Capítulo 5 - More...

You must learn some of the adverbs in Spanish (check the examples below) and understand how to change some adjectives into adverbs. Remember: an adverb is a word or phrase that modifies or qualifies an adjective, verb, or other adverb or a word group, expressing a relation of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, degree, etc. (e.g., gently, quite, then, there).

Examples of adverbs in Spanish: 

bastante (quite, enough, or rather), demasiado (too, too many), mal (badly), mucho (a lot), muy (very), nunca (never), peor (worse), poco (little), simper (always), a menudo (often), a tiempo (on time),  casi (almost), despacio (slowly), muchas veces (a lot, many times), pronto (soon), rápido (quickly).

If you have adjectives that end with an "o" like claro, lento, perfecto, rápido, etc. the "o" changes to an "a" and you add the ending -mente. Examples: solo - solamente, clara - claramente, lento - lentamente, perfecto - perfectamente, rápido - rápidamente, necesario - necesariamente, loco - locamente, cariñoso - cariñosamente, etc. For adjectives that end with an "e" you simply add -mente (don't change the "e"). Examples: inteligente - inteligentemente, posible - posiblemente, probable - probablemente, suave - suavemente, constante - constantemente, etc. For adjectives that end with a consonant, you simply add -mente. Examples: especial - especialmente, difícil - difícilmente, fácil - fácilmente, feliz - felizmente, etc. EASY! (¡Fácil!)

Just practice and check G & V page 79.  Also check LIBRO page 232 for more and try to understand exercise No. 15. And review the handout I gave you on the Formation of Adverbs (from StudySpanish.com).

You will have a Test on Friday, May 15, 2015 that will include the Adverbs, the vocab on pages 234 & 235 and the "Hace (+ time expression) que (+ present tense of a verb)," the "Hacía (+ time expression) que (+ present tense of a verb)" and "Hace..." to mean "ago" constructions. Please review the handouts on these constructions and how using the present tense or the preterite tense in a sentence changes the meaning. The main rule is: if you use "hace" with "a time expression" + que + a verb in the preterite tense, you mean to say "this time ago." Example: "Hace un año estudié español en España" means "a year ago I studied Spanish in Spain." When the verb is in the preterite tense, a different meaning is conveyed.

Please check the top four links under "Fave" Links in this blog, read the explanations below and STUDY the handouts I gave you. ¡Gracias!

Hacer with expressions of time

Overview

The verb hacer can be used many ways: the perfect tenses, to indicate quantity with hay, and also various ways to describe time. You can describe how long ago something happened or how long you have been doing something. 

•     Hace un año que estudian español. (They have been studying Spanish for one year).

•     Hace un año que estudié español. (I studied Spanish one year ago).

Past actions that continue into the present (have verb for time)

To say that you have been doing something for a certain amount of time, you have three options for forming your statements.

hace + time + que + present tense

OR

present tense + hace + time

OR

present tense + desde hace + time

•     Hace seis años que conozco a mi esposo. (I have known my husband for six years).

•     Habla español hace tres años. (He has spoken Spanish for three years).

•     Tengo mi trabajo desde hace seis meses. (I have had my job for six months).

Actions that occurred a specific amount of time ago (time ago)

To say when something happened in the past, you have two options in forming your statements.

hace + time + que + preterite

OR

preterite + hace + time

•     Hace seis años que encontré a mi esposo. (It was six years ago that I met my husband).

•     Hace cinco minutos que llegó. (He arrived five minutes ago).

•     Aprendió a hablar español hace tres años. (He learned to speak Spanish three years ago).

•     Empecé mi trabajo hace seis meses. (I started my job six months ago).