Studying a language

There are three auxiliary verbs in the English language: “to be”, “to have” and “to do”. They are used in two different ways:

• As lexical verbs.
• As auxiliary verbs.

As a lexical verb, “to be” has the meaning of ser or estar, as in the following examples:

• I am a student (Cat: Jo sóc estudiant)
• He is at home (Cat: Ell és a casa)
• They are lost (Cat: Ells estan perduts)

As a lexical verb, “to have” means “tenir”. In this case, it usually goes with the particle “got”. For example:

• I have got a brother (Cat: Jo tinc un germà)
• A computer has got many advantages (Cat: Un ordinador té molts avantatges)

As a lexical verb, “to do” means “fer”, as in these examples:

• I do the shopping (Cat: Jo faig la compra)
• He does exercise everyday (Cat: Ell fa exercici cada dia)
• What are you doing? (Cat: Què estàs fent?)

As an auxiliary verb, “to be” is used to form the following verb tenses:

1. The continuous tenses:
   • They are surfing the net. (present continuous) (Cat: Ells estan navegant per internet)
   • He was watching a film on TV. (past continuous) (Cat: Ell estava mirant una pel·lícula per la tele)
2. The passive voice:
   • The internet is composed of thousands of networks. (Cat: Internet està compost per milers de xarxes)
   • The house was destroyed by the fire. (Cat: La casa va ser destruïda pel foc)

As an auxiliary verb, “to have” is used to form the following tenses:

1. The perfect tenses:
   • I have bought a new scanner. (present perfect) (Cat: He comprat un escàner nou)
   • He had arrived when I called. (past perfect) (Cat: Havia arribat quan jo vaig trucar)

The auxiliary verb “to do” has no translation into Catalan or Spanish. It is used in these cases:

1. To form the negative of the lexical verbs:
   • Peter doesn’t live with his parents (Cat: Peter no viu amb els seus pares)
   • I don’t speak Greek (Cat: No parlo grec)
2. To form the interrogative of the lexical verbs:
   • Does James work in a bank? (Cat: Treballa James en un banc?)
   • Where do you live? (Cat: On vius?)

As the verb “to be” is so basic and is used so often, it is very important to learn its conjugation.

In English, the verbs normally have two different forms for the present and only one for the past, but the verb “to be” is an exception because it has three forms in the present and two in the past.

The table below shows the conjugation of the verb “to be” in the present tense.

Notice the three different forms of the verb to be in the present tense: am, is, are. Notice also that the negative is formed by adding the negative particle “not” to the verb form. On the other hand, in the interrogative form the normal order of subject (S) + verb (V) is reversed (V + S).

The following table shows the different forms of the verb “to be” in the past tense.

As you can see in the table, the verb “to be” has only two different forms in the past tense: was, were. The affirmative has not got a short form in the past.

Apart from being used as a lexical and an auxiliary verb, “to be” is also used in the expression “there is / there are”. The sentences with “there is / there are” express the notion of existence and translate the meaning of the Catalan impersonal verb haver and the Spanish haber. In English, there are two forms: one is used with a singular noun (there is) and the other one is used with plural nouns (there are). In Catalan and Spanish, however, there is only one form: Cat: hi ha, Sp: hay.

In the table below, you can see the conjugation of “there is / there are” in the present tense.

The following table shows the conjugation of this form in the past tense.

It is important to consider that in most cases the word “there” is considered as the subject of the sentence, but the verb does not agree with “there”, but with the noun that follows.

Here are some examples of the use of this verb:

• There is a new operating system in the market. (Cat: Hi ha un nou sistema operatiu al mercat)
• There are many web pages about dogs. (Cat: Hi ha moltes pàgines web sobre gossos)
• There was a problem with the program. (Cat: Hi va haver un problema amb el programa)
• There were many people at the convention. (Cat: Hi havia molta gent a la convenció)

“To have” is another basic verb and it is very important that you learn its conjugation. Remember that it is both used as a lexical verb (with the meaning of tenir) and as an auxiliary verb (with the meaning of haver).

