Here are two links that help you practise your vowel sounds.
Aquí tiene dos enlaces que pueden ayudarle practicar los fonemas vocálicos en inglés.
I hope they are useful.
Espero que son útiles.
Vowel sounds - fonemas vocálicos
Diphthong sounds - sonidos diptongos
¡Qué disfrute!
As a volunteer in the adult education centre in Alcalá, I've been helping people learn English and this blog is one way of providing some additional material. I hope it will be useful.
Thursday, 31 October 2013
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Modal verbs - verbos modales
Modal
Verbs
can –
could
may –
might
shall –
should
will –
would
must
These verbs have no infinitive, no past
participle, and no -ing form. They are called defective verbs. Estos verbos no tienen ningún
infinitivo, ni participio pasado, ni la forma -ing. Se llaman verbos defectivos. They come from
the present and preterite tenses of Old English verbs and originally from
German. Vienen de los tiempos presente y pretérito de inglés
antiguo y originalmente de alemán.
The present tense of these verbs (can,
may, shall, will) still expresses the present and future tenses, but
the preterite forms (could, might, should, would) are now more like
the Spanish subjunctive. El tiempo presente de estos verbos (can,
may, shall, will) todavía expresa el presente y el futuro, pero la
forma pretérita (could, might, should, would) hoy en día se parecen
más el subjuntivo español.
The modal verbs express possibility,
ability, opportunity, obligation, necessity, intention, probability,
etc. Los verbos modales expresan posibilidad, habilidad,
oportunidad, obligación, necesidad, intención, probabilidad, etc.
can – could (ability,
permission, possibility)
(poder, saber)
I can speak English. (ability)
I can speak English. (ability)
You can smoke
here. (permission)
There can be
competition between brothers. (possibility)
may – might (possibility,
permission)
(puede
que, podía)
It may not be true. Puede que no sea verdad. (possibility)
It may not be true. Puede que no sea verdad. (possibility)
podría,
pudiera ser May I go out? ¿Puedo salir? (permission)
es
posible (que) It might be a good idea. Podría ser una buena idea.
(possibility)
will – would (will
= future) (courtesy,
intention, probability, orders, habit, conditional)
(podría, quieres que, etc.)
Will you come this way? ¿Quiere venir por aquí?
Will you come this way? ¿Quiere venir por aquí?
Would you do me
a favour? ¿Me haría un favor?
If I were you,
I would send an email. En tu lugar, enviaría un email.
I
would rather
die!! ¡¡Yo preferiría morir!!
They
would not listen. No escuchaban.
shall – should
(shall = will = future) (suggestion,
duty, obligation, advice, deduction)
(debería, quieres que, etc)
Shall I call a taxi? ¿Quieres que llame un taxi?
Shall I call a taxi? ¿Quieres que llame un taxi?
You should
always tell the truth. Deberías decir la verdad siempre.
You should eat
more vegetables. Deberías comer más verduras.
We also use ought to to express duty, obligation. It is not as strong as must.
También utilizamos ought to para expresar el deber, la obligación. No es tan fuerte como must.
must (only
in the present tense) (strong
duty, obligation, prohibition)
(= have to)
(tener
que)
I must study more. Tengo que estudiar más.
You must not go out. Está prohibido salir.
I must study more. Tengo que estudiar más.
You must not go out. Está prohibido salir.
Here is a summary:
To express: | Use: |
ability | can – could |
permission | may – might can – could |
obligation | shall – must – have to |
probability, uncertainty, possibility | may – might will – would |
advice obligation, duty |
shall – should ought to |
intention, courtesy, condition | will – would |
Why is it so hard to translate "would"?
¿Por qué es tan difícil traducir "would"?
Mira unos ejemplos...
He would go to school every day. (past tense, repeated action)
Él se iba a la escuela todos los días.
Would you open the window please? (request, courtesy)
¿Te molestaría abrir la ventana, por favor?
I would do it straight away. (conditional, supposition)
Yo lo habría ahora mismo.
If it was cheaper, I would buy it. (conditional)
Si estuviera más barato, yo lo compraría.
You would say that, wouldn't you! (emphasis, irony)
Tu tendrías que decir eso, ¡como no!
Would that it was so simple! (subjunctive, supposition, hope)
¡Si fuera tan sencillo!
I wouldn't do that! (advice, order)
Yo no haría eso.
She told me she would be there. (reported speech)
Ella me dijo que estaría allí.
I wouldn't know. (conjecture, uncertainty)
No sé. Yo no lo sabría.
There would always be some left over. (past tense, repeated action)
Siempre sobraba algo.
I would have her do it. (subjunctive)
Yo querria que ella lo hiciese.
...
When translating would into Spanish, we have many options to choose from and we need to look carefully at the context. That's why it's difficult. Because there are so many uses of would, translating from the Spanish to English is easier. Cuando traducimos would al español, necesitamos elegir entre muchas opciones y por eso necesitamos mirar con cuidado el contexto. Por eso, es difícil. Porque hay tantos usos de would, la traducción del español al inglés es más facíl.
Hay una ambigüedad en inglés:
He would know.
Does this mean that he knows, definitely? Or that "I think" he knows? Or he knew something in the past? Is it ironic? In Spanish, it is much clearer because we have tenses to express the different meanings.
¿Significa que es cierto que él sabe? ¿O yo creo que él sabe? O él lo supo en el pasado? ¿Es irónico? En español es mucho más claro porque tenemos tiempos de los verbos para expresar los sentidos distintos.
But I would say that, wouldn't I?
