Thejoyoflearninglanguages - Language Learner

Grammar Friday: Ser vs. Estar

Apparently a lot of people get dialogue punctuation wrong despite having an otherwise solid grasp of grammar, possibly because they’re used to writing essays rather than prose. I don’t wanna be the asshole who complains about writing errors and then doesn’t offer to help, so here are the basics summarized as simply as I could manage on my phone (“dialogue tag” just refers to phrases like “he said,” “she whispered,” “they asked”):

“For most dialogue, use a comma after the sentence and don’t capitalize the next word after the quotation mark,” she said.

“But what if you’re using a question mark rather than a period?” they asked.

“When using a dialogue tag, you never capitalize the word after the quotation mark unless it’s a proper noun!” she snapped.

“When breaking up a single sentence with a dialogue tag,” she said, “use commas.”

“This is a single sentence,” she said. “Now, this is a second stand-alone sentence, so there’s no comma after ‘she said.’”

“There’s no dialogue tag after this sentence, so end it with a period rather than a comma.” She frowned, suddenly concerned that the entire post was as unasked for as it was sanctimonious.

Multilingual Vocab Practice

Summer

(Another vocab dump! Since summer is almost here, I thought it’d be a good idea to learn some summery words. Note: I only did the masculine singular adjectives for Spanish and French)

English | español | français | Deutsch

Nouns air conditioner | el aire acondicionado | le climatiseur | die Klimaanlage August | el agosto | l’août | der August bathing suit | el traje de baño | le maillot de bain | der Badeanzug beach | la playa | la plage | der Strand beach towel | la toalla de playa | la serviette de plage | das Strandtuch boardwalk | el malecón | le trottoir | die Promenade boat | el barco | le bateau | das Boot break | el descanso | la pause | die Pause breeze | la brisa | la brise | die Brise coast | la costa | la côte | die Küste diving board | el trampolín | le plongeoir | das Sprungbrett fan | el ventilador | le ventilateur | der Ventilator firefly | la luciérnaga | la luciole | die Glühwürmchen firework | los fuegos artificiales | le feu d’artifice | das Feuerwerk fun | la diversión | l’amusement | der Spaß garden | el jardín | le jardin | der Garten heat | el calor | la chaleur | die Hitze hike | la excursión | la randonnée | die Wanderung ice cream | el helado | la crème glacée | die Eiscreme iced tea | el té helado | le thé glacé | der Eistee July | el julio | le juillet | der Juli June | el junio | le juin | der Juni lake | el lago | le lac | der See lemonade | la limonada | la limonade | die Limonade lightning | el relámpago | la foudre | der Blitz ocean | el océano | l’océan | der Ozean park | el parque | le parc | der Park picnic | el pícnic | le pique-nique | das Picknick pool | la piscina | la piscine | der Pool sand | la arena | le sable | der Sand sandal | la sandalia | la sandale | die Sandale sea | el mar | la mer | das Meer shore | la orilla | la rive | die Küste shorts | los pantalones cortos | les shorts | die Shorts storm | la tormenta | la tempête | der Sturm summer | el verano | l’été | der Sommer sun | el sol | le soleil | die Sonne sunburn | la quemadura de sol | le coup de soleil | der Sonnenbrand sunglasses | las gafas de sol | les lunettes de soleil | die Sonnenbrille sunscreen | el protector solar | la crème solaire | die Sonnencreme surfboard | la tabla de surf | la planche de surf | das Surfbrett tent | la tienda de campaña | la tente | das Zelt thunder | los truenos | le tonnerre | der Donner trip | el viaje | le voyage | die Reise vacation | las vacaciones | les vacances | der Urlaub wave | la ola | la vague | die Welle water | *el agua (f) | l’eau | das Wasser water slide | el tobogán de agua | le toboggan | die Wasserrutsche

