Who has not enjoyed a delicious yogurt in the morning? Many accompany this delicious dairy with fruit salad and cereals. The truth is that it provides proteins, vitamins and even enriches it with minerals that help keep our digestive system healthy, especially since the live “good” bacteria it contains are a wonderful probiotic that strengthens the immune system.
It often happens that we all correctly ask for a yogurt when we go to the soda fountain, or if we buy it at the bakery or the supermarket. But what happens when we have to write the term? Do you have doubts about whether or not to place the final -t ?… Don’t worry, it has happened to all of us, they are mental gaps that can be forgiven; but that, from now on, you can avoid using a wonderful memorization technique that we will teach you.
Spanish, like every language, has words that are borrowed from other languages. This is the case of yogurt, a little word that we sometimes confuse in its spelling. The word yogurt comes from the Turkish expression yoğurt, in turn derived from yoğurmak, a verb that means to knead.
The spelling ğ was regularly transcribed as gh in 1928, when the Arabic alphabet was changed to Turkish-Latin. On the other hand, in modern Turkish this spelling is pronounced very little, which produces an articulation similar to the French expression yaourt.
So that you do not wind up too much, keep in mind that the loans are known as foreigners. Every loan is then an expression taken from another language, to fill some semantic gap or as a variant of other existing expressions in the target language, even just to adopt them.
In addition, foreign words can keep their spelling both their original pronunciation, well known, and barbarisms. On the other hand, borrowings from French are known as Gallicisms. These are foreign words derived from the French language that have been incorporated into Spanish over the years.
Now, so that you do not fall into spelling mistakes, here are some very interesting tips to write the word yogurt correctly.
Instructions for writing yogurt or yogurt
- The main mnemonic that is recommended in orthography is the written repetition of the word. But not as calligraphy, but as part of a statement or speech. For example, you can write 10 love phrases with the word yogurt, or write 10 slogans that contain the word yogurt. Also, you can write a short story or a review about yogurt where you repeat the word at least 10 times.
- Another mnemonic is to learn the history and evolution of the term. To know the history of a term is to visualize a culture; this helps to associate the term with historical events which will later, by analogy, fix the spelling of the word more accurately and longer in your memory.
- As advised by the Royal Spanish Academy, in the Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts, it is advisable to avoid the formations of the term yogurt that do not adapt to the morphological structure of Spanish. For example, yogurt, since the -t in final position is not characteristic of the formation of words in Spanish. On the other hand, if they adapt to other morphological structures of other languages such as French or English.
- A very simple way to remember the correct way to write the word yogurt is from the plural formation. As you know, the plural in Spanish is represented from the endings -s or -es, depending on the case. Thus, when thinking of yoghurts, you will easily remember that you do not need to put the final -t, since there is no such thing as yoghurts or yoghurts.
- Remember that studying the formation of the plural in Spanish will help you a lot to avoid tracing word formation processes by derivation from other languages. For example, let’s look at the following list with its plurals:
- Spanish: singular yoghurt, plural yoghurts.
- Galician: singular iogur, plural iogurs.
- Basque: singular jogurt, plural jogurt.
- Catalan: singular iogurt, plural iogurts.
- English: yogurt, yoghurt, yoghourt, plural yoghurts.
- French: singular yaourt, plural yaourts.
- Turkish: singular yoğurt, plural yoğurtlar.
- Portuguese: singular iogurte, plural iogurtes.
- German: singular joghurt, plural Joghurts.
- Italian: singular yogurt, plural yogurt.
- Finally, cultivating the habit of reading is always good to fix the morphological image of the term in your memory. Therefore, we recommend that you try to read cooking recipes and other related content where the word yogurt appears; especially if they are of an advertising nature, because the colors of the letters and the backgrounds that accompany the word will help you to remember exactly its shape.
- In other words, to read and reread with enthusiasm. Even ads on social media for yogurt brands and subtitled YouTube videos can contribute to the image fixation process. So come on and enjoy the web.
What do you need to write yogurt or yogurt?
- The first thing you need to know, before anything else, is that foreign words have different ways of being assumed in a language. They can become semantic calques, fill a morphological gap in the language, and also become Spanish.
- The important thing is to recognize the difference that exists between the term in its official language and its Spanish form. In this way you will be able to identify possible derivations of it. For example, yogurt emerges yogurt maker. In this case, the original t is maintained because the formation yogurtera than yogurtera sounds more natural for Spanish speakers.
- On the other hand, when you have doubts about a term that is borrowed from another language, we recommend that you consult an etymological dictionary. In this way you will know the details of its structure and you will be able to cultivate a little more in etymorthography of the language.
- Another thing you need to improve your spelling in terms of foreign words is to constantly check the bilingual and grammar dictionaries of foreign words in Spanish. Above all thinking and emphasizing their syntactic and grammatical relationships such as the formation of plural derivations.
- To achieve this you will need to have at hand dictionaries of English, Italian, French and Latin; which are the most common languages from which we borrow Spanish.
- In addition, you need a lot of will and concentration so as not to lose attention at the moment in which you are going to write this term.
Tips for Writing Yogurt or Yogurt
- Learning spelling is more than an academic necessity, it is part of our idiosyncrasy as native Spanish speakers. Therefore, the first thing we advise you is to become aware of the true value of spelling within the language system.
- Don’t think anymore that spelling rules are arbitrarily invented by an elite group of renowned characters. Remember that any established norm is based on the analysis of the descriptions obtained from the collection of linguistic data collected by experts directly from common speakers.
- On the other hand, knowing that the language uses the adoption of foreign words will also help you to broaden your knowledge of other languages and their diachronic links with Spanish. Also, it is always interesting to discover the origins of the words, because many times we use them daily and we are unaware of that detail.
- Finally, after putting all these tips into practice , carry out a self-assessment, so that you can determine if you have really fixed it. You can do it by writing a short text where you use the word yogurt 8 times; and if you do not commit any fault you have achieved it.