So many people have a Spanish blockage.
They know words. They know verbs. They know grammar, but they can’t put it together into anything useful.
One of the ingredients to unblocking your Spanish is the Sideways Approach to Spanish verbs that I showed you a few days ago.
There’s a second big ingredient to making your Spanish come together. It’s easy to miss because nobody talks about it.
Yet, without it you won’t be able to hold a decent conversation.
Without it your Spanish sounds like you should be swinging through the jungle.
Me Marcus. You Elena.
When you add it, your Spanish flows together smoothly in real and fluid sentences.
The funny thing is that many people have the parts but they don’t know how to use them. This ingredient puts all the parts together.
It’s a multiplier. It allows you to take a little bit of Spanish and say a lot.
It’s in the Sideways Spanish audio. In fact it’s on every audio I create.
If you think you know the Second Spanish Secret Sauce, go to the blog post below and leave a comment.
What’s the Second Spanish Secret Sauce?
Let’s have some fun.
If you are the first person to post the right answer as a comment, I’ll send you a free copy of Synergy Spanish.
The second spanish secret might be perfect pronunction.
u keep talking about brick verbs, and u use “brick” as a descriptive term, so along that line of thinking, would it mortar words?
Hello,
Is the secret sauce “conjunctions”? I think it’s those words like “but, and, by, for, all the days,” and so on.
Word order
Marcus – Is the answer “Mortar Words” Francis
Hola Francis
Yes, it is Mortar words but we already have a winner.
Saludos
Marcus
Hi Marcus,the second Spanish secret sauce : mortar,the blocks that hold the words together.
We turn it sideways…when speaking about what I am doing just remove the yo and then add the O,eg….I speak becomes “Hablo”,como,vivo,canto,salgo..and so on..I have noticed doing this makes it a lot easier for the words and sentences to just flow out.
ITS MNEMONICS!!!
Turn the verb sideways..eg..u turn the word like tener..which means to have…to tengo meaning I have..
The second secret sauce is the verb to be or ser and its conjugations. =)
I believe it is learning Spanish phrases as opposed to learning soley individual words. The phrases should be those that have a pattern that can be used with a variety of nouns, verbs and different situations. Phrases such as “me gerente me los dijeron” which can be changed to fit a variety of situations.
This is just a guess.
I have enjoyed reading all the aforementioned blogs and I am envious of how well everyone is improving in their Spanish knowledge thanks to Marcus.. I so wish I could afford the Synergy Spanish course but I cannot so I continue to educate myself with the abundance of books I have. I know a good deal of the basics of Spanish but cannot practise it with any Spanish speaking people. Even the classes in my town are too expensive so I shall just have to rely on my holiday time in Spain and speak as much as I can to the locals. Hopefully I shall be able to save up after I come back from Spain in March and I can then send off for Marcus’s Spanish course. Bien Hecho Marcus y gracias para su Emails. —– Mavis, Lancashire, England.
Second Spanish Secret Sauce: Turn the verb chart sideways focus on one pattern and speak more Spanish.
Pensar solamente en espanol y hablar sin miedo.Si no sabe una palabra preguntarle ?Como se dice eso en espanol? Esta como un partido de tenis. Well thats my theory. Many thanks Marcus
Both I and my amigo are patiently, slowly, but surely working on your suggestions and putting our Spanish to practice when we go vacationing in the Dominican Republic every year. Your help is great!! Mucho gracis
I believe the secret sauce is to put 2 or 3 words together that say a lot. eg. no hablar ingles or tengo buenos diaz or no en su casa
Marcus, I think that part of the blockage comes about because I’m not going to Spain on my vacation, I’m not going to work for a month in Mexico,” etc. etc. Actually I have to go to the bank, to the gym, to the post office, to the library, to the pet shop, and dinner most usually comes from my microwave, and not a hotel…
My Spanish friends travel a lot, but most Americans live more mundane lives… So what are the most important words in American??
