Basic English Course 01: Greetings in English

table of Contents
Capítulo 1 Greetings in English – Basic English Course.................................................1
Capítulo 2 Basic English Course 02: Names in English..................................................3
Capítulo 3 Nationalities in English – Basic English Course.............................................6
Capítulo 4 Basic English Course 04: Numbers in English and Age................................9
Capítulo 5 Basic English Course 05: Present Simple....................................................12
Capítulo 6 Basic English Course 06: Professions in English.........................................14
Capítulo 7 Basic English Course 07: Quantities in English...........................................17
Capítulo 8 Basic English Course 08: Possession in English.........................................19
Capítulo 9 Basic English Course 09: Motivation............................................................23
Capítulo 10 Basic English Course 10: Plurals and Demonstratives in English.............24
Capítulo 11 Basic English Course 11: Adjectives in English.........................................27
Capítulo 12 Basic English Course 12: Present Continuous..........................................30
Capítulo 13 Basic English Course 13: English Conversation (1)...................................34
Capítulo 14 Basic English Course 14: The Verb to Have in English.............................36
Capítulo 15 Basic English Course 15: Simple Past in English......................................38
Capítulo 16 Basic English Course 16: Irregular Verbs in English..................................40
Capítulo 17 Basic English Course 17: Telling Time in English......................................44
Capítulo 18 Basic English Course 18: Routines and free time......................................48
Capítulo 19 Basic English Course 19: Dates in English................................................50

Capítulo 1 Greetings in English – Basic English Course

The most basic and world-famous form of course is Hello. Perhaps a little more
informal, we have Hi or also Hey, the most informal of the three. This is the normal
thing you say to anyone. I know you already knew this, just remember that the letter h
in English is almost always aspirated (it's not a J, but the same sound you make
when you fog up your glasses or exhale in the winter). Please never say JAY, or
JELLO, remember, an H is never a J. That sounds more Arabic.

On a second level, we have more colloquial forms like What's up? (short for 'What is
up', pronounced like the mobile app) and which means something like what's up?, how
are you?, what's up?. 'Hey' is quite colloquial too, like saying hello. One form you'll hear
very often on this website is hello there or hey there, both very similar to 'buenas' as
well.
Depending on the time of day, we also have different expressions. And here comes
the first doubt that any Spaniard has when trying to learn English: what is the difference
between good afternoon and good evening? The word “after” means after, and the
word “noon” means midday. So, 'afternoon' is after twelve noon.

So, we say Good morning until 12'00, from that time on, Good afternoon and finally we
say Good Evening when the sun has set. If you live in England, 'evening' would be
something like four in the afternoon, if you live in Spain then maybe from five or six
onwards. Finally, we say Good night, but not in the sense of greeting someone at night,
but rather to go to bed, as in see you tomorrow. To say hello at night we normally
use Good evening.

We already have the greeting. Now it's time to ask the other person the famous "how
are you?" Again, we have different options depending on the formality.

 How are you? –> How are you?

 How are you doing? –> How are you doing, how are you doing?

 How do you do? –> How are you? (more formal and polite)

 How is it going? –> How are you doing? (informal)

To respond we have different options again, both formal and informal. The most
common are:

 I'm fine, thanks –> Abbreviation of 'I am fine', I'm fine, thanks, it is also possible
to say just “fine, thanks”

 Not too bad –> literally, “not too bad”, something like “here we go”, “things are
not going badly”

 So so –> so so, comme ci comme ça

 I'm great, thanks –> “genial, gracias”, literally, 'I'm great'

 Everything's fine –> everything is fine, everything is fine

 I'm cool, thanks –> literally, “I'm cool”, something like “cool, it's going well,
thanks”, quite informal)

Once we respond, if we want to be polite, we use the question “and you?”.

Finally, when it comes to saying goodbye to someone, we have many options, and
there is a small detail that you should know and that you may not know.

 Goodbye –> “goodbye” Maybe a little definitive

 Bye –> “goodbye”, more natural and casual

 See you later –> would be equivalent to “see you later”.

 See you on Monday/Tuesday/Friday, etc –> “see you on Monday, Tuesday,

Friday, etc”, “see you on Monday/Tuesday/Friday, etc”
We can add almost anything to the see you structure, such as “see you next week”,
“see you next day”, “see you in July”, etc. We can also use an expression like have a
nice day or have a nice weekend, to which we reply you too.

Finally, a form that most people are unfamiliar with, and which is very, very common
in the UK, is the word Cheers. This farewell is informal and not as definitive as
goodbye, it is used by adults and young people, of all ages and at all times. It would be
equivalent to “see you later” or “goodbye” but in a natural and relaxed way.

Congratulations! You already know how to have a real basic conversation. Here is a
model to summarize what we have seen, a neutral dialogue between teacher and
student, for example:

A: Good morning David, how are you?

B: Good morning John, I'm fine thanks. And you?

A: I'm fine, thanks. Not too bad.

(after class)

A: Well, see you on Monday. Have a nice weekend.

B: You too. See you on Monday. Cheers!

A: Cheers!

Now that you have learned the different greetings in English, listen to the podcast to
review and reinforce the lesson. As I say in the guide How to learn to learn English,
don't forget to listen and repeat all of this out loud, make up conversations, practice
with your family or friends, say hello and goodbye in English during the day, whatever.
But make sure the theory doesn't die in this article.

If you have any questions or want to comment on anything, leave a comment below!

Capítulo 2 Basic English Course 02: Names in English

English Names – Basic English Course

The first thing you need to know is the different subject pronouns that exist in English.
They are world-famous and easy to remember:

 I – yo

 You – you

 He/She/It – he/she/it

 We – Nosotros

 You – You
  They – Ellos

The structure for asking about someone's name is literally 'What is your name?', which
in Spanish translates to 'What is your name?'. The answer is 'my name is David', My
name is David. Easy. So, to be able to say 'my name is', 'our names are', etc., we will
need the verb to be, which in English is the famous to be, and the possessive
pronouns (my, your, his, our, etc.). The conjugation of the verb 'to be' is as follows (the
abbreviation that is usually used orally is written on the right):

 I am / I'm – I am or I am

 You are / you're – you are or you are

 He/She/It is / he's, She's, it's – it is or it is

 We are / we're – we are or we are here

 You are / You're – you are or you are

 They are / They're – son o están

Now we need the possessive pronouns, very easy too. I'm going to write the subject,
and to the right the corresponding possessive:

 I – My

 You – your

 He/She/It – his/her/its

 We – Our

 You – Your

 They – Their

Now you can ask for whoever's name. Taking the structure What is your name? as a
basis, we only need to change the different pieces depending on which person it is. For
example:

What is his name? – What is his name? / What is your name?

What are your names? – What are your names? / What are your names?

What are their names? – What are their names? / What are their names?

Three points that are often a source of confusion for Spanish students.

1. The first thing is the her/his distinction. Copy it down on paper, say it out loud a
thousand times, or use example sentences to talk about masculine or feminine
possession, but don't confuse them. Her is the possessive pronoun for she and
His is for he. Also be careful with your, which means both 'your' and 'your'
(possession of the 2nd person singular and plural).
 2. The second thing is that natives, in real English, will never say What is your
name? unless they want to emphasize words or be very clear. The normal thing
is to use the abbreviation What's, which is nothing more than What is but
together. What's your name?, What's his name?, What's her name?. Try saying
it out loud until you get used to it.

3. Third point, be careful with plural forms when answering. We say Our names
are, our names are. We use are because the subject, our names, is still 'they'.
Similarly, we say their names are, etc.

Wait. Wait. And the last name?

Very simple. We use the same structure but instead of name, we use surname.
What's your surname?, What's his surname?. Other expressions you may encounter
are first name and last name. For example:

Rafael Nadal – His first name is Rafael and his last name is Nadal.

Something very normal when you talk about names or questions is that you may not
know how to write them, that is, spelling. And obviously, in order to be calm when it
comes to spelling, you have to know the alphabet by heart. I'm going to write it down
below and say it during the podcast so you can repeat it and remember the
pronunciation and most common mistakes:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

To ask someone to spell their name we say Can you spell your name, please? or
Sorry, can you spell it, please?

Extra bonus: spelling is also useful when we give our email address, for example. The
question would be What's your email address? When answering, the most popular
symbols are usually the dash or the underscore. The famous dotcom point is called
dot. And the at symbol is said At, like the preposition.

A: What's your email address?

B: It is [email protected]

A: Sorry, can you spell it?

B: Yes! It is p,e,d,r,o, underscore, l,u,c,a,s, at, tmail dot com.

A: thank you

Now you know how to ask strangers for their names, spell your own, or listen to the
spelling if you don't understand a proper name at first. And you can also give your
email address. I encourage you to share your doubts or contributions in the
comments of this post. If there is anything you want to comment on, do not hesitate
to give your opinion. Practice all of this, ask others for their names, look up photos of
your friends and say his name is Pedro, their names are Susana and Julia, etc.

NOTE: The blog was officially launched yesterday and the response has been greater
than I expected. Wow! Many thanks to everyone who shared the link on
https://www.facebook.com/dawayinglesFacebook or
Twitterhttps://twitter.com/dawayingles, you rock!! The best motivation I can have to
continue preparing material and improving the classes is to see that it helps you, I am
very happy. I encourage you to leave comments, post your questions, etc. In short,
participate!! This blog is for that, it is a space for you, the students. If you know online
exercises you can also provide links, etc. Thanks!!

