Method

Using English to Learn Spanish takes advantage of the similarities between both languages to make learning Spanish a breeze. This book series goes over the sounds, vocabulary, and grammar of Standard Spanish.

Each book is organized into three milestones: SOUND -> WORDS -> SENTENCES

The series is organized in three levels:

Basics, for Professionals

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Spanish for Professionals: The Using English to Learn Spanish ™ series currently offers two books to help busy professionals communicate in their workplace. Filled with realistic examples, a phrasebook, and the basic fundamentals of Spanish, Spanish for Engineers and Spanish for Health Care will help you feel confident when bridging the language barrier.

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Foundational Level

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Foundational Level: Spanish for Californians™ welcomes readers from any level to get a comprehensive view of the Spanish language. This book goes over topics ranging from the foundations of language, to the complexities of verb conjugations, grammar, and much more. With this book, you will gain a firm grasp of Spanish that will set you up for success .

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Advanced Level

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Advanced Spanish: For more advanced learners, Advanced Spanish™ will help you perfect your oral and written communication. With eight selected topics, you will master the many intricacies and exceptions the Spanish language has to offer.

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Tutorials

Test your mastery of the Spanish language with these interactive quizzes.

1. General Concepts of Pronunciation (Quiz true/false)

General Concepts of Pronunciation

In this exercise, you will be asked true-false questions about the pronunciation and general concepts about the Spanish language.


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2. Combination of Vowels (Dictation)

Combination of Vowels

Remember…

Spanish vowels are very simple. There are only five symbols (a, e, i, o, u) to represent five vowel sounds (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/). The “y” symbol may represent the same sound as “i” in some cases.
English, on the contrary, has 11 vowels /ɪ/,/e/,/æ/,/ʌ/,/ɒ/,/ʊ/,/iː/,/ɔː/,/uː/,/ɑː/,/ə/. (and this is without counting the nasal vowels…) Typically English speakers only struggle when it comes to combine certain Spanish vowels.

This activity of listening comprehension is to practice the combinations of vowel sounds /a/,/e/,/i/,/o/, and /u/.

The slashes represent the sound of the letter or word. Spanish language has all possible combinations of the five vowels, so 25 possibilities: /aa/, /ae/, /ai/, /ao, /au/, /ea/, /ee/, etc.

Below you can see one example of each combination.




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3. Words that Look the Same (Speak the Words)

Combination of Vowels

Remember…

Spanish has a simple set of pronunciation rules. Basically, every letter corresponds to an individual sound with the exception of the five digraphs “ch,” “qu,” “rr,” “gu,” “ll” (which are pairs of letters with a single sound), and the “h” (which is always silent).
An interesting set of words are those that have the same spelling in both Spanish and English, but different pronunciation. For example, the word “iris” is pronounced /iris/ in Spanish and /airis/ in English.

In some cases, the spelling coincides but the accent doesn’t. In the examples below, the accent is underlined for clarity.
Examples of words

Asia /asia/ chocolate /CHokolate/
halo /alo/ primate /primate/
álgebra /alHebra/ ángel /anHel/
neón /neon/ bacteria /bakteria/
pus /pus/ flexible /flexible/
probable /probable/ horrible /oRible/
considerable /konsiderable/ doctor /doktor/
motor /motor/ tutor /tutor/
dental /dental/ mental /mental/
funeral /funeral/ final /final/
superior /superior/ interior /interior/

In this exercise, you are presented with 10 words in pairs that you have to pronounce in Spanish.


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4. Stress and Accent Marks (True/False Quiz)

Stress and Accent Mark

Remember…
– Stress means emphasis IN PRONUNCIATION. The accent mark is just a symbol (‘) that generally mark the stress.
– All words in Spanish have one an only one point of stress and it is always on a vowel (a, e, i, o, u), never on “y” or on any consonant.
– The accent mark is also used to distinguish some words that are pronounced the same, for example tú (you) and tu (your).
– All words have stress, but just some have accent mark. The accent mark rules are set to minimize the number of words that have accent mark.
– 80% words in Spanish have the stress in the second to last syllable, e.g., palma (palm), mapa (map), mármol (marble) (https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acentuaci%C3%B3n_del_idioma_espa%C3%B1ol)
– There are three main general rules about the accent marks, but the simplest is about those words that have stress in the third-to-last syllable: all of these have accent mark, like tórrido (torrid)

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5. Singular & Plural (Fill in the Blanks Quiz)

Singular & Plural

Remember…
– Just nouns (names of things) can be intrinsically singular or plural.
– Nouns ending by vowel (a, e, i, o, u) become plural by adding “s,” e.g., planta-plantas, The other nouns add “es” e.g., computador-computadores
– Nouns ending by “z” become plural by changing “z” by “ces”, e.g., luz-luces (light-lights).