Mary
be willing to make mistakes but keep speaking anw way
The Second Secret Sauce can’t be repetition of one idea at a time although that can be useful at times. But my Spanish teacher made us repeat verb conjugations for the 14 different verb cases over and over. We became experts at conjugations but could not speak in complete sentences or understand much spoken Spanish.
Persistence is important but it can’t be the Secret Sauce. Persistence, doing over and over what has not been successful in the past, is one definition of insanity. Persistently studying verb conjugation charts almost drove me nuts but it did not hlep me learn to speak Spanish.
It is great to know lots of colocations. All languages have these strange combinations of a few words that end up meaning something completely different from the words themselves. Thanks Marcus for your list sent to me by one of your readers. They sure help but they do not make a person fluent in the language. They are very useful after one has mastered the other more important Secret Sacuces of Learning Language.
Hanging out with Native Spanish Speakers, after you have learned the basics, is not only helpful, it is very enjoyable. But it can be terribly frustrating if they talk to fast for you, or use a vocabulary far greater than what you have learned. What you need is a Native Spanish Speaker who is willing to slow down, use a limited vocabulary, and model the language patterns for you that he or she uses to generate fluent conversation.
When you learn a fesw of the basic PATTERNS that Spanish speakers used to generate fluent sentences in conversations, then every new Spanish word you come across can be fit into these patterns to create new conversational Spanish.
I would have to agree with a couple of the earlier responders. Learning to notice PATTERNS is the Second Secret Sacuee. Sideways Spanish is just looking at the patterns of the first person singular of verbs: Como, vivo, hablo, espero,… and even irregular verbs as Marcus pointed out in Sideways Spanish Lesson 2: Digo, tengo, salgo, pongo, hago, caigo,….. and even the more irregulars soy, estoy, voy.
In all of these great free lessons Marcus has been sharing with his regular readers, he shows how to take a few Spanish verbs in the first person singular, along with what he calls brick verbs, and the mortor, prepositions, along with one’s growing vocabulary of nouns, and with as few, he claims, as 138 words, generate thousand of conversational sentences. The key, the Secrect Sauce here, is to learn the PATTERNS that combine these ingredients to generate
thousands of conversational sentences from a small number of words.
Once a PATTERN is learned, such as “Quiero aprender Espanol,” then persistence, repetition, colocations, new additional vocabulary, and sympathetic native speakers, can be of vital assistance in making that pattern part of your communication skills. Without those patterns, the other efforts will drive you nuts and convince you that you will never be able to learn to speak a foreign language.
This should be a blog post. It’s full of great points. Patterns could be a secret sauce but not the one I am getting at here.
Connectors are missing
But and so …
The Second Spanish Secret Sauce is tone inflection when speaking. Ex. Por que or porque. Depends on how you say it.
It could be Power Verbs such as:
I am going to – voy a
puede – you can
Quiero – I want
Try thinking in Spanish, as you go through your day.
This will also give you a good idea as to what words you use in your vocabulary, and are the most important to you — rather than memorizing brick verbs and mortar words that are unnecessary to you at this point..
verbs
The secret sauce is to add a ” brick” verb to the sideways verb that you already learned. Ejemplo: Quiero comprar un coche nuevo. Quiero is sideways verb and comprar is brick verb that doesn’t have to be conjugated.
That is a good pattern but not all sideways verbs fit with brick verbs.
The secret is to pay you for the course!!
Persistant.
The second secret sauce is PATTERNS.
Once you learn a sideways verb such as QUERERn you can then use brick verbs such as COMER, HABLAR, VIVIR, and IR along with the mortor words, the glue than ties everything together, such as NO, CON, POR, PERO, and nouns such as LA CENA, HIJO, ESPOSA, ESPANA, to build an endless number of useful sentences using PATTERNS.
For example, Using QUIERO, a brick verb, and the negation NO we can repeat the pattern below to says thousands of different things:
Quiero comer la cena ahora.
No quiero comer los dulces.
Quiero comer la cena con mis amigos.
No quiero comer la cena en un restaurante.
Quiero vivier in Mexico.
