Tag Archives: Spanish tuition in Manchester

Examples – adverbs in Spanish

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Here we can see some adverbs in Spanish:

The adverbs (adverbios) are words unchangeable words with the function of modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs expressing how, when, where, frequency and quantity. Examples of adverbs are rápidamente (quickly), lentamente (slowly), tranquilamente (calmly). These words are used to describe how an action is taking place and may refer to a variety of characteristics.

We could say it is easier to use adverbs than adjectives in Spanish. While adjectives change according to the gender and quantity of the noun they describe, adverbs don’t change at all which definitely make everything simpler. The same adverb form applies to all verbs.

Examples:

El reloj es muy bonito (The watch is very beautiful)

In this case, muy is an adverb to say how beautiful it the watch

Mi casa está bastante cerca (My house is pretty close)

Both, bastante and cerca are Spanish adverbs.

Cerca modifies the verb está explaining where her/his home is. Bastante modifies the adverb cerca explaining how far his /her home is.

In this section, we will study some of the most common and important adverbs in Spanish. They can be classified in: adverbs of time, place, manner and quantity.

Adverbs of time in Spanish

-Ahora (in this moment, now): Estoy en Madrid ahora (I am in Madrid in this moment)

-Hoy (today): Hoy es mi cumpleaños (Today is my birthday)

-Mañana (tomorrow): Mañana es domingo (Tomorrow is Sunday)

-Ayer (yesterday): Ayer fui al cine (Yesterday, I went to the cinema)

-Antes (before, previously): Llama antes de entra (call before come in)

-Después (after): Voy al teatro después de trabajar (I am going to the theatre after work)

-Anteayer (The day before yesterday): Anteayer no dormí­ bien (I didn’t sleep well the day before yesterday)

-Todavía, Aun (yet, still): Estoy todavía en casa (I am still at home)

-Cuando (when): Veo la tele cuando como (I watch telly when I eat)

-Entonces (then): Estaba durmiendo y entonces me despertó (I was sleeping and then I woke up)

-Jamás, nunca (never): Jamás aprenderé alemán (I will never learn german)

-Siempre (always): Siempre escucho música (I always listen to music)

-Luego (later): Hasta luego (See you later)

-Mientras (while): Voy a ducharme mientras cenas (I am having a shower while you dinner)

-Tarde (late): No llegues tarde (Don´t be late)

-Temprano (early): Me levanto temprano (I wake up early)

-Ya (already, by now, yet): Ya he hecho los ejercicios (I have already done the exercise)

 

Adverbs of place in Spanish

 

-Abajo (below, downstairs): El baño está abajo (The bathroom is downstairs)

-Arriba (above, on top, overhead, upstairs): Vivo en el piso de arriba (I live in the top floor)

-Encima (above, on top, upstairs): Las llaves están encima de la mesa (The keys are on the table)

-Dentro / Adentro (in, inside): La ropa está dentro del armario (The cloths are inside the wardrove)

-Fuera / Afuera (out, outside): Deja la bici fuera de casa (Leave the bike out of the house)

-Aquí­, acá (here): Ven aquí (come here)

-Allí, allá(there): La fruta está allá (The fruit is there)

-Cerca (close, near, nearby): Mi casa está cerca (Mi house is near here)

-Lejos (away): Londres está lejos de Edimburgo (London is away from Edinburgh)

-Delante (ahead, in front of): Hay un bar delante de tú casa (There is a bar in front of your house)

-Detrás (behind, after): Hay un parque detrás del hospital (There is a park behind the hospital)

-Enfrente (opposite): La silla está en frente de la mesa (The chair is opposite the table)

 

Adverbs of manner in Spanish

 

-Adrede (intentionally, on purpose): Perdón, no fue adrede (Pardon, it wasn’t on purpose)

-Alto (aloud,loud): Habla más alto por favor (Speak louder please)

-Bajo (low,silently): Habla bajo, es muy tarde (Speak low it is late)

-Deprisa, aprisa, rápido (fast, quickly, swiftly): Vamos más deprisa, es tarde (Let’s walk faster, it’s late)

-Despacio (slowly): Habla despacio (Speak slowly)

-Así­ (like this, so, that way, thus): Así no es (It is not like this)

-Bien (well,goog, correct): Este examen está bien (This exam is good)

