Grupo Básico Español – lección treinta y tres
Grupo Básico Español – lección treinta y tres
Buenos días y bienvenidos a la lección treinta y tres de
la clase de español.
¿Qué tenemos esta semana?
1.
Gimnasio para el cerebro
2. Nuestra historia, La Profe
3. Un video de Maria Dolores
4.
Sueños - el capítulo once continúa
¡Empecemos!
Last week we
tested ourselves with quick fire questions – are you ready for some more? No
treats this time, sorry, but the words are all about food.
La Profe
Video
Last week
the Gipsy Kings mentioned Maria Dolores in Baila Me. But who was she? María
Dolores Fernández Pradera was born in 1924 and died on 28 May 2018, aged
93. She was one of the best-loved singers in Spain and Latin America, being
known as La Gran Señora de la
Canción.
She started
her career as an actress but, during the 1950s, she began singing and recorded
more than 35 albums. She specialised in traditional Spanish and Latin American
music. I love the female voice and especially a fine contralto like Maria.
Wikipedia
says she sings with a pure Castilian accent, while her music is pure Latin
American. Typically, she sang accompanied by guitars, requintos, and
drums. A requinto is a smaller, higher-pitched version of an instrument (in
this case a guitar).
She sang for
close to 30 years with the same group, Los Gemelos, formed by twin brothers,
Santiago and Julián López Hernández, until the death of Santiago in the early
1990s.
I have
chosen her song Habaneras de Cádiz. She is in Havana, a city she loves,
thinking of Cadiz, another city she loves. Habanera, as opera lovers will know
is the alternative title of L’Amor, the opening song sung by Carmen in Bizet’s
opera of the same name.
Habanera is also a style of music with a
particular rhythm. It came from Europe as the contradanza, but in Cuba, it took on
African influences. The mambo and cha cha cha evolved from Cuban contradanza.
Outside Cuba, contradanza became
known as habanera – the dance of Havana.
So the habanera in Habanera de Cadiz refers to the style of music.
Has anybody
been to Cadiz? It is reckoned to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in
Europe, founded by the Phoenicians in the bronze age and the home port of the
Spanish navy. They sailed from Cadiz to
battle Nelson at Trafalgar and it was the starting point for many ships sailing
to the new world.
La Caleta is
a beach in Cadiz
El Malecón
is a long stretch of coast in Havana.
Las Puertas de Tierra are famous gates in the walls of Cadiz. The city once
had several layers of walls, only one of these remain today. By the 20th
century it was necessary to remodel the entrance to the Old City to accommodate
modern traffic. Today, the two side-by-side arches cut into the wall serve as
one of the primary entrances to the city.
La Viña is a barrio in Cadiz
El
Mentidero another area of old
Cadiz
You’ll also see that there’s no political
correctness. She says Havana is Cadiz with more blacks and Cadiz is Havana with
more whites.
"Piriñaca" is a salad
accompaniment used in Cadiz, for grilled fish, especially mackerel. Each
province has a different preparation and composition. Typically, it is made with peeled tomatoes,
oil, green pepper and garlic.
Chirigota a type of Spanish folk song from Cadiz
Enough
talking, let’s listen to Maria Dolores
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/ANZIKv-5LQQ
This and that - demonstrative adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives are adjectives that are used to modify a noun
so that we know which specific person, place, or thing is mentioned. When
we say ‘this chair’, the word ‘this’ is a demonstrative adjective. OK, so
perhaps you have been using them for years without knowing what they were?
In Spanish, the demonstrative adjective we choose
depends on how far away you are and it’s the same in English, we say ‘this
chair’ if it’s close to us and ‘that chair’ if it’s the other side of the room.
I have to say, in Spanish, I found this the most
confusing lesson of all (until I got to reflexive verbs at least) …
Why was it confusing? Because one of the Spanish
words for ‘this’ is esta and I had been used to saying está (he or she is/you are). It’s funny how
little things throw you. In Spanish, there’s also an exta ‘that’ for objects
which are even further away.
So they have a demonstrative adjective for ‘this
chair’ if it’s close to us and ‘that chair’ if it’s the other side of the room,
also one for ‘that chair’ if it’s further away. And just as we have this/these
and that/those, there are plurals in Spanish too; and, of course, masculine and
feminine.