Verbs to camp | acampar | camper | zelten to dive | zambullirse | plonger | tauchen to fish | pescar | pêcher | fischen to hike | ir de excursión | faire de la randonnée | wandern to jump | saltar | sauter | springen to play | jugar | jouer | spielen to relax | relajarse | se relaxer | entspannen to run | correr | courir | laufen to sail | navegar | naviguer | segeln to surf | surfear | surfer | surfen to sunbathe | tomar el sol | prendre un bain de soleil | sonnenbaden to swim | nadar | nager | schwimmen to travel | viajar | voyager | reisen to visit | visitar | visiter | besuchen

Adjectives breezy | ventoso | venteux | luftig cool | fresco | frais | kühl fun | divertido | amusant | **macht Spaß hot | caliente | chaud | heiß humid | húmedo | humid | feucht salty | salado | salé | salzig sandy | arenoso | sablonneux | sandig sunny | soleado | ensoleillé | sonnig sweaty | ***sudoroso | en sueur | verschwitzt warm | cálido | chaud | warm wet | mojado | mouillé | nass

*el agua is one of those rare feminine words that uses “el” because it sounds better than “la” **there is no German adjective for fun that I know of. Instead we say that something/someone “makes fun”! ***in Spanish, it is much more common to say “I am sweating” than it is to say “I am sweaty”

(as always, corrections and suggestions are welcome!)

@inkededucatednnerdy @nuggsmum

Conjugation Rules in French

1. Verb groups

There are three groups of verbs in French. The first one ends with –er, the second with –ir, and the third with –re, -oir, and –ir. These groups basically determine how the verbs are conjugated. For the most part, you can tell with group the verb belongs to just by looking at the ending, but in the case of –ir verbs, it’s a little trickier. The difference between second-group –ir and third-group –ir is the ending of the participe présent (present participle, a.k.a verbs ending in –ing): second-group verbs end in –issant, while third-group verbs end in –ant.

The third group is the one with all the irregular verbs, so it’s better to check the conjugation just to be sure.

2. Verb radicals

First group

For the present and imperfect tenses, the radical is the verb without the ending.

e.g.: aim- for aimer, parl- for parler

For the future and conditional tenses, the radical is the same as the verb.

e.g.: aimer- for aimer, parler- for parler

Second group

For the present tense, the radical is the verb with the r.

e.g.: fini- for finir, guéri- for guérir

For the imperfect tense, the radical is the same as the present tense, but you also add ss to it.

e.g.: finiss- for finir, guériss- for guérir

For the future and conditional tenses, the radical is the same as the verb.

e.g.: finir- for finir, guérir- for guérir

Third group (there are exceptions everywhere)

-re

For the present and imperfect tenses, the radical is the verb without the ending.

e.g.: vend- for vendre, prend- for prendre

For the future and conditional tenses, the radical is the verb with the r.

e.g.: vendr- for vendre, prendr- for prendre

-ir

For the present and imperfect tenses, the radical is the verb without the ending.

e.g.: ouvr- for ouvrir, ment- for mentir

For the future and conditional tenses, the radical is the same as the verb.

e.g.: ouvrir- for ouvrir, mentir- for mentir

HOWEVER there are exceptions for the –ir verbs

For the present and imperfect tenses, the radical is the verb without the three last letters.

e.g.: sor- for sortir, dor- for dormir

-oir

These are all irregular and you should look them up.

e.g.: savoir, pouvoir, recevoir

Present: sa- (je/tu/il)/ sav- (nous/vous/ils) for savoir, peu- (je/tu/il)/ pouv- (nous/vous/ils) for pouvoir, rec/reç (je/tu/il)/ recev- (nous/vous/ils) for recevoir

Imperfect: sav- for savoir, pouv- for pouvoir, recev- for recevoir

Future and Conditional: saur- for savoir, pourr- for pouvoir, recevr- for recevoir

3. Verb endings

First group:

Second group:

Third group:

-re

-oir (all irregular, please look these up)

e.g.: savoir

e.g.: pouvoir

e.g.: recevoir

-ir

e.g.: ouvrir

e.g.: dormir

*Since these are irregular verbs, it is possible that not all are conjugated according to these tables*