But, you’ll need to be careful with both of these letters because they are silent in some words and pronounced in others.

In addition, when I say ‘regular’ silent letters I’m referring to the pronunciation of traditional Spanish words, not words that have been adopted from Greek or other languages.

In this post, I’ll give an overview of the two silent letters in Spanish including where and how you need to use them.

Since this post is about pronunciation, I’ll also include some short mp3 recordings to demonstrate what the words sound like to avoid any confusion with phonetic spelling.

The letter H

The first silent letter in Spanish is the letter H. This letter is always silent unless it is next to the letter C.

When we see the letter C next to an H we need to make a ch sound. This sound is just like the English ‘ch’ sound in words like ‘cheek’ or ‘beach’.

In the Spanish alphabet, the word that represents the letter H is hache. Since this word starts with an H and has a ch, it makes for a great first example to demonstrate the pronunciation of H and ch.

Hache (aitch)

Here are two more examples of words that also start with H:

Hasta (until)

Haber (to have)

Here are two examples with the letter H in the middle of the word:

Ahora (now)
(notice how the H creates a ‘gap’ between the A and the O)

Alcohol (alcohol)
(similarly, notice the H creates an elongation between the two middle O’s) https://rfs-post-audio-2.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/alcohol.mp3

To finish the section on the letter H, here are two examples with a ch:

Echar (to throw)

Hecho (fact)

The letter U

In the majority of Spanish words with a U, the sound you need to make to represent the U is like a double “oo” in English and rhymes with the English word “too”.

Here are two examples of words with the typical pronunciation of the Spanish letter U:

Lugar (place)

Mucho (a lot)

In contrast, the letter U is silent in Spanish words when it is next to a Q or sandwiched in between a G and an E or a G and an I as gui and gue.

Here are some examples with U after a Q:

Porque (because)

Pequeño (small)

Here are some examples with a gui:

Guión (script)

Seguir (to follow)

Here are some examples with a gue:

Guerra (war)

Llegué (I arrived)
(the tilde on the E means you need to pronounce this word with an emphasis on the second syllable)

To make things slightly more confusing, whenever you see a Ü in Spanish with a double dot, you need to pronounce the U sound. You will see this letter in situations like the last two examples as either a güe or a güi. 

Here are some examples with a güi:

Pingüino (penguin)
(Notice how the güi sounds like “gwee”)

Lingüística (linguistics)

Here are some examples with a güe:

Vergüenza (embarrassment)
(Notice how the güe here sounds like “gwen”)

Bilingüe (bilingual)
(Notice how the güe here sounds like “gwe”)

Adopted silent letters from other languages

At the start of the post, I mentioned that there are silent letters that occur in words that have been adopted from other languages such as Greek.

Here are a few examples:

• The m in mnemotecnia (mnemonics).
• The p in pterodáctilo (pterodactyl).
• The p in psicólogo (psychologist).

These are fairly low use words so I don’t recommend you spend too much time on them (unless you are a psychologist and need this word to explain what you do).

Your Turn

Choose some examples from this post and practice the pronunciation by copying recordings. Also, try them out with a Spanish native in a language exchange or with a teacher.

As a bonus for reading this post, if you sign up to the Real Fast Spanish School and mention this post in an email, I will offer you a free one-on-one Skype lesson as another opportunity to practice your pronunciation.

If you would like to learn more about pronunciation check out this podcast episode.

How can you remember the silent letters in Spanish?

The post Silent Letters in Spanish – A Short But Important List appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

One of the reasons that this word causes students trouble is that it can mean slightly different things in different scenarios. But is a high use word that comes up often so it is worth getting to know.

But, before I talk about the uses of “lo” in this episode I mention some of the more colloquial phrases that I have been learning recently with some of my friends here in Spain. And these colloquial expressions mentioned in this episode all relate to milk.

The phrases:

Hoy va a ser la leche

Literal: Today is going to be the milk

Actual: Today is going to be awesome.

