Federico García Lorca, Poet, Playwright, Martyr
Frederico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, or simply Frederico García Lorca as he is better known, was a renowned poet, playwright and theater director of the early 20th century. Lorca made major contributions to Spanish language literature, not only by leaving us with brilliant plays and an opus of poems we still get to enjoy today, but also by influencing literary styles of the time. Lorace helped take elements popular in Europe at the time such as surrealism, symbolism and futurism, and adapt them to Spanish art and culture.
Lorca was born on June 5th, 1898 in Southern Spain, in a town called Fuente just outside of the region’s capital of Granada. Lorca was actually his mother’s maiden name, and if he had abided by accepted naming practices of that era, he would have simply gone by Frederico García. However, García was (and still is) the most common surname in all of Spain, and so he used Lorca to distinguish himself. Lorca was born into an upper middle class family, his father was a landowner and his mother was a local teacher. After spending his childhood in the countryside, his family eventually moved into the city of Granada. Lorca went on to study literature, law and writing as well as piano during his childhood and adolescence.
Lorca’s Esteemed Career and The “Generation of 27”
Lorca’s career, although cut short by his tragic death at a young age, was nevertheless intense, and left a lasting impression on the world. By the age of 25 he was already running with an incredibly influential crowd of poets and artists who would later come to be known as the “Generation of 27”. The “Generation of 27” distinguished themselves artistically from other poets and artists of the time by their experimentation with avant garde themes and styles. Lorca was the youngest member of this esteemed group which also counted among its 10 original members infamous artist Salvador Dalí, and the prolific filmmaker Luis Buñel. Having unofficially formed some years earlier, they are known as “Generation 27” because their first official meeting was held in Seville in 1927, on the anniversary of the death of well-respected poet Luis de Góngora.
Lorca published his first work, called Impresiones y Paisajes, “Impressions and Landscapes”, in 1919. Luckily for Lorca, his upper middle class upbringing allowed him to self-fund the first printing with family money. It was this same year he moved to Madrid, where he met those who would become the “Generation of 27”. Lorca’s literary career wasn’t all success, in fact his first play, El Maleficio de la Mariposa, “The Butterfly’s Magic Spell” was by all regards, a failure and a laughingstock. Lorca was so embarrassed by its existence, he went on to insist that his first play was actually Mariana Pineda, a biography of Mariana de Pineda Muñoz, a famous Spanish historical figure. Mariana Pineda opened with stage setting created by the great artist Salvador Dalí to much success. Lorca’s poems are well known, and have a unique style to them. Due in part to his immense musical talent, many of his poems have a distinct musicality about them, as is evident with such titles as “sonata” and “ballade”- which are, of course, also styles of music.
Dalí remained a close personal friend of Lorca’s throughout his life, and it is rumored that the two shared a more passionate, intimate relationship, although some reports state that it was Dalí who rejected Lorca’s attempts at romance. After Dalí met his future wife, a Russian muse named Gala, Lorca travelled to New York for a year long sabbatical. Here he published some of his most famous poems, Poeta en Nueva York, “A Poet in New York”, where he explored the dark side of unbridled capitalism, inspired by the Wall Street crash of the time that would kick off the great depression.
Lorca’s Later Years, Death, and on Becoming a Martyr
After Lorca returned to Spain, he all but abandoned poetry altogether, focusing instead on writing, producing and directing plays. Lorca’s plays aimed to challenge social norms of the time, including calling into question classist ideals, accepted heteronormativity and the role of women in the public sphere.
Unfortunately, his political and social ideals were far ahead of his time, and when the civil war broke out, Lorca was immediately targeted by the far right political party who called themselves the Nationalists. The leader of the Nationalists, General Francisco Franco, would shortly become the dictator of Spain between 1939-1975. At the young age of 38, Lorca was viciously beaten and subsequently murdered by Franco’s men, and many of his books were burned in the public square of Granada, as a symbol for those who shared Lorca’s ideals.
Lorca’s remains have never been located, despite even modern day search attempts. In 2008 the Spanish government, in an attempt to reconcile Spain’s present with its past tragedies, began a new investigations into his death. However, despite renewed efforts, no headway has been made on locating his remains to give him the proper burial he deserves. Lorca is still revered today for his contributions to Spanish literature, and in fact, three of his previous homes are even now open to the public as museums.
Luckily for the non-Spanish speaking world, we have been able to read and appreciate Lorca’s works due to the diligent translations done by Spanish translation and copy editing professionals such as those at Spanish with Style. It is important that translation efforts such as this be undertaken by Spanish translation experts, who are then able to maintain the rhythm of Lorca’s poetry, the symbolism and the metaphors, all of which are expertly left intact as it is translated. Translation is so much more than simply changing words from one language to another, and requires a nuanced understanding of both languages. This is why it is important for all translation needs to be undertaken by Spanish translation professionals, to ensure the message is being understood by its target audience in the manner in which it was meant.
The Spanish language, or “The Language of Cervantes”?
Miguel Cervantes is perhaps Spain’s most important literary figure of all time. He is not only known as one of the best and most accomplished writers of the Spanish language, but of the Western world as well. His works are still read and respected by readers of all languages, even now, 400 years later, but it is his mark on Spanish culture and the Spanish language that is most pronounced.
The influence on Spanish language that Cervantes had is often compared to the immense influence that William Shakespeare is known to have had on the English language. Shakespeare not only contributed hundreds of words to the English language, but set the bar for literary style and nuanced use of words, expressions and meanings that stands to this day. Cervantes set a similar standard for the Spanish language, particularly with his most famous work, Don Quixote, which is full of beautiful plays on words, vivid metaphors and pervasive neologisms. In fact, his contribution to the Spanish language is so great, the Spanish language itself is referred to in certain circles as la lengua de Cervantes, or “the language of Cervantes”.
