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Let’s get lots of spoken practice with the Spanish verb Saber, in all its conjugations and nuanced uses!
Ya sabemos mucho.
Intro: Join us on a rigorous, step-by-step journey to fluency. I’m Timothy and this is LearnCraft Spanish.
Let’s practice everything we’ve learned about Saber and Haber this week. Before we dive in, let’s learn two new idioms.
The first one is very easy to learn: Sobre todo literally means “above all”. Check out this sentence:
She wanted my things, and above all my house.
Quería mis cosas, y sobre todo mi casa.
In English, we sometimes say “above all”, but it’s more common to say “especially”: “She wanted my things, and especially my house.” Just remember that either “especially” or “above all” will translate as sobre todo in Spanish.
Our other idiom to learn is the phrase desde ya. This one is a bit of a challenge because it's made of two words that don't easily translate into English. The word desde means something related to since, or starting at a certain point. And then of course, ya is an adverb that emphasizes a specific point in time, often a point in time at which something has changed.
Generally speaking, desde ya is used to emphasize a point in time and everything that happens after it. The easiest way to think of it is “as of now”, or “from this moment on”. But it can also mean starting from the point of time that we're talking about, whether that's now or in the future or in the past. And it can also be used to mean “in advance”.
So the best way to practice this is to see it in a few sentence examples.
I'm going to have those things in advance.
Voy a tener esas cosas desde ya.
From now on I'm going to be with you.
Desde ya voy a estar contigo.
As of now, we are going to have new friends.
Desde ya, vamos a tener nuevos amigos.
Let’s practice desde ya and sobre todo.
From now on I’ll be able to talk with my father.
Desde ya podré to talk con mi padre.
Desde ya podré hablar con mi padre.
I’m telling you in advance that the baby is important.
Te I’m telling desde ya que el bebé es important.
Te digo desde ya que el bebé es importante.
From now on we can study more, especially math.
Desde ya podemos study más, sobre todo math.
Desde ya podemos estudiar más, sobre todo matemáticas.
All right, we’re about to go on to this week’s final quiz, but first, one more note about possessive pronouns like mío, tuyo, and suyo. Check out this sentence example:
My house is bigger than yours.
Mi casa es más grande que la tuya.
So instead of saying más grande que tuya, we add an article: más grande que la tuya, literally “bigger than the yours”. In Spanish, when you use these words, specifically to talk about which of something you’re talking about, you’ll always add a definite article. Here’s another example:
My job was faster than theirs.
Mi trabajo fue más rápido que el suyo.
All right, let’s practice this and everything else we’ve learned this week using our quiz.
Did you know that this is better than that?
¿Sabías que esto es mejor que eso?
He has done everything against yours(m).
Ha hecho todo contra el tuyo.
She isn’t sure that I can have a big house.
No está segura de que yo pueda tener una casa grande.
They will know that we had to be here since this morning.
Sabrán que teníamos que estar aquí desde esta mañana.
If I wanted to go, I WOULD have a place to be.
Si quisiera ir, yo sí tendría dónde estar.
By the way, she would have to leave if you knew the truth.
Por cierto, ella tendría que irse si tú supieras la verdad.
I wasn’t able to do that with my family.
No podía hacer eso con mi familia.
Do you want to know what they knew?
¿Quieres saber lo que ellos sabían?
As of now, I don’t want them to know anything.
Desde ya, no quiero que sepan nada.
(Formal) How is it going? Do you know where the dude is?
¿Cómo le va? ¿Sabe dónde está el tipo?
We would know it if they told us, but we don’t know it.
Lo sabríamos si nos lo they told, pero no lo sabemos.
Lo sabríamos si nos lo dijeran, pero no lo sabemos.
Really, I’ve wanted to have a house with them(f).
De verdad, he querido tener una casa con ellas.
He found out that she had a husband.
Supo que ella tenía un esposo.
If the little girl knew it, you also would know it.
Si la niña lo supiera, tú también lo sabrías.
This is very serious. They(f) didn’t see me!
Esto es muy serio. ¡Ellas no me saw!
Esto es muy serio. ¡Ellas no me vieron!
The best thing about the house is the great entrance(f).
Lo mejor de la casa es la gran entrance.
Lo mejor de la casa es la gran entrada.
My mom can have whatever she wants.
Mi mamá puede tener lo que quiera.
The daughter that knew it said it during the party.
La hija que lo sabía lo said durante la fiesta.
La hija que lo sabía lo dijo durante la fiesta.
They did it on top of the house without caution.
Lo hicieron sobre la casa sin cuidado.
You have to know the truth, especially because he has known it.
Tienes que saber la verdad, sobre todo porque él la ha sabido.
You’re right, this is the place where your mother had that idea.
