Well, so the truth is, I haven't taken a Spanish class in 11 years, actually, since the last time I was in Mexico. This means that although I can get around well enough, I haven't the foggiest idea about any of the various tenses. If only I could only live in the present! As I'm in Intermediate 2, we've been spending a lot of time 'reviewing' various tenses* and learning new ones. In fact, since I've been here (3.5 weeks of classes) we have covered: presente, imperfecto, preterito, subjuntivo, pasado perfecto, futuro perfecto, futuro simple, imperativo, pluscuamperfecto, progresivo, y la voz pasiva. Today we added two new ones, condicional and imperfecto de subjuntivo. This adds up to a grand total of 13. Phew. I can't actually control all these tenses (control here meaning that I can use them on my own without prompting) but I can correctly use most of them on tests. It blows my mind that some of the students in my class are getting 60s on their tests... they took spanish just a month ago! How can they do so poorly? (and obviously the answer is that they are out until 3 am most nights while I'm an old lady and asleep by 11 but still...). Study abroad is wasted on the young.
*Note to grammar teachers: I'm not going to distinguish between tense and aspect here... but I do remember that's there's a difference!
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