Language Learners

Using the passive in English

We use the passive to direct our listener’s attention to the important part of our message. The passive can be used when we do not know who carries out the action expressed by the verb, or when it is not important that we should know. It is sometimes much more… Read More

Spanish words of the week: resto or resta?

Today we’ll be examining the commonest meanings of two more similar-looking Spanish nouns with different genders, endings and the rest: these are resto (masculine) and resta (feminine). Read More

French word of the week: apporter / amener

This series of weekly blogs takes a closer look at words from our French dictionaries. The words we're focusing on this week are the French verbs 'apporter' and 'amener'. Read More

Forming the passive in English

Passive verbs are made from a form of be + the past participle of a main verb. In the passive, the form of the auxiliary verb be indicates the tense. They sell cheap computer games here. Cheap computer games are sold here. They took him to the police station for questioning. He was taken to the police station for questioning. Some verbs are only… Read More

Spanish words of the week: cuchillo or cuchilla?

Our task today is to cut through the meanings of two more similar-looking Spanish nouns with different genders, endings and usage: these are cuchillo (masculine) and cuchilla (feminine). Read More

French word of the week: donner

This series of weekly blogs takes a closer look at words from our French dictionaries. The word we're focusing on this week is the French verb 'donner'. Read More

Irregular verbs in English

Irregular verbs are verbs that do not form the past simple tense and the past participle by adding -ed to the base form. There are three main groups of irregular verbs in English. In Group A, the base form, the past simple and the past participle are the same: The base form, e.g. put The… Read More

Spanish words of the week: palo or pala?

No getting the wrong end of the stick with Spanish nouns palo (masculine) and pala (feminine) as we continue our series looking at the commonest meanings of potentially confusable words. Read More

French word of the week: ennuyer

This series of weekly blogs takes a closer look at words from our French dictionaries. The word we're focusing on this week is the French verb 'ennuyer'. Read More