This is probably really simple but I keep getting confused by which form I’m meant to use. Do I match it to the person I’m talking about or do I match it to the gender of the noun? And which part of the sentence do I use to determine whether I use the singular or plural?
For example “Le mando notas” means I send him notes. What about a singular note? If I’m sending her notes does it become la? If I was sending them notes would it be las or les? If notas is feminine why don’t I use la?
Is there a simple way to remember whatever the rule is? Thanks!
I wouldn’t worry too much about thinking in Spanish for now. Don’t do what I did, persuaded by the ‘no translating’ crowd. I refused to look up words because I was just supposed to magically understand the Spanish in context. I wasted so much time. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a place for that. But it’s okay to look up words. And grammar.
The more vocab and grammar you know, the more comprehensible you will find Spanish and the more you can do extensive reading and listening effectively.
When you do translate, though, try to do it literally from the Spanish. I.e. don’t try to translate it into a grammatically correct English version of the same thing. E.g. as you said, don’t translate ‘tengo frío’ as ‘I’m cold’ or ‘i feel cold’ but as ‘i have cold’. This will help you to get your head into Spanish grammar and thus help you to think in Spanish.
There’s no need to force ‘thinking in Spanish’ (it sounds like you’re not trying to). There are some techniques you can use to help do so. But otherwise it comes naturally. If you keep going you will reach a point when the meaning clicks. Some call it an epiphany moment.
It’s really bizarre. It’s like you’re floating in the back of your head watching the middle of your head think, in English, ‘I can see the front of my head reading in Spanish and understanding it’, but you’re also fully in the front of your head, imagining a world that is crisp and clear because you are actually understanding the Spanish novel that you’re reading. It doesn’t last long so savour it. I’d learn another language just to feel it again for that hour-or-so.
If you read on the Kindle app, you can change the dictionary settings and tap on a word or even a phrase for a translation. Some translations are a bit iffy. But if you intensively read a novel or two like this, you’ll progress quite quickly and by the end you won’t have to look up nearly as many words as you did at the beginning. In the right novel, you’ll see indirect and direct object pronouns used so many times that you’ll get a natural feel for them (I think these are the concepts you’re looking for, btw). I like to read about a grammar point and then look for it ‘in the wild’ like this.