Learning Languages Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 12-08-2022

As you're studying Italian, either on your own or in a course, keep this Cheat Sheet handy for a quick reference on articles, personal pronouns, tenses, and more.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 12-08-2022

Whether you’re planning a trip to Germany or another German-speaking country, you’ve heard an unfamiliar German phrase and want to know what it means, or you just want to get into the spirit for your town’s annual Oktoberfest, knowing some basic German can give you the confidence you need. The first part of this Cheat Sheet includes basic German expressions, questions that let you gather information or ask for help, phrases to use when ordering from a menu, and German numbers and dates. The second part of this Cheat Sheet includes some basics of German grammar that can help you build your own sentences.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 11-30-2022

Keep this Cheat Sheet handy as you're learning French. It's a great quick reference when you need to check definite, indefinite, and partitive articles; personal pronouns, identify être verbs, and need help with other particulars of French grammar.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 11-16-2022

Speaking Spanish requires you to keep tabs on all sorts of topics: verb conjugation, irregular verbs, and parts of speech, to name a few. Plus, if you intend to travel, being able to ask for information is a must.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 10-21-2022

If you want to speak with your Brazilian neighbor, friend, or business associate, knowing the basics of Portuguese can help. Find out how to recite the Portuguese alphabet, how to ask simple questions and carry on a conversation, and how to show enthusiasm for what you're experiencing. The following helps with speaking formally, conjugating verbs, and pronouncing some of the trickier words in the Portuguese language.

Article / Updated 10-18-2022

Bonjour, hola, shalom, and marhaba! March 6-12, 2022 is National Foreign Language Week in the U.S. — and, perhaps, a reminder of that abandoned New Year’s resolution you were so excited about back in January. New language, new opportunities You might have figured out by now that learning a new language is a huge undertaking — but the rewards are exponential. Studies have repeatedly shown that learning a second (or third, or fourth) language has substantial long-term benefits: It’s a skill that improves your executive function, slows cognitive decline, and improves your attention span — something many of us could use a little help with these days. There’s more: Multilingualism has also been shown to enhance creative thinking and improve memory. On a more concrete level, being bilingual can unlock new career and social opportunities — not to mention the relief you’ll feel when you can confidently navigate the dinner menu on your next trip overseas. How to choose a language to learn If you’re ready to get started, the first order of business is picking a language. To narrow down your options, think about how you’d ideally use your new skill in the real world: If your goal is to start simple, stick with a language that’s closest to your first language. For English-speakers, options include Danish, Italian, Romanian, Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, or Swedish. If your goal is to increase your earning potential, you’ll want to research which languages are in high demand for your industry. According to Babbel, the best languages to learn for a career in business are Mandarin, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, French, and Arabic. There are also many opportunities to work for the U.S. government if you speak Chinese, Korean, Farsi, or Arabic. Your goal may also be personal. You might want to communicate with loved ones in their native tongue, prepare for a trip overseas, or translate your favorite K-pop songs. Tying your language goals to something that has personal meaning can help you stay motivated on your learning journey. Get started learning with a dummies book You can also browse the full list of our language-learning books. More to explore about languages Still not sure where to begin? For additional inspiration, learn… ...to cook an authentic Italian meal ...the importance of Japanese greetings and goodbyes ...to make introductions in German ...to order a meal in Spanish ...everyday Polish phrases ...to make small talk in Chinese ...the gender of French nouns ...the Greek alphabet ...to be polite in Russian ...conversational Arabic ...to count in Dutch ...popular Hebrew expressions Arrivederci! (that’s Italian for “until we meet again”)