Ir a toda leche

Literal: To go to all milk or to go to all the milk

Actual: To be going at top speed (all engines firing)

Tener mala leche

Literal: To have bad milk

Actual: To have a bad temper

Estar de mala leche

Literal: To be of bad milk

Actual: To be in a bad mood

¡Qué mala leche!

Literal: What bad milk!

Actual: To have bad luck

Back to the theoretical topic for this episode and moving on the uses of “lo”.

Examples from today’s episode:

I buy a book – Compro un libro

I buy it – Lo compro

I have a car – Tengo un coche

I have it – Lo tengo

I want the food – Quiero la comida

I want it – La quiero

I want to buy a book – Quiero comprar un libro

I want to buy it – Lo quiero comprar

or

I want to buy it – Quiero comprarlo

I like to eat chicken – Me gusta comer el pollo

I like to eat it – Me gusta comerlo

or

I like to eat it – Lo me gusta comer

Do you know? – Sabes?

I know – Yo sé

I know it – Yo lo sé

That which is good – Lo bueno

That which is the best – Lo mejor

That which is the same – Lo mismo

What, that, that which – Lo que

What I want is to speak Spanish – Lo que quiero es hablar Español

I know what you want to do – Yo sé lo que quieres hacer

I know that you want to do something – Yo sé que quieres hacer algo

This episodes quote:

“Merece lo que sueñas.” – Octavio Paz

How else could you use “lo” in a sentence?

The post Tips 019: 3 Ways To Use “Lo” In A Sentence appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

In this episode of the podcast you will learn about the other two words: estar y por. If you haven’t listened to the first part, which was episode 9 – para ser, then make sure you go back and listen to that episode first before you listen to this one. Similar to the first episode I provide a list of common expressions that will allow you to convey ideas straight from English in a conversational way.

So for this tip you will learn:

• Some common expressions for using estar
• Some common expressions for using por

Mentioned in this episode:

– Part one of this two part series – the previous episode on these is Para Ser – In Order To Be

Expression examples from the episode:

How are you? – Cómo estás?

I am well – Estoy bien

I am very well – Estoy muy bien

I am happy – Estoy contento

I am very happy – Estoy muy contento

I am happy (female) – Estoy contenta

How is she? – Cómo está ella?

She is happy – Ella está contenta

I am busy – Estoy ocupado

I am very busy – Estoy muy ocupado

I am tired – Estoy cansado

The food is good – La comida está buena

The food is really good – La comida está muy buena

Now – Ahora

Right now – Ahora mismo

Now I am busy – Ahora estoy ocupado

Right now I am busy – Ahora mismo estoy muy ocupado

Right now I am very happy – Ahora mismo estoy muy contento

Why? – Por qué?

Because – porque

Why are you really happy? – Por que estas muy contento?

Because I like the food – Porque me gusta la comida

Because now I can speak Spanish – Porque ahora puedo hablar Español

Because I like to speak with you – Porque me gusta hablar contigo

Because I like to speak Spanish with you – Porque me gusta hablar Español contigo

Do you want to speak with me? – Quieres hablar conmigo?

I can’t because I am busy – no puedo porque estoy ocupado

speaking – hablando

working – trabajando

eating – comiendo

living – viviendo

I am speaking – Estoy hablando

I am speaking with you – Estoy hablando contigo

Right now I am speaking with you – Ahora mismo estoy hablando contigo

Do you want to speak with me? – Quieres hablar conmigo?

I can’t because I am working – No puedo porque estoy trabajando

Why are you busy? – Por que estas ocupado?

Because I’am working – Porque estoy trabajando

Porque ahora mismo estoy trabajando

I’m up for – Estoy por

What do you what to do? – Que quieres hacer?

I’m up for going for dinner – Estoy por ir a comer

I’m up for going to a café – Estoy por ir a una cafeteria

Where are you? – Donde estas?

I’m at home – Estoy en casa

I’m on the street – Estoy en la calle

I’m at the library close to my house – Estoy en una biblioteca cerca de mi casa

Thanks for the coffee – Gracias por el café

Thanks for the food – Gracias por la comida

Thanks for your help – Gracias por tu ayuda

Thanks for the conversation – Gracias por la conversación

Quote from this podcast episode:

“Me daba vergüenza estar así por un hombre, ser tan infeliz y volverme dichosa sin que dependiera para nada de mí” – Ángeles Mastretta

How can you use ‘estar’ y ‘por’?