While Cervantes perhaps did not contribute as many words in terms of sheer volume to the Spanish language as Shakespeare did for English, he did contribute several words and expressions that even managed to find their way over to the English language. Cervantes is credited for introducing to us the word “quixotic”, after his most notable character, Don Quixote, meaning idealistic, unrealistic or impractical. He is also credited with introducing the several important expressions to the Spanish culture, such as por la muestra se conoce el paño, which literally translates to “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, or rather “the proof is in the pudding” as we say in English.
Born in September of 1547, Cervantes lived a long and varied life, whose story itself would lend well to an epic tome of its own. Cervantes by all accounts lived a rich life full of many experiences, professions and locations. By all accounts Cervantes was born to a poor family near Madrid, but had been an avid reader since childhood. Not much is known about his early life until he eventually leaves Madrid for Rome, and rumor has it not by choice. It is not known for certain what forced him into exile in Italy, some said he fled to avoid arrest, other say it was because of a duel gone wrong, but what is certain is that he spent several years here before joining the Spanish navy in 1575. His motivations for joining the Spanish navy are unknown, but could have been a move to ingratiate himself again with Spain in order to end his exile.
During his time serving in the Spanish navy, Cervantes fought in many battles, and sailed on many ships, eventually sustaining an injury that left him without the use of his left arm. Despite this injury, Cervantes continued to serve in the Spanish navy until one fateful day his ship was attacked by pirates off the coast of Algiers, and he was captured by Barbary pirates. Cervantes was held captive for five years in North Africa, and lived life as a slave during this time. Finally, after years of searching, Cervantes’ family located him, and the Trinitarian church helped pay his ransom and he was returned to Madrid.
It was only at this time, later in life, that Cervantes began to focus on his true calling – writing. His first novel, published in 1585 was titled La Galatea, but like most authors, both of his time and even now, he was not able to support himself through his writing alone. Because of this, he began working as a tax collector, but was shortly suspected of embezzling money and promptly thrown in jail for several months. It was after this short stint in jail that he began to write the works that would make him a household name for some 400 years.
The world famous Don Quixote, Cervantes’ most prestigious work, was published in two volumes, one in 1605, and the second a decade later in 1615. Don Quixote is widely attributed with being the first modern novel, due in part to the incredibly realistic portrayal and level of detail used in character development, as well as the style of writing. Prior to Don Quixote most novels were written in more poetic styles rather than plain Castilian. Don Quixote has more than stood the test of time, and is not only still a world famous classic, but still considered to be “among the best works of fiction ever written”, and he is still known as el príncipe de los ingenios, or “The Prince of Wits”.
After the publication of Don Quixote, he was catapulted back in the great literary circles of the time, and he settled in Madrid by 1607, where he would remain until his death. It was really the last decade of his life where he took his rightful place as one of the world’s most prestigious writers. Many of his works seemed to draw heavily from his life experiences, with several set in Algiers where he had himself been held captive, and the character Don Quixote also experienced captivity, as well a brief moment in jail. Cervantes passed away in Madrid in 1616 at the age of 68, possibly due to complications from Diabetes. Interestingly enough, his death occurred at almost the exact time as Shakespeare, his English language equivalent, himself passed away. One more collection of his works, los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda, “The Works of Persiles and Sigismunda” were published posthumously.
Miguel de Cervantes works are still revered to this day, and his name lives on as the namesake of the prestigious Cervantes literary prize. This prize is awarded every year to celebrate the lifetime achievements of Spanish authors, and honor their contributions to the Spanish language. Not only is this the most esteemed literary prize in the Spanish language, it is among the most revered accomplishments across the literary world as a whole.
Cervantes story does not end here, however. In 2015 remains were found under a Trinitarian convent, and are thought to belong to Cervantes, and his wife. Controversy has ensued, whereby some believe his remains would not be disturbed while others have grand plans to build a museum in his honor that would then house his bones.
It’s because of talented Spanish language translation and copy editing services such as Spanish with Style that non-Spanish speakers of the world are able to not only read great Spanish language classics such as Don Quixote, but to be able to truly appreciate the linguistic skill of the author of this literary work. Professional translators are highly skilled in not just translating the words, but capturing the essence and emotions evoked by timeless, world class writing. The same can be said for any translation needs, translating words is not enough, it is just as important to ensure the proper meaning is being invoked, which is why it is important to leave all translations up to the professionals.
Lope de Vega: Spain’s most prolific writer
The Early Years of the Spanish Language’s Shakespeare
Lope de Vega, born in 1562, remains to this day one of Spain’s most prolific playwrights, poets and novelists. In his 72 years of life, Vega published more works than many of his colleagues combined, both past and present. Among his many nicknames showcasing his literary prowess are Fénix de los Ingenios, and Monstruo de la Naturaleza, meaning “The Phoenix of Wits” and “Prodigy of Nature” respectively. He was well respected all throughout his life, and continues to be respected among readers of Spanish literature long after his death.
Lope de Vega was born in Madrid, Spain, to a commoner family, but was never the less recognized as a genius child from a very young age. Rumor has it that by the tender age of 5, Vega was already able to read and write in both the Spanish and Latin language. Additionally the rumor mill suggests that by 12 years old he completed his first official play called El Verdadero Amante, or “The True Love.
Early in his life, Vega was able to attend noted institutions of higher learning, and had many venerable mentors to guide him. As was common at the time, many of these educational institutes were run by priests, and Vega’s early career aspirations were to join the priesthood. This all changed, however, when he reached adulthood and eschewed a life of celibacy in favor of continuous romantic dalliances which would, more often than not, get him into hot water.
