Grupo Básico Español – lección veintiseis

Grupo Básico Español – lección veintiseis

Buenos días a todos. Bienvenidos a la lección veintiséis de la clase de español.

Don’t forget! This is the last class for April, we are back on May 7 and have 10 classes before the summer break.

From September, I may run a Basic Spanish class and a Basic Plus class, it depends upon numbers. Next term, I’ll make a list of those interested and whether you can do mornings or afternoons. We’ll see whether we have enough people going forward.

PhD student Poppy Young and her work. Forms and visit in May to do some interviews.

OK, now we start Chapter 10, which is all about travel, buying tickets and checking times – really useful stuff if you’re travelling around Spain or the Spanish-speaking world.

Before we catch the bus, however, I want to teach you a Spanish phrase that can mean lots of different things and I guarantee you will never forget it!

Español en cinco minutos

La frase es: eso sí que es

Why won’t you forget it? Just think of what you put on your feet …

no zapatos … S-O-C-K-S

So,  eso sí que es can mean many things and it’s one of those phrases that you can’t translate directly

1. It can be used for emphasis: 

a. that really is 

¡Ella corrió los cien metros en menos de diez segundos! - vaya, eso sí que es asombroso. She ran the 100 meters in less than 10 seconds! - Wow, that really is amazing.

b. that's really 

Luis insultó a sus compañeros de clase - eso sí que es feo. Luis insulted his classmates - that's really bad.

c. that's certainly 

Julio puede que no sea muy simpático, pero siempre nos apoyó. - Eso sí que es cierto. Julio may not be very nice, but he always supported us. - That's certainly true.

2. It can be used to express amazement

a. that's what I call 

¡Eso sí que es un pastel! That's what I call a cake!

b. that's some 

¡Caramba, eso sí que es un coche! Jeez, that's some car!

So remember, when you want to emphasise something or express amazement, think of your SOCKS.

Let’s start with a quick quiz. Do you know the Spanish word for the following?

There are a lot of cognates …

1.    The train

2.    The car

3.    The plane

4.    The bus

5.    The taxi

6.    The metro

7.    The ferry

8.    The train station

9.    The airport

10. The bus station

1.    The train – el tren

2.    The car – el coche (el carro in LA)

3.    The plane – el avión

4.    The bus – el autobus (el bus in LA)

5.    The taxi – el taxi

6.    The metro – el metro

7.    The ferry – el ferry

8.    The train station – la estación de tren

9.    The airport - el aeropuerto

10. The bus station - la estación de autobuses

Let’s look at some useful verbs to use when travelling:

Querer – to want

Yo quiero

Tú quieres

Él, ella, usted quiere

Nos queremos

Vos queréis

Ellos, ellas, ustedes quieren

Other useful travelling verbs:

Ir – to go

Poder – to be able

Venir – to come

Coger – to catch (it also means to grab or seize)

Volar – to fly

Llegar – to arrive, to get to

Tomar – to take

Viajar – to journey

Those in red are irregular verbs or have a stem change when conjugated, so we have to learn the irregularities, those in green are regular -ar verbs.

Ir (to go)

Yo voy                   

Tú vas

Él, ella, usted va    

Nos vamos

Vos vais                 

Ellos, ellas, ustedes van

Because the conjugations are so different, it’s easy to forget the infinitive is ir, and it’s used a lot in that form:

Can I go to Madrid by train from here? - ¿Puedo ir a Madrid en tren desde aquí?

It’s also used (as in English) to create the future tense:

We are going to go to Madrid tomorrow – Vamos a ir a Madrid mañana.

We will eat here tonight – Vamos a comer aquí esta noche.

I will do it later - Voy a hacerlo más tarde

Poder (to be able to)

Yo puedo                         

Tú puedes

Él, ella, usted puede        

Nos podemos

Vos podéis                      

Ellos, ellas, ustedes pueden

Can we fly to Quito from London? ¿Podemos volar a Quito desde Londres?

Can I get to Gijon by bus? ¿Puedo llegar a Gijón en autobús?

Can you help me please? ¿Puede ayudarme por favor?

Tomar (to take) – also used a lot in the infinitive

Yo tomo                          

Tú tomas

Él, ella, usted toma          

Nos tomamos

Vos tomáis                      

Ellos, ellas, ustedes toman

… and also used a lot in the imperative.

You (informal) take is: toma and the negative is no tomes

You (formal) take is: tome and the negative is no tome

Can we take this bus to get to Malaga? ¿Podemos tomar este autobús para llegar a Málaga?

Which train should we take for Madrid? ¿Qué tren tomamos para Madrid?

Do not take the blue train, that arrives much later. No tome el tren azul, que llega mucho más tarde.

There are three buses to Malaga, take the one that stops at Fuengirola. Hay tres autobuses a Málaga, tome el que se detiene en Fuengirola.

Coger (to catch)

Yo cojo                            

Tú coges

Él, ella, usted coge          

Nos cogemos

Vos cogéis                       

Ellos, ellas, ustedes cogen

Estoy cogiendo el tren de las seis en punto. I am catching the train at six on the dot.

¿Dónde cogeremos el tren de Bilbao? Where will we catch the train for Bilbao?

¿Qué autobús cojo para Málaga? Which bus do I catch for Malaga? Tomo also works well in this situation.

Venir (to come)

Yo vengo                         

Tú vienes

Él, ella, usted viene          

Nos venimos

Vos venís                         

Ellos, ellas, ustedes vienen

What time will you come? ¿A qué hora vas a venir?

I am going to come next week. Voy a venir la próxima semana.

Would you like to come with me? ¿Te gustaría venir conmigo?