NOTE For this quiz, the answer is still right if you don’t put the accent mark.

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6. Masculine & Feminine (Multiple Choice Quiz)

Masculine & Feminine

Remember…
– Just nouns (names of people, animals or things) can be intrinsically masculine or feminine.
– nouns of male/female people or some animals have the grammatical gender of its natural gender, e.g., el gato, la gata.
– Nouns ending by “o/a” tend to be masculine/feminine e.g., carro (el), planta (la),
– Nouns ending by “-dad” tend to be feminine, e.g., ciudad (la), city
– Nouns ending in “-ma” tend to be masculine, e.g., axioma (el).

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7. Regular Verbs – Present Tense (Fill in the Blanks Quiz)

Masculine & Feminine

Remember…
– Regular verbs are those that follow a particular set of rules with no exceptions
– All verbs ending by -AR do the present with these endings: -o, -as, -a, -amos, -an *(I, you, s/he, we, they) e.g., I sing – canto
– All verbs ending by -ER do the present with these endings: -e, -es, -e, -emos, -en (I, you, s/he, we, they) e.g., You drink – bebes
– All verbs ending in -IR do the present with these endings: -e, -es, -e, -emos, -en (I, you, s/he, we, they) e.g., We live – vivimos
– All verbs ending by -AR do the gerund (-ing words) with “-ando,” e.g., cancelar – cancelando (cancelling) – All verbs ending by -ER/IR do the gerund (-ing words) with “-iendo,” e.g., corresponder – correspondiendo (corresponding) – All verbs ending by -AR do the past participle (like sung, given, forgotten, etc.) with “-ado,” e.g., cancelar – cancelado (cancelled) – All verbs ending by -ER/IR do the past participle (like sung, given, forgotten, etc.) with “-ido,” e.g., orresponder – correspondido (corresponded)

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8. Learning Words (True/False Quiz)

Learning Words

Remember…
– What is a cognate? A word that sound similar to another one of the other language and has the same meaning
– What is a false cognate? A word that sound similar to another one of the other language BUT has the same meaning
– What is an indirect cognate? A word that is connected to another other one of the other language BUT has the same meaning
– What is a prefix and suffix? some letter before of after a word that give the word a change in the meaning
– What are the translations of “to be”? Ser, estar, tener, and hacer.
– What is Spanglish?

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9. One Past, Present, and Future (Fill in the Blanks Quiz)

Learning Words

Remember…
These structures
– I have sung = He cantado
– I am singing = Estoy cantando
– I am going to sing = Voy a cantar
– Singing is good for you = Cantar es bueno para ti
– I work singing = Trabajo cantando

NOTE For this quiz, the answer is still right if you don’t write the accent mark.

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10. Irregularities in the Tenses (Fill in the Blanks Quiz)

Learning Words

Remember…
– The simplest tenses are those three tenses that use the forms “to,” “ing,” “ed”
– The form “to”, “I am going TO sing”, “Voy a cantAR” has no irregular verbs.
– The form “ing”, “I am singING”, “Estoy cantANDO” has some irregular verbs but they follow rules: the changes e -> i, o -> u, i -> y. In addition, “ir,” “poder” are irregular too.
– The form “ed”, “I have studiED”, “He estudiADO” has only 13 basic irregular verbs. These words are>

                          
cubrir = to cover cubierto
escribir = to write escrito
decir = to say dicho
hacer = to do hecho
morir = to die muerto
poner = to put puesto
resolver = to resolve resuelto
romper = to break roto
satisfacer = to satisfy satisfecho
soltar = to loosen up suelto
volver = to come back vuelto
ver = to see visto

NOTE For this quiz, the answer is right if you don’t write the accent mark.

