Idioma Express
Six fixed constructions natives build sentences on — woven into your own speech, out loud.
No hay que + infinitive is advice against doing something — no hay que precipitarse, one shouldn't rush — which is not the same as no tener que (no obligation). A la hora de + infinitive means when it comes to: a la hora de negociar, la paciencia suele ser más útil que la firmeza. Dar por + participle treats something as settled by convention — doy por hecho que vendrás, damos por sentado — and the family runs on: hacer que + subjunctive for making someone act (su discurso hizo que todos reflexionáramos), venir + gerund for a process running up to now (venimos trabajando en este proyecto desde principios de año), and llevar + participle for the running total (llevo leídas casi doscientas páginas).
Below: the phrases each construction builds, what locals do with them from Mexico City to Buenos Aires — and a way to practice them the way fixed patterns actually stick: in live conversation, no flashcards, no fill-in-the-blanks.
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Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Carla
Your grammar teacher for this pack
Nothing here is a drill. In the Idioma Express lessons you talk, and Carla keeps steering you into the constructions: she asks for three things you assume about a friend, a plan, a fact — and each answer has to run through dar por (lo doy por hecho, lo doy por sentado). Then the same activity twice: as venir + gerund for the process still running, and as llevar + participle for what's already stacked up. And when you tell her about someone who made you feel something, she waits for the causative: hicieron que me sintiera como en casa. Out loud, until the templates fire on their own.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
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Quick answers
No hay que advises against doing something: no hay que tomarse las críticas como algo personal. No tener que just removes the obligation — you don't have to, but you could. Mixing them up flips your advice into indifference.
'When it comes to': es muy exigente a la hora de contratar. The idiomatic extension a la hora de la verdad means when push comes to shove — and Argentines have their own version: a la hora de los bifes.
To take something as done or given: doy por hecho que vendrás. The pattern is dar por + participle and it scales across registers — damos por sentado que todos han leído el documento, doy por concluida la reunión, lo dieron por perdido.
Venir + gerund is the process continuing up to now: los expertos vienen alertando sobre este riesgo desde hace años. Llevar + participle is the cumulative result so far: lleva firmados más de veinte contratos — and the participle agrees: llevo leídas casi doscientas páginas.
Yes — the causative reading requires it: hizo que todos reflexionáramos, hicieron que me sintiera como en casa, nada de lo que digas hará que cambie de opinión.
