Books

[caliber1]

I have taken Angelica's advice (thanks Angelica) and I have talked a guy into bringing in some of his kids' books from elementary school. In Spanish of course. He gave me a weird look, but maybe that was because he didn't understand my Spanglish . Any specific recommendations of books to pick up at the library. I can understand the main idea in an article it is just understanding who is specifically talking if that is applicable. Anyways. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by caliber1

I have taken Angelica's advice (thanks Angelica) and I have talked a guy into bringing in some of his kids' books from elementary school. In Spanish of course. He gave me a weird look, but maybe that was because he didn't understand my Spanglish . Any specific recommendations of books to pick up at the library. I can understand the main idea in an article it is just understanding who is specifically talking if that is applicable. Anyways. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If you don't get bored with kiddie stuff, anything that catches your attention. Or even better, stuff you used to like as a kid. How about that?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Hopefully you'll find them useful... I think you will move forward to things you'll like more as you get more confident on what you can understand and as you identify more complex sentence structures.

[caliber1]

I'm gonna try some more Spanish so please correct me

Tengo un amigo en el trabajo y el quito un libro de su escuela cuando estubo en la primaria. Yo hablé con el anoche y hoy me dio el libro para usarlo. se llama "caracola".

P.S. Doesn't caracola mean butthead ??? Its a book with a ton of little stories in it?

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by caliber1

Tengo un amigo en el trabajo y él quitó un libro de su escuela cuando estuvo en la primaria. Yo hablé con él anoche y hoy me dio el libro para usarlo. Se llama "Caracola".

P.S. Doesn't caracola mean butthead ???

Not that I'm aware of. It means 'conch'.

[caliber1]

I keep forgetting the pronouns. Thanks for the corrections.

[Luna Azul]

"y el quito un libro de su escuela cuando estubo en la primaria"

"Quitar" doesn't make sense here.

"Y él sacó un libro de su escuela cuando estaba en primaria".

[caliber1]

Time out!!! My understanding was that quitar means "to remove". And sacar is to "pull out"; however, I'm the gringo and therefore I'm open to corrections. I'm definitely not questioning you

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by caliber1

Time out!!! My understanding was that quitar means "to remove". And sacar is to "pull out"; however, I'm the gringo and therefore I'm open to corrections. I'm definitely not questioning you

"Sacar" is "to take out", "to get out".. It could also be "to remove", it depends on the context.

"Quitar" is more like "to take off", "to take away".

Those verbs have several translations and you need to know which one you need in order to make sense. It's something you'll learn with time..

[caliber1]

One more question Luna. Why is it changed to estaba. I thought third person was "estubo" for when he WAS in school

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by caliber1

One more question Luna. Why is it changed to estaba. I thought third person was "estubo" for when he WAS in school

"Estaba" is the Imperfect, the 'other' past tense in Spanish. It gives the idea that your friend was a student at the school. If you use the preterite (estuvo) you're saying that your friend walked inside the school, took the book, and left.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

A Mexican would use indistinctly "estaba" (underlining when he used to be a student) and "estuvo" (underlining he's not a student there anymore) in this kind of sentence, because we insert a preposition "de" to evoke the time from when he had the book.

"Y (él) sacó un libro (de su escuela) de cuando estaba/estuvo en (la) primaria".

If you tell a Mexican "...un libro cuando estuvo/estaba...", you'd have to make the distinction Luna has marked, so there is no confusion.

Oh, and we'd probably rather say "un libro de texto" if you're talking about a schoolbook.

[caliber1]

Thanks ladies. I'm learning a lot. My wife is getting anoyed because all I talk about is Spanish. I told her "asi es"

[chileno]

Well, she needs to start learning too.

[caliber1]

Ella me dijo, "¡NO!" ¿Que puedo hacer? Estoy perdiendo mi mente

[chileno]

Originally Posted by caliber1

Ella me dijo, "¡NO!" ¿Que puedo hacer? Estoy perdiendo mi mente

Romance her in Spanish.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by caliber1

Ella me dijo, "¡NO!" ¿Qué puedo hacer? Estoy perdiendo mi mente me estoy volviendo loco / estoy perdiendo la razón

For "to lose one's mind", "mente" in Spanish doesn't say much. We use "razón".

[caliber1]

RAZÓN!!! That's what that means. I am trying not to use my dictionary app on my phone too much because I am noticing more and more that I sort of just "get it" all of the sudden. Thanks Angelica. ¡Te agradezco!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I think it's time for you to start using a Spanish-Spanish dictionary... The help of a bilingual dictionary is good for finding the alternatives for a word, but a dictionary in Spanish will give you a precise definition for each meaning, so you can choose the right word each time.

[caliber1]

Ok cool! Should I look at Amazon, or what would you recommend?