Capítulo 3 Nationalities in English – Basic English Course

In order to ask about nationality and say ours, we need the verb be (which you already
learned in the first class), but this time you must know the negative and interrogative
forms. First, here is the conjugation of the verb with the corresponding negative form
on the right. In parentheses you have the contraction that is usually used in spoken
form (listen to the podcast to learn the pronunciation):

I am – I am not (I'm not)

You are – You are not (You aren't)

He/She/It is – He/She/It is not (He/She/It isn't)

We are not – We aren't

You are not – You aren't

They are not – They aren't

Now, here you have the conjugation of the verb to be in the interrogative. All we do to
formulate a question is to reverse the order 'Subject + Verb to be' to 'Verb to be +
Subject':

Me…?

Are you…?

Is He/She/It…?

Are we…?

Are you…?

Are they…?

Finally, the final element of the recipe is the preposition from and the interrogative
particle Where. When we ask, we say Where are you from? (literally, where are you
from?). The first is the particle Where, followed by the verb to be in the interrogative.
And yes, as strange as it may seem, the preposition from goes at the end of the
question. Let's see an example of this construction:

This is the second person singular in the interrogative: are you…?

And this is exactly the same, but with the particle Where in front: Where are you…?
We add the preposition from and we now have the basic question to ask about where
you are from: Where are you from? This question can be modified to ask about he,
she, we, etc., in which case we must change the conjugation of the verb to be for each
person: Where is he from? Where are they from?, etc.

When we respond, we use the affirmative form of the verb to be together with the
preposition from and the country. I am from Spain (soy de España), You are from
France (eres de Francia), etc. If we want to deny, it's as simple as I am not from France
(no soy de Francia), She isn't from Barcelona, We aren't from Murcia…

Finally, in addition to the formula I am from Spain (Subject + verb to be + country) we

can use the adjective gentilicio or nationality, that is, Spanish, French, etc. Here are
some basic countries and their corresponding gentilicio:

Spain – Spanish

France – French

Italy – Italian

Germany – German

Portugal – Portuguese

Greece – Greek

England – English

Ireland – Irish

Scotland – Scottish

The Netherlands – Dutch

Switzerland – Swiss

Russia – Russian

Denmark – Danish

Egypt – Egyptian

Morocco – Moroccan

Algeria – Algerian

Australia – Australian

Japan – Japanese

China – Chinese

India – Indian

Canada – Canadian
The USA (The United States of America) – American

Mexico – Mexican

Argentina – Argentinian

Ecuador – Ecuadorian

You don't need to learn everything at this level. It's more important that you know
the grammatical structure and gradually learn new countries as you progress or as
you need them. The key is to pronounce them correctly, rather than the number of
words you know.

There are certain patterns that you will have seen when reading, and that are useful to
know in order to find out new gentilics, not make mistakes when pronouncing them,
etc.:

 The first pattern ends in –ish, where the letters sh are pronounced as if you
were telling someone to shut up or asking for silence shhhhh. The stressed
syllable is usually the same as the country: SPain – SPanish

 The second pattern is the ending in –ese, which is pronounced with a long 'i'
sound, like the i in the word castillo, and is always accented. That is, the voice
stroke falls on this last syllable: we do not say Chinese /CHAinis/ but Chinese
/chai-NIS/, Portuguese /portuGUIS/, etc.

 The third pattern is very simple, the one ending in –an, which usually has the
same accentuation as the name of the country: MÉxico – MExican

And here ends this third class of the basic English course. I hope I have helped you
understand a little about nationalities and how to express your own or ask others. If
you've made it this far (3 podcasts), I'd like to remind you of what you already know
how to say in English, so that you don't lose motivation and see that little by little,
every day is one percent more. You already know:

1. Say hello and ask about their mood

2. Ask for the name, give yours, spell, give your email address

3. Find out the other person's nationality and tell them yours, ask about the
nationality of others, etc.

Congratulations! You are improving! You are improving little by little. Keep going, I
hope the classes are helping you and above all, that you are practicing out loud,
listening to the podcasts and repeating over and over again. Remember, grammar
without listening or speaking is not very useful. If you want to comment on
something, have questions, etc., don't hesitate to leave a comment below. Remember
that you can also follow our https://www.facebook.com/dawayinglesFacebook and
Twitterhttps://twitter.com/dawayingles pages to learn interesting facts and daily
expressions.

See you in lesson four!

Capítulo 4 Basic English Course 04: Numbers in English and
Age
Numbers – Numbers in English

Before you can study the structure for expressing your age, you need to know the
numbers in English. The best thing is that you already know most of them, they are part
of popular culture and everyone is familiar with them, more or less. Who hasn't said
one, two, three, four at some point in their life? Let's get started:

From one to ten (from 1 to 10)

1 One – 2 two – 3 three – 4 four – 5 five – 6 six – 7 seven – 8 eight – 9 nine – 10 ten

This first group does not present any problems. Just be careful with spelling, I
recommend writing the numbers on post-its or on index cards like children do, it is a
good way to associate spelling and pronunciation with the number. Also, try typing
them into Google and reading real examples.

From ten to nineteen (from 10 to 19):

11 eleven – 12 twelve – 13 thirteen – 14 fourteen – 15 fifteen – 16 sixteen – 17

seventeen – 18 eighteen – 19 nineteen

In this second group, a clear pattern can be observed. From number 13 to 19, numbers
end in –teen /tin/. In these numbers, the accent falls precisely on that last syllable. We
say thirTEEN, not THIRteen. By the way, the word teen is an adjective and means
adolescent. Adolescent as a noun is teenager ('age' is age, so teenager is someone
who is between 13 and 19 years old). It makes sense, right? After all, English is not
such a chaotic language.

From twenty to ninety nine (from 20 to 99)

20 twenty – 21 twenty one – 22 twenty two – 23 twenty three…

30 thirty – 31 thirty one – 32 thirty two – 36 thirty six…

40 forty – 45 forty five – 49 forty nine…

50 fifty – 51 fifty one – 57 fifty seven…

60 sixty – 61 sixty one – 64 sixty four…

70 seventy – 71 seventy one – 77 seventy seven…

80 eighty – 82 eighty two – 86 eighty six…

90 ninety – 91 ninety one – 99 ninety nine

Again, we can observe a couple of things here. First of all, starting with the number 20,
we use the ten and add the units using the numbers from 1 to 9 (twenty + one = twenty
one), and so on up to nine. And second, this time, the accent falls on the same syllable
as the original number. That is, we don't say fourTY, we say FOUrty, imitating the
original pronunciation of four, THIRty, SIXty, SEVENty, etc.

Now that you know the numbers in English, we can start asking about age.

Age – Age

The well-known question how old are you? It uses the verb to be in the interrogative
(remember, we reversed the order, you are -> are you..?), with an interrogative particle
in front, which is HOW (how?). The word old means old. So we could say that English
speakers understand the question as something like: how old are you? How old are
you?

Of course, if you want to ask for a third person, you just have to change the verb to be:

How old ARE you?

How old IS he?

How old ARE they?

Finally, to answer we say I am X years old: I am so many years old. And again, to talk
about different people the only thing that changes is the present tense conjugation of
the verb to be:

I am twenty five years old

She is nineteen years old

My mother is fifty years old

His brothers are four years old and seven years old

Extra bonus

Three useful expressions that some students don't know:

He is twenty-something – something means 'something', so twenty-something is

'twenty-something'

My friend is a thirty-something (if we add 'a' and count it, it would be a noun, my friend
is a thirty-something)

She is in her fourties – we use the possessive and change the y in Fourty to ies for
plural. She is in her forties – she is in her forties, she is around forty

The most common mistake among Spanish students:

I have fifty years old – I am fifty years old (be careful, in English we don't have years,
we are old years)

Video explaining age, with English subtitles

English exercises – numbers

Capítulo 5 Basic English Course 05: Present Simple
The Present Simple in the affirmative

The present affirmative is as simple as using the subject (I, you, he, she, it, we, you,
they) together with the infinitive of the verb, without the preposition 'to'. That is to say: I
play chess, you eat apples, she runs in the park, he lives in Madrid. There is just one
small detail you should know, and that is that the third person singular (he/she/it)
changes the standard conjugation and adds an –s and sometimes –es to the infinitive
of the verb. Here are the spelling rules for adding that s:

– For a normal verb, the 3rd person adds a single –s: You run, he runs. I like Reading, I
like reading

– If the verb ends in a consonant + 'y', we change the 'y' to the Latin 'i' and add –es: I
study Chinese, She studies French

– When the verb ends in the consonants 'ch, sh, x, s, ss, z' the verb adds –es to the
3rd person: I watch a series, he watches a series. I pass, she passes

– The verbs do (to do) and go (to go) add –es: I do an exam, he does an exam. I go to
the cinema, she goes to class.

– The verb have is irregular for the third person: I have a cat, she has two dogs.

The Present Simple in negative

The negative of the verb in the present tense is constructed using the auxiliary don't
(do not) or doesn't (does not) for the 3rd person singular, with the infinitive of the verb
without the preposition 'to' behind it:

I read a book – I don't read a book

I go to university – He doesn't go to university

Here it is important to note that the verb remains identical for all persons, the only thing
that changes is the auxiliary, no person adds –so –es this time: He doesn't go, no He
doesn't goes.

