Both English and Spanish have a lot of phrasal verbs: verbs which get a new meaning when combined with a preposition, a particle or both. (Note that they aren’t always called phrasal verbs when talking about Spanish, but may be called verb constructions or expressions.) It’s often impossible to figure out the meaning of a phrasal verb by looking up the meaning of its parts, so the combination must be learned by heart. For example, the English verb ”look” appears…
Short forms (also known as contractions) are used frequently in informal and spoken English. The following are some very common examples: I’m (= I am) you’re (= you are) he’s (= he is / he has) she’s (= she is / she has) I’ll (= I will) I’ve (= I have) I’d (= I would / I had) don’t (= do not) doesn’t (= does not) didn’t (= did not) isn’t (= is not) hasn’t (= has not) can’t (=…
I bet you’ve encountered articles and funny pictures on social media concerning ‘difficult’ languages which appear impossible to learn. Languages with no prepositions (e.g. Finnish, Estonian) are often considered difficult. Tonal languages, languages in which stress and pitch change the meaning of a word (e.g. Chinese, Japanese), languages with many strict rules (e.g. German) or languages with a completely different alphabet (e.g. Russian) are also regarded as being difficult. But the truth is that no language is too difficult to…
In order to have the ability to use a foreign language fluently, it’s not enough if you just know a bunch of words. You also need to be able to put them together to form sentences that make sense. Some languages are known for their tricky word order, and building sentences just like in your own first language may be impossible. Studying rules from a book is not for all of us Every language has its own challenges. In one…
Grammar is like glue that binds different elements of language together. However, language is much more than grammar. It is also words, phrases and pronunciation, for instance. Without these other elements, there is nothing to glue together, so it’s important to keep your learning balanced. The best way to learn grammar is one piece at a time. The most efficient way to memorise grammar rules is finding answers to questions. For example, when you’re reading a sentence, it might raise a question like “Why is this verb conjugated…
The Comprehensive French course package has now been expanded with three new courses: Media, Working Life, and Pronouns. The Media course covers the following topics: journalism, social media, and entertainment. The study items have been carefully chosen to reflect contemporary media, and the course will enable you to discuss – among other things – memes, tv-series, and the press in French. Another new vocabulary course, Working Life, will help you to learn useful words and expressions related to job hunting,…
