How to use Tardar and Llevar in Spanish, well! 

Well, I have to say that this podcast was, for me, very special (Gordon). Why? Because for whatever reason I had never got to grips with some of the uses of Llevar in Spanish. In fact, I had missed a fundamental part of how the verb worked.

What I discovered during the making of the Podcast with Cynthia was that Llevar in Spanish works just like is does in English. For whatever reason, I just hadn’t put the two together.

A lesson learnt.

The crazy thing about the whole experience, and I will leave you to watch the video to see how my confusions were cleared up, was that I should have known it! But I didn’t.

After more than 15 years of leaning Spanish, I had missed an important meaning of the verb Llevar in Spanish. How? Well, because throughout my learning journey I have always used a system that has helped me no end and yet has also limited my learning.

The Good/Bad system.

The system I have always used helps me when I am struggling to find a way to say something. When I can’t say the sentence one way, I say it another. As I have always said to my students: “Don’t get stuck trying to say something when there are hundreds of other ways to say it.”

And, I have to say that it’s a great system that has served me well. However, it has also meant that I have been able to avoid creating structures that have confused me.

One such structure was the use of Llevar in Spanish. The truth is that I always plumbed for Tardar because I understood it better. And because I could use it perfectly well, I never really had a need to use Llevar in Spanish when talking about ‘taking time’.

The Lighbulb moment.

So, it was because of this very same system that I had never understood how to use Llevar in Spanish until Cynthia so kindly explained it to me.  And then, WHOOSH! I had it. A vital piece of my puzzle just dropped into place with a clatter.

Never be too cocky!

We can never afford to be overly confident and assume that we know everything. Learning a language is a life long project and the more I learn the more I realise that I don’t know things. Still, that’s the fun of it, isn’t it? The journey is the fun part not the arrival. It’s like when we are reading a really good book and we never want it to end.

I know that I will be learning Spanish for the rest of my life and I look forward to many more lightbulb moments. And you should too.

 

Enjoy the video.

Video for This Spanish Lesson

Audio for This Spanish Lesson

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