In the following table, you can see the conjugation of the verb in the present tense.

In the present tense, this verb has only got two different forms (“have” and “has”).

In the following table, you can see the forms of this verb in the past tense.

In the past tense, there is only one form (“had”).

The particle “got” is not common in the affirmative form of the past, but it is normally used in the negative and the interrogative forms.

The auxiliary verb “to do” is very important because it is used to form the negative and interrogative forms of the present simple and the past simple tenses.

The table below shows the conjugation of the verb “to do” in the present simple tense.

Notice that the 3rd person singular takes the form “does”.

The following table shows the forms of the verb “to do” in the past simple tense.

When “to do” is conjugated as a lexical verb, it follows the same rules as all the other verbs. For this reason, in the negative and interrogative forms, we can find the verb “to do” in its auxiliary sense and in its lexical sense within the same sentence. For example:

• I don’t do the shopping (Cat: Jo no faig la compra)
• Do you do any exercise? (Cat: Fas exercici?)
• What does Mary do? (Cat: Què fa Mary?)

We have seen how to ask a question with the auxiliary verbs. When you answer a yes/no question which contains an auxiliary verb, you must include the personal pronoun and the auxiliary verb in your answer. This is called “a short answer” because all you say is “yes” or “no”, but in English it is necessary to add the subject and the auxiliary verb. Remember that the verb has to agree with the subject (the personal pronoun).

Here are some examples:

• Is this a plotter? - Yes, it is.
• Were you at home? - No, I wasn’t.
• Has Mike got a brother? - Yes, he has.
• Was Jenny with you? - No, she wasn’t.
• Do you speak English? - Yes, I do.
• Does he like beer? - Yes, he does.

In the case of questions with “there is / there are”, you must always use the subject “there” instead of a personal pronoun. Examples: - Is there a printer here? - Yes, there is. - Are there any people? - No, there aren’t.

Nouns are very important words in a language. They denote a person, a place or a thing. Student, Mike, book, dog, water, lesson, London, love, importance and sensation are all examples of nouns. To use the English nouns appropriately, we should consider some aspects such as number, type of noun, the expression of the possessive or the gender. On the other hand, the study of a certain type of nouns called “false friends” will help you understand the correct meaning of some words and use them correctly.

English nouns have number (singular and plural) and gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), but, unlike Spanish, gender is not important because it is not marked by any external elements and it only affects grammar in the use of personal pronouns. However, the distinction between countable and uncountable nouns is important in English. It is also important to learn the possessive form of the nouns because it is very different from the way it is in Spanish or Catalan.

The plural of most nouns in English is formed by adding -s to the singular, just as in Spanish. For example: printer > printers. But there are some special cases:

• Nouns ending in consonant + y form the plural with -ies: ferry > ferries, baby > babies, party > parties, etc.
• Nouns ending in -sh, -ch, -s, -x or -z form the plural with -es: bus > buses, box > boxes, crash > crashes, boss > bosses, etc.
• A few nouns ending in -o have plurals in -oes: echo > echoes, potato > potatoes, tomato > tomatoes, tornado > tornadoes, volcano > volcanoes, but most nouns in -o have plurals in -s: radio > radios, kilo > kilos, piano > pianos, photo > photos, etc.
• Some nouns ending in -fe or -f form the plural with -ves: knife > knives, life > lives, shelf > shelves, half > halves, etc.

There are also some irregular plurals that do not follow the rule of adding an -s to the singular. Some examples are: child > children, man > men, woman > women, mouse > mice, foot > feet, person > people, etc.

Some other words have the same form in singular and plural, as for example: Japanese > Japanese (and all the nationality nouns ending in -ese), sheep > sheep, fish > fish, series > series, headquarters > headquarters, etc.

We should also consider the difference between “countable” and “uncountable” nouns. The difference is important because sometimes the grammar rules are affected by the type of noun.