The present simple in interrogative

The present tense in question form is the part that usually confuses beginner level
students, but you will see how simple it is. What we do is invert the normal
Subject/Verb order with a new one: Auxiliary + Subject + Verb. That is, we first use the
auxiliary, which is Do (for the people I, you, we, you, they) and the auxiliary Does (for
the third person singular). After the auxiliary we use the subject, and finally the verb in
the infinitive. It would look something like this:

Do you play tennis? (Auxiliary / Subject / Verb)

Does she go to university? (3rd person auxiliary / Subject / Verb)

Short answers
In English it is not very natural to answer a question with a simple yes or no. We
usually use short answers that include the auxiliary verb. In the present tense, since
the auxiliary is do/does, we respond using it after yes or no:

Do you like cakes? Yes, I do / No, I don't

Does she go to the cinema? Yes, she does / No, she doesn't

Some verbs in English

To clean – clean

To dance – to dance

To do – to do

To eat – comer

To go – to go

To know – saber, conocer

To listen to – listen to something

To meet – to meet (person) for the first time, to arrange to meet someone

To play – to play (instrument, song), to play

To read – leer

To run – to run

To sleep – dormir

To spell – to spell

To watch – see, observe

To work – trabajar

To write – escribir

Exercises

Here are some exercises to practice the Present Simple and its conjugation:

English exercises – Present Simple 01

English exercises – Present Simple 02

English exercises – Present Simple 03

Capítulo 6 Basic English Course 06: Professions in English

Professions in English – The Question
The classic of classics, what do you do? The question in English is What do you do?
Be careful, it doesn't mean what are you doing? What do you do? In the sense of what
are you doing right now, we use the Present Continuous: what are you doing? Another
alternative to What do you do? What's your job? What is your trade or job? But if you
want to be polite, the first option is less intrusive in my opinion. You can also ask What
do you do for a living? How do you make a living? Here are the three options:

What do you do?

What do you do for a living?

What's your job?

If we want to ask about a third person's profession, we only have to change the
question according to the different subjects:

What does she do? what does she do?

What's your job? What is his/her job?

What does your father do for a living? what does your father do for a living?

Important: remember that the subject will NOT always be a pronoun, sometimes it will
be a more or less long nominal phrase, depending on the sentence. So he (he) can
also be your uncle (who is still 'he') but also the man with the black hat:

What does the man with the black hat do for a living? (he)

The answer

To respond and express our occupation in English we have to use the indefinite article
a/an (a, one or an), as in the phrase an apple (an apple). I know it sounds very strange,
but in English we don't say 'I am a teacher' but rather 'I am a teacher': I am a teacher,
which of course translates as soy profesor. You are an actor, you are an actor. She is a
singer, she is a singer, etc.

We use a for any word that begins with a consonant, and an for those that begin with a
vowel. This is one of the most important things you will find in my e-book How to Learn
English: you have to accept that in a second language ideas are expressed differently,
for historical reasons, arbitrary reasons, etc. It may seem strange at first but with time
you will make them yours and you will be able to use them automatically.

Some professions use the same noun to refer to both genders: He is a doctor, she is a
doctor (doctor or doctor/a) while others have a particular form for each: actor (actor)
and actress (actress). The best way to memorize all these words is to use real
examples from your life (friends, acquaintances, family, etc.) and say each person's
profession, little by little, for example.

Basic English Professions

Here is a list of several professions in English and their translation into Spanish. As I
always say, you don't need to learn them all at once, but little by little, as you need
them or they appear in your mind when trying to express yourself, doing an exercise,
etc. To learn how to pronounce them, listen to the podcast at the end of the article
where I will pronounce them (if you see only one word, it means that the same noun is
used for both genders):

Accountant – Contable

Architect – architect/a

Artist – artist

Baker – Baker

Butcher – Butcher

Cleaner – cleaner

Consultant – advisor

Cook – Cook

Dancer – dancer

Designer – designer

Electrician – electrician

Engineer – engineer

Farmer – farmer/a, farmer/a

Hairdresser – hairdresser

Journalist – journalist

Lawyer – lawyer

Mechanic – mechanic

Musician – musician

Nurse – nurse

Painter – painter

Photographer – photographer

Policeman / policewoman – police

Scientist – Scientist

Singer – Singer

Stockbroker / trader – stockbroker

Student – student

Teacher – professor/a

Translator – translator

Waiter / Waitress – waiter/waitress

Writer – writer

Obviously, there are many, many nouns for the multitude of professions that exist, but
these are some of the most common ones. I advise you, rather than learning all you
can and memorizing them, to learn them as you use them or need to use them in real
examples, look for images on Google to associate them with photos, etc.

Extra expressions

I am unemployed – estoy desempledo/a (the prefix un is used to negate an adjective,

employed is employed, hired)

I am out of work – I am out of work

I am doing an internship – I am doing an internship

I am a trainee – I am a trainee

I have a part-time job – I have a part-time contract

I have a full-time job – I am hired full time

I am on duty – I am on call (for a doctor, a nurse, etc.)

Beware of unemployed. It is an adjective and therefore uses the verb to be, we do not
say I am an unemployed.

That's all for now for this fifth lesson of the basic English course. I hope you enjoyed it,
and above all that you practice speaking out loud, repeating as you listen to the
podcast, etc. Try to name your family members or friends and say what they do (My
brother is an accountant, he works in a store, my cousin is a teacher, etc.), ask about
someone famous's profession (What does Shakira do?), make up conversations, etc.
Anything counts, anything you do counts and adds up.

See you in next class, have a nice day!

Capítulo 7 Basic English Course 07: Quantities in English

We have reached class number seven of the basic English course!

Today's class is about quantities in English. Now that you know how to use the present
simple and the verb 'to be', you can find out more personal details about the person
you're talking to. The Present Simple opens many doors, and at this stage it is
important that you start using the list of verbs that you saw in lesson number five, and
above all that you practice sentences using the affirmative, negative and interrogative
until you have a clear idea of the structure of the present.

A great practice is to use a phrase about your real life: I like fantasy movies, and
change it to other forms: I don't like fantasy movies, Do you like fantasy movies?

That said, we could say that there are, at this point, two types of questions you can
already ask in English:

First type of questions: to be

Questions in which you use the verb ser or estar, and therefore you do not need an
auxiliary, but rather you reverse the order Subject Verb by Verb + Subject: Are you…?,
is she…?. Additionally, you can always use an interrogative particle at the beginning of
the question, to find out information about specific aspects: where is she? How is your
mother?

Second type of questions: present simple

In these questions you always use the auxiliary DO/DOES, and it comes first in the
sentence. The order would be: Auxiliary + subject + verb: Do you play football? Does
she like chocolate? To these sentences, again, you can add an interrogative particle
before the auxiliary: Where do you play football? When does he have dinner?

Repertoire of information you already know to ask for

Well, using the verb ser/estar, and the present simple, you can start asking about a
multitude of different topics. I want you to be aware of this, because if you suddenly
had to meet a foreigner right now, you would be able to ask for:

Name: What is your name? What is your sister's name?

Age: How old are you? How old is your brother?

Nationality: Where are you from? Are you American or Canadian?

Residence: Where do you live? Where does your family live?

Likes: What do you like to do in your free time? What is your favorite ice cream?

Job: What's your job? Where do you work?

Studies: Do you study English? What do you study at university?

Third type of questions: quantities in English

Quite a lot, right? Well, there is a new type of questions you can learn today. And they
are those that have an interrogative particle before the auxiliary, in this case of
quantity, called a quantifier. Now that you know the numbers in English, you can use
them to obtain information about quantities:

How many X do you…? We use how many for countable nouns, and it means how
many or how many. How many brothers do you have?
How much X do you…? We use how much for uncountable nouns, and it means how
much or how much: how much sugar do you have in your coffee?

That's the way to ask about quantities. When answering, we use the following
quantifiers, depending on whether the noun is countable (we can count it, like saying
twenty-four cars) or uncountable (it is impossible to count, like sugar, we cannot say I
want two sugars, but instead we say a little sugar, a lot of sugar, etc.):

Countable Nouns in English

Examples: apples, CDs, smartphones, computers, oranges, trees, etc.

– A / an: a, one. The only thing to keep in mind is the use of 'an', which you should
write when the next word begins with a vowel: an apple, a car, an orange, a table.

– A few: I have a few films at home. She buys a few things every day.

– Many / a lot of: many / as. I read a lot of books. Do you have many clothes in your
wardrobe?

– Some: some/as, only used in affirmative sentences: I read some newspapers.

– Any: none, none of them. It is only used in negative or interrogative phrases: Do you
have any brothers? No, I don't have any brothers.

Uncountable Nouns in English

Examples: sugar, money, cheese, water, time, etc.

– A little: a little bit of. Today I only have a Little time to study. I like a little sugar in my
coffee.

– Some: something of, a little bit of. We use it in affirmative and interrogative
sentences: Do you want some milk with your biscuits? I have some money in my bank
account.

– Much / a lot of: the only thing you need to learn here is that much is only used in
negative sentences. It is not very natural to use it in the affirmative, in which case we
use a lot of: I don't have much time now. When I go to the cinema, I have a lot of
popcorn.

At this point, I advise you to practice and, above all, pay attention to all the examples I
use in the podcast. A good way to use quantifiers is to talk about food: What do you
usually have for breakfast? First, I have some milk with a toast. Then I have two or
three biscuits, etc. I challenge you to name your menu for today in a basic way. What
did you have for breakfast? And eaten? What are you having for dinner? In the next
article we will look at food, I will give you vocabulary related to cooking and you will
learn how to write the plurals of nouns.

