Today’s English grammar tip will be there is (singular) and there are (plural). We use “there is” and “there are” to say that something exists. Let’s see how to use and form them by looking at the examples below.Hoy veremos cómo utilizar ”there is” y “there are”. Ambos se traducen por “hay” pero “there is” es singular y “there are”, plural.
Positive Sentences
There is a car in the garage.Hay un coche en el garaje.
There are three chairs in the classroom.Hay tres sillas en la clase.
There is a book on the table.Hay un libro en la mesa.
There are five kittens in the basket.Hay cinco gatitos en la cesta.
We normally use “there is” with contractions. For example:Solemos usar la contracción “there’s” en lugar de “there is”. Por ejemplo:
There’s a car in the garage.
There’s a book on the table.
We cannot use contractions with “there are”.No podemos hacer una contracción con “there are”.
Negative Sentences
The negative is formed by putting not after “is” or “are”. Here are some examples:Creamos la forma negativa poniendo “not” después del verbo. Aquí tienes algunos ejemplos:
There is not a horse in the field.No hay un caballo en el campo.
There are not eight children in the dining room.No hay ocho niños en el comedor.
There is not a tree in the garden.No hay un árbol en el jardín.
There are not two elephants in the zoo.No hay dos elefantes en el zoo.
Negative contractions are:
There is not = There’s not / There isn’t
There are not = There aren’t
Questions
To form questions we put “is” or “are” in front of “there”. For example,Para formar preguntas, ponemos “is” o “are” delante de “there”. Por ejemplo,
Is there a person in the house?¿Hay alguien en la casa?
Are there any oranges in the fruit bowl?¿Hay alguna naranja en el frutero?
Is there any sugar in this cake?¿Hay azúcar en este pastel?
Are there any kids in the park?¿Hay niños en el parque?
Have a great weekend!
Kind regards,
Hello again!
I hope you are having a really good day! |
For a fun Friday tip let’s take a look at some future forms in English. Let’s look at be going to and will and when to use each of them.Hoy vamos a ver algunas formas del futuro en inglés. Vamos a estudiar be going to y will, y cuándo utilizar cada uno.
Look at this email Jack sent from New York to his friend Oliver in London.
Hello, Oliver!
How are you? I am very excited about visiting you next month! Today I am going to buy my flight ticket. I think I will come on the 9th and I will stay for two weeks. I promise you will be the first person I call when I land in London.
What are you doing this weekend? I am going to my friend Sue’s birthday party. We have planned a surprise party at my house. We have bought a big cake and will sing happy birthday when she arrives. I think she will be very happy!
See you soon, my friend! Have a great weekend!
Jack
¡Hola, Oliver!
¿Cómo estás? ¡Tengo muchas ganas de ir a verte el mes que viene! Hoy voy a comprar el billete de avión. Creo que iré el día 9 y me quedaré dos semanas. Serás la primera persona que llamaré al llegar en Londres, ¡te lo prometo!
¿Qué vas a hacer este fin de semana? Yo voy a ir a la fiesta de cumpleaños de mi amiga Sue. Hemos planeado una fiesta sorpresa en mi casa. Hemos comprado un pastel grande y le cantaremos el feliz cumpleaños cuando llegue. ¡Creo que le hará mucha ilusión!
¡Hasta pronto, amigo! ¡Que tengas un buen fin de semana!
Jack
“will” often suggests that a speaker will do something voluntarily. A voluntary action is one the speaker offers to do for someone else.“will" a menudo sugiere que el que habla hará algo de forma voluntaria, para otra persona.
“will” also indicates spontaneous decisions.“will” también indica decisiones espontáneas.
“will” is usually used to make promises.“will” se suele utilizar para prometer cosas.
“be going to” indicates that something is a plan. It expresses the idea that a person intends to do something in the future. It does not matter whether the plan is realistic or not.“be going to” (ir a) indica que algo es un plan. Indica que una persona tiene la intención de hacer algo en el futuro. No importa si el plan es realista o no.
Both “will” and “be going to” can also be used with predictions.Tanto "will" como "be going to" se pueden utilizar también para hacer predicciones.
I hope this helps you understand “will” and “be going to” a bit better. Remember that you can refer to units 47 and 48 of the complete course to get even more practice!
Have a great Friday!
Bye!
Let’s look at some adverbs of definite frequency (adverbios de frecuencia definida), which are common in English. You may know words like “always”, “sometimes” and “usually”. These are called adverbs of indefinite frequency. However, words like “daily”, “weekly”, “monthly” and “yearly” are called adverbs of definite frequency. Do you know when to use them?
Let’s look at some common adverbs of definite frequency.
every hour - hourly
every day - daily
every week - weekly
every month - monthly
every year - yearly
Adverbs of definite frequency, like all adverbs of definite time, tend to go at the end of a sentence. Look at these examples:
• Most companies pay taxes yearly.La mayoría de las empresas pagan los impuestos anualmente / cada año.
