Spanish classes

Spanish classes have moved to the mornings this week. I realized how much better they are at this time of day. I generally have zero interest and zero energy in the evening, which is when we’ve been meeting for the last month.

Since I am much more interested in studying in the mornings, we’ve been doing two hours a day this week. I still start by reading 20-30 minutes. And then we move on to grammatical subjects. Often reviewing the tenses and moods. Reviewing areas I struggle with; such as properly distinguishing between para and por (it’s waaay more complicated than I had previously appreciated). Distinguishing between estar and ser (also a few complicated areas), and various other non verb-related grammatical issues.

I’ve increased the amount of listening comprehension exercises which has been really beneficial. I have my instructor read sentences in Spanish which I translate to English. Or she will conjugate a verb and I will translate. That has proven rather difficult. Especially between the 2nd/3rd person plural imperfect subjunctive and the 2nd/3rd person preterite along with the 2nd/3rd person future tense. Here’s an example of the problem:

Hallar (to find, discover, to locate)
2nd/3rd person preterito: hallaron
2nd/3rd person imperfecto de subjuntivo: hallaran
2nd/3rd person futuro: hallarĂ¡n

Given the rate in which people speak, it’s quite difficult for me to discern the difference between two forms simply by the stress pattern.

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