Here are some exercises to practice:

English exercises – Countable and uncountable nouns 01

English exercises – Countable and uncountable nouns 02

English exercises – Countable and uncountable nouns 03

I hope you enjoyed this class. Remember that you can follow the blog through the
Facebook and Twitter pages, and also subscribe to the newsletter. I hope you are
learning! See you in next class.

Capítulo 8 Basic English Course 08: Possession in English

Hello there!

Welcome back to the basic English course. I want to dedicate today's basic English
class to explaining possession in English: how to describe what you own, objects
around you, etc., so that you run out of excuses and can talk to yourself while you walk
around the house!

This is a basic topic and one of the fundamental pillars to increase everything you can
express in English. Let's start.

Possession in English – The verb “Have got”

Have got is the equivalent of the verb tener in Spanish, and the letter h that comes in
front is pronounced softly, like all the hs in English. This verb is a bit special and has its
own particular form, but it can be learned quickly:

Affirmative

For first and second persons, both singular and plural, you must use HAVE GOT after
the subject:

I have got a computer

They have got a house

You have got a book

For the third person singular, which can be He/she/it, the verb changes slightly and
becomes HAS GOT. Do you remember the S in the Present Simple for the third
person? Well, in general, whenever you see an s in a verb, the third person has
something to do with it. The same thing happens here:

He has got a watch (un reloj)

She has got three children

It has got twenty pages (if we refer to the pages of a book)

Important! Before continuing, practice with real examples of things you own or that a
family member or friend owns: My mother(she) has got a green car, I have got a black
dog, etc. Listen to the podcast and repeat out loud.

Negative
For the negative, all you have to do is change the two forms, Have got and Has got, to
their negative equivalents:

Have got – Haven't got, pronounced /haven got/, you don't have to pronounce the letter
te

Has got – Hasn't got, pronounced /hasen got/, same as above

So some examples could be:

I haven't got a car

She hasn't got a cat, she has got a dog

My friend has got a mobile, but he hasn't got a computer

Interrogative

It's been easy so far, right? Well, for the interrogative there is a small change, and it is
to invert the order of the words, placing the subject between have and got:

Have you got a cat? (do you have a cat?)

Have you got a laptop? (does he have a laptop?)

Have we got time? (do we have time?)

Short answers

Just as in the Present Simple you responded with Yes, I do / No, I don't, with the verb
tener we respond using have or has:

Yes, I have.

No, I haven't.

Yes, she has.

No, she hasn't.

Real English

In real life, at an informal and street level, native speakers rarely say or write I have
got, pronouncing or writing all three words perfectly. What they do is shorten the
expression, to make it more comfortable. In this case, I have got becomes I've got, and
that I've is very easy to pronounce, to the subject I /ai/ we add a u like in French, biting
our lip I've /aiv/.

I've got (I have got)

You've got /yuv/

We've got /wiv/

For the third person singular, the contraction is different, in this case an apostrophe
and the s: 's.

He's got (he has got)

She's got

It's got

Commonly used objects in English

Here is a list of common objects that you can start studying and using in your
sentences. In the podcast I will read them, so you can learn the pronunciation:

Bag – backpack

Bed – bed

Bike – bicycle

Book – book

Car – car

Chair – chair

Computer – computer

Credit card – credit card

Cupboard – cupboard

Desk – desk

Door – door

Glasses – glasses

Lamp – lamp

Laptop – portable computer

Mobile – mobile phone

Motorbike – motorcycle

Notebook – notebook

Painting – picture

Pen – ballpoint pen

Pencil – Pencil

Photograph – photography
Radio – radio

Sofa – sofa

Table – table

TV – television

Umbrella – umbrella

Watch – watch

Window – window

Now you can practice, repeat the words and start saying what you have and what you
don't have, ask questions, talk about your friends' possessions, etc. Right now!!! You
don't have to do anything, just start talking where you are, practice. Little by little you
are expanding your range of expression, congratulations. I hope this article has been
useful to you. Don't forget to share it on Facebook or Twitter if you liked it.

See you in next class, have a good day!

Capítulo 9 Basic English Course 09: Motivation

This basic English course class is specially designed to turn things around and help
you find that motivation, a crucial element if you want to learn English. This is the
approach I have always taken with my students and what usually works when it comes
to improving. And all thanks to María Hernández, who sent me her questions by email.
It has helped me remember how important it is to stay energized and eager to learn,
especially at very basic levels, so this post may be very useful to you if this has
happened to you at some point.

The format of this lesson, as you may have seen on the blog lately, has changed a bit. I
will still be giving some grammar explanations, but I also want to experiment and try to
challenge you with some lessons. From now on, sometimes I won't write a brick full of
paragraphs and theoretical explanations, but I will give you a series of basic notes so
that you can follow the order in which I speak in the podcast. This way you will have to
put in a little more effort to understand, which is very healthy when it comes to learning.
And if you have any questions, of course, you can leave a comment on this article and I
will be happy to help you (if you didn't understand a word, the pronunciation of
something, meaning, etc.). However, I try to speak very slowly so that you can
understand me without problems.

What you will learn in this class of the basic English course

What is connected speech and why understanding native speakers is the biggest
problem for any student, especially for beginners.

Why it is important to study some phonetics

Slowing down your listening skills is a great way to gradually improve.

Repeating and speaking out loud helps, even if it seems crazy

How to learn English quickly by forcing your brain

How to stay motivated at all times, the two keys to motivation: the more you move, the
less it costs you and the 1% theory

Resources mentioned in this class

Basic phonetics English course

How to slow down audio (including this podcast)

Randall's Listening Lab (on the home page, scroll down until you find “Basic Listening
Quizzes”)

How to learn English fast by forcing your brain

Thanks for listening

I hope I have helped you with this basic level class, I think it is vital for you to continue
advancing and not get discouraged. If you follow these recommendations and use the
resources I have given you, I am sure that you will improve a lot, but you must keep in
mind that it will not happen overnight, but rather it is something alive and constantly
changing. That's what this website is for, so that every day you can do a little, little by
little as Oasis would say. If you want me to talk about something in particular in the
next class, a question or a topic you want to see discussed, you can send a voice
message in the participate section.

Remember that you can subscribe to the podcasts via iTunes, and leave an honest
review about this class (which helps me a lot). You can also get a free copy of my
ebook by joining the newsletter, or share this class with anyone who might be
interested on social media like Facebook or Twitter.

See u around!

Capítulo 10 Basic English Course 10: Plurals and

Demonstratives in English
Relax, here they are, in class number ten of the basic English course. It's been a while
since I last updated this course, and I must say that I was already looking forward to
preparing more material because the intermediate level was gaining ground. In today's
class I'm going to teach you how to use plurals, the rules that exist to form them and
how to use demonstratives in English to refer to the different objects you talk about.

If you know the Present Simple, how to talk about possession in English and can use
plurals and demonstratives, you are already starting to leave that first stage of being a
true beginner. I congratulate you because it is an important step. Keep going and you
will see how little by little you can use increasingly complex sentences. Remember that
every day is one percent more progress you make. It is difficult to see progress from
one day to the next, but it exists, it is there. We've all been there, myself included. Let's
get started!

Basic English course: how to form plurals, spelling rules

In general, English nouns are formed plural by adding the letter s, -s: cat/cats,
laptop/laptops, etc.

If the word ends in a Greek i, -y, for the plural we remove the “y” and write -ies:
Diary/diaries, Memory/memories, etc.

If the noun ends in the consonants -ch, -sh, -ss, -s, -x or -z, the plural is formed with -
es: watch/watches, glass/glasses, fax/faxes

Those are the three general rules. As you may have noticed, two of them make a lot of
sense because they respond to the same grammatical structure as the third person
singular of the Simple Present (which I explained here). That is, where we use -ies for
verbs (I study / she studies) we do the same with nouns that end the same (lobby /
lobbies).

Likewise, when a verb ends in the consonants mentioned above (-s, -ss, -z, -ch, etc.)
we use -es, both for the verb and for a noun that ends the same: I watch, he watches /
a glass, two glasses.

Irregular plurals, the basic and most important ones

There are plurals that do not respond to any rule, and you have no choice but to learn
and study them. There aren't many, and over time you'll develop your intuition and
instinct to recognize them and be able to use them, so don't worry. For now, these are
the most important ones for your level. I want you to pay special attention to the
pronunciation of the different forms, while listening to the podcast that accompanies
this lesson (many students, even those at an advanced level, confuse the
pronunciation of these plurals):

Man (man) / Men (men)

Woman (woman) / Women (women)

Child (child) / Children (children)

Tooth (tooth) / Teeth (teeth)

Foot (pie) / Feet (pies)

Demonstratives in English

Okay, now you can use plurals to describe numbers other than one. But you need
something else, demonstrative adjectives. Demonstratives are the words we use to
refer to objects and describe the distance between them and the person speaking. In
English they are a little different from Spanish but they are only four words, and the
best thing is that in this language only two distances are described (not like in Spanish,
este/ese/aquél). We could say that demonstratives in English are a piece of cake:
Closeness

Singular: this (this/a)

Plural: these

Remoteness

Singular: that (that one, that one)

Plural: those

English exercises on plurals

Here are some pages with English exercises to practice singular and plural nouns.