-Mal (badly, bad): Mi pie está mal (My foot is badly)

-Casi (almost, nearly): El vaso está casi vacío (The glass is almost empty)

-Claro (clear,clearly): El problema está claro (The problem is clear)

-Como (as, like, such as): Soy español como tú ( I am Spanish like you)

-Duro (hard): Este rock es muy duro (This rock is hard)

-Suave, blando (soft): La camiseta es suave (The t-shirt is soft)

-Pronto (soon): Vuelve pronto (Come back soon)

Adverbs of quantity in Spanish

 

-Algo (some, something, not much): Necesito comer algo (I need to eat something)

-Apenas (barely, hardly, only just, scarcely): No puedo ver apenas (I can hardly see anything)

-Bastante, suficiente (enough): Hay bastante comida para todos (There is food enogh for everybody)

-Demasiado (too, much): Londres es demasiado caro (London is too expensive)

-Más (more): No quiero más vino (I don’t want more wine)

-Menos (less): Madrid es menos fría que Bilbao (Madrid is a less cold city than Bilbao)

-Mucho (a lot of, much, very): He aprendido mucho (I have learnt a lot)

-Poco (little): Hablo un poco de español (I speak a little bit of Spanish )

 

 

Adverbs ending in mente in Spanish

The majority of adverbs in English end in ly are used in
spanish with the ending mente. Think of words like loudly, roughly, calmly, completely, quickly or easily. Fortunately, Spanish language has a specific ending making it easier for the students.

You can form an adverb from almost any adjective in Spanish. You just have to take the femenine form of the adjective and add mente to the end. Here you have some examples.

(adjective = femenine form  + mente =  adverb )

absoluto/absoluta (absolute) : absolutamente (absolutely)

tranquilo/tranquila (tranquil) : tranquilamente (tranquilly)

lento/ lenta (slow): lentamente (slowly)

rápido/rápida (fast): rápidamente (quickly)

suave (soft): suavemente (softly)

Spanish Lessons
We hope spanish adverbs are now a bit clear.

Superlative Spanish adjectives

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In Spanish we use the superlative adjective form when comparing three or more objects, persons, or ideas.

There are two main groups of superlatives in Spanish, the relative superlative and the absolute superlative.

The relative superlative in Spanish:

The English forms “the most…” and “the least…” are usually called the relative superlative because the information they refer to is amongst an specific group. For Instance in Spanish we can say:

El niño más alto de la clase (The tallest boy in class)

El coche más rápido del mundo (The fastest car in the world)

El peor estudiante de la clase (the worst student of the class)

La casa menos ordenada que he visto (the house less tided up I’ve ever seen)

On the other hand the absolute superlative in Spanish  is used to intensify the quality of the adjective.

It is formed by “muy” (very) + adjective or by adding -ísimo, -ísima, -ísimos, or -ísimas to the adjective or adverb. If the adjective ends in a vowel, you have to remove the vowel before attaching the endings.

The absolute superlative does not strictly compare one thing to another, but states “a greater amount of”. This can be translated into English by placing “very” before the adjective or adverb.

Es una persona muy simpática (He/She is a very nice person)

Es una persona simpatiquísima (He/She is a very nice person)

 

Julia es una chica muy guapa (Julia is a very pretty girl)

Julia es una chica guapísima (Julia is a very pretty girl)

The irregular absolute superlatives in Spanish

Bueno-Mejor-Óptimo (El resultado es óptimo / The result is optimal)

Malo-Peor-Pésimo (El hizo un examen pésimo / He did a dreadful exam)

 

Alto-Superior-Supremo (Patatas de calidad suprema / Supreme quality potates)

Bajo-Inferior-Ínfimo (La diferencia es ínfima / The difference is very tiny)

Pequeño-Menor-Mínimo (No tiene un mínimo respeto / He doesn’t have a minimum respect)

Grande-Mayor-Máximo (Es el máximo goleador / He is the best scorer)

 

Informal absolute superlatives in Spanish

 

There are some prefixes that are used in colloquial language to express the absolute superlative.

