Can anyone recommend anywhere where I can learn about word order rules in Spanish?
A few sentences are coming up in Lessons 10 and 11 where the position of usted changes and I’m not sure what is causing it.
Books are OK but preferably websites/forums (free!) Thanks
Well, since you are already here, on a free forum, and on the one operated by the people who wrote the course, wouldn’t it be a sensible first step to tell us what these sentences are, and maybe we can figure out what’s going on?
That said, shifting word order is sometimes done for emphasis, and sometimes it’s just that multiple options are equally valid.
Sometimes it changes position due to it being a question, rather than a statement, e.g. usted va a lavar los platos - you’re going to wash the plates
¿va usted a lavar los platos? - are you going to wash the plates?
Could it be that?
@Hendrik and @Deborah-SSi
I have the sentences written down, but I haven’t had time to listen to the lessons again to find the timestamps. If I do, I will post them here.
I am more looking for a forum that’s more geared towards people who don’t have a background in languages or grammar ideally.
No, the word order changing for questions is fine, it seems to be something else where the subject changes positions with the verb
Actually, in the interest of the SSi method, I’m not going to go back and replay (sorry!).
Here are the sentences I’m confused about. Sorry if it’s obvious- I don’t seem to catch onto new grammar without it being explained beforehand which I find frustrating. I think it’d be easier if I could get past that hurdle.
Lesson 11
Position of usted:
Pero a él le gustaría saber que quiere usted
But…
Él está tratando de recordar lo que usted quiere
Lesson 10
Position of usted:
Lo ha aprendido usted muy bien
But…
Pienso que usted ha aprendido español muy bien
What is it that causes the different position of usted here?
I’ll just leave it at those two for now. I have a lot of other questions but I’m trying to continue and work them out myself.
Sorry again if the answers are obvious! It feels like I’m complaining again, but I KNOW SSi is a really good method and I really want to stick at it, but something in my approach isn’t working. I definitely seem to be slower than other learners and getting tangled up by new grammar being introduced suddenly, which if I’m correct, we’re supposed to just listen to, make a mental note of and continue without worrying about getting it wrong?
Thanks anyway, and feel free to ignore if it doesn’t make sense
Here, the first example is an embedded question - ¿qué quiere usted? - so it has the question order.
The second is a statement - lo que usted quiere - “the thing that you want” - no question.
With the first example here you have a choice - you could say Usted lo ha aprendido muy bien which has the same meaning. In this case, the position of usted is more just one of style. The way it’s written gives a feeling of a little more courtesy somehow, but I can’t really explain how.
In the second example, it’s because it follows pienso que - I don’t know if there’s a grammatical reason, but it sounds right there.
OK, thank you. How would you tell what is an embedded question? Would it be to do with qué?
Also, is que written with an accent mark when it is a question rather than a connective (not sure if that’s the correct word)?
Can I also ask, is there a rule about when you can and cannot drop pronouns?
I know the recordings so far always drop yo but very rarely drop usted.
Off the top of my head, in the following sentence, I dropped usted but the correct answer included it, but it didn’t seem as if you was emphasised:
No estoy seguro lo que [usted] dijo
Well, you can drop all pronouns like yo, tú, él and so on. But usted is a bit of an exception, as that is not per se a pronoun. Historically, it has evolved from Vuestra Merced = “Your Mercy”, so it usually isn’t dropped.
Yes, usually when que is a question and not just a joining word, then it has the accent qué
Sometimes it can be a bit tricky to tell when something is an embedded question, but if you can extract it and it’s still a question, that’s a start - ¿Qué quiere usted? - “what do you want?” whereas lo que usted quiere - “that which / what you want” - not a question. The person already knows what “you” want, but is trying to remember it.
OK, thanks both @Hendrik and @Deborah-SSi for your help.
Just to double-check, as I’m going into learning Spanish ‘blind’ without knowing any grammar (unlike with Welsh) should I just do the lessons and trust that I will eventually figure out the how and why of new grammar structures?