Article / Updated 09-29-2022

Maybe you would better understand Spanish verb tenses today if you had paid more attention in your high school Spanish classes. Would . . . that’s what the conditional tense is all about. If the conditions were appropriate, then the action should’ve, could’ve, or would’ve resulted . . . theoretically speaking. Simply put, you use the conditional tense to express a conditional action. But you can also use it to make a polite request or to subtly, or not so subtly, suggest that someone perform a certain action. Forming the regular conditional tense, if you really want to In English, the key word to forming the conditional tense is would. You or somebody else would do something if the conditions were right. In Spanish, you actually change the form of the verb to build the sense of would right into it. When conjugating Spanish verbs in the regular conditional tense, keep the following points in mind: The regular conditional tense is a combination of the imperfect and future tenses. The regular conditional tense requires no spelling or stem changes. When conjugating regular -ar, -er, and -ir verbs in the conditional tense, you simply take the entire verb infinitive (don’t drop anything) and then add the imperfect verb endings you use for -er and -ir verbs. Conditional Verb Endings Yo -ía Tú -ías él/ella/ello/uno -ía Usted -ía nosotros/nosotras -íamos vosotros/vosotras -íáis ellos/ellas -ían ustedes -ían Check out the following conjugation charts for each verb type. preparar = to prepare Prepararía prepararíamos Prepararías prepararíais Prepararía prepararían Ud. prepararía. = You (formal) would prepare. vender = to sell Vendería venderíamos Venderías venderíais Vendería venderían Vosotras venderíais. = You (plural, female, familiar) would sell. escribir = to write Escribiría escribiríamos Escribirías escribiríais Escribiría escribirían Ella escribiría. = She would write. Waffling with the conditional tense The conditional tense is great for waffling on issues. You can state any impossible condition or set of conditions you like and then say you would’ve done something if only that condition or set of conditions had been in place. It works in every language — English, Spanish, Italian, you name it — and you don’t even have to be a politician to use it. You often use the conditional tense in a sentence with two verbs, in which one verb states the condition or problem and then the second verb states, in the conditional, what you’d do under that condition or if faced with that problem. For example, in the sentence, “If I had a million dollars, I’d travel around the world,” the first verb states a situation or condition, and the second verb expresses what you would do if that situation or condition existed.

Article / Updated 09-29-2022

The French indefinite article is the equivalent to a/an and some (but English often skips it). Do you ask about one thing, describe a couple of things that happened, and make plans for an outing that hasn’t yet been defined? If so, you’re an indefinite article kind of person, like the French! And as such, you should treat the article indéfini as the default article in French grammar. French Indefinite Articles French Article Usage in French English Equivalent Example un Before masculine singular nouns a/an un chat (a cat) une Before feminine singular nouns a/an une maison (a house) des Before masculine or feminine plural nouns some des enfants (some children) de, or d’ before nouns beginning with a vowel or a mute -h Instead of any indefinite article, after a negative verb no or not any pas d’ordinateur (no computer) Use the indefinite article when you talk about one or several individual things that you can count, as opposed to an entire category of things. Il y a un livre sur la table. (There is a book on the table.) Tu as mangé une banane. (You ate a/one banana.) Il a vu des lions au zoo. (He saw (some) lions at the zoo.) You also can use the indefinite articles un and une before an expression of quantity, like une tranche de (a slice of), un morceau de (a piece of), and un peu de (a little bit of). In a sentence with a negative verb, un, une, and des are replaced by de, even if the noun it introduces is plural. Here are some examples. Il n’y a pas de souris dans notre garage. (There is not a mouse in our garage.) Elle ne veut pas d’enfants. (She doesn’t want any children.) This rule has one exception. Don’t use de when the negative verb is être (to be). Just use the indefinite article as if the sentence was affirmative. Here are some examples: Cet animal n’est pas un chien. C’est un renard. (This animal is not a dog. It’s a fox.) — C’est une voiture rouge, n’est-ce pas? — Non ce n’est pas une voiture rouge! C’est une voiture noire. (— It’s a red car, right? — No, it’s not a red car! It’s a black car.) Choose between the definite article (le, la, l’, les) and the indefinite article (un, une, des, and de) to complete the sentences. Check a French-English dictionary if you need help with the vocabulary.

Article / Updated 09-29-2022

Spanish uses the pluperfect subjunctive more than English does. If you’ve ever hoped or expected that something had happened, you probably hoped or expected in this verb tense and probably didn’t even realize it. In English, you don’t really use the pluperfect subjunctive, but you use something similar to it in sentences like this one: I wished that I had slept before the party. The main clause, I wished, is in the past tense, and what I wished for — that I had slept before the party — is in the pluperfect, which also is called the past perfect tense. And because what I wished for didn’t happen, it’s subjunctive. Like other compound tenses, you form the Spanish pluperfect subjunctive by conjugating the verb haber (to have) in the imperfect subjunctive tense. Then you add the past participle of the main verb. The chart that follows shows the verb haber conjugated in the imperfect tense. The Imperfect Tense of Haber Conjugation Translation yo hubiera I would have tú hubieras You (informal) would have él/ella/ello/uno hubiera He/she/one would have usted hubiera You (formal) would have nosotros hubiéramos We would have vosotros hubierais You all (informal) would have ellos/ellas hubieran They would have ustedes hubieran You all (formal) would have Notice that the first person singular (yo) and the third person singular (él, ella, Ud.) forms of this conjugation are the same. Take a look at the following examples to see how the pluperfect subjunctive is used. Fue una lástima que ellos no hubieran comprador una casa en nuestro vecindario. It was a pity that they hadn’t bought a house in our neighborhood. Ellos creían que nosotros hubieramos comido antes de llegar. They believed that we had eaten before arriving.