Countable nouns are those which refer to names of objects, people, ideas, etc, which can be separated into units and counted. Examples of countable nouns are: book, student, year, country, hour, friend, computer, etc. You can express these nouns in plural.

Uncountable nouns are those which refer to names of materials, liquids, abstract qualities and other things that we see as masses, and not as separate objects. Some examples of uncountable nouns are: paper, water, friendship, money, love, hardware, etc. These nouns have no plural form.

In general, it is quite easy to distinguish between countable and uncountable nouns, but sometimes the difference is not so clear. Compare: work (uncountable) and a job (countable); travel (uncountable) and a journey or a trip (countable); glass (uncountable) and a glass (countable). To know exactly if a noun is countable or uncountable, you must check a good dictionary.

You can change an uncountable noun into a countable noun by adding certain expressions: advice (Cat: consell) > a piece of advice (Cat: un consell); news (Cat: notícies) > a piece of news (Cat: una notícia); bread (Cat: pa) > a loaf of bread (Cat: un pa); water (Cat: aigua) > a glass/a bottle of water (Cat: un got/ampolla d’aigua), etc.

The English language has a peculiar way of expressing possession with a noun. It is called “Saxon Genitive” and it is formed by adding ‘s to the noun. This system is only used with nouns denoting people and in certain time expressions. Examples:

• Mike’s job (Cat: la feina del Mike)
• My friend’s office (Cat: el despatx del meu amic)
• Mr Smith’s speech (Cat: la xerrada del Sr. Smith)
• My sister’s car (Cat: el cotxe de la meva germana)
• The people’s opinion (Cat: l’opinió de la gent)
• Yesterday’s weather (Cat: el temps d’ahir)
• Last night’s accident (Cat: l’accident d’ahir a la nit)

In plurals ending in -s, there is only an apostrophe ('). Examples:

• My friends’ office (Cat: el despatx dels meus amics)
• In two days’ time (Cat: d’aquí a dos dies)
• My sisters’ car (Cat: el cotxe de les meves germanes)

As you can see, the name of the possessor with the ‘s comes in front of the noun which is possessed.

When the possession refers to a noun which does not denote people, we must express possession with the preposition “of” (Cat: de), just as we do in Spanish or Catalan. Examples:

• The streets of London (Cat: els carrers de Londres)
• The name of the street (Cat: el nom del carrer)
• The eyes of the tiger (Cat: els ulls del tigre)

The gender of an English noun is determined by the sex of the person or animal to which it refers: man is masculine and woman is feminine, bull is masculine and cow is feminine, Robert is masculine and Lisa is feminine, etc.

There is no problem with the grammatical gender: people are he or she and things and animals are it.

Some jobs and positions have different nouns for men and women. Examples: actor (Cat: actor) > actress (actriu), groom (Cat: nuvi) > bride (Cat: núvia), waiter (Cat: cambrer) > waitress (Cat: cambrera), policeman (Cat: policia) > policewoman (Cat: dona policia), etc.

Some words ending in -man (for example: fireman, chairman, etc.) do not have a feminine equivalent, but in many cases the ending -person is now being used (fireperson, chairperson, etc)

However, most of the names of jobs and positions have the same form for men and women. For example: teacher, student, doctor, engineer, president, director, etc.

Learning a language means the gradual acquisition of four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Depending on the student’s objectives, some skills will be more important than the others, but the knowledge of a language requires a minimum mastery of the four skills. The only way of acquiring such mastery is through constant practice. It is obvious that the more you practice, the more you will learn how to read, write, understand and speak in English. However, to get practice on the four skills, you will need to learn the vocabulary of the language and the grammar rules that organise the sentences and give them sense. Grammar and vocabulary are the two basis on which a language stands. In classroom learning, but most specially in distance learning, the only way of acquiring the vocabulary and the grammar is by studying and memorising the words and the rules. Once you have a basic knowledge of the vocabulary and the grammar, you can gradually improve such knowledge through the practice of the four skills, especially reading.

