Paper 2 #1 – La carta a un amigo Common Errors Fall 2014

Señorita’s Shorthand VT-Verb Tense (wrong tense is used) VF-Verb Form (wrong form OR spelling is off) VM-Verb Mood (should be subjunctive) WC- Word Choice G#-Gender/Number Agreement S/E-Ser vs. Estar P/I-Preterit vs. Imperfect P/P-Por vs. Para

Lo is NOT a subject. Lo/La do mean “it”, but are direct object pronouns. They cannot be used as the subject of a sentence. Instead, you just conjugate the verb in the 3 rd person singular form of the verb. The subject is then just implied. ▫Example: Es interesante. = It is interesting. Era muy divertido. = It was very fun. Dice que eres alto. = It says that you are tall.

Lo que = What (noun) If you are trying to say “what” as a noun, you do not use “qué”. Instead you will use “lo que”. Examples: ▫What I liked was… = Lo que me gustaba era… ▫What I wanted…= Lo que yo quería… ▫He is talking about what I said. = Él habla de lo que dije.

To me = A mí | To you = A ti For whatever reason, you cannot use yo or tú after prepositions. So, instead of using the subject pronouns, there are prepositional pronouns for these two people. The prepositional pronouns are mí and ti. Examples: ▫Esto es para mí. ▫A ti, te gusta correr. ▫No sales la fiesta sin mí. ▫El hombre es el padre de ti. When following the preposition “con” (with), these prepositional pronouns, combine with con. Con mi = conmigo Con ti = contigo

Adverbs vs. Adjectives The following adverbs and adjectives are frequently confused on your papers: ▫Mucho (adjective)vs. Muy (adverb) a lotvery ▫Bueno (adjective) vs. Bien (adverb) goodwell *Note* Both of the adjectives end in –o making them easy to change to match the noun they modify in number and gender!

When do we use infinitives? After a conjugated verb: ▫Me gusta nadar. ▫Quería navegar en velero. After a preposition: ▫Yo cociné para comer. ▫Después de salir la escuela, fui al mercado. Other situations ▫As a noun: (El) Comer es bueno para la salud. ▫As a command: No fumar. ▫After “al” = “upon ” Ex: Al entrar = Upon entering

SER vs. ESTAR SERESTAR Characteristics Origin/Occupation Relationships Numbers/Nationality *(location of events)* If you are describing someone or something more in depth than a situational condition, use SER. Health Emotion Location Present Progressive estar + gerund (-ando, -iendo) If you are describing someone or something in the moment, use ESTAR.

Miscellaneous Water is “el agua”; however, when you describe it, you use feminine adjectives. ▫Example: el agua fría “Tener buen tiempo” does NOT mean “to have a good time”. USE “divertirse” or “pasarlo bien” nos = us, NOT we or our. It is an object pronoun ONLY. ▫Nosotros = we ▫Nuestro(a)s = our Tiempo = weather (rarely time: pasar tiempo…) vez = time (#/repeated) la hora = time (of event)

La carta – el formato Don’t forget la fecha!! Don’t be afraid to use paragraphs! Keep it either formal or informal. Don’t mix it up.