 

Super: María es una chica supersincera (María is a really sincere girl)

Extra: Una pizza extragrande (An extra sized pizza)

Archi: Ricardo es mi archienemigo (Ricardo is my archenemy)

Requete: El helado está requetebueno (The ice cream is really tasty)

 

How to say “more and more” and “less and less” in Spanish

 

Cada vez más (more and more):

Hace cada vez más frío (It is more and more cold)

 

Cada vez menos (every time less and less):

Es cada vez menos interesante (It is less and less interesting)

We hope we helped with the Spanish adjectives. (Spanish info)

 

Demonstratives in Spanish

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Spanish Demonstratives

Demonstratives are words we use to signal by adding a notion of distance in space or time. There are two kinds of demonstratives: demonstratives adjectives (este vino (this wine)) and demonstrative pronouns (¿qué es esto? (What’s this?)).

“Demonstrative” comes from “to demonstrate,” so this give us an idea of the function of this grammatical elemet..

In this section we are going to study the demonstrative with detail. In English, “this” and “these” are used to refer to things or people that are close to the speaker. “That” and “those” are used to refer to things or people that are distant. In Spanish, there is one more group to refer to things or people that are even further.

Proximity

Este: Este viernes nos vamos a Escocia (This Friday we are going toScotland)

Esta: Esta casa es preciosa (This house is beautiful)

Estos: Estos son mis amigos (These are my friends)

Estas: Estas zapatillas son mías (These sneakers are mine)

Average distance

Ese:Me gusta ese coche negro (I like that black car)

Esa: Esa chica de allí es mi novia (That girl there is my girlfriend)

Esos: No me gustan esos comentarios (I don’t like those comments)

Esas: Me das esas llaves  (Could you give me those keys)

Long distance

Aquel: Aquel pueblo se llama Aranjuez (That village over there is called Aranjuez)

Aquella: Ve por aquella calle de la derecha (Go by that street on the right)

Aquellos: Aquellos niños son mis hijos (Those children are my sons)

Aquellas: Trae aquellas botellas de allí (Bring those bottles)

The neuter demonstrative pronoun

Demonstrative pronouns would demonstrate the location of the noun they replace. If you have several options, let’s say pens, and someone asks you which one you want, you can respond with “this one” (the one close to you), or “that one” (the one far from you). “This one” and “That one” are both demonstrative pronouns.

Neuter demonstrative pronouns are used in Spanish speech to refer to concepts, ideas, or something that is not truly known. They are neuter, as they do not replace a specific noun, even though they end in “-o”. They also do not have accent unlike the other pronouns. (Esto, eso, aquello).

It is used to refer to inanimate things without specifying their gender or to talk about ideas or abstract concepts:

Esa es la idea que yo tenía en mente (that’s the idea I had in mind)

Eso es lo que busco (That’s what I was looking for)

Eso no lo entiedo (I don’t get that)

Demonstratives, reference to time

Sometimes, the neuter demonstratives are not only used to refer space but time as well. From other point of view we can understand this concept as a distance in terms of time. Here you have a few examples:

Este sábado es mi cumpleaños (This Saturday is my birthday)

Esa semana estuve enfermo (That week I was sick)

Nunca olvidaré aquel día (I won’t forget that day)

Aquellos años fueron maravillosos (Those years were wonderful)

En aquel momento era divertido (By that time it was fun)

Derogatory connotations

As the demonstratives are used to express distance, sometimes in speech they are used with a pejorative function. This means, to express a psychological distancing from the speaker or to make clear that the object referred is far away form the speaker, metaphorically.

Ten cuidado con ese idiota (Be careful with that idiot)

Esa tonta es muy molesta (that silly girl is annoying)

No me gusta ese chico (I don’t like that guy)

-Sometimes in this specific case, the demonstrative could go after the noun. In this situation, the noun will need an article:

No quiero saber nada de los señores esos (I don’t want to hear anything about those gentlemen)

No me acerques la cosa esa (Do not take that thing any closer)

No quiero que hables con la chica esa (I don’t want you to talk to that girl)

How can we express “the latter…and the former” in Spanish

In Spanish, we use “este” and “aquel” to express the “the latter” and “the former”, repectively. So, when you think or read this kind of expressions you just have to place them in the specific positions. Let’s see an example to illustrate this:

“El jefe llamó al empleado para tartar un problema en la compañía. Este no dijo nada mientras que aquel no paró de hablar en toda la reunión”

(The boss call the employee to treat a problem in the company. The latter did not say anything while the former did’nt stop talking during the whole meeting)

You can realise that in this kind of situations, the demonstratives are doing the same function. “Este” is referring to the closest in the sentence (the employee) and “aquel” to the other noun (the boss), which is more distant.

