Originally Posted by xiurell

let's star with the verb SER TO BE

Although it is an extremely common verb, ser can be confusing for many Spanish students because it is usually translated as "to be," same as the verb estar. Although they can often be translated the same way, ser and estar are distinct verbs with distinct meanings and are seldom synonymous.

It is probably most helpful to learn the two verbs separately

Here are the main uses of ser:

- To indicate existence: Ser o no ser (to be or not to be)
- With adjectives to indicate inherent, innate or essential characteristics
La casa es grande. (The house is big.)
Soy feliz. (I am happy)
- To indicate origin, nature or identity: Soy de Argentina. (I am from Argentina.)
- To indicate possession or ownership : El coche es mío ((The car is mine.)
- To tell the time: Es la una. (It is 1:00.) Son las dos. (It is 2:00.)
- To indicate where an event takes place: El concierto es en la playa. (The concert is on the beach.) La fiesta será en mi casa. (The party will be at my house.)

- In impersonal statements: Es importante. (It is important.) Fue difícil. (It was difficult.)

Present
yo soy ...................................(I am)
tú eres ..................................(you are)
él, ella, usted es.................... (he is, she is, you are
nosotros, nosotras somos.... (we are)
vosotros, vosotras sois......... (you are)
ellos, ellas, ustedes son........ (they are, you are) were)

As you see is an irregular verb

Notice how in Spanish the verb ending identifies the subject, except when using a third person, in which case we have several possibilities. In those cases you will find that either the subject is identified through the use of the personal pronoun or name, or it has been identified in a previous sentence

To make the negative form of the verb you must add no before the verb

Yo no soy (I am not)
tú no eres (you are not)
etc.

You said "To indicate where an event takes place." Wouldn't the verb estar be used instead? I mean, I'll admit, I'm only learning Spanish, but I know a decent amount to have a conversation. 'Estar' is used with location whereas 'ser' isn't.

Am I correct? Or am I just thinking too hard? -__-;;



P.S. Anyone want to help reinforce my Saber vs Conocer rules? I remember very few rules of how to tell when which is used. -__-;; ¡Gracías!

i need two things. how do you say "will"? like "i will" "you will" etf

and what is the difference between "éste and esto"? in school i learned that este (without an accent) is an adjective and esto is a noun, but nothing about éste

Originally Posted by dmoney101

i need two things. how do you say "will"? like "i will" "you will" etf

and what is the difference between "éste and esto"? in school i learned that este (without an accent) is an adjective and esto is a noun, but nothing about éste

With the "will" thing, it depends.

There are two ways to say this:

"I will" or "I am going to"

For "I am going to" you use "ir + a + infinitive"
yo voy a comer - I am going to eat

yo voy
tú vas
el/ella va
nosotros vamos
ustedes van
ellos/ellas van

But the real "will" thing is a tense in itself and changes with each verb

The other way of saying "I'm going to to eat" is "I will eat", s:

Yo voy a comer = Yo comeré

So, for AR verbs (using hablar):
yo hablaré - I will talk
tú hablarás - you will talk
el/ella hablará - He/she will talk
nosotros hablaramos - We will talk
ustedes hablarán - You (pl.) will talk
ellos/ellas hablarán - They will talk

For ER & IR verbs (using comer)
yo comeré - I will eat
tú comerás
el/ella comerá
nosotros comeremos
ustedes comerán
ellos/ellas comerán

There are some differences for irregular verbs

Hopefully this wasn't too confusing...let me know if you need any clarifications.




& for the éste and esto thing...

First of all, most people no longer put the accent on "éste" and just say "este".

The difference is that "este" means "this one"

ex: You quiero este juguete - I want this toy

"esto" means "this"

es: No quiero hacer esto - I don't want to do this


Again, let me know if you need me to clarify, hope it helped!

Originally Posted by DeBaires

With the "will" thing, it depends.

There are two ways to say this:

"I will" or "I am going to"

For "I am going to" you use "ir + a + infinitive"
yo voy a comer - I am going to eat

yo voy
tú vas
el/ella va
nosotros vamos
ustedes van
ellos/ellas van

But the real "will" thing is a tense in itself and changes with each verb

The other way of saying "I'm going to to eat" is "I will eat", s:

Yo voy a comer = Yo comeré

So, for AR verbs (using hablar):
yo hablaré - I will talk
tú hablarás - you will talk
el/ella hablará - He/she will talk
nosotros hablaramos - We will talk
ustedes hablarán - You (pl.) will talk
ellos/ellas hablarán - They will talk

For ER & IR verbs (using comer)
yo comeré - I will eat
tú comerás
el/ella comerá
nosotros comeremos
ustedes comerán
ellos/ellas comerán

There are some differences for irregular verbs

Hopefully this wasn't too confusing...let me know if you need any clarifications.