We assume that you have already acquired the basic knowledge required to start the practice of the four skills. In any case, the use of reference material, such as dictionaries and grammar books will help you review your knowledge. Now we are going to explain an aspect of vocabulary which sometimes may bring confusion and generate mistakes. We are going to speak about the “false friends”.

Learning the English vocabulary may seem difficult at first, but in fact it is not so. Many words, especially those in the fields of science and technology, have a Greek or Latin origin and, therefore, they are easily recognisable for a Spanish or a Catalan speaker. You probably do not need a dictionary to understand the meaning of words like “information”, “university”, “computer”, “reality”, “family”, “television”, “history”, and many others.

However, we should be careful with such similarities, as not all the English words that look like the Catalan or Spanish words have the same meaning. These types of words are called “false friends” because they seem to have one meaning but they actually have another. They are apparently friendly, but in fact they are treacherous. There are not many false friends in English, but some of them are very frequently used and for this reason it is important to remember their meanings.

The table below shows a list of some frequently used false friends.

So be careful whenever you have to use any of these words or other false friends because they may lead to confusion. It is not necessary to learn them by heart, as you will learn them as you use them in their context, but you should be conscious of them and look them up in the dictionary if you have any doubts.

One of the most important tools for the learner of a foreign language is the dictionary. A dictionary is mostly used to look up the meaning of a word, but if you know how to use it, it can help you in many other aspects, like the spelling or the pronunciation. Therefore, it is very important that you use a good bilingual dictionary to help you in your studies. Online dictionaries are also a good option, as they offer a lot of information about different aspects of the language. One of the most interesting features of online dictionaries is the possibility of listening to the pronunciation of a word. So it is highly recommended that you locate some dictionaries in the web. Keep them in your bookmark list and use them whenever you are working online.

A popular tool among the learners of a foreign language is the translator, a program that translates a text from one language into another language of your choice. Nowadays, translators are quite accurate and very appropriate to understand the general meaning of a text, but we should bear in mind that the translation is done automatically by a machine, which means that the program does not usually distinguish the context or the different meanings of a word. Therefore, a translator is not the most appropriate tool to make an accurate translation or to write a good text in English. Finally, translators may save a lot of time to students, but they also prevent them from making the necessary effort to learn a language.

Apart from dictionaries and translators, there are other resources that students can use when learning a foreign language. A grammar book, for example, is specially useful for the self-study of a language, as it may help students to complete the grammar points in the curriculum. Many grammar books also include practice exercises, so students can get some extra practice when needed. English textbooks, which are the ones normally used at schools, offer a great variety of activities to practice the four skills. And, of course, the Internet offers thousands and thousands of websites where you can study and practice the English language. The greatest advantage of the internet resources is that you can practice the oral skills (mostly listening), which you cannot do when using resources in paper format. Speaking is perhaps the skill which is the most difficult to practice without the help of a person who listens and talks to you.

As a student of the English language, then, you are encouraged to use the great variety of learning resources that are available in the market and on the Internet.

The dictionary is probably the handiest tool for the student of English who wants to look up the meaning of a word, but a dictionary usually contains so much information that it is often hard to find the correct meaning. We are going to learn how to interpret the information contained in a dictionary entry.

From Collins Pocket Plus Inglés

For example, let’s imagine that we need to find the meaning of the expression “start your car”. If we look it up in the dictionary, we can see that there are many different meanings for the word “start”. The figure above shows the dictionary entry for the word “start”:

It is necessary to find the correct meaning of “start”. For this, we should learn to interpret the conventional elements that appear in the entry. To begin with, it is important to consider which part of speech the word belongs to. Is it a verb? Is it a noun? Or is it an adjective? The context usually gives us the answer. In our example, “start your car”, the word “start” is obviously a verb, as it is followed by a noun, “your car”, which is the direct object.

Now we should notice the abbreviations that appear in the entry: n (nombre),vt (verbo transitivo), vi (verbo intransitivo). If “start” is a verb and has a direct object, it means that it is a transitive verb, so we must concentrate only on the definitions under the abbreviation vt. (empezar, comenzar, etc), and disregard all the others.

