Language Transfer Spanish notes

Lesson 9

Saber, Si, and Longer Thoughts

Language Transfer Complete Spanish is by Mihalis Eleftheriou. Listen to the original audio first; use these notes for revision.

New vocabulary

Spanish	English
saber	to know (think "savvy", Homo sapiens)
sí	yes
si	if
explicar	to explain (from explicación — exception, NOT explanación)
inexplicable	inexplicable
justificar	to justify (from justificación)
imaginación	imagination

Example sentences

Spanish	English
Quiero saber.	I want to know.
No quiero saber.	I don't want to know.
Quiere saber.	He/she wants to know.
No quiere saber.	He doesn't want to know.
¿Por qué no quiere saber?	Why doesn't he want to know?
Quiero saber por qué no quiere saber.	I want to know why he doesn't want to know.
Quiero saber si quiere saber.	I want to know if you want to know.
Quiero saber si quiere invitarme.	I want to know if he wants to invite me.
No quiero imaginarlo.	I don't want to imagine it.
Quiero saber si quiere venir a la casa a visitarme.	I want to know if she wants to come to the house to visit me.
Quiero saber por qué no quiere venir a la casa a visitarme.	I want to know why she doesn't want to come to the house to visit me.
Voy a invitarlo, pero no voy a invitarlo ahora.	I'm going to invite him, but I'm not going to invite him now.
Quiero iniciarlo ahora.	I want to start it now.
¿Por qué no quiere informarme?	Why doesn't he want to let me know?
No intento justificarme.	I'm not trying to justify myself.
Pero quiero explicarte algo.	But I want to explain something to you.
No intento justificarme, pero quiero explicarte algo.	I'm not trying to justify myself, but I want to explain something to you.

Key notes

Sí means yes; si means if. The accent matters.
Saber connects nicely to English savvy and even Homo sapiens as a memory hook.
Build long sentences one block at a time. Finish one chunk, then move to the next.