Unlike English, Spanish sentences are not so dependent on word order. Instead, Spanish uses a system of suffixes and particles to help mark the subject and object. Spanish verbs' tense suffixes, for example, carry information about the person and number of the subject. This system of verb tense suffixes is called "conjugation," and though it sounds challenging, don't give up!  After learning to conjugate, Spanish becomes a smooth sail! It is important to remember the following points: gender and number. "Gender" - Spanish nouns fall into two categories, "feminine" and "masculine" . Generally, feminine nouns end in an"  -a "vowel, and masculine nouns end in an " -o" vowel. "Number" - Check if the noun is singular or plural. ... Show more

Spanish and English are cognate languages; that is, many words in Spanish sound and look similar to their English equivalents. Because of these cognate words, and because of the similarity in alphabets, learners of Spanish can often guess the English equivalents of a Spanish word with a high degree of accuracy, and vice versa. The Spanish writing system is based on the Roman alphabet,though some features are specific to Spanish, like the letter -ñ (as in Español!) , as well as the digraphs -ch, -ll, and -rr, which we traditionally analyze as single letters. In addition to these peculiarities, a few Spanish words carry a written accent to distinguish homonyms, as in "él"  (definite article "el" vs. subject pronoun "él"). Thankfully... Show more

Having been developed from Latin and part of the Romance languages, Spanish was born in Spain, from where Spanish colonials spread the language to the western hemisphere, and to this day, remains the official language of the majority of Central and South America, and the Caribbean. However, you may have noticed that nowadays, people all over the world are studying Spanish in Brazil, the United States, and much of Europe. The Spanish spoken in most of the world is the "Castellano" type of Spanish (originating from the Castille region of Spain), and is usually the Español we are mostly familiar with. Today, Español keeps becoming more popular as a language for business, tourism, and travel. That is because Spanish is the native... Show more

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from everyone here at SpanishPod101.com! We're grateful to have listeners just like you, and we're eagerly waiting for the upcoming year to learn Spanish together! And when the New Year comes around, be sure to make a resolution to study Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! Have a healthy and happy holiday season. From the SpanishPod101.com Team!