However, we can see that there are different meanings of “start” as a transitive verb. Again, we have to find which is the correct one. To help you, look at the words that appear in brackets: these words tell you the context in which the word appears with that specific meaning and sometimes they also give a synonym. Now read those words one by one carefully, and notice that there is an annotation that says: (car, engine). This means that “start” has the meaning indicated only when it refers to cars and engines. Remember that the direct object of the verb is “your car”. Therefore, the meaning that we are looking for is “arrancar, poner en marcha”. It makes sense: “start your car” means “poner el coche en marcha”, “arrancar el coche”.

Now introduce that same expression in a translator. The result is: “inicie su coche”. In Catalan, it is much worse: “inicieu seu cotxe”. Although the idea is not difficult to understand, the automatic translation is not accurate enough and sometimes it may result in mistakes. A good dictionary, however, even a pocket one, gives a lot of information to find the correct meaning in a specific context.

Our example refers to the translation into your own language, but a bilingual dictionary is also useful to translate from our language into English. We normally do so when we have to write a text in English. However, the process to find the correct translation is exactly the same.

At the early stages in the learning of a language, we translate all the time from our own mother tongue into the target language. When we read a text in English, we mentally translate it into our own language in order to understand it. When we write a text, first we think what we want to say in our language and then translate it into English. When we try to speak, first we think in Catalan or Spanish and then translate our thoughts into English. This is the normal process when you study the language outside an English speaking context. As you advance in the study of the language, you “learn” to think in English and then you do not need to translate, as the thoughts come naturally in the target language.

But apart from the personal use of translation that we may make in our learning process, we should also learn how to make a good translation of written texts. Considering that the greatest part of professional documents, manuals and correspondence is in English, it is important to learn how to translate a text for the benefit of others. In this section we are going to explain how to translate a technical text from English into Catalan and give some useful ideas that you should take into consideration.

The most basic tool a bilingual dictionary to check the meaning of unknown words. To make a good tranlation, it is also very important to have a good knowledge of the grammar structures of both the mother tongue and the foreign language.

The first thing that we should consider is that we do not have to translate only the words, but also the syntactical structure of English. As Catalan and English belong to different linguistic families (Romanic and Germanic, respectively), their syntactical structures are often very different.

Here is an example: imagine that we must translate the English sentence “I’m 25 years old” into Catalan. We do not need a dictionary because we know all the words. But if we translate only the words, the result is “Jo sóc 25 anys vell”, a sentence that has little sense in Catalan. This means that we must also change the syntactical structure and think which is the correct structure in Catalan to express the same idea. In this case it is not difficult to understand the idea and translate that sentence as “Jo tinc 25 anys”. The example is very simple, but it illustrates very well how both languages express the same idea with two different syntactical structures.

A good translation should transmit the original idea as faithfully as possible. The resulting text should adjust to the syntactical rules of the language into which you translate and avoid unnatural structures taken literally from the foreign language.

Using a bilingual dictionary is not easy and requires a certain practice to find the correct definitions. Nowadays there is another tool which is extensively used to translate texts: the automatic translator. In a translator, you introduce the text in the original language and the program automatically gives out the translation into the language of your choice. The problem is that very often the resulting text is full of mistakes and then you need to revise the text and make correcctions.

Here is an example of a translation of a technical text from English into Catalan. We have used the widely-popular Google translator. As you compare the translator version with the final version of the text, notice the changes that we have made to correct the translation.

Reading the translator version and then comparing it to the corrected version is an excellent exercise to notice the low quality of automatic translations. For this reason, it is necessary to make a manual revision of the text in order to make corrections and produce a correct translation.

In a ‘reversed translation’, that is, a translation into the foreign language, the process is exactly the same. We normally need a ‘reverse translation’ when we must write a text in English, as we tend to think in our own language and then translate into the foreign language. When we use an automatic translator to translate a text into English, it is very important that we introduce a text without spelling mistakes or else the internal dictionary of the program won’t find the words.