What does "habla" and "entiende" mean?

Question

Hey guys, i started to learn Spanish and i got Pimsleur Spanish language set. But while i was studying unit 2,im confused cuz it says entiendo i understand, hablo i speak. Im ok with that. But for entiende and habla, it translates these words; you understand and you speak.When i looked at the some websites, entiende and habla is used for 3. Singular person. (he, she..) Is there anyone to explain it? Cuz i paid much for it! Thanks!

Welcome to SpanishDict. We can't speak for Pimsleur, but perhaps someone can answer a grammar question. Please add your language proficiency to your profile. This will help members when attempting to answer your questions. - rac1, Jul 10, 2015

Answer 1

Having done all 5 levels of Pimsleur Spanish, they start out teaching that "you" is "usted" which is formal and singular.Verbs used with "usted" are conjugated like the third person singular, i.e. "he, she and it." They'll explain it more in later lessons and tell that, if you need to make it clear what you're saying, or for emphasis, you can use the pronoun (usted, el, ella) with the verb. If you're taking the Latin American version, you won't learn the "vos" forms and conjugations, though they will eventually mention it in case someone uses it when speaking to you.

Much later into the course, you'll be introduced to the "tu" forms of verbs.

Be patient. You're only on lesson 2 of level 1. You have 28 more lessons in Level 1, and 120 more lessons in Levels 2, 3, 4, &5.

Good luck!!!

Good on you, wink! - Daniela2041, Jul 10, 2015

;-) - Winkfish, Jul 10, 2015

Answer 2

Spanish has a number of different ways of saying you- that includes formal and informal options. More detail here:

http://www.spanishdict.com/topics/show/13

Read the whole thing, but here is a small bit of it:

Basically there are 5 ways to address people directly in Spanish:

tú - singular and informal

vos - singular and formal or informal - used in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and parts of Central America

usted (Ud.) - singular and formal

vosotros - plural and informal - used in Spain

ustedes (Uds.) - plural and formal or informal

The formal singular you- usted, uses the same conjugations as the singular third person, likewise the plural formal ustedes (which is used in Latin America for the informal plural as well) uses the third person plural forms.