• The cleaner checks the toilets hourly.El encargado de la limpieza inspecciona los servicios cada hora.
• The directors meet weekly.Los jefes se reúnen semanalmente / cada semana.
• The employees get paid monthly.Los empleados cobran mensualmente / todos los meses.
• I hand in reports daily.Entrego informes a diario / todos los días.
Remember that every day, for example, is also an adverb, and just like the rest can be used instead of daily or every week instead of weekly.
Sometimes, usually for reasons of emphasis or style, some adverbs of definite frequency may go at the front of the sentence, for example:A veces, por razones de énfasis o estilo, algunos adverbios de frecuencia definida se pueden colocar al principio de la frase, por ejemplo:
• Every day she comes to work late!¡Llega tarde al trabajo todos los días!
• Every week I wake up sad!¡Me despierto triste todas las semanas!
I hope you enjoyed this lesson and learnt how to use adverbs of definite frequency! If you would like more information about different kinds of adverbs, you can check out unit 16 of our complete course.
Thanks and have a great weekend!
Best wishes,
Today let’s look at when and where to use CAPITAL letters in English.Hoy vamos a estudiar cuándo y dónde poner las mayúsculas en inglés.
Firstly and very importantly the first person singular subject pronoun ”I” is always capitalised. Look at a couple of examples:
• I have already seen that movie.Ya he visto esa película.
• Jack said that I could go on holiday with him.Jack dijo que yo podía irme de vacaciones con él.
Days of the week, months of the year and important holidays start with capital letters in English, for example:
• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesdaylunes, martes, miércoles
• January, February, Marchenero, febrero, marzo
• Christmas, EasterNavidad, Semana Santa
We also use capital letters for countries, cities, continents and monuments. Look…
• Last year I visited several cities in Spain, for example, Barcelona, where I saw the Sagrada Familia.El año pasado visité varias ciudades de España, por ejemplo, Barcelona, donde vi la Sagrada Familia.
• I love Big Ben in London.Me encanta el Big Ben de Londres.
• He has visited Europe and Asia.Ha visitado Europa y Asia.
• Her favourite country is Italy.Su país favorito es Italia.
We also use them for people’s names and titles. Look at some examples:
• William Shakespeare
• Mrs Jones
• Dr Smith
• Queen Elizabeth
They are also used whenever you start a new sentence or after a full stop.
• The car drove very fast. It was hard to see it in the dark.El coche iba muy rápido. Fue difícil verlo en la oscuridad.
• Would you like more tea? No, thank you!¿Quieres un poco más de té? No, gracias.
• My parents like to go swimming on the weekend. However, my sister prefers seeing her friends.A mis padres les gusta nadar los fines de semana. Sin embargo, mi hermana prefiere quedar con los amigos.
Languages are also capitalised in English. Here are some examples:
• She speaks Spanish very well.Habla muy bien el castellano.
• I can’t believe how hard Chinese is. I have studied it for years and still don’t understand anything!No me puedo creer lo difícil que es el chino. Lo estudio desde hace muchos años y, ¡todavía no entiendo nada!
• English is a very useful language for travelling and work. ☺ El inglés es un idioma muy útil para viajar y trabajar ☺
Writing in any language is important so remember that in section 3 in each unit in the ABA online course there is a section dedicated to writing for you to practise and improve your writing and spelling.
Have you tried the first one? Practice makes perfect!
Have a great day,
Best wishes,
For today’s Friday fun tip let’s take a look at some prepositions of time commonly used in English: IN, ON and AT. Hoy vamos a estudiar unas preposiciones de tiempo muy comunes en inglés: IN, ON y AT. Let’s look at a quick text and see how we use these prepositions correctly when reading, speaking or writing. At 1 o'clock today I am going to my grandparents’ house for lunch. My grandma told us to come at noon but Mum said it was too early. We always go there on Sundays and spend the whole day there. I actually like to spend the night too because Granddad and I wake up at sunrise and spend the morning walking in the mountains.Last year on Christmas day Granny prepared the best meal ever for the whole family. She said that on my birthday this year she would make a big cake and I could invite my friends.In summer I normally go visit my grandparents too because they live on a farm and it’s much better than the city. Once when I had school holidays in 2012 I stayed with my grandparents for 2 months. We had great fun!Hoy iré a comer a casa de mis abuelos a las 13:00. Mi abuela nos dijo que fuéramos a mediodía pero mi madre dijo que era demasiado temprano. Siempre vamos los domingos y nos pasamos todo el día ahí. De hecho, también me gusta pasar la noche allí porque el abuelo y yo nos levantamos al amanecer y pasamos la mañana paseando por la montaña.
El año pasado, el día de Navidad, la abuela preparó la mejor comida del mundo para toda la familia. Dijo que este año por mi cumpleaños me haría un enorme pastel y que podría invitar a todos mis amigos.