 

We hope we helped with your Spanish Lessons – demonstratives. (Spanish info)

 

Comparative adjectives in Spanish

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In Spanish we use the comparative degree when comparing two objects, persons, or ideas.

To form a comparative adjective, in Spanish, you have to use más (more) or menos (less) or tan (the same):

Ella es más alta que yo  (She is taller than me)

La ciudad es menos tranquila que el pueblo (City is less calm than the village)

Inglaterra es tan fría como Irlanda (England is as cold as Ireland)

 

So, comparatives (comparativos in Spanish) are said to refer to superiority (mas…que), inferiority (menos…que) or equality (tan…como).

The second element in the comparation can be:

 

- Another example of an adjective in Spanish:

Los gatos son más listos que malos  (cats are more clever than naughty)

- Another example of a noun in Spanish:

Los gatos son más pequeños que los tigres (cats are smaller than tigers)

 

- Another example of an adverb in Spanish:

Los gatos son más limpios que antes (cats are cleaner than before)

 

- Another example of an adverb in Spanish:

En casa se come mejor que en un restaurante (You can eat better at home than in a restaurant)

 

- A verb clause:

Sabes más español de lo que piensas (You know more Spanish than you think you do)

 

Irregular comparatives

 

-Bueno/a/os/as (good) changes to mejor/es (better)

La playa es buena / La playa es mejor que la montaña

(The beach is good / The beach is better that the mountain)

 

-Malo/a/os/as (bad) changes to peor/es (worse)

La grasa es mala / La grasa es peor que la fibra

(Fat is bad / Fat is worse than fiber)

 

-Grande/es (big) changes to mayor/es (bigger)

Londres es grande / Londres es mayor que Barcelona

(London is big / London is bigger than Barcelona)

 

-Pequeño/a/os/as (small) changes to menor (Smaller)

Barcelona es pequeña / Barcelona es más pequeña que Londres

(Barcelona is small / Barcelona is smaller than London)


We hope we helped with the Spanish adjectives. (Spanish info)

 

Spanish Tuition in Manchester

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Private Spanish lessons in Manchester

How does it work?

  1. Name
  2. Age
  3. Your address
  4. e-mail address
  5. Phone number
  6. Your Spanish level (None/Beginner/Intermediate or advanced)
  7. Reason or motive to learn Spanish

This will help us to choose the best way to approach and customise our lessons to your needs

  • We arrange a convenient day/days and time to give the lesson based on school term dates , i.e. we don´t normally provide lessons during school holidays.
  • We deliver the Spanish lesson to you tailored to your needs.

 

Advantages of private tuition:

 

  1. Having a tutor in your home so you can relax after your day’s work and you don’t have to go to college.
  2. You could progress and learn probably 35 % more than in a group class. As you probably know you can ask all your questions at anytime during our lessons. This is much easier with private tuition. On the other hand in normal class you can not have this facility and sometimes it is not possible to have everything clear because some other students also ask things you may already know. Therefore this is delaying your learning curve.
  3. You choose if you want the lesson to be given in Spanish or in English. Some other competitors claim that giving the lesson in Spanish is much better. Our experience has shown this is a bit difficult for adults with no prior knowledge of target language. So it is completely up to you. However we recommend to gradually reduce the amount of English in the lesson. Of course this can only be provided by experienced tutors.
  4. This is the most effective training solution when a student needs to improve language skills in some areas or when the client has a very busy work schedule during the day.

 

Our prices

These prices include the journey of a tutor to your place, the design of a personal programme with your tutor and any material used will be given by the tutor in the class.

 

Personal Tuition

one-to-one

£35 per hour

one-to-two

£40 per hour

mini group (3)

£45 per hour

 

These are estimated rates and from time to time we update our prices.
Note:
WE DON´T:

  1. Charge you if we exceed the lesson by a few minutes.
  2. Force to you to book a minimum of two hours together. Some people prefer shorter lessons and we accommodate this.
  3. Ask you for the money in advance before you are happy with the tutor.
  4. Charge because you cancel one or two Spanish lessons per school term. We understand life and we show flexibility to you as much as we can. Of course we will arrange the dates with you in advance and try to stick to them from our side. However, as we found from our experience this can be a little difficult. The lessons must be re-arranged to another day and time during that school term and we can not guarantee the same tutor. The Spanish lessons can not be carried over to the next term.
  5. Make you buy any books or material from us or from any specific shop.

