs! or even Easy Spanish whilst you sleep! and the best we’ve seen, Easy Spanish without... Read more » The post Beginners Spanish Podcast 28 – Easy Spanish Tips and Suggestions appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

What is the Spanish Conditional Tense? The Spanish Conditional tense is a frequently used and important part of Spanish grammar. Its job, in essence, is to give a sense of what could be, what should be, or what would be possible. An old English teacher of mine called it the... Read more » The post Beginners Spanish Podcast 27 – The Spanish Conditional Tense appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

An Adverb? Before we look at what a Spanish adverb is, we had better examine just what an adverb is. These are probably one of the little understood parts of English grammar. In fact, so misunderstood are they that they are often omitted from spoken language. An ADVERB is, as... Read more » The post Beginners Spanish Podcast 26 – Spanish Adverbs appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Here and There in Spanish. Have you ever been confused by the different words for Here and There in Spanish? There are certainly more than you might imagine. Perhaps you have heard a Spanish speaker say: “Ven aquí.” only to hear another say: “Ven para acá.” Or have you heard... Read more » The post Beginners Spanish Podcast 25 – Here and There in Spanish? appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Have you wondered how to say, AGO in Spanish? Just as in English, in Spanish there is a specific way to say: “Ten years ago.” or, “Three weeks ago” At first, it might seem a little confusing, given that Spanish speakers put the “Ago” in a different place to us,... Read more » The post Spanish Lesson Beginners 24 – Saying AGO in Spanish appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.

Spanish Accents in Strange places. Maybe during your Spanish language learning journey you’ve noticed that there are some words that are spelled the same yet one of them has an accent or tilde and the other doesn’t. Many times the accent barely changes the pronunciation, if at all. The most... Read more » The post Beginners Spanish Podcast 23 – Spanish Accents / MI or MÍ appeared first on Lightspeed Spanish.