Writing letters

The other day my spanish teacher asked us to write a post card.I was wondering how would you address people in a formal business letter, greetings and salutations.

In English we often use the "Dear..." and end the letter with "Sincerely..." but in Spanish there is more variation depending on how formal you wish to be.

The equivalent of "Dear" is querido or querida (masculine or faminine) .In Spanish, it is more common to follow the greeting with a colon rather than the comma usually used in English.

Let's see the format of a  friendly letter in spanish.First, start with one of these opening salutations: Querido(a) Amigo(a) (Dear Friend); or Queridísimo (a) (Dearest) or Amor de mi vida (My love).

Next, begin the body of the letter with a phrase asking about one’s family - Espero que todos se encuentren bien (I hope everyone is well).

Then, write anything you want in the rest of the body of the letter just as in English.

Use a final salutation like - Muchos saludos para todos (Say hello to everyone).

Finally, close your letter with a phrase like - Con todo cariño (Affectionately…) followed by your signature.

Other ways to close an informal letter are

Un abrazo (literally, a hug)
Un fuerte abrazo (literally, a strong hug)
Cariñosos saludos (roughly, kind regards)
Afectuosamente (affectionately)

Spanish letters in general tend to be more cordial so use more flowery language and express a lot of emotion.

For a business letter use estimado instead of querido.

To start your greeting to a person you already know by name use: Estimado Señor José or Estimada Señora Miguel.

If you don’t know the person by name, you can simply write: Muy Señor mío, Muy Señora mía.
Su Excelencia (Your excellence: to some high rank personnel) or Estimado Señor / Estimada Señora which is less formal.

The most common ending, used in much the same way as "sincerely" in English, is atentamente.

That can also be expanded to le saluda atentamente or les saluda atentamente, depending on whether you're writing to one or to more persons, respectively. A more casual ending that can be used in business letters is cordialmente.

Verbos

Some common verbs in spanish

abrir - to open
abrazar - to hug
acabar - to complete
aconsejar - to advice
afeitar - to shave
agradecer - to thank for
agregar - to collect

Suffixes

Some suffixes add a special meaning to the word.
They often refer to size,but they can also reflect emotions,affection and intensity.
They are:

Meaning	Suffix	Example
Augmentative	-ón	cabezón (stubborn)
big,great	-ote	grandote (very big)
very,extremely	-ísimo	carísimo (very expensive)
Diminutive	-ito/a, -illo/a, -ico/a	mesita (small table)
small,little		niñito (small child)
Pejorative	-ucha	casucha (horrible house)
horrible/bad

Suffixes also indicate profession or occupation or places of work.

panadero(baker)
zapatería (shoe shop)

Capital letters

Spanish uses capital letters less frequently than English.They are used at the beginning of a sentence and after a full stop.

Ana llegó a casa.Entró
Ana arrived home.She went in.

Capital letters are not used for

a. months,seasons and days of week:

       septiembre domingo

b. languages,people or adjectives of nationality:

      Hablo español.
      (I speak spanish).

     Soy alemán.
     (I am German)

 

Accent mark

If you follow the below simple rule pronunciation in spanish will be easy.

Condition	Stressed syllable	Example
word ends in a vowel	last but one	dibUjo, planEta
words end in -s or -n	last but one	orIgen, entOnces
word end in a non vowel	last	encontrAr, ustEd
Other cases	indicated by an accent mark	séptimo, corazón, jamás, preguntó

The Spanish accent has two main uses:

1.To indicate that the normal rules of word stress are being overridden.

2.To distinguish between otherwise identical words.

aun	even, including	aún	still
de	of,about	dé	he gave
el	the	él	he
mas	but	más	more
mi	my	mí	me
o	or	ó	or(when used with numbers 1 ó 2)
se	oneself	sé	I know or be
si	if	sí	yes
te	you	té	tea
tu	your	tú	you

Accents in interrogative words:

como	how	cómo	how?
cual	which	cuál	which?
cuando	when	cuándo	when?
cuanto	how much/many	cuánto	how much/many?
donde	where	dónde	where?
que	what	qué	what?
quien	who	quién	who?

Ser,Estar and Tener

When do you use ser,estar and tener.

Ser (to be)

- when you want to describe qualities like size,colour,material,character etc.

Este edificio es alto.
(This building is tall)

Mi camisa es de lana.
(My shirt is made of woolen)

Soy amable.
(I am friendly)

Nationalities, profession, description.

Soy de la India.
(I am from India)

Soy ingeniara.
(I am an engineer)

¿Qué hora es?.Son las tres.
What is the time?It is 3.

Estar(to be)

Position, geographic and physical location

Estoy en la oficina.
(I am in office)

Marina está en la playa.
(Marina is in the beach)

Himalaya está en la India.
(Himalaya is in India)

Non-permanent condition

Estoy de cocinera
(I am cooking)

El jersey me está pequeño
(The jersey is small)

¿A cuánto están las uvas?
(How much are the grapes?)

Tener (to have)

Possession, descriptions

Tengo una hija
(I have a daughter)

Esta chica tiene ojos azules
(This girl has blue eyes)

Tener + condition(fever,fear,hunger)

Tengo mucho hambre

Paco tiene miedo del perros (Paca has fear for dogs)

Tengo mucho sed

When you talk about age

¿Cuántos años tienes?
(What is your age?)

Tengo veintiseis años
(I am 26 years old)

Especias (spices)

Some of the spices that I commonly use.

Spices	Especias
Basil	la albahaca
Cardamom	el cardamomo
Chilli	el chile
Cinnamon	la canela
Cloves	los clavos
Garlic	el ajo
Corriander	el cilantro
Pepper	la pimienta
nut meg	la nuez moscada
Turmeric	la cúrcuma