From Mark - A Fun Letter to Melissas - Please Tell Me What You Learn From It

[Mark_Frobose]

Buenos días Melissas,

Gracias por tus oraciones.  Se nota (You can tell) que tienes mucha experiencia con la lengua española. 

Te felicito sobre la calidad de tu español.  I congratulate you on the quality of your Spanish. 

Sin embargo (However) tengo todavía algunos comentarios.  (I still have a few comments)

Here goes (Ahí te va)

Vamos de compras para una casa. You would probably not use 'Vamos de compras' for a house.

Ir de compras is better used for 'shopping' in a traditional sense i.e. stores, etc .....

It would be better if you said ...  (Sería mejor si dijeras ...)  Vamos a ver casas.

Better yet ... Vamos a buscar casas para comprar. (We're going to look for houses to buy)

La casa tiene tres cuartos de baño.  Yippee.  My wife and my daughter would practically live in two of them and I could actually take a shower now and then in the third.  ¡Qué felicidad! = What Happiness.

Please note that you could also simply say 'tres baños'.

Cada cuarto tiene dos o trés ventanas. Keep in mind that ...

cuarto is a general term for room.  The word literally means 'fourth' because traditional houses were divided into fourths and each fourth became known as a room or a 'cuarto'.

dormitorio is the general term for 'bedroom'.

recamara is the word for 'bedroom' in Mexico.

No quiero cortar el césped...¡es demasiado grande! I think 'Hay demasiado' would be better here since 'césped' refers to just the grass and not the yard.

Excellent Spanish otherwise.

A mí tampoco me gusta cortar el césped, (el pasto).  I don't like mowing the grass either.

Very good Melissas!!!!

Queremos un jardín.  Bear in mind that 'jardín' in many Spanish speaking countries is more like a 'flower garden'.

A vegetable garden would be 'una siembra'.

Hay muchos flores alrededor de la casa. = Muchas flores (flowers are feminine, of course)

Mi esposo no le gusta que no hay un garaje.  Creo que (I think that)

A mi esposo no le gusta que no haya garaje would be better.

Check out Behind the Wheel Spanish 3 for easy explanations of the Spanish subjunctive.

Claro que no.  Of course not.  Cada hombre necesita su garaje.  Every man needs his garage.

¿Qué color piensas? = You might say instead ¿'En qué color piensas?' What color are you thinking about?  or maybe '¿Cuál color piensas usar?' or perhaps (quizás)

'¿Cuál color combina mejor?'  (Which color matches the best?)

Es difícil para mudarse. = Es difícil mudarse (no need to use 'para')

My response to this sentence is 'Difícil es poco.'  (Difficult is putting it lightly)

I hate to move = Odio la mudanza.

Es una incomodidad horrible.  =  It's a horrible inconvenience.

Espero que tenemos bastante dinero para comprar. = This needs a little work.  You should say ..

Espero que tengamos suficiente dinero para comprar una.

Once again, check out Behind the Wheel Spanish 3 for easy explanations of the Spanish subjunctive.

Melissas.  This was more than a stab.  It was excellent. 

Melissas.  Esto fue más que un intento.  Fue excelente. 

Espero tener más frases de tí dentro de poco.  I hope to have more sentences from you before long.

Please note that I avoided the subjunctive here after 'Espero' by simply using the infinitive 'tener' immediately after 'Espero'.  These little tricks do help from time to time.

Hasta pronto = Until soon

Mark Frobose

www.frobose.com