The Tumultuous Life of Lope de Vega
During the course of his lifetime, Vega become not only famous for his vast literary works, but also for his ongoing tumultuous love affairs. The first of these appear to be with the daughter of a prominent director in the theater scene, Elena Osoria. Predictably, this romantic liaison ended badly, and Vega’s retaliations against not only her, but her well-to-do family, resulted in charges of libel, and he was banished from the then-Spanish-Province of Castille.
In the years after his banishment had been decreed, Vega lived in several cities around Spain, and married a 16 year old girl named Isabel de Aldrete y Urbina. This was not, however, the end of his string of scandalous love affairs for which he had now become famous for. His wife, Isabel, died in childbirth around the time his official exile was over, and so he returned to Madrid. Back in Madrid, he engaged in a series of trysts and adulterous liaisons, and even garnered further lawsuits against him. These experiences, however, all undoubtedly helped him develop his already incredibly rich body of work. In addition to adding several more sonnets plays and novels to his oeuvre, he also collected several more children during this time, by several women.
The last years of his life were, by all accounts, dismal. Vega first lost a son, who was widely understood to have been his favorite child. Shortly after this time his second wife, Juana, died in childbirth, he then lost a second son in a shipwreck in South America and finally his youngest daughter was kidnaped. Lope de Vega came down with Scarlet fever and died shortly after that final incident.
The Jewel of Spain’s Literary Tradition
The Siglo de oro (Spanish golden age, or golden century) began around the discovery of the new world, and lasted until 1659, spanning much more than a century in reality. It is characterized by the rise of many prolific artists, sculptors, musicians, architects and writers, who flourished artistically at this time. The siglo de oro was made possible in part by the immense wealth and stability enjoyed by Spain at the time, thanks in part to the vast land holdings and riches brought to them by the new world. It is because of this that Spain had such time, energy and money to devote to supporting the arts.
Vega’s work, while much of it critically acclaimed, is nonetheless often criticized for favoring quantity rather than quality. Among his accomplishments are: 3,000 sonnets, 2 novels, 3 novellas, 9 epic poems and about 500 plays. Some accounts attribute as many as 1,000 or more plays to his name, but only a few hundred have survived to the present day.
Partly due to his vast output of plays, Vega was integral to revitalizing the Spanish theater scene, contributing directly to its rise in popularity at the time. Vega’s desire to please the public led him to write in a particular style, while popular at the time, has since become emblematic of his works in particular. Vega’s plays are also well known for their rich plots, often weaving in elements of Spanish history and culture, making them even more relatable to the Spanish public of that era. He also wrote plays that included many tantalizing and titillating plot points such as adulterous affairs, liaisons between lovers from different classes and comments on Spanish culture, all without the moralizing lens often brought to these types of plays to to the previously heavy influence from the church.
It is a shame that only about 400 or so of Vega’s plays exist to this day, but the ones that do exist are here for us to enjoy thanks in part to professional Spanish language and copy editing services such as Spanish with Style. It is important to trust translation to a transaction expert in order to be able to preserve the tone, style and unadulterated meaning of a text. This is true for not just complex works such as Vega’s plethora of plays, poems and novels, but even for simple texts such as letters, emails, flyers or other business needs. Spanish with Style employs only well-trained professional Spanish language and copy editing experts, so you can be certain that your text is being conveyed in the manner in which it was intended.
Leandro Fernández de Moratín, Playwright, Poet and Translation expert
Leandro Fernández de Moratín is known as one of the great Spanish playwrights of the modern era. Born in 1760 in Madrid, he was always destined to become a great writer. His father was the renowned Nicolas Fernandez, a poet, dramatist and major figure in the Spanish literary world. Because of his father’s prominent position in the literary community of the time, there is no doubt Moratín would have grown up among some of the most important writers and poets of 1700’s Madrid.
Moratín published his first major work in 1790 called El viejo y la niña (The Old Man and the Young Girl), which is still considered a classic in Spanish literature to this day. This work was a scathing critique of a common cultural practice in Spain at the time, which was arranged marriages between young girls and significantly older men. His second work, La comedia nueva (The New Comedy) was a satire featuring characters from other popular plays at the time and was just as popular as his first.
Having spent a significant amount of time at institutes of higher learning on scholarship in both France and England, Moratín was fluent in both French and English in addition to his native tongue, Spanish. Because of his exceptional language skills, he dabbled in translating great works such as the great William Shakespeare and Moliere from their original languages into Spanish. In reality, he was one of the first professional Spanish language translators and his translations are still read today in Spanish speaking communities.
For a brief period of time, Moratín was remarkably successful. He had several wildly popular plays under his belt, as well as books of prose and anthologies of poetry. During this time he also served as the official royal librarian under King Charles IV, who was more liberal-minded that many others at that time. His success however, at least in his home country of Spain, was doomed to be short lived.
Unfortunately, when the Spanish inquisition was reinstated with the return of King Ferdinand VII at the turn of the century, Moratín was exiled to France. His later work, El sí de las niñas (The Maiden’s Consent) appeared to be the last straw as it was a dark, satirical attack on Spanish cultural norms of the time – particularly women’s roles in society. The book was denounced by the powers that be, and Moratín was fated to live out the rest of his days in Paris and abandon playwriting. He was initially entered at the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, but his remains were eventually repatriated to his hometown of Madrid.
In addition to Moratín himself being one of the original professional Spanish language translation experts, it is also thanks to professional Spanish language translation and copy editing services such as Spanish with Style that we can enjoy Leandro Fernández de Moratín’s own works in many other languages, including English. As you can imagine, being able to capture the essence and subtleties of his works and ensure the intended meaning of his prose are accurately portrayed, translation is best left up to highly trained professionals.
