Proofreading Paragraph on Classes

Question

I have to write a paragraph on classes in a day, what I need, and when they are at, and would greatly appreciate it if someone could read it to see if it makes sense. I'm not sure if I use los zapatos/la ropa, or just zopatos & ropa. Also, is it despues de ____ or just despues?

This is the paragraph: Tengo matemáticas por la mañana. Necesito un lápiz, un cuaderno, y una calculadora. Después de matemáticas, tengo educación fisica. Necesito zapatos y ropa. Tengo ciencias a las 11:00. Necesito un cuaderno y un lépiz. Después de almuerzo, tengo humanidades. Necesito un lápiz y un cuaderno.

Thanks so much in advance!

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Answer 1

Hola Mathday.

¿Cómo estás? (How are you?)

You usually spelled the Spanish word for pencil correctly, but not always. The Spanish word for "physical" has a tilde - that little line above words like "después" and "educación" which you spelled correctly in your paragraph.

I would look up the word "tennis shoe" in your Spanish-English dictionary and see if you can't find a better version than just "zapato". A good link for this purpose online would be "WordRef.com". It's my favorite online Spanish-English dictionary. Same goes for "ropa". I would look for "shorts", "t-shirt", and "socks". Also you might consider adding on the Spanish version of "athletic" to these words to make them more descriptive. Oh, and do you need to take a shower after your physical education class? In that case you might need to add "soap" and "towel".

I notice that you omitted books in those classes in which you might very well need them. Again you could add an adjective to the Spanish word for book, such as "algebra", or whatever math class you are taking. Same goes for your humanities class.

Your paragraph is a good start. My honest opinion is that it just needs a little meat or specificity added to it. Just saying "ropa" and "zapatos" is not quite adequate for a physical education class, as we almost always need to be wearing these items when we leave our homes.

It is usually safer to add the adjective in front of Spanish words like "zapatos" and "ropa" instead of leaving them off. There are exceptions, but, like I said, it is usually a good bet that you need "la, el, los, or las" in front of such words.

Best of luck on the finished version of your paragraph. If time allows, post it in here for more tips.

Que tenga un buen día. (Have a good day.)