countdown to spanish learn to communicate in 24 hours

[...]... is a word used to name a person, place, thing, idea, or quality All Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine and the gender of most of them can be determined by their meaning or ending Most masculine nouns end in -o, while most feminine nouns end in -a A few nouns must be learned on an individual basis Gender-Obvious Nouns Nouns that refer to males are obviously masculine Refer to this list for... plural (pl.), masculine (m.) or feminine (f.) Three of the most common markers, as shown in the following table, are definite articles expressing “the,” indefinite articles expressing “a,” “an,” “one,” or “some,” and demonstrative adjectives expressing “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those.” Singular Noun Markers MEANING MASCULINE FEMININE definite article the el la indefinite article a, an un(o) una demonstrative... unique combination of the two that gives you the essentials for an immediate jump start in speaking and understanding Spanish Unlike any other foreign language book on the market, Countdown to Spanish is organized into a series of tasks that speakers will find useful and adaptable in a wide variety of situations: socializing, giving and receiving information, persuasion, expressing feelings and emotions,... Markers MEANING MASCULINE FEMININE definite article the los las indefinite article some unos unas demonstrative adjectives these estos estas those esos esas those aquellos aquellas 12 23:00 • RECOGNIZING AND USING NOUNS Definite Articles The definite article the indicates a specific person or thing: the teacher, the house The definite article precedes the noun that it modifies and, in Spanish, agrees... expressing needs These are the elements that are necessary for anyone who wants to understand and be understood: that is, to communicate as effectively as possible Remember that dictionaries just give you words without teaching you how to put them together to form logical, comprehensive thoughts Countdown to Spanish will allow you to reach this goal Hours 24: 00 to 19:00 present the grammar you will need to. .. Conducting Business Prepositions Before Infinitives Time’s Up! 269 270 270 271 271 273 274 276 xi CONTENTS 00:00 The Final Countdown 277 Answer Key 283 Appendix A: 24 Important Words and Phrases 295 Appendix B: Verb Glossary 299 Index 307 xii Introduction The main premise of Countdown to Spanish is that you can learn this extremely useful and beautiful language quickly and effectively If you are willing to. .. Countdown to Spanish is divided into 24 one-hour lessons Each lesson is then subdivided into very logical and manageable parts, which will enable you to learn the material with ease and self-assurance Just divide the lesson so that you allow an equal number of minutes for each major heading Do not worry about memorizing all the words in every table That would prove to be an impossible and frustrating task Instead,... way to excellent pronunciation habits, try singing along to your favorite Latin tunes Whether you prefer oldies or something more contemporary, you will find that you can learn a lot of vocabulary and easily become accustomed to the rhythms used by native speakers 9 COUNTDOWN TO SPANISH TIME’S UP! Now that you’ve had the opportunity to thoroughly acquaint yourself with and practice the sounds of Spanish, ... víctima oo-nah beek-tee-mah a victim Gender-Changing Singular Nouns Changing the gender of a noun can be as easy as removing the o ending for the masculine form and substituting an a to get the feminine form as shown here: MASCULINE FEMININE MEANING amigo (ah-mee-goh) amiga (ah-mee-gah) friend maestro (mah-yehs-troh) maestra (mah-yehs-trah) teacher nieto (nee-yeh-toh) nieta (nee-yeh-tah) grandchild niño (nee-nyoh)... masculine and feminine nouns and how to form the plural of nouns Cognates will be explained, and a useful, working list will be presented to allow for immediate communication 11 Copyright 2004 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc Click Here for Terms of Use COUNTDOWN TO SPANISH GENDER Like English, all Spanish nouns have a number: singular (one), as in la familia, or plural (more than one), as in las . effortlessly and rapidly. To make the task of learning Spanish as time-efficient as possible, Countdown to Spanish is divided into 24 one-hour lessons. Each lesson is then subdivided into very logical. the Doctor’s 240 Time’s Up! 242 04:00 Clothing Needs 243 Master These Skills 243 Clothing 244 Sizes 245 Alterations 246 CONTENTS x 00 (i-xiv) front matter 8/1/03 10:32 AM Page x Problems 247 Colors. main premise of Countdown to Spanish is that you can learn this extremely useful and beautiful language quickly and effectively. If you are willing to spend just 24 hours of your time studying