Learning with others is often more fun — and you can do it online in our forum. Here are some interesting topics that have been active in the past few days:

• Using a and para with destinations
• Can ocupar mean the same as necesitar?
• Where can I find books in Spanish?
• Does tal vez always signal that the subjunctive mood is following?
• What do you call a waiter? What's the color purple?

Our forum is a great place to have your questions answered, or to explain the language to someone else.

From the mailbox, a question about the example of

No quiero ningún libro.
I don't want any books.

from the lesson on indefinite adjectives:

In the 1st line, should "libro" be plural to agree with the translation "books" on the 2nd line?

This is one of those cases where the numbers don't really match up in Spanish and English. Probably what's best to remember here is that ninguno (as well as the feminine form, ninguna) is almost always used in the singular form. Read More...

If you haven't made your resolutions for the new year yet, here's a suggestion: Subscribe to our free Word of the Day via email and learn a new word each day. We have more than a year's worth, and many students have reported that it's a good way to learn a little bit each day. And if you already know the word, you can learn others through the sample sentences and translations we provide. If you find the words too difficult, or if you're just getting started learning Spanish, try out our email series for beginners, which includes full pronunciation guides as well as simpler sample sentences.

If you're like many English speakers, sometime tonight or in the first hours of 2010 2011 you'll either sing or hear the classic New Year's song Auld Lang Syne. If you don't know the words — and hardly anybody does — you might want to try singing the Spanish version, known as Adiós Scout. It's not quite the same song — it is traditionally sung around campfires rather than on New Year's Eve — but it's sung to the same tune and has become popular in youth scouting groups throughout the Spanish-speaking world. One more thing: It's probably easier to pronounce than the Scottish of the original.

From the mailbox (links added):

Could you possibly give me some idea about where and how to go about learning the verbs ser and estar? I believe that this is the reason I did not pass my class. I am really having a problem with the verb "to be." I got discouraged and stopped going to class and I received a F for a final grade but I am attempting to take the course again for spring 2011. I think that I should mention also that I am returning to school after some time (20 years). I have always wanted to learn Spanish and it really does seems like a foreign language to me :). I also read your article on these verbs and I am still confused.

Welcome to the club! You aren't the first Spanish student to be confused about ser and estar, and you won't be the last. But rest assured that as you learn the language, and especially once you can start thinking in Spanish, the differences between the two verbs will become intuitive.

I decided to answer your question here in the blog because I hope that others learning Spanish can share their insights. What works for me in understanding the two verbs may not work for you — but what works for someone else might.

The first thing I would suggest is to try to not think of ser and estar as translations for "to be" — instead, try to think about what they mean and/or how they function in a sentence.

That said, ser generally is used to indicate the essence, the inherent nature of what someone or something is. Read More...

From the mailbox:

The word fresa is understood in Argentina, but the word frutilla is the preferred one for strawberry. I wonder if there are other variants in other countries. Also, I have seen both aceituna and oliva — the latter may reflect a large population descended from Italian immigrants.

Regional variations aren't uncommon at all when it comes to names for fruits and vegetables. Sometimes as populations of Spanish speakers became separated from each other their word usages changed, and in some other cases Spanish arrivals in the Americas adopted indigenous words that varied from area to area.