#conditional perfect tense Spanish exercises

[mylanguageclasses]

Tiempo Condicional Compuesto: Conditional Perfect Tense in Spanish

Introduction The Conditional Perfect Tense (Tiempo Condicional Compuesto) in Spanish is an essential grammatical structure used to express hypothetical past actions, regrets, missed opportunities, and probabilities about past events. It plays a crucial role in advanced Spanish conversations and writing. This tense is particularly useful when narrating past scenarios where something could have…

[coffeecatcraze]

So I've been thinking a lot about Exorcists lately, and the different little hints at their lore through the series. Thanks to both Carmilla's observations and Adam's pep talk, we can safely assume they're all women. But what about outside of that?

Being an Exorcist doesn't seem like it's a job. Vaggie refers to herself as one in the present tense to Carmilla when she's been living in Hell with Charlie for years; there's also Adam's comment about how he's the one who chose her name, and the little detail about his lieutenant having a name that sounds like a pet name version of her title. So what, are Exorcists created in Heaven for the specific purpose of being Exorcists? Makes sense, sure...except when you think about what we've seen from Vaggie and what we know about Heaven. (This isn't counting any lore from before the main show came out, mind you, since we know some things have been retconned.) That's where, to me at least, things don't quite line up with that "Heaven-born" idea.

In the main show, we've seen Vaggie speaking Spanish. If Heaven created a class of angels for the express purpose of being Exorcists, they wouldn't need to know multiple languages. Considering the exterminations are top secret (or they were, until Adam threw the threat at Charlie in the middle of a courtroom), what need would Exorcists have for any skills other than killing? They wouldn't need other skills; they wouldn't even be bred with the capacity for unnecessary skills. If they're made for only one purpose, and their purpose is a secret, it would also make more sense for them to only exist in a military compound with no risk of that secret getting out; they wouldn't have any desire or permission to go anywhere but barracks and a training ground. But we've seen Lute out and about in the streets of Heaven, and Vaggie seemed like she'd been around the city already before she came with Charlie for their meeting.

Not to mention that if the Exorcists were created to be mindless killing machines, where do the emotions come from? Why would Adam's offer of a monetary reward for killing Vaggie get any response? What's up with Lute's...let's just say unique disposition? And why leave this class of angels created for the purpose of slaughtering demons with even the capacity to feel mercy and exercise free will? Heaven wouldn't put effort into making such complex soldiers for a once-a-year secret massacre; Sera said she agreed to the exterminations, implying that Adam (until his death of course) was the one who ran the Exorcists and their activities, even though he still technically reported to her as his superior. And from what we know about Adam, if he got to create his army of lady angels from scratch, he wouldn't give them the capacity for individuality. Not after what happened in Eden with Lilith.

But if Exorcists are human souls who went to Heaven, why did Adam get to name them? Why is it a whole identity, not a job? Without more information, my current theory is heavy conditioning.

Picture this. When the right kind of soul comes to Heaven (a woman who doesn't have anything she'd be looking for in the afterlife, who doesn't have anyone there who would be looking for her, who wasn't some perfect pacifist saint in her human life), Adam gets to her before she can properly settle in and recruits her. Breaks down her identity to rebuild her as an Exorcist, even choosing a new name for her himself (and possibly reshaping her physical form to be more uniform or maybe just more to his tastes), to the point that it becomes as much of an identity as any other. That type of conditioning also explains Vaggie's military tendencies, and the way souls who went to Heaven are so eager to come down and slaughter thousands of souls when for all they know they might be killing someone they knew when they were alive.

The selection process also explains why no one but the other Exorcists would have noticed Vaggie going missing, or the Exorcist who was killed by Carmilla; if they're souls who didn't have anyone in Heaven who would miss them, and who were conditioned to the point that they identified as Exorcists who didn't bother trying to form any outside connections (which would probably be part of that conditioning to ensure none of them let the secret slip to a non-Exorcist), no one would ever notice if one of them disappeared. Even Sera didn't give any real indication that she knew one Exorcist defected and another died before Lucifer set up a meeting for her and his daughter. She just said Adam "failed to contain the demons' unrest" to the point that Lucifer was getting involved; no mention of if she knew things were starting to fracture before Lucifer called her up with the implication of looking to change things after spending millennia just passively watching it all happen. Human souls being selected to become Exorcists because their lack of attachment makes them vulnerable to such complete conditioning would explain a lot there.

