New to spanish and need some help!

[Jake]

Hi all,
I'm thinking of moving to Spain when a little older and of course that means learning the language! I have only started around 3 days ago but already have a few question!
1) Whats the difference between A boy and A child in Spanish? (From what i have noticed is they are both niño!
2) i also have noticed that some words such as 'you are' have two ways of spelling, is this because its an alternative to the english 'you are' and 'you're'?
Thanks a lot in advance!
Jake

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Specific examples and questions from where you found these words and the usage that has caused you trouble would be very helpful.
Replies from what you have just said may be awfully confusing.

However:
1) There is no neuter gender in Spanish. When there is a notion of neuter gender, is usually expressed in masculine.
Context will tell the difference between "niño"-child and "niño"-boy.

2) Without knowing what exactly caused you confusion:
Your question could be related to the fact that the verb to be corresponds to two different verbs in Spanish: "ser" and "estar".
Or it could be related to the fact that the pronoun "you" corresponds to "tú" in singular informal, "usted" singular formal, "ustedes" plural informal/formal and "vosotros" informal.

So, "you are" and "you're" may be:

tú eres/estás
usted es/está
ustedes son/están
vosotros sois/estáis

[Jake]

Thank you for the help, really appreciate it mate! I am learning off a site know as duolingo, it teaches basic Spanish but doesn't explain certain things. Spanish is so confusing! There are so many words for the same thing :/

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by Jake

There are so many words for the same thing :/

Digo lo mismo del inglés.

Dos palabras sólo como ejemplo: "cast" y "forth".

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by Jake

Spanish is so confusing! There are so many words for the same thing :/

Despair not! I find the most difficult aspect of Spanish is the number of different ways of saying the same thing. But it also has aspects which are easy compared to English.

It helps a lot if you realize how basic English grammar works. For example, you could refer to one (singular) or many (plural) people. In Spanish (and in every other language I can think of) they have different verb forms for singular and plural. English is the odd one out.

Keep asking.

Originally Posted by pinosilano

Digo lo mismo del inglés.

Dos palabras sólo como ejemplo: "cast" y "forth".

That's a puzzle, cast is either a noun or verb, and forth is an adverb. How can they be similar?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Perikles: I think Pinosilano is just saying that English also has "versatile" words; not only Spanish.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Perikles: I think Pinosilano is just saying that English also has "versatile" words; not only Spanish.

Oh - I see. But forth only has one meaning - why is that versatile then?

He might have chosen set which has 32 different meanings according to the OED.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

...or get.

I'm guessing again, but maybe Pino had in mind its use as a prefix too.

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by Perikles

That's a puzzle, cast is either a noun or verb, and forth is an adverb. How can they be similar?

Similares por los mil usos que tienen cada una de esas dos palabras, no que son similares entre ellas. O son similares entre ellas porque cada una tiene mil usos o acepciones

[abrink]

Originally Posted by pinosilano

Digo lo mismo del inglés.

Dos palabras sólo como ejemplo: "cast" y "forth".

Y inglés tiene palabras como "too", "two", y "to". También, "you're" y "your", "whose" y "who's" y más.

Los dos son difícil aprender in their own ways (¡Ayúdame! ¿Como se dice en español?)

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by abrink

Y el inglés tiene palabras como "too", "two", y "to". También, "you're" y "your", "whose" y "who's" y más.

Los dos son difíciles de aprender in their own ways (¡Ayúdame! ¿Cómo se dice en español?)

in their own ways = cada uno a su manera

There are other ways to say this, too.
a su manera
en su propia manera | en sus propias maneras
en manera distinta | en maneras distintas

[abrink]

Gracias Rusty. Yo sé tengo un problema con acentos. También tengo un problema con cuando usar artículos. Voy a buscar aportes sobre cuando usar artículos.

[Premium]

Originally Posted by abrink

Gracias Rusty. Yo sé tengo un problema con acentos. También tengo un problema con cuando usar artículos. Voy a buscar aportes sobre cuando usar artículos.

¿Qué significa "sé tengo"?
¿No es incorrecto?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by abrink

Yo sé tengo un problema con acentos.

That looks like a literal translation of 'I know I have a problem'

[abrink]

Originally Posted by Perikles

That looks like a literal translation of 'I know I have a problem'

Sí. Tengo un problema con acentos y yo lo sé.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Premium

¿Qué significa "sé tengo"?
¿No es incorrecto?

Sí, es incorrecto. Debe ser 'sé que tengo...'.

Originally Posted by Perikles

That looks like a literal translation of 'I know I have a problem'

You're right. It is. But the literal translation isn't good Spanish. Spanish requires a relative conjunction where English doesn't always require one.

[abrink]

Well darn! Now I know. Muchas gracias.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by abrink

Well darn! Now I know. Muchas gracias.

You're welcome.

[Esppiral]

Originally Posted by Jake

Hi all,

1) Whats the difference between A boy and A child in Spanish? (From what i have noticed is they are both niño!

En castellano, depende del contexto, te puedes referir a un niño hasta los 12-13 años, más allá de esa edad lo consideraríamos un chico o un chaval , y ya después de esta etapa, 18-20, se le puede llamar hombre.

No es ninguna regla escrita, pero si a un chaval de 14 años le llamas niño no le va a hacer ninguna gracia.

No sé si me he salido un poco de tiesto con la respuesta