Singular and plural exercises 01

Singular and plural exercises 02

Singular and plural exercises 03

English exercises on demonstratives

English exercises, demonstratives 01

English exercises, demonstratives 02 (with listening)

English exercises on demonstratives 03

Conclusion

I hope this grammar lesson from the basic English course has been useful to you. Now
it's your turn to practice, listen to the podcast over and over again, repeat it out loud,
etc. If you listen to it several times and do the exercises included, I'm sure you won't
forget how to form the plural or use demonstrative adjectives. Remember that
sometimes less is more. Don't get hung up on the written part and doing a whole book
of exercises: focus on understanding the podcast and getting the pronunciation right. It
is much more important that you are able to understand and recognize small pieces of
grammar at this basic level. Remember the previous lesson, it is the only way to
improve your listening and motivate yourself.

You can also use the Anki app to memorize the demonstratives and the different rules
for forming the plural that I just gave you. If you read the post, listen to the audio and
also use Anki to memorize it, it is impossible for you to forget it, you will be studying in
professional mode 😀

See you in next class!!

Capítulo 11 Basic English Course 11: Adjectives in English
Okay, by now you've learned a few useful things in your basic English course: you can
speak in the present tense, name your possessions, talk about age, quantities,
professions and nationalities. You also have in your repertoire some verbs, greetings
and you can even use the plural. But I was already touching on something very
important, basic to be able to describe the world around you: the objects, your
opinions, the people. Yes, it's about adjectives in English. Like good, bad, ugly,
beautiful, etc.

I know most of you know them. This course is designed as a very basic introduction to
English. But you may need to brush up on them, remember how they were written, or
learn some basics about how to use them in your second language. Once you read this
article you will have everything you need to master them in no time. Let's start!

How to use adjectives in English

Adjectives in English, as in Spanish, are used to accompany a noun or name, to give

details about it. That is, they modify the name and specify it.

That is something basic and there is no difference in this language. However, they do
behave differently in English when it comes to syntax and spelling. This is a small
distinction that you should be aware of, as it is a very common mistake among
Spanish-speaking students.

Position of adjectives

Adjectives in English always precede the noun in the noun phrase. That is, we write a
beautiful day, where beautiful is placed before day. 'A beautiful day'. Just the opposite
of what we would say in Spanish. Other examples would be a black cat, the blue box, a
dangerous adventure, etc.

You can find many famous cases of adjectives in movie or TV show titles, for example:
The Great Dictator, Pulp Fiction, True Detective, Modern Family, Mad Men, etc.

Adjectives in English cannot be plural.

A very common mistake at basic levels is to use the adjective in its plural form, with the
s. But this is incorrect in English, so forget about using the plural. Think of it as being
more economical: you only have to memorize one written form, for both the singular
and the plural.

It would therefore be incorrect to say something like Blacks cats, black cats. Always
use the adjective in the plural: black cats, big dogs, cheap meals, great views, good
films, etc.

Sometimes a noun is used as an adjective.

Very important. One of the big differences that English has compared to other
languages. We can often use a noun as an adjective by placing it before the middle
name. You don't need to change anything, just place it before the second noun, and it
will work as an adjective. This is VERY common in English, you'll see it everywhere
once you become aware of it.

Here are some examples of movies, series or names in general: Taxi Driver, Adventure
Time, Family Guy, window cleaner, hotel room.

As I said, once you recognize this structure you will start to see it everywhere. I want
you to be prepared because this is something that is used a lot in English. Every
second that passes, new words appear thanks to this resource: a twitter account.

List of basic adjectives in English

Here is a list of adjectives in English and their corresponding opposite. These are the
simplest ones you will need at a basic level, very useful to start describing things or
people in English. Of course, there are thousands and thousands of adjectives in
English. For now, try to learn these and use them little by little.

To memorize these or any other words that appear in the course, you already know
that you have a free application, both for Android and PC, that will help you a lot during
the process. It's called Anki, and you can read the explanation on how to use it here.

good – bad

happy – sad

strong – weak

intelligent – stupid

beautiful – ugly

interesting – boring

long – short

big – small

tall – short

cheap – expensive

rich – poor

healthy – unhealthy / sick

wide – narrow

modern – old

young – old

right – wrong
safe – dangerous

fast – slow

noisy – quiet

Different degrees for the adjective

The world would be very boring and unfair if we had to use the word “good” to describe
two films as different as, for example, Transformers and Pulp Fiction. The first movie is
good, ok. The second, is extremely good or awesome!

Fortunately, in English you can also give different degrees to the quality that an
adjective describes, using various expressions. To give more richness to your
descriptions, here are the most important ones:

A bit / Rather + adjective

A little/rather. Ex: swimming with sharks in Australia is rather dangerous

quite + adjective

Quite. Ex: Mexico in summer is quite hot

very + adjective

Very. Ex: when I lived in England, the winter was very, very cold.

really + adjective

Really, very. Ex: Freddie Mercury was a really good singer

extremely + adjective

Incredibly, really, very. Ex: In some of his movies, Clint Eastwood's look is extremely
serious (the look)

Conclusion

Now you have the basic tools to use adjectives in English. Time to listen to the podcast
and settle all the theory. Remember to download Anki so you can study and memorize
them easily, as well as the rest of the words you learn in this course. Also keep in mind
the points I mentioned above, especially the use of nouns as adjectives in English, so
you don't have any surprises later.

I hope you enjoyed this class. You can download the podcast audio in mp3 format for
free by clicking “download,” and you can also subscribe to Daway’s podcast through
iTunes here (if you leave an honest review about the class, you help me a lot). If you
have any questions or concerns, or want to comment on anything, you can leave a
comment below.

See you in next class!!

Capítulo 12 Basic English Course 12: Present Continuous
Are you talking to me? Does that phrase sound familiar to you? If you still don't know
why I'm quoting the movie Taxi Driver, listen to today's podcast!

Welcome, after several weeks of hiatus, to the basic English course on the web. It's
been a while since I last updated this course and I was looking forward to doing so. I
know you've been following along and were probably wondering what the heck was up
with David and his podcasts. Well, here I am at last. And I bring you a very important
English lesson, eager to clear up all your doubts.

Today I'm going to teach you how to use the Present Continuous in English. A great
step in your learning, with everything you need to master it perfectly. Let's get started!

Basic English course: what is the Present Continuous

Okay, what is this Present Continuous?

Simply put, the Present Continuous is the verb tense we use to describe actions or
events that are occurring at the moment of speech, right now, while you and I are
talking.

For example, as I write this article the sun is shining, there is music playing in the
background and my fingers are tapping the keys of the laptop I am writing on. They are
actions that are taking place here and now, and in English they would be described as
follows: I am writing on the computer, the sun is shining, etc.

We can also use the Present Continuous to describe actions in progress, which are
taking place here or somewhere else, such as This year I am learning English, climate
change is increasing, a lot of tourists are coming to Spain, etc.

How to form the Present Continuous in English

Affirmative

The structure is very simple, and now that you have studied the verb ser/estar (to be)
you should have no problems mastering the pattern. Note:

I am talking to you

The first thing you use is the subject, I, followed by the corresponding form of the verb
to be, I am, and finally you place the infinitive of the verb by adding the ending -ing.
Yes, the famous -ing of English. You probably know it or have heard it before: I am
talking (I am talking, literally). The order would be like this:

Subject + To be + Verb-ing

Negative

The only thing we do with the negative form is negate the verb ser/estar, to be: I am
NOT talking to you.

Subject + negative To Be + verb-ing

Be careful with the third person singular (he/she/it): He isn't playing computer games.
In this case the form of the verb to be is is not/isn't.

Interrogative

Do you remember how to ask a question with the verb to be? What you were doing
was reversing the order Subject + Verb with Verb + Subject: You are happy –> Are you
happy?

To form questions with the verb 'to be' we reverse the order, and we do exactly the
same with the Present Continuous, there is no more mystery: You are reading –> Are
you reading?

Short Answers – Short Answers

When answering a question you have been asked using the Present Continuous, you
should remember that in English we never answer something as simple as Yes, No. In
Spanish it is very common to do this, we are more practical: do you like football? But.
However, in English this is neither well-regarded nor really correct.

To answer you always need to use the auxiliary of each question. For example, if I ask
you Do you like cats? (Do you like cats?) you must respond with the same auxiliary
(Do): Yes, I do/ No, I don't.

If the question were for the third person singular: Does she like dogs?, when answering
you would have to use the corresponding form of the auxiliary for that person: Yes, she
does / No, she doesn't.

Well, the same thing happens with the Present Continuous. Since this verb form uses
the verb 'to be' as an auxiliary, short answers should also use it. Are you reading a
book? (Are you reading a book?) should be answered with Yes, I am or No, I'm not.

How to differentiate the Simple Present and the Continuous

Now that you know how to use the Present Continuous, it wouldn't be bad to know how
to differentiate it from the Present Simple, right? You may be wondering when to use
each one. Don't worry. It's very easy.

When learning English, the Present Simple, as I already explained here, is used for
routines or permanent things: I like chocolate, I play football on Tuesdays, I have two
brothers, I live in Murcia.

You will usually see it next to things or states that are always true and stable. Also
accompanied by adverbs of frequency, especially those that reflect routine or repetition
like these:

usually (normally) I usually play tennis

often I often go to the cinema

on Mondays I work on Mondays

To learn and master adverbs of frequency in English, there is a class in the
intermediate English course in which I talk at length about the topic (how to use them to
express routines and frequency with the Present Simple).

That said, there are several ways to distinguish this Present Simple and its notion of
“routine/repetition/permanence.”