Ownership and Agreement: Possessive Adjectives in Spanish
Learning how to speak a new language comes with a mountain of challenges and a seemingly never ending list of vocabulary and grammar to learn. One of the most important things to master when attempting even just basic fluency in Spanish are the possessive adjectives. What are possessive adjectives? Quite simply, they are used to indicate ownership and to talk about what belongs to whom. In English these are words like “my”, “yours” “his” or “hers”. Spanish Possessive adjectives follow a very similar structure to English possessive adjectives, with some exceptions, of course.
In the Spanish language there are five different possessive adjectives depending on who possesses the noun in question. The five possessive adjectives are as follows: mi, tu, su, nuestro and vuestro. Mi means “my”, for example if you wanted to say “my bag” you would say “mi bolsa”. Tu means “your”, so “your hand” would be “tu mano”. These first two possessive adjectives are relatively simple, it’s when we reach the word su that things get complicated. Su actually has four meanings depending on the context of the phrase, and can mean “his”, “her”, “their” and a more formal variation of “your”. With this in mind, we can see that “su copa” could mean “her cup”, “his cup”, “their cup” or even “your cup” (formally), and understanding what is being communicated requires a solid understanding of the overall context of the phrase. Vuestro can also mean “your” when you are speaking in the plural, but is more commonly used in Castilian Spain (Spanish spoken in Spain) and avoided in Latin American Spanish. Finally, nuestro means “our”, for example “nuestro auto” means “our car”.
Agreement in Number and Gender
The first thing to consider when using a possessive adjective is, of course, who owns the noun to which you are referring. Then you can choose the appropriate term: mi, tu, su, nuestro or vuestro (my, your, their/his/her, our and your plural). For example, if I was talking about my own brother, I would say “mi hermano”, and if I was talking about your brother I would say “tu hermano”.
Using possessive adjectives correctly, however, does not simply end here. When constructing a sentence in Spanish, it is important that all of the adjectives are in agreement with the nouns they are modifying. What does it mean to be in agreement? Well if the noun in question is plural, then the possessive adjective changes to reflect that. Both must also be in agreement in terms of gender. This can be a difficult concept for native English speakers attempting to learn Spanish as the English language does not employ gendered nouns If the Spanish noun is feminine, the possessive adjective must be feminine as well, and if the noun is masculine, then the possessive adjective must also reflect this.
The first three possessive adjectives listed above, mi, tu and su, only have two forms. This means that the only alterations undertaken by these three forms are to adjust them in order to agree with number. Regardless of the gender of the noun, they will still stay the same. The corresponding plural forms of these possessive adjectives are as follows:
Mi becomes Mis
Tu becomes Tus
Su becomes Sus
For example, if you wanted to say “my plate” you would say “mi plato”, and if you wanted to say “my plates” you would use the plural form and say “mis platos”. If you wanted to talk about “your sister” you would say “tu hermana”, and if you were referring to multiple sisters, you would say “tus hermanas”. The same structure applies for su, where his/her/their cat is “su gato” and “sus gatos” if there are more than one cat.
Using nuestro and vuestro are where things can get a little more complicated. Both nuestro and vuestro both have to agree not only in number, but in gender as well. For example, if I was talking about our (masculine) cousin, I would use the singular masculine form which would be “nuestro primo”. If there were more than one cousin, then I would use the masculine plural form, “nuestros primos”. If we are referring to one female cousin, then you would use the feminine singular form, “nuestra prima”, and if there were more than one of female cousin, you would say “nuestras primas”. Vuestro follows the same principal, vuestro, vuestros, vuestra and vuestras.
Short-form and Long-form possessive Adjectives
The above discussion refers to short-form possessive adjectives, which are the most common, and as previously mentioned, are used to express ownership of a noun. In the Spanish language there is also something called long-form possessive adjectives. These are not used as often, but are still important to understand. The long-form possessive adjective is used to emphasize ownership in contrast with another owner, or to make explicit a relationship of a personal manner. These must also agree with the noun in question in both number and gender. These are as follows:
Mío, mía, míos and mías. (my)
Tuyo, tuya, tuyos and tuyas (your)
Suyo, suya, suyos and suya (his/hers/yours)
Nuestro, nuestra, nuestros and nuestras (our)
Vuestro, vuestra, vuestros and vuestras (theirs, yours formal)
To use the long-form possessive adjective, you place it after the noun in question. For example: My book (short-form) is “mi libro”, and my book (long-form) is el libro mío.
As you can see, there are many things to consider when choosing the appropriate possessive adjective, and there is plenty of margin for error. With so many aspects to consider, it’s evident how important it is to choose a reputable professional Spanish translation and copy editing service for any translation needs. Leaving your translations up to the Spanish language professionals is the only way to guarantee your messages are being conveyed clearly, correctly and concisely, and are that the intended message is being properly construed to the target audience.
The Art of the Contraction: When to Combine Words
Grammar and grammar rules can be complicated, even in our own native languages. For native English speakers who wish to learn Spanish, or any other language, understanding and remembering a new grammar structure can be daunting. Luckily, there are some grammar structures that are even easier to understand than their English counterparts. An example of one such grammar rule is contractions.
What are Contractions in Spanish?
The word contraction, to contract, literally means to squeeze something together, and grammatically it refers to when two words which normally stand alone, are pushed together to form one word. The English language is full of contractions that we use regularly, and the average English speaker probably doesn’t even realize how often he or she might use them in daily speech. An Examples of an often used contraction in English is “it’s”, which is when “it” and “is” are combined to form one word. English contractions are formed by taking two stand-alone words, pushing them together, and separating them with an apostrophe. The same goes for “don’t”, which is a combination of “does” and “not”, there is also “I’d”, “you’d”, “isn’t” and so on and so on. As you can see, contractions are very popular in the English language, and this is a major hurdle for non-English speakers attempting to learn the language. This is particularly true as many English contractions are considered optional, and used more frequently in the vernacular rather than the formal. Luckily, for those of us wishing to learn Spanish, the use of contractions in Spanish is far simpler.
