Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Second Quarter - Demonstrative & Possessive Pronouns

Our goal this month of November is to complete Chapter 2. As you know the ¡Aventura! chapters are very long and I like to go out of the book to explain the many different grammatical rules and grammar complexities of the Spanish language. By now you should be proficient in understanding the use of direct, indirect and reflexive pronouns; also the use of reflexive verbs in Spanish.

These are the verbs you already worked with and will continue working with for a while:

Verbos vestirse, acostarse, llamarse, afeitarse, maquillarse, bañarse, ducharse, peinarse, cepillarse, lavarse, ponerse, despertarse (pages 50 and 51) – Conjugate verbs and learn how to use them in the Present and Preterite Tense.

Vocabulario II verbs: sentarse, quemarse, preocuparse, esperar, calmarse, acostarse, llamarse, quedarse.

You are also learning the Demonstrative Pronouns right now, please check this link to read more about these pronouns and understand how to use them in Spanish.

Many times you use these demonstrative pronouns with words like aquí, acá, allí and allá. Usually aquí and acá are synonymous (aquí means here and acá over here); and allí means there and allá over there). So it's important to remember that if you see the words aquí or acá in a sentence, you should use the DPs éste, ésta, éstos or éstas (Ex: ¿Quieres éstos de aquí? for ¿Quieres estos libros de aquí?); and you use the DPs ése, ésa, ésos, ésas for allí and aquél, aquélla, aquéllos, aquéllos for allá (even though this may vary depending on the country, but that's the general rule).

Demonstrative Pronouns:

Singular masculine
  • éste (this)
  • ése (that)
  • aquél (that over there)

Plural masculine
  • éstos (these)
  • ésos (those)
  • aquéllos (those over there)

Singular feminine
  • ésta (this)
  • ésa (that)
  • aquélla (that over there)

Plural feminine
  • éstas (these)
  • ésas (those)
  • aquéllas (those over there)

Singular neuter
  • esto (this)
  • eso (that)
  • aquello (that over there)

Remember an "adjective" describes a noun and a "pronoun" takes the place of a noun.

Besides learning the "demonstrative pronouns" and reviewing the "demonstrative adjectives," I need you to review the "possessive adjectives" and learn the "possessive pronouns." You can check this link to review and learn: POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES & PRONOUNS and POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS. Señor Jordan videos here: POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS.
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Practice using the proper "Possessive Pronouns" here: POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS.

In Lección B, Vocabulario I "Con la doctora" you will review the parts of the body and learn many new ones. Please start working on this vocab ASAP, pages 70 and 71. Work on exercises No. 2 and 3, read the Diálogo I on page 72 and answer the questions on exercises No. 4 and 5. You will learn expressions like: me importa, no me importa, me hace falta, no me hace falta, me duele, no me duele, me parece, no me parece, me gusta, no me gusta (read Estructura on page 74 and complete exercise No. 9).

You will also learn the prepositions on page 86 (please write them down in your notebooks). You will complete exercises No. 29 and 30.

Monday, November 3, 2014

CAPÍTULO 2 - "El cuerpo y la salud"

This week we are officially starting Capítulo 2, página 48. Please start working on the vocab on pages 50 and 51. You MUST understand the Reflexive Verbs in Spanish. Check: Reflexive Verbs (this link) to review them. You learned the Reflexive Verb "llamarse" last year, when you learned how to ask for someone's name, or when answering "what is your name" (¿Cómo te llamas? Me llamo María).

Reflexive Pronouns (Pronombres Reflexivos): ME TE SE NOS OS SE.
Try to conjugate other verbs like: bañarse, peinarse, cepillarse (on page 54 - LIBRO), maquillarse, vestirse, afeitarse, quitarse, ponerse, levantarse, ducharse, despertarse. All except vestirse and ponerse are conjugated like regular -AR verbs; vestirse (from vestir is an -IR verb) and ponerse (from poner, an -ER verb). Also try the verb dormirse (from dormir, a stem-changing verb O:UE).