In Spanish there are just as many tenses as there are in English, this being twelve all together however, in Spanish as opposed to English there are more structures to these tenses. For instance in English we say “my name is Gianni” but in Spanish this is more complicated. This simple structure in Spanish could not be translated directly as the structure in Spanish is “I call myself Gianni” which is “Yo me llamo Gianni” in Latin American countries or "Me llamo Gianni" in Spain where the subject pronoun is generally dropped. (Apart from situations when ambiguity could be a problem).

This is a very common structure in Spanish that of which the action returns to the individual using the subject in the form of I , you, he, she etc. then a verb in the form of me for I, te for you, se for he and her then the verb. This can be used with such verbs as “divertirse” (have fun) or “lavarse” (wash oneself) which would make the sentence come out “yo me divierto” or which in essence is have fun but literally translated would be “I entertain myself”, which in Spanish does not have to be an action one does to oneself but one that comes through other means.

With the verb “wash” in English, when we say “I wash” it is understood that we mean ourselves unless we say that we are washing something else for instance “I am washing my car”. In Spanish however with these verbs it is not understood what or who we are washing so we need to make it clear; in a structure that would go “Yo me lavo”. This being “I wash myself” when put directly in to English.

In conclusion I would say that for English speakers learning Spanish it is important to study which verbs need this structure of the action going back to the one doing it. This, though not difficult, is important and will make things easier for the listener, for there is a difference between “a mi me gusta” (I like something or something pleases me) and “yo gusto” which in literal translation means “I like” but in reality we are saying “I make others like me”. Visit www.learntospeak-spanish.net