The Spanish language employs only two contractions, and constructing them is a very simple task. The two contractions used in the Spanish language are “del” and “al”. We can see already that an obvious difference between English and Spanish is that Spanish does not rely on an apostrophe to create contractions whereas English does.
Both contractions are employed when the masculine singular definite article – “el” (meaning “the”) is placed after the preposition “a” (meaning “to” or “at”), or the preposition “de”, (meaning “from”). The structure is as follows: “del” (de + el) and “al” (a + el). In both of these cases the placement of two vowels back-to-back require that one vowel be dropped, and in both cases that vowel is the extra “e”.
Errors in forming contractions are more often made when writing, as verbally pronouncing these two words subsequently will generally speaking automatically cancel out one of the vowels, unless you are speaking very slowly and deliberately, which native Spanish speakers do not often do. Since it is not something that you often need to pay attention to while speaking, it is an area where many mistakes are made when writing.
Spanish Contractions in Use
As previously mentioned, when speaking aloud it is natural to drop one of the vowels due to the way Spanish pronunciation works, particularly in the case where “a” and “el/la” meet. Imagine saying “Ella va al tienda” (she goes to the store) and trying to pronounce “a + la” separately. We can easily see how saying “Ella va a la tienda” is much more easily pronounced.
When we are referring to the preposition “de”,meaning “of”, things get slightly more complicated. In English, ownership is expressed by adding an apostrophe and an “s”, but the same is not so in Spanish. Take for example the phrase “The boy’s dog”, which in Spanish is “el perro del niño”, where in the contraction works just as you would expect. However, if we take the phrase “the girl’s dog”, “el perro de la niña”, we notice that is does not require a contraction. As mentioned above, contractions are only required wherein a masculine singular definite article is in play, “el”. The same goes for the sentence “the employees of the stores”, “los empleados de las tiendas”, wherein we are referring to many stores (tiendas). We can see here that a contraction is also not required, because in addition to being masculine, it must also be a singular definite article.
Where Mistakes are Made with Spanish Contractions
As with most grammar rules, there are of course exceptions and variations to every rule. One of the most important exceptions to consider is the following. If the masculine singular definite article “El” is part of a proper name or title, then a contraction is not made. For example, if someone is introducing themselves as being from El Salvador, they would say “Soy de El Salvador”, and not “Soy Del Salvador”, the latter being incorrect since the El in this case forms part of the proper country name of “El Salvador”.
It is also important to pay particular attention to the difference between “el” and “él”. In English we don’t make use of accents other than the occasional borrowed word or proper name (such as “Beyoncé”, for example) and as such English speakers attempting to learn other languages such as Spanish can fall into the trap of ignoring or downplaying the importance of accents.
In Spanish, an accent is used to signify where the stress is placed when pronouncing a word. Many words in Spanish will still make sense to a native Spanish speaking reader if the accent is left off, although it will see as incorrect and poor grammar. There are, however, many words in Spanish that change meaning completely depending on if they are spelled with an accent or without. For example, “como”, meaning “like” and “cómo”, meaning “how”, “papa” which means “potato, or “papá” which means “dad”, or “si” which means “if”, and “sí” which means “yes”. Another one of these words is “el”, which becomes a completely different word with a completely different meaning when an accent is added: “‘él”. This difference is particularly important to watch out for when deciding if a contraction is in order, as only the accentless “el” needs a contraction.
A very common mistake that non-native Spanish speakers will make is to place a contraction where one is not needed. For example, saying “este teléfono es de él” (this phone is his) might seem like it should take a contraction, but if we look closer we can see the “el” in this case is actually “él”, and thus is referring to “him” and not “the”. We can see here the importance of paying close attention to the use of accents to avoid placing a contraction where one is not needed, for example “dile a él que venga” (meaning tell him to come) should not be accidentally written as “dile al que venga”, which is not only grammatically incorrect, but nonsensical as well.
Despite the fact that constructing and knowing when to use contractions in Spanish is relatively easy, you can see that there are still many opportunities for errors to be made. If you or your business have texts that need to be translated from English into Spanish, you can see how important it is to employ professionals. All of our staff at Spanish with Style are certified Spanish language experts, and trained in Spanish language translation and copy editing. Spanish with Style guarantees that your message is being translated clearly, concisely, and professionally. Leaving your translation needs up to the professionals takes the guesswork out of the process, and you can be confident that well trained Spanish language experts will ensure all accents are correctly placed, and that contractions are used properly – with no mix ups between “el” and “él”.
Present Progressive: Ongoing Tasks and Exceptions to the Rules
There are several ways to speak in the present tense in Spanish, but one of the most common ways is by using the present progressive tense. The same tense is used commonly in English as well, and it is used to describe an action that is ongoing, or has not yet been completed. In short, this is the difference between saying “I run” and “I am running”. The latter implies that the action has not yet been completed, and is still happening.
Luckily the present progressive is used in a similar way in both English and Spanish, and as such is easily understood by English speakers looking to learn Spanish. The present progressive tense is both used in similar situations as well as constructed in a similar manner in both languages.
There is one small exception to the similarities, which is that in English, the present progressive can be used to describe something that is happening in the near future in addition to describing an ongoing action. For example, if some asks “what are you doing tonight” an appropriate answer in English would be “I am studying with Bob”. In Spanish, this is not the case, and this verb tense is only used to describe actions that are currently ongoing.
