subject: Basic How to Learn Spanish Easily [print this page] Basic How to Learn Spanish Easily Basic How to Learn Spanish Easily
Introduction:- Alphabet
a ah j zhee s ess
b beh k kah t teh
c seh l ell u ooh
d deh m em v veh
e uh n en w doo-blah-veh
f eff o oh x eeks
g zheh p peh y ee-grek
h ahsh q koo z zed
i ee r air
Even if you're just going to France for a week, you should know some survival French - a few essential words and phrases that you'll use over and over.
Formal Lesson - Asking How One Is Doing
a va? is used to ask someone how they are doing. The phrase literally means It goes?, referring to the body and life. A more formal way to say this is Comment allez-vous?. You can respond by using a va as a statement; a va. roughly means I'm fine. The adverb bien is used to say well, and is often said both alone and as a va bien.Bien is preceded by certain adverbs to specify the degree to which you are well. Common phrases are assez bien, meaning rather well, trs bien, meaning very well, and vraiment bien, meaning really well. The adverb mal is used to say badly. Pas is commonly added to mal to form Pas mal., meaning Not bad.Comme ci, comme a., literally translating to Like this, like that., is used to say So, so. To be polite, add merci, meaning thank you to responses to questions.
Time
In French, "il est" is used to express the time; though it would literally translate as "he is", it is actually, in this case, equivalent to "it is" (impersonal "il"). Unlike in English, it is always important to use "heures" ("hours") when referring to the time. In English, it is OK to say, "It's nine," but this wouldn't make sense in French.