WE DO:

  1. In order to start our Spanish lessons we will send you an e-mail in order for you to formalise the payment.
  2. In the event of a cancellation of any particular day because we can’t supply a Spanish tutor to you we will credit this to you or deduct from our invoice for the following term.
  3. Follow school calendars, holidays and we arrange the days with you in advance with plenty of time to notify to our teachers.
  4. Recommend and show different sorts of Spanish teaching materials.  We will repeat we do not sell or promote any book in particular. Some books are really good for some people and some other books will be excellent for some other students, however maybe not appropriate for others. Maybe you already have a suitable book to follow and do not need to buy another.

Our Spanish lessons:

We try to deliver the lesson in the best way we can to make you engage with the Spanish and to make you talk as much as we can during the lesson, as your knowledge of Spanish progresses to an appropriate level to do this.

We do recommend practising as much as you can. However we understand English culture and weeks fly very quickly. Sometimes we will make you finish some activities however always we will say if you have got some spare time during the week otherwise don’t worry we will do it in the following session. We will recommend that you listen to some radio, TV, or anything relevant to the topic we are covering.
However we will not put you strict homework and waste your time with long corrections during our lessons.

Our teachers

Our teachers are fluent in English and Spanish. They enjoy teaching and sharing culture with their students.
All of them are CRB checked. Also we do recommend you to ask for this especially if the class is intended for a younger person.

Competitors prices

Considering a lot of competitors they will force to you to book a minimum of two hours. You can have a look this table and Google some others to judge yourself. We consider we are quite competitive with our services however we are proud of providing a great service to you.

Is this class suitable for me?

The best thing to do is give us a call. However look at this. Are you an individual/child or mature person that needs Spanish because…

  • You have a second residence in Spain or you go to Spain quite often on holidays (WE CAN HELP YOU).
  • You are a Primary Spanish teacher and you will like to reinforce your Spanish (WE CAN HELP YOU).
  • You are a student preparing Spanish exams (WE CAN HELP YOU).
  • Are you a School? We already operate in several schools in Manchester in Curricular and extra curricular lessons. Give us a ring and we will schedule a meeting to speak with the head teacher.

FAQ:

Are you giving Spanish lessons to 4 or 5 students?

Not as private tuition. This is a very low number of children even to run any club and cover our expenses. All our existing customers reading this know this and know about our flexibility. Lots of businesses are having cuts in one way or another one and everybody is suffering this crisis. We try to maintain as reasonable as possible small groups and we work closely with the schools and continuously growing our built relationships over the years.
Are you including the VAT in your prices?
Yes.
Are you teaching in London?
Not at the moment we only provide lessons in Manchester.

I am an adult can I play your educational games?
The games are not addressed for adults however we know a lot of families with children play and have fun with them.

How long do we have to wait to find a teacher?
There are some factors to take into account. How far are you from the tutor and availability of your preferred time? The best thing is to give us a call.

Are you teaching in nurseries?

Yes we are, we liaise with private and nurseries within primary schools.

Are you CRB cheeked?
YES we are.

Have you got school references?
Yes, we have and we do provide those after a contract has been formalised if required. (Schools only)

What some people think about us:

Amazing I have improved my Spanish a lot since you give me Spanish lessons. I’ll keep booking with you
Phil

Always on time and really reliable. Our last teacher was terrible, kept missing lessons all the time. You have been a ….
Tony and Susan

Thanks a lot my Spanish exam was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. You helped me a lot I am much more confident.

Daniela

I couldn’t believe it I get that job in Murcia. Come over any time – you gave me everything I needed.
Paul.

It has been a really difficult process for us. We finally moved to Spain as you know. You had helped a lot to my children and we could not have been more thankful. They adapted really quickly in the Spanish school and everything they learnt with you has been really useful because they pick it up extremely quickly.
Muchos recuerdos y nos vemos muy pronto.
Carla, Christian and Eve.

We much appreciate all your patience and the fact you always give 110% in all your Spanish lessons.
Tony and Clair

Very good value for money.
Mike.

Our Private Spanish tuition in Manchester. (Spanish lessons)