Viajar (to journey, to travel)

Yo viajo                           

Tú viajas

Él, ella, usted viaja          

Nos viajamos

Vos viajáis                       

Ellos, ellas, ustedes viajan

A journey is: un viaje

The gerund is: viajando

Did you have a good journey? ¿Tuviste un buen viaje? (informal preterite)

Did you have a good journey? ¿Ha tenido un buen viaje? (perfect tense)

We have a long journey tomorrow. Tenemos un viaje largo mañana.

I am travelling to Quito via Mexico. Viajo a Quito via Mexico

Volar (to fly)

Yo vuelo                          

Tú vuelas

Él, ella, usted vuela          

Nos volamos

Vos voláis                        

Ellos, ellas, ustedes vuelan

The gerund form is volando, so: Estoy volando mañana (present continuous tense)

The noun (a flight) is vuelo, so: Nuestro vuelo sale a las once de la mañana.

We fly from Gatwick this time. Volamos desde Gatwick esta vez.

Llegar (to arrive)

Yo llego                           

Tú llegas

Él, ella, usted llega          

Nos llegamos

Vos llegáis                       

Ellos, ellas, ustedes llegan

I arrive at Madrid at 9am. Llego a Madrid a las nueve de la mañana.

We will arrive at 3pm. Vamos a llegar a las tres de la tarde.

We will arrive at 3pm. Llegaremos a las tres de la tarde.

What time do you arrive tomorrow? ¿A qué hora llegas mañana? (informal)

The bus I take to work is always full. El autobus que tomo para llegar al trabajo siempre está lleno.

The only way to get to the island is by boat. La única manera de llegar a la isla es por bote.

Conducir and Manejar (to drive)

Yo conduzco                    

Tú conduces

Él, ella, usted conduce               

Nos conducimos

Vos conducís                   

Ellos, ellas, ustedes conducen

Gerund (or present participle): conduciendo - Disfruté conduciendo aquí.

I drive to work: Conduzco al trabajo

I am going to drive to Spain this summer: Voy a conducir a españa este verano

We drive a Ford Galaxy because it has seven seats. Conducimos un Ford Galaxy porque tiene siete asientos.

Yo manejo                       

Tú manejas

Él, ella, usted maneja                

Nos manejamos

Vos manejáis                             

Ellos, ellas, ustedes manejan

Gerund (or present participle): manejando

Erika Ender

We’re going to improve our Spanish in a fun way by watching videos and studying lyrics of well-known Spanish songs. This week’s example is a little risqué. In fact, I think anyone who suffers from high blood pressure or a dodgy heart should leave for 10 minutes. We’re going to listen to Despacito by Luis Fonsi.

Despacito, of course, means “slowly” in English. The song is performed by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi with Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee. They co-wrote the song with Erika Ender, a Colombian singer/songwriter.

Commercially, the song topped the charts of 47 countries and reached the top 10 of ten others. It became the first song in Spanish to top the Billboard Hot 100 since "Macarena" in 1996, and the longest-reigning number one with 16 weeks. The song is also the longest-reigning number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart with 52 weeks.

The song was popular, but the video went absolutely ballistic.

In August 2017, the official music video for "Despacito" became the most viewed YouTube video of all time after receiving its three billionth view. It became the first video on the site to reach the milestones of three, four, five and six billion views. It currently has 6.02 billion – two billion more than its nearest rival (Ed Sheeran’s The Shape of You).

In Spanish, a billion is mil millones.

Zuleyka Rivera

We’re going to watch the video now. It shows both artists performing the song in La Perla barrio of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico and the local bar La Factoría. It also features Zuleyka Rivera, a Puerto Rican actress, TV host, dancer, model and beauty queen who won Miss Universe 2006. She made her debut as a telenovela actress in Mexico's Telemundo soap opera Dame Chocolate in 2007.

Maybe we’ll do it twice, once so you can enjoy the video and once reading the lyrics.

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/kJQP7kiw5Fk

In 2017, Puerto Rico was hit by the devastating Hurricane Maria, with winds of up to 175mph. Sixty-four people were killed. La Perla was one of the areas hardest hit. The barrio made famous by Despacito was devastated.

The US and the Trump administration were widely criticised for the lack of urgency in delivering help to the island and for insisting that aid money had to be paid back, something that Texas and Florida were not required to do.

Trump, of course, famously could not pronounce Puerto Rico.

The Spanish lyrics have introduced us to a couple of new verbs:

Gritar (a regular -ar verb) meaning to shout, scream, shriek or cry out. A gritos means at the top of your voice.

Pegar (a regular -ar verb with a slight spelling change in the preterit and subjunctive forms) means to beat, slap or hit; also to stick, glue or paste. Pegando is the gerund and nos vamos pegando is the present continuous tense (we are sticking together).

OK, back to Chapter 10 of Sueños. Aquí hay tres personas que hablan sobre el tipo de transporte que normalmente usan.

Persona uno:

Maria: ¿Siempre va usted en autobús?

Lucía: Siempre en autobús, sí exactamente.

Maria: ¿Y le gusta viajar en autobús?

Lucía: Me encanta.

What mode of transport does Lucía always use? Does she like it? Write a sentence answering those questions.

Lucía siempre va en autobús.

A Lucía le encanta el autobús.

Persona dos:

Carlos: Uso el metro por las mañanas para ir a trabajar.

Luis: ¿Usas el tren?

Carlos: Uso el tren ocasionalmente. Algunos fines de semana viajo para visitar a mi familia fuera de Madrid y algún otro viaje de placer, normalmente, fines de semana.

How does Carlos travel to work? When does he use the train? Write a sentence answering those questions.

Carlos usa el metro para viajar a trabajar.

Él viaja en tren algunos fines de semana para visitar a su familia fuera de Madrid.