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Profile
Hello! My name is Jason, I am an engineer from Alaska, but I live in Tampa, Florida and I have studied Spanish for about four weeks. I would like to learn Spanish because I travel to Nicaragua and Peru - this year I am considering spending two weeks living in Lima, Peru with a Spanish-speaking family as a way to better understand the language. On italki I'd like to speak with Spanish-speakers from all over the world so I can better train my ear to understand the language. After Spanish, I hope to learn Farsi or Turkish. I'm always willing to help people learn English, also!
Learning
Turkish
Spanish
Language Skills
EnglishNative
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Completed lessons0042
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Türkçe
Turkish
Feb 24, 2016
Ben teşekkür ederim Jason, derslerden çok memnunum. Görüşmek üzere!!
Nicole R
Spanish
Jul 18, 2015
¡Muy interesante hoy!
Activities
  • Answered
    Numbers two and three are natural. The word 'the' is used when indicating a specific noun. The word 'a' or 'an' indicates a non-specific noun. So sentence one would be: I will learn an instrument. (Which instrument? The piano. But because 'the piano' is not stated in the sentence, we use an indefinite article such as 'a' or 'an'.) I will learn the piano. (Here we reference a specific instrument, the piano. Because we reference a specific noun we use the definite article 'the'.)
    0 voted
    June 5, 2015
    0
  • Answered
    Ola Nilson! You add '-ing' to the infinitive when you want to use the 'gerund' form of the verb. You can use this when the verb becomes the subject of the sentence: "Speaking helps you learn!" In this example, 'speaking' is the gerund form of the verb 'to speak', and is the subject of this sentence. Also add '-ing' to the verb when it is the complement of a sentence: "My favorite hobby is swimming." In this example 'swimming' is the gerund form of the verb, 'to swim' and complements the subject. Lastly, also add '-ing' when the verb is the object of another verb. "I like learning languages." In this example, 'learning' is the gerund form of the verb 'to learn' and is the direct object of the 'verb 'to like'. The verb 'to like' is conjugated in the present tense, and the verb 'to learn' is turned into the gerund form. I do not speak Portuguese, but this is similar to Spanish, if you're familiar: The verb aprender turns into 'aprendiendo', for instance. I'm not sure what you mean by adding 'to' to the infinitive. The infinitive form of a verb always has a 'to' in front of it: To learn another language is exciting. Here I have used the infinitive form of the verb, 'to learn'. You may notice that the infinitive may be used in exactly the same way as the gerund form of a verb. I hope this helps! Please let me know if I was not clear.
    0 voted
    June 5, 2015
    1
  • Answered
    'Persons' is an old form of the word 'people' and is no longer in common use, as Eric noted. 'People' is effectively used the same as 'personas' in Spanish.
    0 voted
    June 5, 2015
    1
  • Answered
    The verb 'to take' can be used to indicate the amount of time an action requires. For instance, it takes me an hour to prepare dinner. The real action is this sentence is preparing dinner, but the verb 'to take' indicates how much time has passed, or will have passed, in order to complete that action. So in your example, whatever action the word 'this' describes has taken a very large amount of time to complete. It would be much clearer if the sentence featured a direct object to the word 'this'. Written that way: Nothing has ever taken any human as long as this marathon took me.
    0 voted
    June 3, 2015
    0
  • Answered
    This is a common tactic in English writing - a paragraph has certain 'parts'. The first sentence generally talks about what the paragraph is 'about', and the middle sentences give supporting evidence (or explanation) to the first sentence. The last sentence, when used like this, will often refer back to the main idea of the paragraph. In this example, the 'this' refers to the firing of Harrison Shepherd. This piece is written with bias - meaning that it presupposes the conclusion without giving any evidence to reach that conclusion. The novel is about a period of time in American history when being 'un-American' was very nearly a crime, and many people were persecuted for 'un-Americanism' while having done nothing wrong. There are some clues to this in the paragraph. It mentions 'misdeeds', yet offers no concrete accusation or charge, and also mentions that his role is unclear. As you noted - if there is no proof of espionage, how are they driving out potential spies? You are not actually confused at all, you are correctly interpreting the passage, but the passage is written from the point of view of Myers (it sounds like), where the assumption of guilt is present without evidence.