In this article we will discuss how to construct present progressive phrases in Spanish using the verb estar and present participle, how to identify the correct verb stem to use, and the many irregular verbs to watch out for.
Using Present Progressive Tense in Spanish
Constructing a phrase in present progressive is relatively simple, but requires the conjugation and use of two verbs. Firstly, the present progressive uses the “estar”, which translates directly to English as “to be”. “To be” is the same verb used to form present progressive in English. In short, to form present progressive just follow this format: To be (estar) + Verb in present participle form.
The first step in using the present progressive tense correctly is to be able to correctly conjugate the verb estar. The appropriate conjugations for estar are as follows:
Yo Estoy (I am)
Tu Estás (You are)
El/Ella Está (He / She is)
Nosotros Estamos (We are)
Vos/Vosotros Estáis (Informal you are) **
Ellos/Ellas Están (They are)
** Vosotros is rarely used in Latin American Spanish, and is more common among Spanish speakers from Spain.
The second part of using the present progressive tense in Spanish is adding the present participle to the properly conjugated form of estar. What is the present participle? Well, in English these are the verbs that end in “-ing”, such as “writing” or “driving”, which gets added to “I am” to make the present progressive phrase “I am writing” or “you are driving” in English. In Spanish, if the unconjugated verb ends in –ar, then the present participle form adds -ando to the verb stem, and if the verb ends in -er or -ir, then -iendo is added.
For example, if I wanted to say “I am eating”, the verb comer (to eat), ending in an -er, becomes comiendo, “estoy comiendo” (I am eating). If I wanted to say “You are speaking”, the verb hablar (to speak), ending in -ar becomes hablando, “estas hablando” (you are speaking). Both estar and the present participle verbs must be present to be correct, for example, comiendo is not correct on its own.
To sum up:
(To eat) Comer – er + iendo = comiendo
(To speak) hablar – ar + ando = hablando
(To live) vivir – ir + iendo = viviendo
Identifying the Correct Verb Stem
Identifying the appropriate verb stem on which to add the “-iendo” or “-ando” ending is in theory very simple. The basic rule is to simply drop the -ar, -er or -ir and add -iendo or -ando. For example, cerrar (to close) becomes cerr-ando, perder (to lose) becomes perdiendo and escribir (to write) becomes escrib-iendo.
Verbs ending in -ir function slightly differently when attempting to identify the correct way to conjugate a verb tense. When attempting to conjugate verbs that end in “-ir”, it is important to note that an O in the verb stem will become U, and an E will become I. Verbs that end in -ir but with neither O nor E in the verb stem follow the same structure as regular verbs ending in -er and -ar.
For example:
(To laugh) Reir → Riendo, here the first “e” changes to an “i” in the conjugated format.
(To sleep) Dormir → Durmiendo, in this instance the first “o” changes to a “u” in this case.
(To write) Escribir → Escribiendo, this verb follows the same structure of -er and -ar verbs as there is no O or E in the verb stem.
Other Exceptions and Irregularities to Present Progressive Rules
Present Progressive sounds relatively simple to use when you look at the rules previously laid out, and it is, for the most part. The problem lies in the exceptions to these rules, and this is where the majority of mistakes are made. For example, there are situations where a “y” is added in order to maintain the agreement between orthography and pronunciation. Here are some examples:
(To read) leer → leyendo,
(To bring) traer → trayendo
(To influence) influir → influyendo
Additionally, there are some verbs that, while they end in -er, follow the verb stem change rules of -ir verbs. Most notable, the verb poder (I can, or I am able) becomes pudiendo, where the O → U.
As you can see, there are many opportunities to make mistakes when trying to communicate even simple, present tense messages. This is why it is of the utmost importance that businesses use a professional Spanish translation and copy editing service for any translating needs, even if you or someone you know thinks it’s a simple, easily translatable sentence. Spanish with Style hires only fully qualified translation professionals who can guarantee your message is being translated clearly, concisely and correctly. If you are looking to reach across language boundaries to spread your message, leave the translation up to the Spanish language experts.
Spanish Superlatives
Many native English speakers may not know what a superlative is in English, let alone in Spanish, and the word ‘superlative’ is not one often used outside of a linguistic context. Rest assured, superlatives are incredibly simple, in both English as well as Spanish.
What are superlatives?
In both English as well as Spanish, there are three basic ways of comparing items. These three ways are as follows:
- Equality
- Inequality
- Superlative
For example, a comparison of equality would be “this pizza is as good as hers”, while a comparison of inequality would be “this pizza is better than hers”. The third way is called a superlative, meaning that the item, in this case pizza, is either the most or the least of something. In English we would say “this pizza is the best”, or “this pizza is the worst”, meaning that it fits squarely on one end of the spectrum.
In English, we construct superlatives in a relatively simple way, for example, worst or best, or by adding an “est” to the end of an adjective- hottest, coldest, longest, shortest.
Using superlatives in Spanish
Constructing superlatives in Spanish is slightly more complicated than in English, and there are three basic ways of constructing them.
The first is by using “más (adjective) de” or “menos (adjective) de”, which roughly translates as “most of” and “least of”. For example: Mi hermana es la más hermosa de nuestra familia (My sister is the most beautiful in our family) or Mi papa es el menos tranquilo de nuestra familia (My father is the least calm in our family).
The basic way to think about this way of using superlatives in Spanish is as follows:
el/la (the) + menos/mas (less/more) + adjective + de (of)
The second way to construct a superlative when you are using single word comparisons, such as “peor” (worst) or “mejor” (best). In these cases you do not need to use “más” or “menos”. For example, Ella es la mayor (she is the oldest) or El es el menor (he is the youngest)
The basic way to think about this way of using superlatives in Spanish is as follows:
el/la (the) + adjective + de (of)
The third way of constructing a superlative in Spanish is by simply adding “ísimo” or “íssima” to the end of an adjective as well as certain adverbs. For example, you could say Eso vino es buenísimo” which directly translates to this wine is “super” or “extremely” or “very” good, but in Spanish really means “the best”. You can do this with most adjectives, for example, “pequeño” (small) becomes “pequenisimo” (smallest), or “agradecido” (grateful) becomes “agradecidisimo” (most grateful).
