using the word, vaya

why do you use, vaya, when you say, vaya una cuadra

I believe vaya is a command (imperative tense) for the verb 'ir' (go). So, vaya una cuadra is "go one block".

¡Correcto! Vaya is the formal command, ve the informal. It is also the present subjunctive. Saludos, Rich

Rich, I admire your knowledge of the grammar side of Spanish. That was great that you thru in the informal "ve". I wanted to mention to you, yesterday I did lesson 16 of LSLC which deals with the preterit. I pulled out "The Big Red Book" and "English Grammar for Students of Spanish" and had a great study of the preterite and the imperfect. I felt like my brain grew a half a size after that. :) Today I started repeating the sentences of lesson 16 into a voice recorder on my iPod, just like the recording portion of RS, and played them back. I see that as a fantastic learning tool for me to be able to progress thru the aggressiveness of LSLC, if that makes sense. Thanks so much for recommending those 2 books. Do you see any other of the books that you own as ones that could be a "must-have" (other than "Breaking out of Beginner's Spanish") and would be beneficial to have in my collection? Muchas gracias por tus recomendaciones. diane

Hola todos, I too want to thank Rich for his contribution. I think it is interesting how the commands and the present subjunctive are the same conjugations. If I am making an accurate statement then I think the following "refran" fits! ¡Puedo matar dos pájaros en un tiro! Estudie bien. :)

Hola Diane, Patrice y todos, Well, I have some knowledge of grammar as I've been at this for awhile but I'm just a student and I frequently have to check reference materials to refresh and learn new things. Hooray for the Big Red Book! Diane, I believe you have the D. Richmond books Verb Tenses and the other, Pronouns and Prepositions. If not, I find them very helpful. I don't know if these are "must have" but there is a book titled"The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close" by by Eric Vogt that you might consider. Another which I guess is a "must have" for me, is "Easy Spanish Reader" by William T. Tardy. Great book! The reader increases in level of difficulty, has a vocabulary section and comes with a CD-Rom. Patrice, ¡Bien dicho! Saludos, Rich

It sounds like The Big Red Book might be a good investment for me.

Hola Dan, I truly think you will find "The Big Red Book" is a gem. I have said many times that I consult it on a daily basis and for me it has definitely been a worthwhile investment. Saludos, Rich

"The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs" - Most definitely! Mine will probably get opened every day that I study. Today I got about 1/3 of the way thru lesson 17 of LSLC and I got the Big Red out to see the different tenses of Leer. It is a great investment! Rich- Good idea on the Easy Spanish Reader. I actually do have a couple different readers on my Kindle that I'll go back to and read in the evenings. Sometimes it seems that I spread myself too thin with different resources, but at the same time I think that I've advanced quite a bit just in the last couple weeks. They all just really compliment each other. I think I'm going to get thru "Easy Spanish Step-By-Step" first. That one touches on many aspect of Spanish grammar and is a great vocabulary builder. And then I'll hit my other books and go deeper into each subject. I did start Vogt's "Spanish past-tense verbs" and will probably keep going in that one just because of LSLC. It's been quite helpful to me for Lesson 16 & 17. LSLC is such a tough program but I'm really enjoying.

Hola Diane, ¡Que bueno! Sí LSLC es difícil pero vale la pena. Saludos, Rich

Ricardo: gracias por la recomendación. Pedí hoy una copia. Dan

Hola amigos!!!! You forgot another usage of the word "vaya" , we also use it for two other things. 1) We use is as an expression or interjection, similar to"Wow, "Oh well!" or " Oh my!"..."Oh vaya!!" for example,: Oh vaya! No esperaba ese final en la pelicula...Wow! i didnt expected that movie to end that way! 2) This other form of use is a bit more complicated for me to try to explain and i dont know if they use it outside of Mexico, but basically we use it with a little bit of a sarcastic tone, i will hope the examples explain the matter better than me haha Vaya! crei que nunca ibas a llegar (with an angry/sarcastic tone, when someone is late for some appoinment) Oh Well, i tought you'd never come! Similar to , "Oh, look who's here?" (with a sarcastic tone)! Anyway, most of the time vaya is the imperative and formal way to say GO, as when you say "Vaya con Dios" (I've heard this expression more with americans that with actual latinos haha) oh! and by the way! do not confuse it with VALLA, or BAYA. The first one is the name we have for those obstacles they use in the olympics on the running track. And BAYA is a fruit , a berry to be more precise. Saludos desde Baja California, Mexico~!