Language Transfer Spanish notes
Lesson 8
Questions, La, Venir, and Debo
Language Transfer Complete Spanish is by Mihalis Eleftheriou. Listen to the original audio first; use these notes for revision.
New vocabulary
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| la | her / it (feminine) / you (formal female) / the (feminine) |
| casa | house |
| la casa | the house |
| quiere | he/she/it wants / you (formal) want |
| por qué | why / because |
| venir | to come |
| bien | well |
| bienvenido | welcome (masculine singular, literally "well come") |
| bienvenida | welcome (feminine singular, literally "well come") |
| bienvenidos | welcome (masculine/mixed plural, literally "well come") |
| bienvenidas | welcome (feminine plural, literally "well come") |
| debo | I owe / I must (related to English "debt") |
| identificación | identification |
Gender: Change o→a for feminine: lo→la, generoso→generosa
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La = her / it (feminine thing) / you (formal, female)
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Feminine words typically end in -a: casa, persona, etc.
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It's the WORD that has gender, not the object
Questions: Just change your intonation — no word order change needed!
Memory hooks
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Venir: conveniente = "with coming"; bienvenido = "well come" = welcome
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Debo: English "debt" (d-e-b-t) has this b from debo
Debo = I must (I owe): Debo continuar = I must continue
Example sentences
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Quiero verla. | I want to see her / see it (feminine). |
| Quiere visitarme. | He/she wants to visit me. / You (formal) want to visit me. |
| ¿Quiere visitarme? | Do you want to visit me? |
| No quiere visitarme. | You don't want to visit me. |
| ¿No quiere visitarme? | Don't you want to visit me? |
| ¿Por qué no quiere visitarme? | Why don't you want to visit me? |
| ¿Quiere venir? | Do you want to come? |
| ¿Quiere venir a la casa? | Do you want to come to the house? |
| ¿Quiere venir a visitarme? | Do you want to come to visit me? |
| ¿No quiere venir a visitarme? | Don't you want to come to visit me? |
| ¿Por qué no quiere venir a visitarme? | Why don't you want to come to visit me? |
| Debo continuar. | I must continue. |
| Debo identificarlo. | I must identify it. |
| Debo identificarlos. | I must identify them. |
| Debo identificarlas. | I must identify them (feminine). |
Key notes
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Gender belongs to the word, not to the object itself.
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Questions in Spanish often keep the same word order; intonation does the work.
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Formal vs informal varies a lot by region. Starting formal is the safer default until you see what people around you do.