No Quiero vivir in Espana,
Quiero vivier in Mexico este ano, pero en Espana en el proximo ano.
There is no stopping when you use PATTERNS.
You are on the right track
PronounceiationAnd fluidity.
Second Spanish Secret Sauce: Use multipliers such as brick verbs to create patterns/sentences with each Sideways Spanish Verb you have learned to use.
Examples: Once you learn the sideway QUIERO, first person singular sideways verbs, then follow them with brick verbs to form sentences with the same pattern.
Quiero comer ahora. = I want to eat now.
Quiero hablar in espanol. = I want to speak in Spanish.
Quiero visitar en su casa.
Quiero viajar a Espana., hablar en espanol,y regresar a mi casa en dos semanas.
You are o the right track. However, while all Synergy verbs fit with brick verbs, not all sideways verbs do.
find a native speaker who is willing to talk with you to allow you to use the language in a real conversation, but you must be willing to allow him/her to correct you when you make mistakes. While in Mexico for three months each winter I get a chance to converse with our housekeeper twice a week for 30min. at a time and i know it helps me a great deal. I than feel more confident to try to speak to other locals, although I am still quite reluctant and afraid of making errors. I don’t want to offend someone with the wrong words. I am getting better but it is a slow process.
Good to have someone to talk to. As long as they aren’t too pedantic about small errors. I made big progress when I found amigos who where good at conversation and could make me understand.
Marcus,
Is the second ingredient the multiplier..
Thanks
mary Lou
It is a multiplier
Hi Marcus,
Is the second ingredient motivation..I know that is an important part of learning.
Hope I hear back from you.
Thanks Marcus
You definitely have to have motivation. However, I remember being super motivated, getting up an hour early every day to study and then feeling dejected at my slow progress. Yo also have to practice what works.
La repuesta es Bola de nieve.
Necessito una amiga a practicar con siempre dia. Maybe a good example of knowing words, but not putting them together well.
On the right track
Marcus, I believe the 2nd secret sauce is using pronouns like lo, le, te, ti, ya
Susie
I think verbs (in the correct form) are the secret sauce.
Learning to think in Spanish like native speakers rather than just memorizing grammar and vocabulary.
Hi Marcus
I believe the secret is practice and repetition. The more you practice what is thought the more it becomes a reality. Speak it daily and the fear will go away,
Aldith
Repetition is important. Even better if the repetition makes small twists and changes so you are challenged and not bored,
Dear Marcus
I think the sauce is the joining words that link sentences such as and, bu,t to, with and why.
Cheers Robert.
slur your words, cutf of the endings of your words, and speak very rapidly
Spanish is my third language. I learned German the hard way in school, one word at a time. The reason I have settled into your approach to learning Spanish is that you stress learning the patterns of phrasing, thereby you build a framework of common language rhythms into your memory so that when your conscious mind searches to communicate its next thought, that pattern framework is there to guide you.
Good point but not what I am getting at.
I think that it is conjunctions. These are the words that can join nouns,phrases or clauses together. also known as connectives.
partly true but that’s it.
Colloquations?
I think it is the Spanish word ‘QUE’
Maybe it`s auxiliary verbs.
The second secret spanish sauce is Elana…….
No, that’s the third one.
I think you have to learn to walk before you can run.
Like a language, you must learn to speak, before you can sing.
Your method, from what I have seen, does both, it is fluid and ties everything together, just like learning the language from your parents. You can converse with them before attending a formal school. I am 74 years of age and have learned to speak the language from what you have offered free on the internet. If I can do that, think what I could have done, using the whole course. I did order the 30 lesson session and have been amazed at the speed at which, I have been able to converse with Spanish speaking people here in Ocala, Fl. The side way approach is for me, no more long list of verbs to use.
Thanks for helping and sharing your method of teaching.
Bob Bell
Ocala, Fl
Hi Bob
Great to hear you are going well. Walk before you can run is good advice, but not what i am after.
I guess it could be “Nexos” – links.
Sin embargo, asimiso, pero, por tanto etc etc.
It is to say something with a Spanish accent added to it !