A little taster of the Spanish language - By Jette Moth

A few expressions in Spanish
Let us start with some simple expressions and sentences that can be very useful.
It is very important for the Spanish to greet each other. Ii is considered polite to say "hello" when you enter public offices, at the dentist, and at the doctor and so on.

Hi, hello Hola  
Good morning Buenos días
(is used in the morning until siesta time) 
Good afternoon Buenas tardes
(is used in the afternoon) 
Good evening
and good night Buenas noches
(good evening and good night)
How are you? ¿Qué tal? 
Fine thanks   Muy bien, gracias.
And how are YOU? ¿Y tú?  

Prices
It is good to be able to ask for a the price of an item. Questions are asked in different ways.
Notice the difference between singular and plural.

What is the price of a coke? ¿Cuánto cuesta una coca-cola? 
How much are two cokes?  ¿Cuánto cuestan dos coca-colas? 
How much is the ice-cream? ¿Cuánto vale el helado?
How much are the ice-creams? ¿Cuánto valen los helados? 

Spanish in the shop
If you are in a shop you can point at the desired object and use the following expression that you will hear the Spanish use frequently:

What is the price of that one? ¿Qué precio tiene?
 
The price is 1 euro.  Cuesta un euro.
The price of those are 2.50 euros. Cuestan 2 euros con 50 (cincuenta). 
It is 4 euros. Vale cuatro euros. 
The total cost is 5 euros. Valen cinco euros en total. 
 
If you want to ask where something is situated

Where is the police station? ¿Dónde está la Comisaría? 
Where is the church?   ¿Dónde está la iglesia?
Where is the beach?  ¿Dónde está la playa? 
It is not far away. Está cerca. 
It is (very) far away.  Está (muy) lejos

Spanish is a latin- based language

The latin origin of Spanish is the reason why it is built  differently  to  German and, in some ways, English, where the declension of  words largely fell into disuse hundreds of years ago..

One of the difficulties in the language for us English is the declension of verbs. That means that each person (I, you,he/she ... has got its own separate ending.

For instance I speak = hablo (we could say that the ending  –o means I);
You speak = hablas (you could say that the ending –as means you);
he/she speaks = habla, etc.

It sounds complicated but when you have learnt the system it is not all that difficult.  It is one of the things that make it almost impossible to learn to speak proper Spanish without a certain degree of grammar, because the Spanish simply do not understand what we want to say if the verbs are not in the correct form.

But do not be put off by this,  just crack on with the studies. It will all fall into place as time goes by.