Learning Spanish for Deplorable Tankies

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Could someone help me understand when to use lo, le, la, los, les and las? (self.learnspanish)

submitted 1 year ago by SomeoneElse to c/[email protected]

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This is probably really simple but I keep getting confused by which form I’m meant to use. Do I match it to the person I’m talking about or do I match it to the gender of the noun? And which part of the sentence do I use to determine whether I use the singular or plural?

For example “Le mando notas” means I send him notes. What about a singular note? If I’m sending her notes does it become la? If I was sending them notes would it be las or les? If notas is feminine why don’t I use la?

Is there a simple way to remember whatever the rule is? Thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Actually, they did teach us vosotros in the US, at least for me. It was very annoying because there were literally 0 Spaniards in my class or neighborhood. Everyone who spoke Spanish was Latine, but they made us learn grammar that we'd never use anyway.

In Latin America, Usted is used in the situations you described in addition to talking with strangers, your boss, a cop, or anyone else you want to suck up to. But using tu instead isn't a big deal I mean, I always use it.

P.S. I think you're mixing up "tu" with "ustedes". Because vosotros definitely can't replace tu hehe

P.S.S. I edited my original comment. It's either more confusing or less now, who knows

[–] SomeoneElse 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s interesting - and it sounds very frustrating!How long ago were you at school?

I was confusing tu and usted - my brain hurts! I don’t know if you speak French as well but the rules are very similar - tú/tu is informal, usted/vous is formal but if you only knew the formal version it wouldn’t be a problem, you’d just sound overly polite and a bit stiff. Usted in European Spanish is like saying your honour/highness in English. It’s so ridiculously subservient you’d never use it. But you can’t speak Spanish in Spain without knowing vosotros - it’s frustrating that it isn’t included at all in duolingo and 95% of language learning apps.

I’m going off on a tangent now but the most ridiculous thing about duolingo is it’s instance on using soccer instead of football. I practice French and Ukrainian as well as learning Spanish on duolingo and in any language if you translate football/футбол (futbol)/fútbol as “football” it’s marked as incorrect. It will only accept “soccer” 😂 I understand not teaching vosotros if it’s only used in one country but literally the rest of the world call football, football!

I haven’t read your edited comment yet, I’ll save it for when my brain is less muddled. Thanks again, you’re a star!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I took those Spanish classes about ten years ago? They're required in many school districts, even for students who already speak the language (my school offered advanced classes for us but I don't know what was different about them).

I don't speak French but I see what you mean. Usted isn't THAT formal in LatAm Spanish lol. But it's very weird that Duolingo doesn't teach Spainish because that's the form that's generally considered more "official". I'm guessing that it's because Duolingo is an American company. It's probably why they use soccer too.

And thanks for the compliment uwu