Labels:
can,
could,
have to,
may,
might,
modal verbs,
must,
ought to,
shall,
should,
translating would,
verbos modales,
will,
would
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
The apostrophe - el apóstrofo
In English, we use the apostrophe for two different cases: contractions and to indicate possession. En inglés utilizamos el apóstrofo en dos casos diferentes: las contracciones y para señalar posesión.
Contractions
Normally the apostrophe is in place of missing letters when two words are combined. Normalmente el apóstofo es en lugar de las letras perdidas cuando dos palabras se combinan.
I will - I'll
We will - we'll
is not - isn't
do not - don't
could not - couldn't
etc.
Some are irregular:
will not - won't
shall not - shan't
Possession
Names ending in s
When a name ends in s, we add 's. Cuando un nombre termina con s, añadimos 's.
Chris - Chris's
James - James's
[NB There are exceptions: Keats' poetry, Archimedes' Law
Hay excepciones: Keats' poetry (poesía de Keats), Archimedes' Law (la ley de Arquímides)]
Contractions
Normally the apostrophe is in place of missing letters when two words are combined. Normalmente el apóstofo es en lugar de las letras perdidas cuando dos palabras se combinan.
I will - I'll
We will - we'll
is not - isn't
do not - don't
could not - couldn't
etc.
Some are irregular:
will not - won't
shall not - shan't
Possession
We can use possessive adjectives and
pronouns (my, your, his, her, mine, yours, etc) to show possession
but we can also use an apostophe+s and
also the word of. In
Spanish, we use de to
show possession. Podemos utilizar los adjectivos y los pronombres (my, your, his, her, mine, yours, etc) para señalar posesión pero también podemos utilizar un apóstrofo más 's', y también la palabra of. En español, utilizamos la palabra de.
La
casa de Peter, in
English is Peter's
house. (NB the order of words is changed)
We have some
simple rules about when to use the apostrophe and where to put it. Tenemos unas reglas sencillas sobre cuando deberíamos utilizar el apóstrofo y donde ponerlo.
(English people
make many mistakes with the apostrophe... Los ingleses cometen muchos errors con el apóstrofo...)
We only need to ask three questions. Is it a person? Is it a plural? Is the plural regular or irregular? Solo necesitamos hacer tres preguntas. ¿Es una persona? ¿Es plural? ¿Es regular o no?
Person or non-person?
If
the possessor (poseedor) is a person, we use 's
but if it is not a person, we use of.
(We sometimes break this rule... e.g. The world's
end, the car's engine)
John's
hat. (El sombrero de John) He is a person so we use 's. Es una persona, entonces utilizamos 's.
The
door of the house. (La puerta de la casa). House is not a person so
we use of. La casa no es una persona, entonces utilizamos of.
Plurals – regular and irregular
We make the plurals of regular nouns by adding -s or -es and sometimes there are orthographic changes. For example book - books, chair - chairs, knife - knives. Nosotros formamos los plurales de los nombres regulares por la adición de -s o -es y a veces hay cambios ortográficos.
Irregular nouns change their form. Foot - feet, child - children, etc.
Sustantivos irregulares cambian su forma.
When
the owner is a person and is plural and
regular (e.g. brothers,
sisters formed by adding s),
we add only the apostrophe '.
My
sisters' bedroom. El
dormitorio de mis
hermanas.
Sisters is plural and regular so we use the apostrophe without an additional s - sisters'. Sisters es plural y regular y por eso utilizamos sólo el apóstrofo - sisters'.
When
the owner is plural and
irregular
(e.g. children), we add the 's.
The
children's
park. El parque de los
niños.
Children is plural and irregular so we use 's - children's.
Children es plural e irregular y por eso utilizamos 's - children's.
Other uses
Animals: Use 's
for larger animals, and of
for smaller animals.
The
horse's tail (La cola
de caballo) but
The
wings of a butterfly
(Las alas de una mariposa). (NB el artículo)
Con animales grandes, utilizamos el apóstrofo pero no con animales pequeños.
Collectives:
For groups of people we use 's.
The government's
decision. (La decisión del gobierno).
The club's rules.
(Las normas del club).
Utilizamos el apóstrofo con grupos de personas.
Geographical Names:
For places we use 's.
Almería's
future. (El futuro de Almería.)
New York's
restaurants. (Los restaurantes de Nueva York.)
Utilizamos el apóstrofo con lugares geográficos.
Time expressions:
weeks, days, etc, but take care...
We need five days'
holiday. (Necesitamos unas vacaciones de cinco días.) (days =
plural)
Last week's
election. (La elección de la semana pasada.) (week = singular)
También utilizamos el apóstrofo con expresiones de tiempo.
Double names: When there are two names, we use the apostrophe only with the second name. Cuando hay dos nombres, utilizamos el apóstrofo sólo con el segundo nombre.
John and Peter's office. (El oficina de John y de Peter)
Names ending in s
When a name ends in s, we add 's. Cuando un nombre termina con s, añadimos 's.
Chris - Chris's
James - James's
[NB There are exceptions: Keats' poetry, Archimedes' Law
Hay excepciones: Keats' poetry (poesía de Keats), Archimedes' Law (la ley de Arquímides)]
But remember.... these rules are sometimes broken in English. We sometimes say "the world's end", "the car's engine", "the book's cover", "the ship's crew", etc. Rules in grammar are not laws. Pero recuerde... estas reglas a veces se puede romper. A veces decimos "the world's end", "the car's engine", "the book's cover", "the ship's crew", etc. Las reglas de la gramática no son leyes.
And that's it! ¡Y eso es!
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