What did you think about this lesson on era vs fui vs estaba vs estuve? Is this a new approach for you?

Also, if you haven't downloaded our free guide to Conversation Hacking in Spanish, you can check it out here 📚: https://realfastspanish.lpages.co/conversation-hacking-guide/

You're anchor phrases are a great idea. As a Spanish native, I'd never say "no fui invitado a la boda", although it is grammatically correct. We tend to avoid the passive voice. No me invitaron a la boda is what I'd actually say.
Cheers.

Spanish is my main language, and I am still watching this video because it's very well explained, good job!!

I started learning Spanish a year and a half ago and this is the first time this has made sense to me - thank you.

I just stumbled on this video and I have to say it's the gold standard.  

I think another way to express this "anchor phrase vs logic" idea is to look at the premise of "Thinking Fast and Slow": we can think logically but it's expensive and slow compared to pattern-matching.  To speak fluently we want to exploit patterns (more specifically, the right patterns).  The anchor phrases furnishe us with the seeds of patterns which we can develop with use and with variations.

Back when I was learning Spanish I used an anchor phrase derived from logic.  "Estar" comes from the Latin "to stand", so that was my anchor.  "I stand at the train station", "I stand happy" etc.  Anything which felt right with "I stand" got "estar".  "I stand exhausted" but not "I stand male".

Either i manifested this or the algorithm is in my brain. I just went over these 4 words and how confusing they where while I was BRUSHING MY TEETH this morning.  😳😳😳

I just had a conversation this week with a native Spanish-speaker about "make the bed."  "Make the bed" is an abbreviated form of  "make up the bed."  "Make up" has the sense of creating or improving something - you make up [your relationship] after an argument, you make up a story, you make up your face by applying products - and you make up the bed to make it neater after sleeping in it.   I completely agree with your take on how we learn language, just thought this was an interesting take on your example.

I am a brand-new Spanish teacher in a NYC, USA, public school and your content is helping me A LOT!
Thank you!

I've never heard spanish with an Australian accent 😂 love it ❤

My boyfriend is mexican and I was learning the difference between estaba and estuve. I was reading long grammar explanations with examples but was still confused. And one time I asked him "So if i want to say .... which one should I use?" And he said that I can use both, it doesn't matter. Then I showed him that the grammar text tells me otherwise. And he told me to forget about all those rules that just complicate things and just speak. I was surprised that real spanish doesn't really follow strict rules like textbooks teach us.

The idea of anchor phrases makes this lesson to learn "I was" way easier. Thanks Andrew!

¡we need more past tense videos!

I just returned from Colombia for the 5th time with my family, and each time I return, I try to plug in the gaps in my Spanish. I have found myself revisiting your lessons. They are among the most comprehensive and intuitive on YouTube. I regret not following you sooner. Needless to say, I now have a notebook to take notes of your lessons. Muchísimas gracias! Will

EXCELLENT!  FINALLY!! I am a total Logic learner and, as such, I've been struggling with Spanish for 30 years. I am entirely taught "on the streets", never took a class. I can speak fluidly for hours but I make at least one mistake every sentence. While patient people can understand me and conversations can be complex and nuanced, I make SO many mistakes and I am forever (and for good reason) insecure and doubting my phrasiology and grammar.  THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEED/ED and although I am married to a native spanish speaker and my kids are similarly native spanish speakers, they have NO idea what they are saying or why it is correct. They also have no idea what the patterns are so they cannot teach me their native language. Thus, I flounder (for decades).  This is precisely what i needed... just a way to memorize correct patterns of speech so I can stop thinking about what I am saying and simply say it. Over the years, many years, I have gradually memorized certain phrases I can pull out of my pocket in certain situations (and, thus, be confident about them). Although, now I realize I was always wrong with one of those phrases (I was told once to say "Cuando fui joven... " and because no one corrects me ever, I said that for years. NOW, I am on a path toward more fluent AND correct Spanish and hope to see many more such insights (videos). I am not your devotee.  I will watch everything you write with my notebook beside me and then memorize my way to fluidity that is, for the first time in my life, also correct!  Thank you!

I think anchor phrases are way more useful and intuitive than learning the "logic" of when to use either

Absolutely correct! I started learning Spanish 70 years ago with this logic based system and it is repetition, not logic that wins. I know grammar much better than most, but when I ask a native speaker a grammar question, they often say they don't know the rule, they just know what's correct. The same holds for gender. They learn "el problema" and "la mano" through repetition, not the history of the derivations of these words from Greek and Latin.

My Spanish teachers had me break down the four words just as you said. With time it became easier, but your method of using an anchor phrase made things click! Bien Hecho!

Yes, this is excellent! Thank you from an 83-year-old in Sydney. ❤

As a practising EFL teacher and a language learner myself, I endorse this promotion of a set phrase as a launchpad. It is the quickest way to progress, just substituting vocabulary items as you go.

I suppose you know, that you are a really good teacher! 😊