As you can see, with so many ways to express something as simple as a superlative, it can be very easy for those who are not experts in the Spanish language to make mistakes. This is why it’s so important to use professional translation and copy editing services such as Spanish with Style. This ensures your documents are being translated professionally and accurately, and that your message is being construed clearly.
7 Tricks for Pluralizing Spanish Nouns Correctly
Spanish is quickly becoming one of the most commonly spoken languages, both globally and within the United States of America. As this new wave of popularity continues, many people are beginning to learn Spanish, and having to use it in their daily work life or personal life. One of the most common pitfalls of learning a new language is assuming certain grammatical structures function the same way as they do in English.
When learning Spanish, it is important to realize that rules governing things such as pluralizing nouns are far more complicated, and abide by many more grammatical rules than in English. For example, in English when a noun shifts from being singular to being plural, in English we would simply add an ”s”. For example: “one book” becomes “two books”. Simply adding an “s” to nouns in Spanish works sometimes, for instance “one book”, “un libro” and “two books”, “dos libros”. However, depending on the noun, pluralizing it can be as complicated as adding an “e”, dropping accents, and even changing letters altogether.
To help you sort through the potentially complicated grammar rules when it comes to plural forms of nouns in the Spanish language, here are 7 tricks to help you ensure you are using the correct plural form of any Spanish noun.
- Nouns that end in vowels need an “S”
This one is the easiest rule to remember, as it works in a similar way to how plural forms of nouns are constructed in English. If a noun ends in any vowel, “a”, “e”, “i”, “o” or “u”, then simply adding an “s” to the end of the word will suffice. For example, “un gato” (a cat) becomes “dos gatos” (two cats), and “un manzana“ (one apple) becomes “dos manzanas“ (two apples).
- Nouns that don’t end in vowels become plural by adding an “es”
Now that we’ve covered words that end in vowels, what about words that don’t end in vowels? Simple, words that end in consonants need to gain not only an “s” but an “e” as well, ending in “es”. For example, “el árbol” (the tree) becomes “los árboles” (the trees).
It may seem that as we’ve covered nouns ending in both consonants and vowels that we’ve covered everything. This is not the case, and there are a few other rule to look out for.
- For nouns that end in “ión”, lose the accent on the ó, and gain “es”
Words that end in “ión” don’t follow quite the same rules as other nouns that just end in consonants. In this case, you would still add the “es”, but you would also drop the accent on the “ó”. For example, “Ostión” (oyster) becomes “Ostiones” (oysters).
- When nouns end in “z”, the “z” becomes “c”, and “es” is added
Another exception to simply adding an “es” to nouns ending in consonants is when there is a “z” involved. In this case, the “z” is dropped completely, and is replaced by a “c”, at which time the “es” can be added. For example, “nariz” (nose) becomes “narices” (noses).
- Nouns that end in “s” or “x” with an unstressed last syllable, the article and not the noun needs to be changed to the plural
When a noun ends in “s” or “x”, the word remains unchanged, and only the article changes to demonstrate the noun should be plural. The most notable example of these are the days of the week, “el lunes” “el martes” “el miércoles” “el jueves” and “el viernes” become “los lunes” “los martes” “los miércoles” “los jueves” and “los viernes” respectively, while both Saturday and Sunday, “sabado” and “domingo” follow the rules for nouns that end in vowels, “los sabados” and “los domingos”.
One more aspect to consider in addition to the endings of nouns, is the noun’s gender. This can be confusing to many English speakers hoping to learn Spanish, as the English language does not classify nouns by gender. This brings us to our next trick to using the correct plural form of nouns in the Spanish language:
- Nouns must agree with gender as well as number of articles
Gender is an important factor to take into consideration when using the plural form of any noun, as it must agree with the article in both gender and number. There are several different articles used in Spanish depending on whether we are referring to something in the plural, singular, or if the noun is masculine or feminine.
While in English we simply utilize the article “the” for definite articles and “a” or “an” for indefinite articles, Spanish employs “el” (singular, masculine), “los” (plural, masculine), “la” (singular, feminine) and “las” (plural, feminine) for definite articles and “un” (singular, masculine), “unos” (plural, masculine), “una” (singular, feminine) and “unas” (plural, feminine) for indefinite articles. This may seem complicated, but consider as a general rule feminine nouns often end in “a” and masculine nouns often end in ”o”. Keep that in mind and you’re off to a good start!
- When referring to more than one gender, opt for the masculine plural form of a noun.
The final factor to consider is if you are discussing a group of mixed gendered nouns. For example, if you are discussing your nieces and nephews, “sobrinas” and “sobrinos”, you would default to the masculine gender. For example, if you were to say “the nieces and nephews”, you would instead say “los sobrinos”.
As you can see, the seemingly simple act of changing a noun from the singular to the plural is guided by a fairly complex set of guidelines, and there are plenty of opportunities to make mistakes. This is why it is so important to use a professional spanish language translation and copy editing service such as Spanish with Style for any translation needs. Our staff are highly trained Spanish language experts who will ensure your texts are translated accurately and professionally, guaranteeing that your message is being delivered in the way in which it was intended.