The post Tips 011: Estoy Por – I’m up for… appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

Words such as ‘ser’ vs ‘estar’ and ‘por’ vs ‘para’ tend to cause a lot of confusion. One of the reasons that I believe these words tend to cause so much confusion is that they are always taught side by side. Meaning that when you learn these words you tend to be given a list of situations that ‘ser’ should be used and another set of situations where ‘estar’ should be used at the same time and then later you need to recall these two lists in order to apply the right word.

When you reach a higher level of Spanish these words tend to become more intuitive, so in this episode I’m going cover these words in a different way in an effort to help you get to an intuitive level faster.

Rather than list them side by side with a set of rules, in this episode we introduce only ‘ser’ and ‘para’ and a set of common expressions that will allow you to express your ideas without the need to refer to a set of rules.

I will cover ‘estar’ and ‘por’ in a later episode.

So for this tip you will learn:

• Some common expressions for using para
• Some common expressions for using ser
• Some expressions that combine Spanish-English cognates and a passive voice with ser
• How to state your country of origin and a tip for working out the gender of your country.

Mentioned in this episode:

– For more information on the etymology for ‘ser’ and ‘estar’ in Spanish and ‘to be’ in english have a look at this interesting article on Wikipedia on ‘Romance Copula‘

– A reference to the Spanish-English cognates post – 1001 Spanish-English cognates

– For the gender exercise head over to https://translate.google.com/ and use the sentence “She is American” or replace american with your country of choice to determine the proper gender of your country.

Expression examples from the episode:

For me – Para mí

For you – Para ti

It’s for me – Es para mí

It’s not for your, it’s for me – No es para ti, es para mí

It’s not for him, it’s for me – No es para él, es para mí

It’s not for her, it’s for me – No es para ella, es para mí

The food is not for her, it’s for me – La comida no es para ella, es para mí

I have food for you – Tengo comida para ti

I have something for you – Tengo algo para ti

I have food for you for tonight – Tengo comida para ti para esta noche

It’s possible – Es posible

It’s interesting – Es interesante

It’s horrible – Es horrible

It’s important – Es importante

For me it is interesting – Para mí es interesante

For me it is not necesario – Para mí no es necesario

For me it is interesting – Para mí es interesante

In order to have money – Para tener dinero

In order to have money you need to find a job – Para tener dinero necesitas encontrar un trabajo

In order to find a job you need an education – Para encontrar trabajo necesitas una educación

In order to speak Spanish you need to practice – Para hablar español necesitas practicar

In order to have a conversation you need to practice – Para tener una conversación necesitas practicar español

The man leaves for the restaurante – El hombre sale para el restaurante

The man leaves for Madrid – El hombre sale para Madrid

I’m Australian – Soy Australiano

I’m from Australia – Soy de Australia

I’m American – Soy Americano

I’m American (female) – Soy Americana

I’m from the United States – Soy de Estados Unidos

I’m Japanese – Soy Japonés

I’m Japanese (female) – Soy Japonesa

I’m from Japan – Soy de Japón

He is English – Él es inglés

She is English – Ella es inglesa

I’m a teacher – Soy maestro

I’m a doctor – Soy medico

In order to be – Para ser

I study in order to be a teacher – Estudio para ser maestro

I study in order to be a doctor – Estudio para ser medico

Quote from this podcast episode:

“No hay mejor momento para ser feliz que ahora mismo” – Unknown Author

How can you use ‘ser’ y ‘para’?

The post Tips 009: Para Ser – In Order To Be appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

It’s Monday again and what better way to kick off the week. The idea I introduce this week is powerful if you can put it into practice. It’s about understanding some of the forces that are pulling you in certain directions that you may or may not have control over. And despite these forces how you can still get your work done in a deliberate progression towards your goals.