As a general rule, to know when to use the Continuum you just have to ask yourself if
what you want to describe is permanent or is something temporary, changing, in
progress. Imagine, for example, that you normally live in Asturias (I live in Asturias) and
one particular month you travel with your family to Valencia. You could say, this month
I am living in Valencia. This month I am living in Valencia. It is something out of the
ordinary, different, temporary. That would be a good example of Present Continuous.

Another good example would be using the Present Simple to say I play tennis on
Mondays (on Mondays I play tennis, it's something stable and routine) instead of a
sentence like Right now I am playing basketball (right now, at this precise moment, I'm
playing basketball). Yes, you just read a new adverb that you may not have known
about: Right now.

Just as the Present Simple is normally accompanied by adverbs of frequency, the

Continuous is usually accompanied by the following adverbs of time:

Right now – right now

At the moment – at this moment, currently

Now – now

As you can see, all three indicate that the action or event is occurring or developing at
this very moment, which makes it easy to understand: right now, I am writing on my
computer, at the moment I am working in an academy, etc.

Spelling of the famous -ing of the Present Continuous

The last aspect you need to master in order to be able to use the Present Continuous
is the spelling of the famous gerund ending -ing. And there are some exceptions, but
very simple ones.

In general, all you need to do is add the -ing to the root of the verb, to the infinitive:

play – playing

work – working

see – seeing

be – being

However, when you see a monosyllabic verb that is composed of the structure
Consonant + Vowel + Consonant (CVC), such as run, when using the -ing you must
double the last consonant: I am running. The same would happen with plan, planning
or stop, stopping.
Thanks for listening

That's it. You made it. That's all you need to start using the Present Continuous. Your
English level has just gone up by 1%, like every day, and this is an important step. Now
you can start practicing, using examples and above all describing what you are doing
at this very moment (it is a great way to practice).

I want you to practice, to speak out loud, to use this new verb form all the time until it is
no longer a mystery. If you have any questions, you can leave a comment below, of
course. And if you need to listen to the English podcast more than once, download the
mp3 file and try to understand it as many times as you need. Here is the link to all the
English podcasts to date.

You already know that you can subscribe to all the classes through iTunes here (if you
leave a personal review you do me a great favor) and also subscribe to the Daway
community to receive a free copy of my ebook How to learn to learn English, in addition
to receiving exclusive content.

See you next time

Capítulo 13 Basic English Course 13: English Conversation (1)

When meeting someone, you've probably asked yourself some of these typical
questions. Personally, they sound too flat to me, but I admit that they are the most
common thing when we have just met another person, in a normal conversation in
English.

So today, in the basic English course, I'm going to make sure you learn how to ask all
these questions. First I'm going to teach you the structure for asking questions, in this
first article. And once you've learned them, you can change the words to personalize
the questions to your liking and adapt them to your style. Let's do this!

What I mean by a conversation in English

Since this is a basic English course, a basic English conversation or dialogue consists
of being able to ask questions and give answers about your personal life, at a slightly
superficial level.

Remember, learning English is like playing sports. It would be a very bad idea to join a
gym and try to lift 200 kg of biceps on the third day. The same is true, of course, of
English. So we will forget the past, future plans and assumptions (what would you do if
today was the last day of your life? and similar questions). We are going to focus on
the day to day, on the basics of getting to know someone, and little by little you will gain
more and more experience, you will be able to talk about more and more things.

By now you have learned to talk about possession in English, to ask about the origin, to
use the Present Simple or the Continuous. So we'll be working with those tools.

Order of questions in English – the slot machine method

Okay. You want to ask questions in English. I explain the structure to you, how to make
them, and later you repeat. The problem is that after two weeks you will have forgotten,
as happens to 70% of students. The order of the questions often causes a lot of
problems and this may be your case.

What I'm going to do is give you the ultimate structure or trick so that you never forget
how to order a question in English again. Pay attention, because the word Slot
Machines will be the key. A slot machine, yes. This type of bar machine is called a fruit
machine in English (because of the fruit drawings they usually use).

Basically, slot machines use spinning reels, with several options for each reel. Normally
there are three, and in this case, I want you to imagine that the rollers are slots where
we are going to place the words of a sentence. For example, the normal order of a
sentence is Subject + Verb + Complement:

Subject + Verb + Complement

If each slot represents a reel, for the “subject” slot you will have different options: I, he,
she, we, you, etc. The same with the verb: play, go, dance, smoke, etc. And the same
with the complement, obviously.

Did you get it? Let's continue

How to form a basic question in English

The normal order of the questions is Auxiliary + Subject + Verb. The auxiliary, since at
the moment you only know how to speak in the Present, will be Do or Does (depending
on the person, remember that Does is for he/she/it). That is to say, a basic question
would be like this:

Do you like cookies?

Auxiliary + subject + verb

Good. Well, the only thing you have to do to never forget how to ask questions in
English again is to add a fourth slot or roller in front of the auxiliary. We will call this slot
Question Word, so the final order would be:

Question Word + Auxiliary + Subject + Verb

From now on, when you want to ask a question, the only reel that will change is the
Question Word reel. That's it. That's it. You can now ask as many questions as you
want in English. Seriously. Notice how the only thing that changes is the question word
(I'm going to separate it more than usual so you can see it clearly):

Where do you eat pasta? (Where…?)

How do you eat pasta? (As…?)

Why do you eat pasta? (Because…?)

When do you eat pasta? (When…?)

If you want to read more about the slot machine method, I recommend reading this
article.

Final note – be careful with the verb 'to be'

Although this method is great, it has one small exception that you should be aware of.
When you ask a question with the verb ser/estar, be careful because this verb does not
use an auxiliary. That is, a question with the verb 'to be' would be the following:

Are you cold?

To be + Subject + complement

As long as you remember this, the Question Word roller or slot remains intact and does
not pose a problem. With different question words it would look like this:

Why are you cold?

When are you cold?

Thanks for listening

That's all for today. The most important thing now is that you practice. If not, this article
has no reason to exist. The best way to establish this method is practice, lots of
practice out loud. Now that you know how to ask questions, just use an example
sentence and change the reels as you like.

Remember that you can access all the English podcasts to date here. You can also
subscribe through iTunes (you'd do me a favor if you left a sincere personal review) or
download my free book, How to Learn English, at this link.

See you next time, take care

Capítulo 14 Basic English Course 14: The Verb to Have in

English
I'm back with the basic English course, in this case with the verb haber in English. A
short but very necessary lesson for you to learn how to describe the objects and
environments around you (in addition to what you have already seen above,
demonstratives or possession in English).

It's interesting that you know how to use this verb together with quantities in English, so
that you can say movie-like phrases like There isn't much time (there's no time to lose)
or There are a lot of things I want to tell you (there are many things I want to tell you).
Also to continue the conversation in English that you started thanks to the previous
class (aha!).

As usual, I present the grammar to you in a very brief and simple way, so that you can
focus on listening to the podcast in mp3 format and repeat, listen again, practice, etc.
Remember, you should put the emphasis on listening, not on studying and cramming
grammar. Even if it's hard at first, little by little. Every day 1%.
So today I will give you your 1%, let's do this!

The verb haber in English – how it works in 5 seconds

The verb haber has two different forms, depending on whether it refers to the singular
or plural of nouns, in addition to the different negative, positive and interrogative forms.

Positive

There is (singular) / There are (plural)

Negative

There isn't (there is not) / There aren't (there are not)

Interrogative

Is there…? (singular) / Are there…? (plural)

As you can see, there is not much mystery. The 'is' is used for the singular, whether
affirmative or negative (isn't), while for the plural you have to use 'are' or 'aren't'. All
these constructions mean the equivalent in Spanish:

There is a cat – there is a cat

There are 20 cars – there are 20 cars

There isn't a dog

Finally, note that the interrogative form reverses the order of the sentence. This order is
usually Subject + Verb (There is a man) while in interrogative it will be Verb + Subject
(Is there a man?).

That is, do not use any type of auxiliary, as we did in the Simple Present (Do you
play?). Instead of 'do' you put Is there/Are there and nothing else. This also happened,
as you will remember, with the verb 'to be': Are you cold?

What you will learn in this podcast

What is the verb haber and what do you want to use it for?

How to form the verb haber in English

What is the correct pronunciation of this verb and its contractions?

Examples of the verb haber using quantities in English

How to pronounce the 'r' after a vowel in the British accent

Thanks for listening

This concludes lesson number 14 of the basic English course. As you can see, it is
very simple and easy to memorize and practice thanks to the podcast. I hope you
found it useful and, above all, that you practice and listen to it several times (you can
download it below to your computer or mobile device). You are getting closer to being
able to defend yourself in English, so don't lose motivation at any time. Keep it up!

You already know that you can subscribe to all the podcasts on the web through your
Apple device using iTunes here (and leave an honest review, you're doing me a favor)
and also join the Daway community to receive a free copy of my ebook.

See you very, very soon!

Capítulo 15 Basic English Course 15: Simple Past in English

I came, I saw, I conquered. Mythic phrase by Julius Caesar: I came, I saw, I
conquered.

Yes, it is a very epic phrase. And that is precisely what today's class is about. Not of
Romans and emperors, but of what they all symbolize: the past. In this case, the simple
past in English. How to form it, use it, and start talking about what you did last night,
last week, or the day you were born (well, if you knew what you did that day it would be
incredibly creepy).

In this first lesson I will explain the past tense of regular verbs (85% of those that exist
in English) and in a second lesson we will see how to use the famous irregular verbs.

Let's do this!

How to form the simple past in English

Basically, the past tense in English is formed by adding the ending –ed to the stem of
the verb. It's that simple.