He or She? Gender in the Spanish Language
It is human nature to categorize objects, be it by size, shape or color. We also do this in the languages we speak, classifying nouns by their gender. Languages can have masculine, feminine or neuter genders. While not all languages have gendered nouns, the Spanish Language has masculine and feminine nouns and Spanish language speakers need to know the gender of each of those nouns in order to speak the language comfortably. In this article we will discuss both why the Spanish language has gendered nouns and how to use those gendered nouns correctly.
Are English Nouns Gendered?
To a native English speaker it may seem strange to be told that every noun, from a table (la mesa) to the sky (el cielo), has a masculine or feminine gender in the Spanish language. But the English language does have some gendered nouns for people or animals, but just not for objects. These gendered nouns describe the physical sex of the person or animal, such as woman and man, or tiger and tigress.
For example:
| Feminine | Masculine | Neutral |
| Woman | Man | Person |
| Mother | Father | Parent |
| Waitress | Waiter | Server |
| Cow | Bull | |
| Lioness | Lion |
In the Spanish language all nouns have either a masculine or feminine gender, and there is no neutral gender. Like in English, nouns for people and animals are gendered based on biological sex, such as la mujer (the woman) and el hombre (the man) or el león (the lion) or la leona (the lioness). The gender of other nouns is often unrelated to the function of the object itself. If you were to guess the gender of the noun “a dress”, you would likely guess that it is feminine based on the almost exclusive use of dresses by women, however, in Spanish it is the masculine noun, “el vestido”. Similarly, the Spanish word for “a tie” is the feminine noun, “la corbata”.
Why are Nouns Gendered?
For the frustrated language learner, classifying nouns by gender may seem puzzling, but gendered nouns exist in many languages. The question of why they exist in any language is a bit more complicated and may not relate to biological sex at all. Many languages have multiple classification systems for nouns. These noun classes may have been created to denote important meaning in the past, but as languages (and cultures) change much of that initial meaning is lost while the language holds on to its history through grammar. Bantu languages used by people in Sub-Saharan Africa are an example of this. These languages can have as many as 16 different classifications for their nouns, some are easy to understand such as the noun class that is based on size, but other classes are arbitrary and nouns within them have no obvious connections.
In the Spanish language, the gender of nouns for people, such as la mujer and el hombre, are obviously connected to the gender (or biological sex) of the person but the gender of other nouns, such as la mesa, is not so obvious. Some people theorize that this is because in the past nouns were associated with a gender, they were either seen as having a feminine or masculine essence. Others theorize that all nouns were part of a larger classification system and biological sex fit within that. No matter what the historical reason, knowing the gender of each noun in the Spanish language, or any target language, is important for fluent use of the language.
How to Tell the Gender of a Noun
As mentioned above, there are some rules in the Spanish language that make it easier to know which gender a noun is. In general a noun ending with the letter –a will be feminine and a noun ending in the letter –o will be masculine. However, there are always exceptions such as the masculine noun “el mapa” and the feminine noun “la mano”. Other endings that generally denote feminine words are – sión, –ción, –dad, –tad, –tud, and –umbre.
For example:
| -sión | – ción | – dad | – tad | -tud | -umbre |
| la televisión | la educación | la ciudad | la libertad | la certitud | la certidumbre |
| la conversasión | la visualización | la Universidad | la lealtad | la gratitud | la costumbre |
| la diversión | la navegación | la imparcialidad | la mitad | la actitud | la legumbre |
Using Correct Articles
Because the gender of many nouns is arbitrary, language learners are often encouraged to learn the article with the noun to help them remember the gender of the noun. If the noun uses the article la or una, it is feminine; if it uses the article el or un it is masculine. There are many rules that help you remember the gender of the noun, and therefore which article to use, but there are also many exceptions. It is easier to memorize “la ventana” (the window) than to memorize the word “ventana” and then try to remember if it is masculine or feminine each time you use it.
Many Spanish language words for occupations end with –ista for either men or women, for example un dentist (a male dentist) or una dentist (a female dentist). In these cases the article is important for denoting the gender of the person. For other nouns, however, the same word with a different article changes the meaning of the word altogether. For example, el corte is the blade or the cut but la corte is the court of law. These examples show the importance of knowing the gender of a noun and using the correct article to maintain the correct meaning of the word.
Adjective Agreement
Another very important reason that Spanish language speakers must know all the genders for nouns is that adjectives must “agree” with their noun. That means that the adjective will change, like the article did, depending on if the noun is masculine or feminine. If the noun is feminine the language speaker must also use the feminine form of the adjective; if the noun is masculine they must use the masculine form of the noun. Feminine adjectives generally end in –a and masculine adjectives generally end in –o.
For example:
| Feminine | Masculine |
| La mujer es alta. (The woman is tall) | El hombre es alto. (The man is tall.) |
| La manzana roja está aquí. (The apple is red.) | El lápiz rojo está aquí. (The pen is red.) |
| La noche es fría. (The night is cold.) | El sol es caliente. (The sun is hot.) |
| La profesora está contenta. (The female teacher is happy) | El profesor está contento. (The male teacher is happy.) |
| Es una falda blanca. (It’s a white skirt.) | Es un vestido blanco. (It’s a white dress.) |
The Importance of Knowing the Gender of Spanish Language Nouns
For Spanish language speakers the gender of a noun is inherent and obvious. Native Spanish speakers learned the gender agreement of nouns as young children, so hearing a noun used with the incorrect article or adjective is an obvious mark of a non-native speaker. If Spanish language speakers read Spanish language materials that are not using the correct gender of nouns they will feel that the text is difficult and awkward to read. To prevent this discomfort, businesses and individuals should use Spanish translation and copy editing for all Spanish language materials. The Spanish language experts at Spanish with Style will ensure the proper agreement of all articles, adjectives and nouns throughout the text so that it reads like it was written by a native speaker.