In this episode:

• The story of the stolen surfboard
• How this caused two big distractions
• A tip to help avoid distraction and how I was still able to get the podcast out on time
• How you can learn from the stolen surfboard story
• A different way to think about time and productivity

Quote from this podcast episode:

“If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavourable. Favourable conditions never come.” – C.S. Lewis

How else can you apply the tip from this episode?

The post Tips 008: How A Stolen Surfboard Will Help Your Spanish appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

This theoretical Thursday builds on last week’s tip including more useful vocabulary that can be used for conversational Spanish. The verbs discussed fit in well with the conversation hacking framework as they are included in the top 1000 most useful Spanish words.

Spanish verbs, in general, can be categorised into two groups of three.

Group 1:

• Ar verbs
• Er verbs
• Ir verbs

Group 2:

• Normal verbs
• Verbs like Gustar (discussed in this tip)
• Reflexive verbs (coming in a later episode)

Verbs discussed in the episode:

• Gustar – Is pleasing to (to like)
• Costar – Is costly to (to cost)
• Doler – Is painful to (to hurt)
• Importar – Is important to (to matter)
• Parecer – Is seeming to (to seem)

Indirect object pronouns explained in the episode:

• Me – Me
• Te –You
• Le – Him / Her
• Nos – Us
• Os – You-all
• Les – Them

Examples from the episode:

• Me gusta la comida – I like the food
• No me gusta la comida – I don’t like the food
• Me gusta hablar – I like to speak
• Me gustan los colores – I like the colours
• Me cuesta hablar – I find it difficult to speak
• Me cuesta hablar Español – I find it difficult to speak Spanish
• Me duele la cabeza – I have a headache
• Me importa la fiesta – The party is important to me
• ¿Que te parece la idea? – How does the idea seem to you?
• Me parece bien – It seems good to me
• Me parece mal – It seems bad to me

Quote from the podcast episode:
“Me gusta la gente que habla claro desde el principio, que son honestos con lo que sienten, piensan y se muestran tal y como son.” – @BuenaFraseEs

Other verbs that behave in this way are highlighted by using similar definitions as the ones described in this episode in the conversation hacking guide.

The post Tips 007: How To Use Verbs Like Gustar To Express Your Ideas appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

What has worked really well for me to improve my Spanish has been getting into the right mindset. If you want to learn Spanish quickly there are far more things that you need to learn than just verb conjugations and vocabulary.

In this tip I share my story and give you some insights into the drivers that have helped me push my Spanish forward.

Quote from the podcast episode:

“Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7 of your life.” – Steven Wright

In this tip, you will learn about:

• How working on your mindset on Monday will help accelerate your Spanish
• Cultural differences – Do the people from Spain feel the same way about Monday as us?
• How learning a language can be driven from a place of appreciation
• Some of the experiences that you could experience with a new language
• Where I got my start in Spanish
• What helped me to drive forward

The post Tips 006: How To Find Your Spanish Drive – The First Mindset Monday appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

These first ten words are chosen based on the a combination of frequency, utility and my own personal experience with using the language during my Spanish adventures.

Quote from the podcast episode:

“Pero no hablar contigo es como tener el mismo mal día, una y otra vez.” – Carolina Pineda

In this tip, you will learn about:

• The new routine for the podcast
• The first important 10 Spanish words
• Basic verb conjugations

Examples from the episode:

– First person conjugation of “Querer”: Quiero (I want)

– Yo quiero este (I want this)

– Yo quiero esto (I want this unknown gender for this)

– Quiero este (drop the pronoun “yo”)

– No quiero este (I don’t want this)

– Hablo Español (I speak Spanish)

– No hablo Español (I don’t speak Spanish)

– No puedo hablar Español (I can’t speak Spanish)

– No necesito este (I don’t need this)

– Quiero encontrar este (I want to find this)

– No puedo encontrar este (I can’t find this)

If you want to learn more check out the conversation hacking guide here.

