Originally Posted by mikelincs (Post 10284872)

I wouldn't use songs as a way of learning as in almost all languages the pronunciation of words in songs is much different to the spoken word, letters normally not pronounced are pronounced etc, vowels at the end of words which would normally be silent are often pronounced, it's true in most languages, I was told this when learning Russian and French, and when singing Russsian songs in a choir. Sometimes the TV means goes a bit haywire as well as if the person uses a regional dialect, then they may use shortened forms of the word, especially if they get excited during a news event etc.

Originally Posted by agoreira (Post 10284849)

We had a teacher that used to drill us in all the various verb structures relentlessly, and God was it boring!!;) Once we got a hang of the easy one's, then all the irregulars were introduced, and then when we thought we'd cracked it, he introduced the subjunctive! Incredibly boring, but of course now I can see the importance of it all, there was light at the end of the tunnel. But as we've said, that's just one part of the learning process, it has to be done in conjunction with all the other bits, speaking, comprehension, vocabulary etc. I knew a guy that could rattle off all the verb structures, all the tenses, all the irregulars, but could hardly string a sentence together. A good teacher will incorporate all this into their classes.

Originally Posted by mikelincs (Post 10285224)

At least Spanish does have a verb structure, and I feel that is why English speaking people have difficulties, English has no fixed verbal structure, take the verb 'to want' English has just two forms of the word want, singluar and plural, there is no difference between the word want to mean I, you(S or P), we or they, he/she is the only one to take 'wants', we lost the variations in the past, we did have them, but they just went, which is why so many have problems with languages with a stricter grammatical structure.

Originally Posted by mikelincs (Post 10285224)

At least Spanish does have a verb structure, and I feel that is why English speaking people have difficulties, English has no fixed verbal structure, take the verb 'to want' English has just two forms of the word want, singluar and plural, there is no difference between the word want to mean I, you(S or P), we or they, he/she is the only one to take 'wants', we lost the variations in the past, we did have them, but they just went, which is why so many have problems with languages with a stricter grammatical structure.

Originally Posted by me me (Post 10285259)

That is not the plural of a verb, the "s" is for 3rd person singular.

Originally Posted by mikelincs (Post 10285402)

read my post where I did say just that..

Originally Posted by me me (Post 10285455)

( take the verb 'to want' English has just two forms of the word want, singluar and plural)

Here it is above.

Originally Posted by mikelincs (Post 10286500)

yes, want and wants, used in the form 'he has wants'.. perhaps needs would be a more modern way, but the same meaning

Originally Posted by ionie (Post 10285967)

Get yourself an imaginary friend who only speaks Spanish and talk to him or her.
You might not be getting everything right but you'll get used to using your own voice to speak Spanish and that's very important.

Originally Posted by me me (Post 10286535)

I was not talking about "wants" in the same context as you are as in having them , in that case
"Wants" is a nown and not a verb.

Originally Posted by agoreira (Post 10286542)

Trouble with that is your "friend" is never going to correct you, either with your grammar or your pronunciation. :confused: You'll get used to your own voice, but in all probability it won't be 100% correct. It's very easy to pronounce something incorrectly, but more difficult to get out of the habit and pronounce something correctly. Better to get a "real" Spanish friend, either locally of Skype.