“Speak Spanish in Under 5 Minutes !”

 

 

Step 2

This step involves thinking about words that you know in English that end in “al”.

 

Many of these words will also be the same in English and in Spanish.

For example: the animal = el animal

 

Other examples: Criminal, canal, central, commercial, legal, pedal, local, musical, natural, personal, rural, social 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This step involves the words you already know in English that end in “ble”. Many of these words are the same in Spanish.

 

 

 

 

 

 For example: the cable = el cable 

 Other examples: notable, terrible, posible, formidable, noble, notable, flexible, probable, horrible, visible, honorable, inevitable

Note: Spanish words that end in “ble” are stressed on the next to the last syllable. For example: po – SI- ble, hor – RIB – le, no – TAB – le, etc.

 Step 4

Another group of common English words that end in “ic” are also the same as many Spanish words. But, you must add a final “o” to the Spanish word.

 Please only use the technique of adding a final “o” in this situation. It doesn’t work with other word endings. You can’t add an “o” to “bean” Beano is not a word in Spanish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Other examples: -publico, Atlantico, artistico, aristocratico, elastico, automatico, anticeptico, etc. 

 Step 5

Still more English words are the same. Those that end in “ent” or in “ant” But these words you will need to add the letter “e” to to get the same word in Spanish.

 

 For example: the president = el presidente 

 Other examples: accidente, excelente, conveniente, importante, elefante (elephant), cliente, diferente, inteligente 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also the”g” in inteligente is pronounced as the letter “h” in our word “hen”

So, inteligente is pronounced “intelihente”.

 

 

 

 

 

Many English words that end in ist can be converted into Spanish words by simply adding the letter”a”.

 

 

 

 

 

For example: the dentist = el dentista 

Other examples: pianista, violinista, oculista, capitalista, comunista, optimista etc.

Step 7

English words ending in “ous” can often be converted to Spanish by changing “ous” to “oso”.

 

For example: famous = Famoso 

Other examples: curioso, delicioso, generoso, Glorioso, ambicioso, melodioso, religioso, pomposo 

Step 8

This is your final step: If you’re still with me,

CONGRATULATIONS.

Your hard work will pay large dividends when you use what you’ve learned and are greeted with a big smile by your Spanish speaking listener.

 

This next group is all nouns. Learning a lot of nouns is an excellent way to get jump started into Spanish. You can act out many verbs but how do you act out “civilizacion”? 

Words in English that end in “tion” can usually be changed into Spanish by changing the “tion” to “cion”. 

For example: civilization = civilizacion 

Other examples: descripcion, admiracion, exaggeration, circulatcion, constitucion, cooperacion, invitacion, distibucion, institucion, transmiscion, administracion, etc. 

Note: An Excellent book where I learned these concepts and many more shortcuts to getting to what I call “survival” level Spanish quickly is “Madrigal’s Magic Key to Spanish” by Margarita Madrigal published by Doubleday.

It is usually found in paper back and has a yellow cover.

Available at www.amazon.com At local bookstores in Ajijic and Chapala the price is about $25.