Cutting to the Chase - Language Safari

I recently read a blog article by Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Work Week, in which he discusses how to learn foreign languages more quickly. He suggests asking a speaker of your target language how to translate these six sentences because of how much they reveal about the language. He uses the word "deconstruct" the language. In other contexts it's called "analyze", "reverse engineer", or "break down". You get the idea.

Here are the six sentences with the Spanish translations.

The apple is red. La manzana es roja.
It is John's apple. Es la manzana de Juan.
I give John the apple. (Yo) le doy la manzana a Juan.
We give him the apple. (Nosotros) le damos la manzana.
He gives it to John. Él se la da a Juan.
She gives it to him. Ella se la da (a él).

With these sentences Ferris wants to find out how difficult the target language will be based on how similar it is to a language he already knows.

So, how similar is Spanish to English? Or what can we learn about Spanish from these six sentences?

Similarities to English

Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) sentence construction is used in both languages. I give John the apple: Yo le doy la manzana a Juan.
Subject pronouns are used in both languages (yo=I, nosotros=we, él=he, ella=she)

Differences from English

Verb conjugations are more complex in Spanish (doy, damos, da; I give, we give, he or she gives)
Subject pronouns are optional when the meaning is clear from the verb structure (e.g. (yo) doy, (nosotros) damos).
It is not necessary to use subject pronouns in Spanish when the verb construction lets us know the subject (e.g. doy= I give, damos=we give)
Object pronouns are placed before the verb (and sometimes afterward as well).
When an indirect object is used, a pronoun form of it must be placed before the verb.
Indirect object pronouns are placed before the verb even when the indirect object follows the verb.
The indirect object pronoun placed before the verb changes forms--sometimes it is se and sometimes le.
We have an unconfirmed hint that adjectives and nouns may agree in gender manzana...roja.
Possessives are formed using de: manzana de Juan vs. John's apple.

Next, he suggests placing a few of the sentences in the negative to see how those are constructed. Let's try some.

The apple is not red. La manzana no es roja.
It is not John's apple. No es la manzana de Juan.
I do not give John the apple. (Yo) no le doy la manzana a Juan.
We do not give him the apple. (Nosotros) no le damos la manzana.
He does not give it to John. Él no se la da a Juan.
She does not give it to him. Ella no se la da (a él).

We see that all that is needed to form the negative is to

place the word no in front of the verb
place no in front of any object pronoun when they are present.

One more excellent tip that he gives is to learn helping verbs like to want, to need, to have to, or should because adding the infinitive to these words gives you quite a range of ability to express yourself.

to want: querer :: I want: (yo) quiero
to need: necesitar :: I need: (yo) necesito
to have to: tener que :: I have to: (yo) tengo que
to ought to (should): I should: (yo) debería

I want to go: Quiero ir
I want to leave: Quiero salir
I want to fly: Quiero volar
I wanto to return: Quiero volver

As Ferris explains this helps you get the training wheels off when you move toward self-expression.

To see the original article, click on the link below.

Source: Tim Ferris, How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour