Well this is my first week with this even though I have studied Spanish for almost 2 years.

It seems very complicated to me and I was wondering if anyone had any tips or patterns that might make learning it all a little easier?

Thanks!

2-years studying a second language is nothing! Total immersion for about that length of time might help somewhat.

Ojala! Si yo tuviera corazon ...

It is difficult for english-speaking people to learn the tenses. Keep on studying!

Subjunctive is not one of the most common tenses in spanish. It is usually used in conditional sentences as english subjunctive. For example:

If I had a job, I could buy a car. (Si tuviera...)
I would have bought a car if I have had money at the time. (Hubiera comprado un coche si hubiera tenido dinero en ese momento).
If I were you I will buy the damned car! (¡Si yo fuera tú compraría el maldito coche!)

You see, easy to use, hard to learn

Fernando

Imajica, great question, and there are no really simple answers either. I learned the basic subjunctive "rules" and through trial and error, or in other words, lots of practice, became proficient(or, somewhat proficient). Do you have any Spanish speaking friends that you could practice with? That is what I would recommend. Or watch Spanish TV,movies and see how often and when they use subjunctive. I am not a teacher,but when I moved went to Spain, I didn't know any Spanish, but when I moved back to the US after two years I was fluent. Force yourself to speak and listen to Spanish. You'll be amazed how at how much you'll learn.

Sorry, fernando, that's incorrect:

"Hubiera comprado un coche si hubiera tenido dinero en ese momento"

The right way would be " Habría comprado un coche si hubiera tenido dinero en ese momento"

You cannot repeat the "-era" form of subjuntive twice, if you need to do it, then the first one changes to "-ía".

Right!

I wonder if someone could translate the following into Spanish for me:

"He ran round the corner and disappeared from view."

Thanks!

Thank you all for your answers.

I have always spoken gramatically correct English just because that is how I was raised, but I was never really taught WHY it was correct. This has added to the challenge of learning Spanish. In the fall, I have my first class taught entirely en español which both excites me and scares the heck out of me too. But I have always enjoyed learning about Spanish culture and the language so it rarely seems like "studying" to learn the language. I enjoy watching movies and TV in Spanish, even though I wish I could learn faster.

As far as the subjunctive goes, it isn't as easy as the nosotros commands, but I'll make it through...

I agree though, that only an extended amount of time there will make me fluent.

Be patient Imajica1975!

Bricamb:
"He ran round the corner and disappeared from view."

"Dobló la esquina corriendo y despareció de la vista."

Fernando

It's only an oppinion but, I think that spaniards tend not to realize how frequently we use the use the subjuctive in Spain.

I think that the use of subjunctive in spain is by far more intensive than in italian and of course than in french.