The guide includes:

• Top 1000 words for conversation hacking spanish
• 13 Spanish grammar hacking sentences
• Sounds to focus on for pronunciation
• Conversational skills questions and tips
• Language learning mindset tips

The post Tips 005: Your First 10 Spanish Words appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

Conversation hacking is one of the best techniques I know to get to a conversational level in Spanish as fast as possible. If you are learning Spanish and haven’t reached a conversational level yet then it is worth reviewing the principles of the conversation hacking method.

Quote from the podcast episode:

“Love without conversation is impossible.” – Mortimer Adler (1902 – 2001)

In This Tip, You Will Hear About:

• 2 Approaches you can take to learn a language – read more here
• The 7 Principles Of Conversation Hacking:

1. Fluency is not the goal
2. Not all words are created equally – spanish frequency study
3. Not all grammar rules are created equally – see grammar hacking rules
4. Total vocabulary and total grammar does not equal effective usable vocabulary and grammar
5. Listening comprehension is improved by active listening and context – active listening course
6. Spanish pronunciation requires focus on a few distinct sounds
7. Conversational skills in general need to be developed

Conversation exchange websites:

http://www.italki.com/

https://www.verbling.com/

http://www.conversationexchange.com/

If you want to learn more check out the conversation hacking guide here.

The guide includes:

• Top 1000 words for conversation hacking spanish
• 13 Spanish grammar hacking sentences
• Sounds to focus on for pronunciation
• Conversational skills questions and tips
• Language learning mindset tips

The post Tips 004: An Introduction To The 7 Principles Of Conversation Hacking appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

When you are struggling to execute, when you are trying to propel your Spanish forward and not seeing results it could be that you haven’t applied the third D of language learning.

Quote from the podcast episode:

“God provides the wind, but man must raise the sails.” – St. Augustine (354 – 430 AD)

In This Tip, You Will Hear About:

• How the third D could be the missing link between theory and achieving your goals in Spanish
• What can happen if you don’t apply the third D of language learning
• A simple tip for implementing the third D from a polyglot friend

4 tips to implement if you are having trouble executing the third D:

1. If you are having trouble with doing then take another look at definition
2. If you have a good definition of what you are trying to achieve have another look at desire
3. Take a look at will power theory:

• My recent post on will power and learning spanish
• Take a look at this book Kelly McGonigal – The Willpower Instinct
• Or another even better option Roy F. Baumeister – Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength

4. Start forming action habits – start doing something for your Spanish every day

My doing challenge to you is to have a look at my recent post on the English-Spanish cognates.

Find 5 words that haven’t used before and use them on another Spanish student, a friend or record it on a computer. Leverage this small action to grow into bigger things.

The post Tips 003: The Third And Final D Of Language Learning appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

How do I know this tip is so critical to learning a second language, because it’s what help me back more than anything else. And when I was able to hack it I was able to accelerate my Spanish forward.

Quote from the podcast episode:

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” – Earl Nightingale (1921 – 1989)

In This Tip, You Will Hear About:

• A language learning metaphor – another way to think about the first two D’s of language learning
• How the first D of language learning is Desire
• How to overcome the inertia of starting
• A scene from fight club and how it applies to language learning

5 tips for hacking motivation:

1. Increase your negative drivers – what do you stand to miss out on?
2. Increase your positive drivers – what are you going to get if you can speak spanish?
3. Choose a better ‘why’ – find a better why for learning Spanish
4. Find an accountability partner – see post on stickk.com
5. Get some skin in the game, once you already have something on the line it get’s harder to give it up

The post Tips 002: The Most Important D Of Language Learning appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.

This is the first episode of the Real Fast Spanish Tips Podcast. In this episode I discuss the first D of language learning and why it is important to help you reach your spanish goals faster.

I’m going to give an example how using this first D will help you to use your mind to find the most relevant and important information to help solve language problems faster.

Quote from the podcast episode:

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.” – Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

In This Tip, You Will Hear About:

• A bit about my background in Spanish
• How the first D of language learning is Definition
• How better defined goals make them easier to achieve
• A demonstration of how definition helps focus your mind

The post Tips 001: How To Get A Quality Start In Spanish With The First D Of Language Learning appeared first on Real Fast Spanish.