& for the éste and esto thing...

First of all, most people no longer put the accent on "éste" and just say "este".

The difference is that "este" means "this one"

ex: You quiero este juguete - I want this toy

"esto" means "this"

es: No quiero hacer esto - I don't want to do this


Again, let me know if you need me to clarify, hope it helped!

ok, that makes sense. and i meant i will as in i'm willing to do something. ejemplo "i'll take this one (if you want that one)". i already know voy a (jaja, that sounds weird to me sense i usually just use the contraction voa )

Umm, well "I'll take this one" or 'I'll do it" would be "Lo haré"

I'm not sure I get what you mean though...

Originally Posted by DeBaires

Umm, well "I'll take this one" or 'I'll do it" would be "Lo haré"

I'm not sure I get what you mean though...

that's pretty much it. i will help you, i will do this for you, stuff like that. not what you're going to do, but what you'll do willingly jaja

Será- It will be

yo seré I will be
tú serás- You will be
él será- He/She will be
nosotros- seremos- We will be
vosotros seréis- You(pl.) will be
ellos serán-They will be


Saber- To Know
yo sabré- I will know
tú sabrás - You will know
él sabrá- He/ She will know
nosotros sabremos - We will know
Vosotros sabréis - You(pl.) will know
ellos sabrán - They will know


Poner- To Put
yo pondré- I will put
tú pondrás
él pondrá
nosotros pondremos
Vosotros pondréis
ellos pondrán


Venir - To come
yo vendré- I will come
tú vendrás
él vendrá
nosotros vendremos
Vosotros vendréis
ellos vendrán

Originally Posted by Música101

Será- It will be

yo seré I will be
tú serás- You will be
él será- He/She will be
nosotros- seremos- We will be
vosotros seréis- You(pl.) will be
ellos serán-They will be


Saber- To Know
yo sabré- I will know
tú sabrás - You will know
él sabrá- He/ She will know
nosotros sabremos - We will know
Vosotros sabréis - You(pl.) will know
ellos sabrán - They will know


Poner- To Put
yo pondré- I will put
tú pondrás
él pondrá
nosotros pondremos
Vosotros pondréis
ellos pondrán


Venir - To come
yo vendré- I will come
tú vendrás
él vendrá
nosotros vendremos
Vosotros vendréis
ellos vendrán

ok, i think that's what i needed to know. i've seen seré in a lot of songs, so now i've got a better understanding. thanks

Originally Posted by countthestars_x

You said "To indicate where an event takes place." Wouldn't the verb estar be used instead? I mean, I'll admit, I'm only learning Spanish, but I know a decent amount to have a conversation. 'Estar' is used with location whereas 'ser' isn't.

Am I correct? Or am I just thinking too hard? -__-;;



P.S. Anyone want to help reinforce my Saber vs Conocer rules? I remember very few rules of how to tell when which is used. -__-;; ¡Gracías!

To say that something is happening in a place you must use SER

El concierto es en la playa or el concierto tiene lugar en la playa
La reunión será en mi despacho or la reunión tendrá lugar en mi despacho. TENER LUGAR is more formal.


CONOCER

It means that we have had some experience of the thing (or person) known.
'conozco un libro, una persona, una película'. The use of the preposition a is mandatory when the direct object is a person:

Vamos a tomar algo. Yo conozco un sitio por aquí buenísimo (Let's have something. I know a very good place around here)

¿Conoces a Fernando? Es un chico muy simpático.
Do you know Fernando? It's a very nice guy.

SABER

1 .- We use it to speak about skills such as swimming, drawing, speaking a language ...
¿sabes chino? Do you speak Chinese?

2 .- It is also used to talk about the knowledge we have or not about an information.

¿Sabes que María se ha casado?
You know that María had been married?

¿Sabes quién viene esta tarde?
Do you know who is coming this afternoon?


SABER VS CONOCER

Sometimes SABER and CONOCER are used in the same cases, are synonymous:

1 .- When CONOCER means to know or be aware of an event or a happening.

Conozco (sé) las dificultades del trabajo (I know the difficulties of this work)
Hoy las noticias se conocen (se saben) al mismo tiempo en cualquier parte del mundo
Today the news are known at the same time anywhere in the world

2 .- When we want to express the fact that we have knowledge about subjet or ideas on science:
Ramón conoce/sabe su trabajo (Ramon knows his job)
¿Conoces (sabes) la teoría de la relatividad (Do you know the theory of relativity?)

Tener que

Tener Que- To have to

1. Tengo que comer las verduras.
I have to eat the vegetables.

2. Mia tiene que leer un libro
Mia has to read a book

Tener ganas de- To feel like

1.Tengo ganas de ir a la playa
I feel like going to the beach

2. No tengo ganas de estudiar
I don't feel like studying

Originally Posted by xiurell

To say that something is happening in a place you must use SER

El concierto es en la playa or el concierto tiene lugar en la playa
La reunión será en mi despacho or la reunión tendrá lugar en mi despacho. TENER LUGAR is more formal.