En verano también suelo ir a visitar a mis abuelos porque viven en una granja y eso es mucho mejor que la ciudad. Una vez, en las vacaciones del cole en el 2012, me quedé con ellos 2 meses. ¡Lo pasamos genial! Now let’s take a look at the rules so we can see how easy it is!
| AT | IN | ON | |
| a specific time | months, years,
seasons, decades | days and dates | |
| at 3 o'clock | in May | on Sunday | |
| at 10.30am | in summer | on Tuesdays | |
| at noon | in the summer | on March 6th | |
| at dinnertime | in 1990 | on December 25th | |
| at bedtime | in the 90s | on Christmas day | |
| at dawn | in the next century | on New Year's day | |
| at sunrise | in July | on my birthday | |
Well, I’m sure you understand prepositions better now! Remember, if you want to, you can always refer to unit 21 of the course for more information on how to use these prepositions correctly. Have a great weekend! Best regards,
Today we’re going to look at something short but fun: a riddle ( una adivinanza). A riddle is a puzzling question or a joke which seems nonsense but in fact has a clever or funny answer. Look at the following riddle: What starts with T, ends in T and has T in it? Take a guess but if you think it’s too difficult, here’s a hint: The letter “t” is pronounced in the same way as the hot drink “tea”. The answer is a teapot. The word “teapot” starts with the letter “t”, ends in the letter “t” and is a container used for making and serving tea. :) La respuesta es “a teapot” (una tetera). La palabra “teapot” comienza por “t”, acaba en “t” y es un objeto que se usa para hacer y servir el té. :) Here are the translations of the words in bold which I used in this message plus some examples: to bet: apostar For example: I bet you will get good marks in all your exams as you have been studying very hard recently.Viendo lo mucho que has estudiado recientemente, apuesto a que sacarás buenas notas en todos los exámenes.puzzling: desconcertante, confuso For example: It’s a puzzling matter.Es un tema desconcertante.a hint: una pista, un consejo For example: Since you’re finding it difficult to solve the riddle, I will give you a hint.Como te está costando resolver la adivinanza, te daré una pista. Well that’s just it for our Friday riddle. If you got the correct answer with or without the hint, then excellent job! Please remember that you can learn more new words by checking out the units of the ABA English course. Some of the words here were used in unit 10 of our complete course. See you next time! Best regards,
Have a look at my daily routine: I always start my day with a cup of coffee but I rarely eat breakfast at home. I usually go to work by subway but I sometimes take the bus. I often watch TV in the evening but I hardly ever go to the cinema during the week. I never go to bed before 10 p.m. Siempre empiezo el día con una taza de café pero rara vez desayuno en casa. Normalmente voy al trabajo en metro pero a veces voy en autobús. A menudo veo la tele por la noche pero casi nunca voy al cine entre semana. Nunca me acuesto antes de las 10 de la noche. In the text above, adverbs of frequency were used. Adverbs of frequency are used to state how often we do something. To understand adverbs of frequency better, look at the following chart:
| 100% | always | |
| | usually/
normally | |
| | often | |
| | sometimes | |
| | occasionally/
rarely | |
| | hardly
ever | |
| 0% | never | |
Note that adverbs of frequency usually go between the subject and the verb. For example: He never drinks beer.Nunca bebe cerveza.They usually have cereal for breakfast.Normalmente desayunan cereales.You always wake up early.Siempre te levantas temprano. However, adverbs of frequency go after the verb “to be”. Here are some examples: She is hardly ever happy.Ella casi nunca está feliz.We are often tired.A menudo estamos cansados. Have a nice weekend! Best regards,
I bet you will agree with me if I tell you that cakes, ice-cream and fruit don’t only look good but also taste good, right? We can eat all of them but can we pronounce them properly?
Seguro que estarás de acuerdo conmigo: los pasteles, los helados y la fruta no solo tienen buen aspecto sino también buen sabor, ¿verdad? Podemos comerlos pero ¿sabemos pronunciarlos bien?
Of course you can but make sure not to say “desert”! This word is pronounced as DEZZ-urt (ˈdɛzət).
“a desert” is “un desierto” in Spanish.
For example: The Sahara is a vast desert.
El Sáhara es un desierto inmenso.
The word “dessert”, pronounced dee-ZERT (dɪˈzɜːt), is “un postre" in Spanish.
It is from the French word “desservir” meaning “to clear the table”.
Proviene de la palabra francesa “desservir” que quiere decir “quitar la mesa”.
Here is an example containing the word “dessert”:
For me, the best part of any meal is the dessert!
Para mí, ¡lo mejor de cualquier comida es el postre!
Here’s an easy way to remember how to spell “dessert”. The two s’s stand for “sweet stuff”.
Aquí tienes un truco para recordar la ortografía de “dessert”. Las dos eses representan “sweet stuff” (cosas dulces).
If you’d like to keep practicing your speaking skills, complete the following exercise. By hearing yourself speaking in English, you will gain confidence. Let’s do it now! |
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