(As a side note, it makes even more sense that Sera didn't know about Vaggie, because from what we know, Vaggie might not technically be fallen, at least up until the end of the hearing. She was still able to physically enter Heaven while it's implied that Lucifer can't. Lucifer became fallen because the angels at the top of the hierarchy cast him out, but Lute and Adam don't have that kind of authority. They took her wings and halo and left her in Hell, but Adam still referred to her as a current angel both in their private confrontation and in the courtroom, not a fallen one. By that logic, "fallen" status can only be assigned by someone of a high enough rank, and Adam and Lute are too low on the angelic food chain to officially declare someone fallen. That would have had to come from someone like Sera, and no way was Adam going to admit to his boss that one of his elite Exorcists chose to defy the purpose of the exterminations and let a demon live. Sera probably only learned about it because Adam decided to hurt and establish control over a very defiant Charlie in the courtroom by outing Vaggie as a former Exorcist. Though that's definitely A LOT of speculation on my part.)

But conditioning does still leave room for them to possess individuality, because they were human, and humans do inherently possess individuality. Being bilingual, especially from a young age, is something that gets hardwired into the brain; hence why Vaggie speaks fluent Spanish despite her conditioning. Personality can still shine through; hence the excitement of the Exorcists as a whole, Vaggie's show of mercy and subsequent life in Hell, and Lute being her fucked-up unhinged self.

Plus this little bonus: when Emily, a Heaven-born angel, gets mad her angry flush is distinctly a bright blue, which implies Heaven-born angels have blue blood (which also makes sense in a symbolic way, with the phase "blue-blooded" and all); Exorcists, like Adam (a human soul), bleed gold. We know from Helluva Boss that Hellborns bleed black, but we've seen that Sinners bleed red. (Of course Charlie's a Hellborn with red blood, but considering she's the only Hellborn who has a human soul as a parent, she's kind of a special case.) In other words, in both Heaven and Hell, it human souls and souls that have no direct link to humanity have different blood colors.

It also goes back to what I mentioned awhile ago about Heaven just being a real-world broken government doing the same bullshit that happens on Earth. Conditioning is a thing that really happens while artificial creation of pre-conditioned soldiers isn't. Of course this is also all just me talking to myself while my chaotic little hyperfixated brain throws ideas at the wall to see if they stick, but I at least don't think it's entirely baseless.

[itunesbooks]

Spanish Verb Drills, Fourth Edition - Vivienne Bey

Spanish Verb Drills, Fourth Edition Vivienne Bey Genre: Foreign Languages Price: $9.99 Publish Date: October 11, 2010 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education Seller: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Get the expert instruction you want and the practice you need with the conjugation of Spanish verbs--with bonus online interactive exercises Spanish Verb Drills helps you overcome the obstacles of Spanish verbs, so that you can confidently use verbs when expressing yourself in Spanish. This book explains how the Spanish verb system works, while providing numerous exercises for you to master each point covered. Features: Clear explanations of conjugations followed by numerous exercises Free online exercises available at mhprofessional.com to assess your skills once you have completed the book Topics include: Regular Verbs: Present, Imperfect, Preterit, Future, Conditional, Progressive Tenses, Perfect Tenses, Perfect Subjunctive, Imperfect Subjunctive, Perfect Tenses of the Subjunctive, Reflexive Verbs, Stem-Changing Verbs--Class I, Stem-Changing Verbs--Class II, Stem-Changing Verbs--Class III, Orthographic Changes, Orthographic Stem Changes, Irregular Verbs, Irregular Past Participles, Index of Infinitives, English to Spanish, Index of Spanish Infinitives http://bit.ly/2VMXKxv

[antistudyblr]

I got a 4 on the exam, but I’ve taken Spanish for 5 years at a high school level and I’m dual-enrolled in a college class, so hopefully I can help you out a little bit. (i know this test was last week but lol i forgot to post this so whatever. they’ll still be giving it next year)

1. You NEED to expose yourself to Spanish outside of class

This was legitimately the difference between a 4 and 5 in my case. This test is hard, there’s no other way to put it and it requires you to be able to use the language in all it’s forms: listening and speaking as well as reading or writing.

