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Master Verb Conjugation

Learning the verb forms of Spanish can be a challenge, but doing so will greatly expand what you can write and talk about.

More About Verb Forms
Spanish Language Spotlight10

Keeping It Short: Spanish Abbreviations

Thursday January 26, 2012
You probably don't have to think too hard to figure out what the Spanish abbreviations a.m. and p.m. mean. But how about d.C. and ONU, which are also very common? To find out, check out our list of the most common abbreviations you're likely to run across.

Verbs Following Si Often in Subjunctive Mood

Wednesday January 25, 2012
Most clauses that begin with si (the equivalent of "if") are what is known as conditional clauses. Which verb you use as part of that clause depends a great deal on how likely you believe the condition to be true. Thus a clause such as si yo fuera tú ("if I were you") uses an imperfect subjunctive verb because it's not likely to be true. (In this example, note that the English also uses the subjunctive.) This concept is further explained in our lesson on clauses beginning with si.

Don't Get Rid of Quitar

Monday January 23, 2012

Take a look at the verb quitar, and "quit," "quite" and "quiet" may come to mind first. But don't be deceived by these false friends. Quitar has nothing to do with quiet (although "quiet," "quite" and quitar might be distant cousins, all possibly related to the Latin quitare), and it can mean "quit" only in a specialized usage. As our newest lesson, on the use of quitar explains, quitar usually means "to remove" or "to take away."

A Different Kind of Tense

Saturday January 21, 2012
Usually, when we think of verb tenses, we think of past, present and future. However, there's another tense, the conditional tense, that doesn't fit neatly in any of those categories. Sometimes known in Spanish as the futuro hipotético, it is usually the equivalent of the using the auxiliary verb "would" in English to refer to a hypothetical action.

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