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11. Grammar Rules- Pronouns (Drag the Words Quiz)

Learning Words

Remember…<

– Pronouns with prepositions:

for me/ you/ him/ her/ us/ you guys/ them: para mí/ ti/ él/ ella/ nosotros/ ustedes/ ellos.

– Pronouns with the preposition “with”:

with me/ with you/ him/ her/ us/ you guys/ them: conmigo/ contigo/ él/ ella/ nosotros/ ustedes/ ellos.

– Pronouns of Direct Object

The robot saw me/ you/ him/ her/ us/ you guys/ them: El robot me/ te/ lo/ nos/ los/ los

– Pronouns of Indirect Object

The robot wrote me/ you/ him/ her/ us/ you guys/ them a letter: El robot me/ te/ le/ nos/ les/ les escribió una carta.

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12. Questions and Negations (Drag the Words Quiz)

Learning Words

Remember…
The following are essential words related with quantities and negations

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
no ningún
never nunca
nobody nadie
any nada
yes
always siempre
all todos/ todas
anyone cualquiera
everybody todo el mundo
where dónde
who quién/ quiénes
how many cuántas
what qué
how often con qué frecuencia
when cuándo
how cómo
how much / how many cuánto/ cuanta /cuántos / cuantas
which cuál /cuáles
how long ago cuánto tiempo hace

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13. Important Verbs (Fill in the Blanks Quiz)

Learning Words

Remember…

– there is/are = hay

– there was/were = había

– there is/are left = queda

– can = poder (irregular): puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, pueden

-ought to= deber (regular): debo, debes, debe, debemos, deben

-to have to = tener que (irregular): tengo que, tienes que, tiene que, tenemos que, tienen que

-to need = necesitar (regular): necesito, necesitas, necesita, necesitamos, necesitan

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14. Me Gusta = It appeals to me (Fill in the Blanks Quiz)

Learning Words

Remember…

– To appeal = Gustar. It appeals to me/you/him-her/ us/them : Me/te/le/nos/les gusta.

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15. Reflexivity (Fill in the Blanks Quiz)

Learning Words

Remember…

– Reflexive pronouns are: myself, yourself, himself/herself/itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves = me, te, se, nos, se (for ustedes), se

-In Spanish, reflexives pronouns are used in the following situations:
a) With actions that can be reflexive or not (like in English), e.g. I look at the landscape/ I look at myself in the mirror.
b) For actions that are inherently reflexive, e.g. He committed suicide.
c) With some verbs to distinguish a meaning, e.g. to deny/ to refuse, negar, negarSE.
d) With the verb to get, poner, to express a transition, e.g. to get sick.

– A few verbs can be optionally reflexive. This is the case of the verbs to eat, to drink, e.g., I eat a sandwitch = (Me) como un sandwich.

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16. Present Tense (Fill in the Blanks Quiz)

Learning Words

Remember…

– Regular verbs have the following endings:

AR –> -o, -as, -a-, -amos, -ais, an.
ER –> -o, -es, -e-, -emos, -eis, en.
IR –> -o, -es, -e-, -imos, – ís, en.

– There are some REGULAR verbs that have to amke changes intheir spelling to sound properly, e.g., vencer, venZo, (not “venco”)

– The irregular verbs are classified into:

-CER/ -CIR –> ZCO, e.g., producir, produZCO -UIR –> -Y-, e.g., distribuir, distribuYo -O- –> -UE , e.g., dOrmir, dUErmo -E- –> -IE , e.g., comEnzar, comIEnzo -E- –> -I , e.g., seguir, sIgo THE VERY IRREGULAR VERBS (around 20) don’t follow any rules, like ser, estar, ir, or poner.

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17. Summary (True/False Quiz)

Learning Words

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Classes

San José
San Francisco
Madrid

For more personalized learning, the professional team behind Using English to Learn SpanishTM can help you start communicating ASAP. 
Contact us at: info@BruquetasPublishing.com

Interactive Slides (Windows)

Body Systems
Systems -Quiz
Parts of the Body
Organs
Office Nurse 360

For the busy healthcare professional, these interactive slides provide a practical summary of relevant vocabulary and sentences to help you both navigate Spanish and the human body. 

VERB WHEEL

Regular Verbs
Irregular Verbs with Rules
20 Very Irregular Verbs

Become a master of the Present Tense. Pick your level and take your chances by spinning the conjugation wheel!

Blog Palabras

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