CONOCER

It means that we have had some experience of the thing (or person) known.
'conozco un libro, una persona, una película'. The use of the preposition a is mandatory when the direct object is a person:

Vamos a tomar algo. Yo conozco un sitio por aquí buenísimo (Let's have something. I know a very good place around here)

¿Conoces a Fernando? Es un chico muy simpático.
Do you know Fernando? It's a very nice guy.

SABER

1 .- We use it to speak about skills such as swimming, drawing, speaking a language ...
¿sabes chino? Do you speak Chinese?

2 .- It is also used to talk about the knowledge we have or not about an information.

¿Sabes que María se ha casado?
You know that María had been married?

¿Sabes quién viene esta tarde?
Do you know who is coming this afternoon?


SABER VS CONOCER

Sometimes SABER and CONOCER are used in the same cases, are synonymous:

1 .- When CONOCER means to know or be aware of an event or a happening.

Conozco (sé) las dificultades del trabajo (I know the difficulties of this work)
Hoy las noticias se conocen (se saben) al mismo tiempo en cualquier parte del mundo
Today the news are known at the same time anywhere in the world

2 .- When we want to express the fact that we have knowledge about subjet or ideas on science:
Ramón conoce/sabe su trabajo (Ramon knows his job)
¿Conoces (sabes) la teoría de la relatividad (Do you know the theory of relativity?)

thanks for posting that. i forgot about the word conocer . i pretty much memorized it as "conocer is to know somebody/something" "saber is everything else" jaja

This is great! I am at the moment learning Spanish, can someone tell me the Spanish they speak in Argentina? I want to learn that Spanish. I speak English, French and Greek now, but want to learn Spanish as well, I have been learning for about a month now and have the basics and the verbs more or less figured out. I also like Italian as well and understand a bit.So is the Argentinian the Castilano ? Is that considered the Latin American Spanish?

Originally Posted by Katrocks

This is great! I am at the moment learning Spanish, can someone tell me the Spanish they speak in Argentina? I want to learn that Spanish. I speak English, French and Greek now, but want to learn Spanish as well, I have been learning for about a month now and have the basics and the verbs more or less figured out. I also like Italian as well and understand a bit.So is the Argentinian the Castilano ? Is that considered the Latin American Spanish?

Haha, welcome, that's awesome!

Technically we speak spanish in Argentina, but in Argentina we call it "castellano" because we have a different accent, pronounce certain words differently, etc, but it is considered spanish.

& castellano is technically what is spoken in all of latin america, but everyone else calls it espanol.

it explains it A LOT better here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellano

Originally Posted by DeBaires

Haha, welcome, that's awesome!

Technically we speak spanish in Argentina, but in Argentina we call it "castellano" because we have a different accent, pronounce certain words differently, etc, but it is considered spanish.

& castellano is technically what is spoken in all of latin america, but everyone else calls it espanol.

it explains it A LOT better here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellano

Here in Spain we call it too 'castellano' to distinguish it from the others spanish languages as catalan, galician and euskera so the Spanish Constitution uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State.

Originally Posted by xiurell

Here in Spain we call it too 'castellano' to distinguish it from the others spanish languages as catalan, galician and euskera so the Spanish Constitution uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State.

Spain is the most different hispanic country on the planet jaja. i don't see why you couldn't just call it spanish. you've gotta be like here in the USA and do everything differently and tell all the other countries f' you (or better yet, chinga tu madre) jaja. Good stuff, good stuff

I kind of like the Spaniard accent, except for how they pronounce their "s"s...maybe that's because in Argentina we hardly pronounce our "s"s, lol.

Originally Posted by DeBaires

I kind of like the Spaniard accent, except for how they pronounce their "s"s...maybe that's because in Argentina we hardly pronounce our "s"s, lol.

yea, that's what i always didn't like. your accents are kind of how i talk (a mix between puerto rican and dominican that i learned from music). i only pronounce my s if i talk with a mexican because it seems they can never figure it out jaja

Haha, yeah, I always have to slow it down when I talk to anyone

Originally Posted by DeBaires

Haha, yeah, I always have to slow it down when I talk to anyone

yea, i always love to talk to Puerto Ricans or Dominicans (or anyone that knows the accents) since i can talk how i'm comfortable with

Originally Posted by DeBaires

Haha, welcome, that's awesome!

Technically we speak spanish in Argentina, but in Argentina we call it "castellano" because we have a different accent, pronounce certain words differently, etc, but it is considered spanish.

& castellano is technically what is spoken in all of latin america, but everyone else calls it espanol.

it explains it A LOT better here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellano

Thankx for the wonderful reply!!