Some suggestions of how you can do that:

Listen to Spanish music while you study

here’s all the Latino spotify playlists to start

There’s a bunch of Spanish language movies and TV shows on Netflix. But if that’s not your jam, most Netflix-produced tv shows have the option to change the language to Spanish. See how much you can pick up (without subtitles) on your rewatch of Stranger Things or A Series of Unfortunate Events.

if you’re not at that level yet, turn on the English subtitles and see if you can tell how accurate they are.

change your phone’s language to Spanish. You’ll be forced to interact with it every day.

Talk to your friends who are also taking that class in Spanish once or twice a week and text them in Spanish as well. It’ll help you both practice.

Hopefully, your class is taught entirely in Spanish. If not, still try to take notes in the language and answer questions in it as well. 

If you know someone in your family or have a friend who is a native speaker, use that resource. Call and talk to them or start emailing them or writing letters.

If all else fails, there a bunch of websites and apps that can connect you to native speakers. Look at the langblr community on tumblr or apps like Hellotalk, which connect you with native speakers. 

2. Don’t try to translate what you’re listening to while you listen to it

This might seem like the exact opposite of what you need to do but trust me. The people in the listening sections of the tests are native speakers and your brain simply isn’t going to be able to go from Spanish to English fast enough to keep up.

Instead, don’t try to translate and write down notes of what you’re hearing in Spanish to go back to later. Otherwise, you’ll just get frustrated or behind and shut down for the rest of the selection. (I speak from experience.)

3. Know your complex tenses!

If you continue to study Spanish, you’re going to need to know them anyway, so you might as well know them now. 

Demonstrating you know the difference between preterite and the imperfect or what triggers the subjunctive shows you have a grasp of the language that goes above and beyond basic present tense conjugations.

What I suggest you should definitely know:

preterite and imperfect

subjuntive (at least the present tense)

commands

future

conditional

participles

progressive (-ing words)

4. Know the right vocab.

This shouldn’t be the only vocab you should know, but there are some themes that tend to come up on the test pretty often.

The ones my teacher highlighted included:

technology

the environment

politics (developing countries)

the arts (usually there’s some reading/listening passages about authors, painters, etc.)

your future/travel (college scholarships, studying abroad and volunteering, etc.)

Also know your idiomatic and transition phrases. If you can make your essays flow more smoothly, you’ll score higher and sound more like a native speaker.

5. Tips, tricks, and other things you need to remember

One of the writing exercises is usually an email or a letter. The recipient will vary so know how to format both formal and informal letters: greetings, farewells, when to use tú or Usted, etc.

Like I said above, idiomatic and transition phrases, as well as complex tenses are your friends. 

Circumlocution: a fancy word that basically means if you don’t know the word you want to say, use different ones to make the same point or talk around it. It might sound more awkward but it won’t completely paralyze you while writing your essay.

One of the speaking exercises will require you to compare your community with one in a Spanish speaking country. If you don’t have one you’re super familiar with already, pick one and study up a bit on the culture.

Take notes! Especially during the listening sections, jot some things down (in Spanish), especially for the longer ones or those they only play once. 

6. Practice, Practice, PRACTICE

The exercises are timed. You want to get used to how long writing for 15 minutes are. You want to know how long speaking for 20 seconds feels (it’s a hell of a lot longer than you think it is sometimes). 

Same goes for word counts. Figure out about how many words you write on a line so that way you don’t have to be counting word by word. Also, figure out how to hit that word count by using idiomatic expressions and transition phrases.

Getting familiar with how the exercises are set up and the format of the test is the most helpful thing you can do before you start. College Board posts past tests you can use to do this. They go from what is easiest for most people (reading) to hardest (speaking) so that definitely helps. (I found the listening section hardest though.)

7. You don’t have to be perfect.

Again, the test leaves room for you to make some mistakes. They know that, if you’ve been studying for three or four or five years and are not a native speaker, that you might forget an accent or leave out an “a” or forget to change “o” to “u” where you need to. As long as you’re making yourself understood, you’re on the right track.

Good luck! If you have any questions (or suggestions of your own), please send me an ask!