However, this only applies to one type of verb: regular ones. Regular verbs are, in a
nutshell, all of them except the famous irregular verbs, those on the list that I'm sure
sound familiar to you (come/came/come). That is, if the verb is regular it will have –ed
in its past form, while if it is irregular, it will have its own form (in this case, the second
column of the famous list).

Examples:

Park (aparcar) – I parked the car (I parked the car, regular verb)

Cross (cross) – She crossed the Street (she crossed the street, regular verb)

Eat (comer) – We ate the whole cake (nos ate the whole cake, irregular verb)

Where is the problem then?

Well, you're going to find a little difficulty when using the past tense in English. And it is
the pronunciation.

This is something that drives a lot of people crazy. That is why it was one of the most
important articles I prepared for the phonetics course. It is something I always teach in
my classes as a basic pillar of good spoken English. The good news is that here is the
article where I explain how to pronounce that famous –ed ending in the past tense in
English.

I recommend that you read the article thoroughly and spend at least 30 minutes
pronouncing the past tense, practicing little by little and without rushing, until you
internalize it. Spending a few minutes learning correct pronunciation can put you ahead
of the average learner. I have met people preparing for a B1 and B2 level who still did
not know how to pronounce the past tense in English.

Grammar of the Simple Past

Affirmative

I crossed the street

As you can see, you have to use the root of the verb by adding the ending –ed, nothing
more. If it is an irregular verb, you would have to use the second column of the list:

She ran a marathon

Negative

I didn't cross the street

She didn't run a marathon

Whether the verb is regular or irregular, you're in luck. All you have to do is use the
auxiliary didn't (did not, abbreviated) and the infinitive of the verb. I repeat, infinitive.
Once you add didn't you don't need any –ed or irregular past form.

Interrogative

Did she cross the street?

Did she run a marathon?

Pretty easy now that you know the Present Simple in English. Just as with the present
you had to use Do as an auxiliary, here you change Do to Did, which is equivalent to
the Past Simple. That is, the order remains at:

Auxiliary + Subject + Infinitive: Did you see me?

Both regular and irregular.

List of irregular verbs

Although I will prepare another class for the course talking about these verbs, below I
leave you a list, the famous and already classic list, of irregular verbs in English.

As you probably know, you have no choice but to memorize them to learn it. They don't
follow exact rules, although you'll see that there are many patterns that repeat
themselves. As I always advise, the best way to learn English quickly is to do a lot of
listening and reading. Once you have seen these verbs on more than one occasion (in
a text, podcast, television series, book, etc.) you will never forget them again.

However, as I said, I will do a class pronouncing them all so you can practice them.

Thanks for listening

So far this class, the simple past in English. Remember that you can (and should)
download the podcast in mp3 format to your computer or mobile device, so you can
review and listen to it as many times as you want. It is important, especially in the initial
stages, that you immerse yourself in a lot of listening every day so that your brain gets
used to the language. And remember, the more you listen and speak, the less you will
have to study or memorize.

You can also subscribe to all the podcasts I upload through iTunes on your Apple
device here (if you leave an honest review, you'll be doing me a huge favor).

See you soon!

Capítulo 16 Basic English Course 16: Irregular Verbs in

English
Welcome again to the basic English course. Very soon you will start studying the
simple past in English. This is an important step in your learning, being able to start
talking about past events. And I know it's complicated and a bit difficult at first. That's
why I decided to prepare a separate lesson to explain irregular verbs in English (the
only headache for the past tense in English).

First I will explain to you how irregulars work, how to study them and focus the class.
Once you've mastered the hardest part, the next lesson, the past simple, will be just
that, simple!

Let's look at it!

Irregular Verbs in English

Although we will see this very soon, I am sure you already know that the past tense in
English is formed by adding the ending –ed to the stem or infinitive of the verb. Some
examples are play -> played, cross -> crossed, etc. However, there are a number of
irregular verbs that have their own form for the Past Simple and do not follow this rule.

You've probably heard about that famous list more than once. It is made up of three
columns. The first is the infinitive, the second represents the past and the last, the
participle. The good news is that for now, at your level, you don't have to worry about
the last column (although it is easy to memorize the list using the three forms, that is
how I studied it and how all secondary school students study it today).

Below you will find a screenshot of all the irregular verbs in English. In addition to
viewing it, you can click here and download the list in PDF format to study it.
As you read you will see that there are certain patterns that are repeated sometimes.
For example, many verbs have the vowel 'a' in their past form and the 'u' for the
participle:

begin, began, begun (to start, to begin)

run, ran, run (run)

swim, swam, swum (swim)

Others usually form the past with 'ew' and the participle with 'own':

Grow, grew, grown (grow)

Fly, flew, flown (fly)

And other groups, to everyone's delight, have the same shape for the three columns:

Put, put, put (to put)

Hit, hit, hit

How to study the list of irregular verbs

There are certain details that you should keep in mind when learning this list of verbs.
As you already know, the approach that I always recommend as a teacher is that you
have to use what you want to learn, that you listen to it on a podcast, read examples,
etc. You have no choice but to find the verbs several times until little by little, you
become familiar with them.

Think about the word “because.” You don't have trouble remembering how to spell and
pronounce it, do you?

Well, the only reason is that you have had to use the word because many times, you
have seen it in hundreds of examples, heard it in songs, when speaking, etc. You have
seen and encountered it so many times that your brain does not even need to think
when using it. Well, it's the same with irregular verbs. They may seem like strangers to
you now, but you have no choice but to grow fond of them, so to speak.

Another trick that can help you is to learn the verbs following the patterns I mentioned
before, in groups. That's what I'm going to teach you today. But before we look at the
verbs divided into groups, I must tell you that I do NOT want you to learn all of them. At
your level, you don't need to know the entire list, just the most common ones, the ones
you will encounter in a conversation or writing.

List of most common irregular verbs for A2 level

Be – was / were – been

Become – became – become

Begin – began – begun (comenzar)

Break – broke – broken

Bring – brought – brought

Buy – bought – bought

Can – could – been able

Catch – caught – caught

Choose – chose – chosen

Come – came – come (to come, to arrive)

Cost – cost – cost (cost)

Cut – cut – cut (cut)

Do – did – done (to do)

Drink – drank – drunk

Drive – driven – driven

Eat – ate – eaten (comer)

Fall – fell – fallen (to fall)

Feel – felt – felt

Find – found – found

Fly – Flew – flown (fly)

Forget – Forgot – Forgotten

Get – got – got

Give – gave – given (dar)

Go – went – gone (ir)

Have – had – had (to have)

Hear – heard – heard

Hold – held – held (hold)

Know – knew – known

Learn – learned/learned – learned/learned

Leave – left – left (leave, leave)

Lose – lost – lost

Make – made – made (to make)

Meet – met – met (meet, meet)

Pay – paid – paid (pay)

Put – put – put (to put)

Read – read – read (read)

Ride – rode – ridden (ride)

Run – ran – run (run)

Say – said – said (say)

See – saw – seen (ver)

Sell – sold – sold

Send – sent – sent (send)

Sing – sang – sung (sing)

Sit – sat – sat (sit down)

Sleep – slept – slept

Speak – spoke – spoken

Spell – spelled/spelt – spelled/spelt

Spend – spent – spent

Stand – stood – stood

Swim – swam – swum (swim)

Take – took – taken (take, carry)

Teach – taught – taught

Tell – told – told

Think – thought – thought (think, believe)

Understand – understood – understood

Wear – wore – worn

Win – won – won (win)

Write – wrote – written

Thanks for listening

Well, I think this has been quite an English lesson. It couldn't be more complete. I think
you've had enough for some days, with so many verbs here and there. I hope you liked
it and that you understood how to pronounce the verbs and what each one means. In
the next class I will talk to you about the simple past, the famous -ed (very easy!).
In the coming weeks I will continue preparing more classes so that you can continue to
advance and, as I always say, little by little, increase your level and your range when it
comes to speaking. Don't forget to keep listening every day, reading things, trying to
repeat out loud, etc. The beginnings are the hardest. Once you finish this first basic
course, the rest will fall into place, I promise.

Remember to subscribe via iTunes if you have an Apple device here (and leave an
honest review, it helps me a lot). You can also join the Daway community and get a
free copy of my ebook here.

See you in next class, take care!

Capítulo 17 Basic English Course 17: Telling Time in English

Quarter past, quarter to, half past. Do you know how to tell the time in English?

Welcome back to the basic English course. In class today I am going to explain to you
how to say and ask about the time in English, a very important step for your learning.
This is something you will use all the time and, despite the difficulty that many students
find, it is very easy to assimilate once you have the correct explanation.

Let's do this!

Time words – the time in English

Before explaining the grammar and typical expressions about time in English (I repeat,
very easy), I want you to understand the spelling and pronunciation of the basic words
that represent time in English. Words that you have seen hundreds of times but that
you have probably confused at some point. These are the words:

Second – segundo /sekend/

Minute – minute /minit/

Hour – hora /water/ (yes, literally, water)

Day – day /dei/

Week – week /wiik/

Month – month /manz/

Year – year /yia/

How to ask for the time in English

What time is it?

What's the time, please?

Excuse me. Have you got the time?

These are the three most common questions you'll hear native speakers say when
asking about the time. All three are valid and you can use any of them. The first one
would be “what time is it?” while the other two would be more like “excuse me, what
time is it?/can you tell me the time?”

How to respond

It is…

Yes, it's that simple. We use the pronoun “it” and the corresponding form of the verb to
be, “is”. That would be equivalent to “it is the…”.