    0 voted
    June 3, 2015
    0
  • Answered
    Another important use for at and in, as well! At: Defines a place that the object of a sentence occupies. It can also specify a time that something is happening. Example: I have to work at 4 o'clock. (Tengo que trabajar las cuatro.) In: Defines a noun being 'inside' another noun (as Jay pointed out - We are in London, for example). Can also be used to express time as the amount of time until something happens. I go to work in five minutes. (Voy trabajar en cinco minutos.)
    0 voted
    June 2, 2015
    0
  • Answered
    This is a good question! Part I: The difference between 'she' and 'her' is possession. 'She' is the same as 'ella' in Spanish, while 'her' is more like 'su' - but has a feminine gender. Part II: This one is harder. Here, the first sentence has an independent clause and a dependent clause. I will break the first sentence up into the two clauses, but it may be a little confusing. Tell me if you would prefer me to rewrite it. It was them (An independent clause - in this case the verb object is 'them'). who called this morning. (A dependent clause - this clause, while a complete sentence, does not express a complete thought in this example.) 'Them' is used as an object of a verb - in this case, the object of the verb 'to be'. The second sentence is much easier, because it is not a complex sentence. 'They' is the subject, and it is used because of a rule in English called 'subject-verb agreement'. This means that the subject's tense and number must agree with the verb's tense and number. 'Were' is the plural form of 'was', and 'they' is a plural noun that indicates that the speaker is not a part of that group. I hope that helps. English grammar is confusing (especially subject-verb agreement) even for native speakers. I had a very hard time with it in college.
    0 voted
    June 2, 2015
    2
  • Answered
    Both can be used. I start work tomorrow. I start work in an hour. I start working tomorrow. I start working in an hour. 'Working' is the gerund of the verb 'to work', and so is used as a noun or the object of a verb (in this case, 'working' is the object of the verb 'to start'). Likewise, 'work in the first example is also used as a verb object, so they are interchangeable in this case.
    0 voted
    June 1, 2015
    1
  • Answered
    Mi espanol es no muy bien, pero traduzco de, "She wants to live in a dream of which she cannot wake."
    0 voted
    June 1, 2015
    3
  • Answered
    Hello! 1. Which is more common of "give a speech" and "make a speech"? These are two different things. 'to give a speech' is the act of actually getting up and speaking in front of people. 'To make a speech' is more accurately (and often) written as, 'to write a speech' which is the act of actually writing it out before performing it. 2. Which is more common of "spread butter on~" and "put butter on ~"? This depends on where you're from, at least in America. In the south, we 'put butter on', but in the northwest, I've heard butter itself referred to as a 'spread'. 3. Which is more common of "turn left/right" and "make a left/right (turn)" and "take a left/right turn"? These are all valid, and will all be said. Which one you use depends on the situation most often. (Choices with less words are used when the next direction will come quicker, and there is no real difference between 'make' and 'take' in this instance.) 4. Which is correct of "during class time" and "in class"? Both are correct, and both may be used. 'During class time' is slightly more formal, and more likely to be seen on instructions or given through commands from professors/teachers. 5. What are the differences between "deposit" as a verb and "make a deposit"? Very little. The only real difference is that many verbs can also be used as nouns in English, and to 'make a deposit' takes the verb 'to deposit' and uses it as a noun (an object of the verb 'to make' in this instance). If I write the sentence the other way, using deposit as a verb, then I require an object to make the sentence make sense. I made a deposit in the bank. I deposited money in the bank.
    0 voted
    June 1, 2015
    4