Tienes razón, este es el lugar donde tu madre tuvo esa idea.
Do it and it’s certain that he will know it!
¡Hazlo y es cierto que él lo sabrá!
He saw us two weeks ago.
Nos he saw hace dos semanas.
Nos vio hace dos semanas.
He wants her to know that she can’t have you.
Él quiere que ella sepa que no puede tenerte.
That day there was a little bit of money for the job.
Ese día hubo un poco de money para el trabajo.
Ese día hubo un poco de dinero para el trabajo.
The little boy didn’t want them to know that part of the story.
El niño no quería que supieran esa parte de la historia.
She wants me to do it from now on, unless I don’t know it.
Quiere que lo haga desde ya, a menos que no lo sepa.
She wants us to know a little bit of the story.
Quiere que sepamos un poco de la historia.
We want to make the cake with that shape.
Queremos hacer the cake con esa forma.
Queremos hacer el pastel con esa forma.
Seriously, do what you wanted to do!
En serio, ¡haz lo que querías hacer!
You know your son eats at the same time as your sister.
Sabes que tu hijo eats al mismo tiempo que tu hermana.
Sabes que tu hijo come al mismo tiempo que tu hermana.
If I told them it, they would know it.
Si se lo I told, lo sabrían.
Si se lo dijera, lo sabrían.
I found out that was what she wanted.
Supe que eso era lo que ella quería.
I want you to know that these colors are lively.
Quiero que sepas que these colors son vivos.
Quiero que sepas que estos colores son vivos.
Good afternoon! Have you seen this person?
¡Buenas tardes! ¿Has seen a esta persona?
¡Buenas tardes! ¿Has visto a esta persona?
That dude was here for a while.
Ese tipo estuvo aquí por un tiempo.
We did what we wanted.
Hicimos lo que queríamos.
He hasn’t gone to that side of the place.
No ha ido a ese lado del lugar.
At least he can do it in that way.
Al menos puede hacerlo de esa forma.
Where did you go?
¿Adónde fuiste?
If they wanted to do that between the three houses, they would do it.
Si quisieran hacer eso entre las tres casas, lo harían.
He’ll be here less time, that is, only three hours.
Estará aquí menos tiempo, o sea, solo tres horas.
They always do the fastest jobs.
Ellos siempre hacen los trabajos más rápidos.
You would be able to tell me and I would know it.
Me podrías to tell y yo lo sabría.
Me podrías decir y yo lo sabría.
I will know that it’s for him.
Sabré que es para él.
If you wanted to have it, she would know it.
Si quisieras tenerlo, ella lo sabría.
You have to do it right once and for all!
¡Tienes que hacerlo bien de una vez por todas!
He is the one that was there once.
Él es el que estuvo ahí una vez.
If there were more people, your brothers would know the truth.
Si hubiera más personas, tus hermanos sabrían la verdad.
If I only knew her name, my wife would be happy.
Si solo supiera su nombre, mi esposa estaría feliz.
We knew she was alive since we were kids.
Sabíamos que ella estaba viva desde que éramos niños.
He will go to the party and he’ll see what I did.
Irá a la fiesta y he’ll see lo que hice.
Irá a la fiesta y verá lo que hice.
She knew this was mine (m).
Ella sabía que esto era mío.
If I were able to do it like him, I would be happy, especially at this hour.
Si pudiera hacerlo como él, estaría feliz, sobre todo a esta hora.
He might be opposed to the new law(f).
Puede estar en contra de la nueva law.
Puede estar en contra de la nueva ley.
He is in a safe place under the table.
Está en un lugar seguro, bajo the table.
Está en un lugar seguro, bajo la mesa.
Whatever it is, we’re going to do it.
Sea lo que sea, vamos a hacerlo.
Give it time; as far as I know, it was his.
Tiempo al tiempo; que yo sepa, era suyo.
He wasn’t able to be the only person there.
No podía ser la única persona ahí.
They know there wasn’t time.
Saben que no había tiempo.
Their dad isn’t dead.
Su papá no está muerto.
We’ll know there is a reason for going toward that town.
Sabremos que hay una razón para ir hacia that town.
Sabremos que hay una razón para ir hacia ese pueblo.
I hope there are less people.
Espero que haya menos gente.
It might be that I didn’t want to go.
Puede que yo no quisiera ir.
For more practice with all of this, go to LCSPodcast.com/80
Next week, we’re finally going to learn the verb Decir so that we can talk about “saying” things and “telling” people things in Spanish.
This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. The Spanish voice in this episode was our coach Ximena Lama-Rondón. Our music was performed by the Seattle Marimba Quartet, and I’m Timothy, encouraging you to do the hard work of learning Spanish. Acquiring a second language is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, so start your fluency journey today at LCSPodcast.com.
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