How to tell time

Ok, so this is the important part. The conventional clock, as you well know, can be
divided into two halves if we draw a straight line that cuts twelve o'clock and six o'clock.
I want you to draw a clock on a paper. Draw a clock (a circle) on a piece of paper or
notebook. By the way, the word “clock” means wall clock while “watch” means hand
clock.

OK. I want you to draw, from twelve to six, that half circle in one color (for example,
with a red pen or a blue pen or pencil) while the other half, from six to twelve again with
a different color, so that we have the two halves clearly differentiated. Here is a great
diagram that I found at (educa2.madrid.org):

the time in english - educa2.madrid

12 – 6 PAST

So, from twelve to six we say “it is X past”. That is, to tell the time from twelve to six
(and five, and a quarter, and a half, and ten minutes, and twenty, etc.) we use:

It is + amount of time passed + PAST + hour (whatever time it is)

Example: it is twenty past five (it means twenty minutes past five, that is, twenty past
five)

It is ten past twelve (twelve ten, or ten minutes past twelve)

6 – 12 TO

Now things change a little bit. Now there is a small change. Instead of past, we are
going to use the preposition to. If you remember, the preposition to has the connotation
of “towards, for”, as in the phrase I go to school. Well, in this case, we will say the time
left until the next hour.

Examples:

Five to ten (five minutes to ten, that is, five to ten)

Twenty to seven (twenty minutes to seven, twenty to seven)

How to say half past, quarter past, quarter to, etc.

This is very, very easy. If you want to say 30 minutes past, you say “half past.” The
word half means half (remember the two halves you drew?). So…it is half past five (it's
half past five, literally half past five).

More examples:

It is half past ten (half past ten)

It is half past nine (half past nine)

If you want to say 15 minutes past, you say “quarter past/a quarter past”:

Quarter past two / A quarter past two (a quarter past two)

And this is exactly the same for the other half (from six to twelve):

A quarter to six / Quarter to six (a quarter to six)

Quarter to eleven / A quarter to eleven (a quarter to eleven)

The lazy way of telling time

A small detail that many students ask me is if it is possible to tell the time in a simplified
way. Yeah. Just like in the Spanish-speaking world, we can say the time in two ways,
the long way or the way that simply says the two digits: two thirty / two thirty.

That is: half past two / two thirty. It is half past two or it is two thirty. Both are correct
(both are used and accepted).

More examples:

It is six ten (6:10), it is seven forty five (7:45), it is eleven twelve (11:12), it is quarter
past three (3:15)

Prepositions and endnotes

Finally, how to use prepositions to speak about the time. There are two ways to use
prepositions to talk about time. When we talk about specific times, we will use “at”:

My English class is at five

The train leaves at half past two

When we want to use a range, we will use “from….to…”:

My class is from five to six

Finally, two expressions that students ask me about:

12:00 midday/noon (hence why after twelve we say good afternoon) What time is it? It
is midday/noon

24:00 midnight (midnight). What time is it, please? It is midnight

That's it!
And that's all. Now you can speak about the time, you are a master of times! Now you
have everything you need to know about time. Time to practice, it's your turn to
practice and speak with natives, watch series, continue learning, etc.

Remember, if you enjoyed this lesson and want to get a free copy of my ebook “How to
learn to learn English”, click here. You can also subscribe to all episodes and podcasts
to date via iTunes here, using any Apple device.

See you very soon, take care!

Capítulo 18 Basic English Course 18: Routines and free time

What's up guys! Welcome back to the basic English course, class number 18. Today I
want to talk to you about routines and free time, two basic components of any self-
respecting mortal life (free time is cooler, eh?). At the end of this class you will be able
to talk about what you do on weekends, what your daily life is like, etc.

This is a long class full of new expressions to learn. I will write down all the vocabulary
first and then explain how to put it all together later in the podcast.

Ok, let's start to work

Routines and free time – Basic routines in English

Get up – get up

Go to bed – go to sleep

Wake up – wake up

Have breakfast – have breakfast

Have lunch – eat (midday)

Have dinner – have dinner

Start work – start work

Start classes – start your classes

Finish work – finish working

Finish classes – finish classes

Leave home – leave home

Get home – get home

Work – trabajar

Study – study

Sleep – dormir
Live – to live

Free time activities – Free time activities in English

Go out – go out (to party, out, etc.)

Stay in – stay at home

Eat out – eat out

Go for a drink – go for a drink

Go to the cinema – go to the cinema

Go to concerts – go to concerts

Go shopping – go shopping

Phone friends/my family – call friends/my family

Visit friends/my family – visit friends/my family

Have coffee with friends – have coffee with friends

Do sport – to do sport

Watch TV – watch television

Time phrases with on/in/at/every – Prepositions of time

ON

On you have to use it with specific days or particular dates: On Monday, On Tuesdays,
on my birthday, On Sunday mornings

AT

At is used for specific hours or specific times of day: at nine o'clock, at night, at the
weekend, at half past two, at midnight.

IN

If “on” is used for specific days and “at” for specific times, IN is used for indefinite or
unspecified periods of time (months, years, periods of the day, etc.). In the morning, in
the afternoon, in the evening, in 1999, in the week, etc.

Frequency Adverbs – Adverbs of frequency in English

The last thing you need to be able to express routines and free-time activities in
English are adverbs of frequency, to represent how often you do something.

Always – always

Usually – normally, usually

Often – often
Sometimes – a veces

Hardly ever – almost never

Never – never

These adverbs always go between the subject and the verb (I often read), but if the
verb is “to be” they are placed after the verb (She is always happy).

Finally, if the verb is in the negative and requires the typical auxiliary (don't, doesn't),
you place the adverb between the auxiliary and the main verb: I don't often dance. And
if the adverb is “never,” remember the famous rule that in English you can't negate
twice, so a sentence like “never read” would be “I never read,” not “I don't never read.”

Thanks for listening

Now that you have all the vocabulary and expressions you need to talk about routines
and free time, it's time to listen to the podcast with all the explanations, pronunciation,
etc. Listen to it several times if you get lost or need to review, and remember that every
day is 1% of your progress. Your one percent today is more than covered once you
listen to the podcast, well done.

I would like to take this opportunity to let you know that from now on I will start
speaking to you in English when writing. So you will see the explanations in English,
little by little. Little by little I will switch to English. Because you need to get used to
reading in English, and now your level is improving.

Remember, if you want to get a free copy of my ebook “how to learn to learn English”,
click here to download it. And if you want to subscribe to all the classes on an Apple
device (iphone, ipad, etc), click here to see iTunes.

See you next time!

Capítulo 19 Basic English Course 19: Dates in English

Welcome to the basic English course again guys. I hope everything's cool. Today we
have an important class. I want to speak about dates in English. Dates in English. This
class will be short but it is a very fundamental one, because you will use dates every
time you speak, especially in daily conversations.

Let's do it!

How dates work in English – how dates work in English

To talk about dates in English, we use ordinal numerals (that is, those that express
order and not quantity). So we don't say one of December, we say First of December
(el primero de Diciembre, not el Uno de Diciembre). So you need to learn the ordinals
in English. The first three ones are:

1st – the first (note the famous ending “st”, which are actually the last two letters of the
word “first”)
2nd – the second (the second, the same with the ending “nd”, from the word “second”)

3rd – the third (the third, identical reason for writing “rd”)

So the first, the second and the third. Those are the basic numerals. Now, for the
rest…we use the ending “th” (we use the number together with the ending “th”, which is
pronounced /z/, like a zeta sound):

4th – the fourth /force/

5th – the fifth /fifz/ the fifth

6th – the sixth (el sexto)

7th – the seventh (the seventh)

The only exception is 5, it is not “fiveth” but “fifth”. This is the only exception, the rest is
as simple as writing the normal number “six”, and adding the ending “sixth”.

Okay, so far so good. But you are missing a small detail to know. Every time we add
ten from twenty (20, 30, 40, 50, etc.) we have to repeat the basic pattern of the first
three. That is to say:

21st twenty first (the twenty-first, not twenty oneth)

22nd twenty second (the twenty second)

23rd twenty third (the twenty-third)

And again, starting with the number four, we return to using the general rule of adding
“th”:

24th twenty fourth

25th twenty fifth

28th twenty eighth

The same for the number 30:

30th thirtieth

31st thirty first

32nd thirty second

The good news is that months of the year cannot have more than 31 days, so the only
one you have to learn is 31st (for example, New Year's Eve, nochevieja, is on 31st
December).

How to say dates in English – how to say dates in English

There are two ways to say dates in English, two ways to express dates, as well as two
ways to write them. To write them, we can say:
20th November / November 20th

The month can come either before or after the date. When speaking, these two forms
would be said:

The twentieth of November / November the twentieth

Careful! Careful. We write one thing but say something different:

4th February – The fourth of February (that second part is what is said in spoken
English, but never written).

Finally, a small detail about the format. In English from the UK (British English), people
often write:

1.9.07 (day/month/year): 1st September 2007 (it would be said “the first of September
of 2007)

But in American English, people usually write:

1.4.07 (month/day/year): 4th January 2007 (the fourth of January of 2007)

Thanks for listening

That's all guys. Good job, that was a good class. Now you know everything you need to
know about dates in English. Now you have to listen to the podcast, again and again
and again until you remember how to do this. Time to listen to the mp3 and put it into
practice.

Remember, if you enjoyed this lesson and want to get a free copy of my ebook “How to
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See you very soon guys