Article / Updated 07-25-2022

To greet one person with whom you're on informal ty (tih) terms, use the word Zdravstvuj (zdrah-stvooy; hello). To greet a person with whom you're on formal vy (vih) terms, use the longer word, Zdravstvujtye (zdrah-stvooy-tee; hello). Note that the first letter "v" in Zdravstvujtye is silent. Otherwise it would be hard even for Russians to pronounce! Zdravstvujtye is also used to address more than one person. Use it when addressing two or more people even if they're children, members of your family, or close friends. The informal way of saying "hello" in Russian is privyet! (pree-vyet) It's similar to the English "hi," and you should be on pretty familiar terms with a person before you use this greeting. Greeting folks at any time of day You have ways to greet people in Russian, other than the bulky Zdravstvuj or Zdravstvujtye, but how you use these greetings depends on what time of day it is. The most commonly used greetings are as follows dobroye utro! (dohb-ruh-ee oo-truh): Good morning! (This is the greeting you use in the morning — until noon.) dobryj dyen'! (dohb-rihy dyen'): Good afternoon! (This is the greeting you can use most of the day, except for early in the morning or late at night.) dobryj vyechyer! dohb–rihy vye-cheer: Good evening! (This is the greeting you would most likely use in the evening.) Note that Russians use these expressions only as greetings but not at leave-taking. You can also use these expressions without giving any thought to whether the person you greet should be addressed with ty or vy. No matter whom you greet, you can safely use any of these phrases. Handling "How are you?" The easiest and most popular way to ask "How are you?" is Kak dyela? (kahk dee-lah) You use this phrase in rather informal settings, like at parties, meeting a friend on the street, or talking on the phone. A more formal way to ask "How are you?" is Kak vy pozhivayetye? (kahk vih puh-zhih-vah-ee-tee) You use this phrase when speaking with your boss, your professor, or somebody you've just met. You won't offend anyone in a formal setting if you say Kak dyela?, but you're better off sticking to Kak vy pozhivayete? Russians tend to err on the side of more formality rather than less. A word of caution: In the English-speaking world, "How are you?" is just a standard phrase often used in place of a greeting. The person asking this formulaic question doesn't expect to get the full account of how you're actually doing. But in Russia it's different. They want to know everything! When they ask you how you're doing, they are in fact genuinely interested in how you're doing and expect you to give them a more or less accurate account of the most recent events in your life. How should you reply to Kak dyela? Although optimistic Americans don't hesitate to say "terrific" or "wonderful," Russians usually respond with a more reserved Khorosho (khuh-rah-shoh; good) or Normal'no (nahr-mahl'-nuh; normal or okay), or even a very neutral Nichyego (nee-chee-voh; so-so, Literally: nothing) or Nyeplokho (nee-ploh-khuh; not bad). If you're truly feeling great, go ahead and answer pryekrasno! (pree-krahs-nuh; wonderful), or vyelikolyepno! (vee-lee-kah-lyep-nuh; terrific). But beware that by saying "terrific" or "wonderful," you're putting your Russian friend on guard: Russians know all too well that life is not a picnic. To a Russian, wonderful and terrific events are the exception, not the rule. To be on the safe side, just say either Nichyego or Nyeplokho. And don't stop there! Be sure to ask the person how she's doing. You simply say A u vas? (ah oo vahs; and you?; formal) If you want to be less formal, you say A u tyebya? (ah oo tee-bya; and you?) Taking your leave The usual way to say goodbye in almost any situation is Do svidaniya! (duh svee-dah-nee-ye), which literally means "Till (the next) meeting." If you're on informal terms with somebody, you may also say Poka (pah-kah; 'bye or see you later). The phrase you use while leave-taking in the evening or just before bed is Spokojnoj Nochi (spah-kohy-nuhy noh-chee; Good night). The phrase works both for formal and informal situations. See also: The Essentials of Russian Words and Phrases for Traveling Useful Questions in Russian Sounding Like a Real Russian with Proper Pronunciation