1. To describe a noun that is close to
the speaker
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
|
|
Masculine
|
este (this)
|
estos (these)
|
|
Feminine
|
esta (this)
|
estas (these)
|
Este restaurante es mi favorito. (This restaurant is my favourite.)
Esta casa es grandísima. (This house is
enormous.)
¡Estos burritos
son fantásticos! (These burritos
are fantastic!)
Estas margaritas son ricas. (These margaritas
are delicious.)
2. To describe a noun that is not very
close to the speaker
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
|
|
Masculine
|
ese (that)
|
esos (those)
|
|
Feminine
|
esa (that)
|
esas (those)
|
Quiero ese helado blanco. (I want that white ice cream.)
Traeme esa camisa,
por favor. (Bring me that shirt, please.)
Esos monos son cómicos. (Those monkeys
are funny.)
Esas flores son mis favoritas. (Those flowers are my favourites)
So far, so good (bien hasta ahora). But
there’s another word in Spanish for something that’s even further away. How far
does it have to be? ¡Buena pregunta!
3. To describe a noun that is far away
from the speaker
|
Singular
|
Plural
|
|
|
Masculine
|
aquel (that over
there)
|
aquellos (those
over there)
|
|
Feminine
|
aquella (that
over there)
|
aquellas (those
over there)
|
Este león
es peligroso. (This lion right
here is dangerous)
Ese león
es peligroso. (That lion just
there is dangerous)
Aquel león no es peligroso. (That lion right over there is
not dangerous)
Aquella chica es muy guapa. (That girl over
there is really pretty.)
Aquellos edificios son los más viejos de la
ciudad. (Those buildings over there are the
oldest in the city.)
Aquellas nubes llevan la lluvia. (Those clouds over there bring the
rain)
Demonstrative
pronouns
I think that’s confusing, but
we’re just about keeping up. So now I’m going to talk about demonstrative
pronouns. Who knows what a pronoun is?
As we all know, a pronoun is
a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. Demonstrative
pronouns are pronouns that point to specific things: this,
that, these, and those, as in “take these to the table.”
Imagine you had two pasteles (cakes)
in front of you, and someone asked you which one you wanted. If you were
feeling particularly succinct, you could simply respond with este (this one) or ese (that one). Este and ese are both demonstrative pronouns.
While they look very similar to demonstrative adjectives, demonstrative pronouns replace,
rather than describe, a noun.
In the past, demonstrative
pronouns were always written with a tilde (accent) to
differentiate them from demonstrative adjectives. So you could have:
está – he is
esta – this (demonstrative adjective)
ésta – this (demonstrative pronoun)
You can see why I
hated this lesson!
Well, there´s good
news. The RAE (Real Academia Española), the institution responsible for regulating
the Spanish language, has ruled that the tildes are no longer necessary. The
bad news is that you will still see accents on demonstrative pronouns in books
and Word spell/grammar checker still recognises them.
¿Quieres esta manzana? - Would you like this apple?
¿Quieres esta? - Would you like this? (I’m holding an
apple)
There’s more – there is also a gender’ neutral
version used to describe abstract things or ideas:
Esto –
this matter/thing – Qué es esto (what
is this)
Eso –
that matter/thing – Eso no me gusta (I don’t like that)
Aquello –
that matter/thing (over there) – ¡Aquello fue
un milagro! (that was a miracle!)
If you want to know more, check out these two
videos:
Sueños, capítulo once - checking into the hotel …
We’re into
Chapter 11 and looking at booking a hotel room. The word for balcony is a near
cognate: balcón. How would you say: I want a twin room, en suite with a
balcony?
Quiero una habitación doble con dos camas, un
baño privado y un balcón.
Remember the
verb to stay is quedar and because it is you who is staying (in this case) we
make it reflexive: quedarse.
How would
you say: I want to stay for three days?
Quiero quedarme para tres días.
Last week,
we did the future tense. Can you remember how to conjugate verbs in the future
tense? The verb to arrive is llegar. How would you say: I will arrive on Friday?
Llegaré
el viernes
How would
you say: We will arrive on Saturday?
Llegaremos
el sábado
How would
you say: We will arrive on Saturday and we will stay for a week?
Llegaremos el sábado y nos quedaremos para una
semana.
There is
another way of creating the future tense (by using the verb ir). Using ir, can
you say: We will arrive on Saturday?
Vamos
a llegar el sábado
And can you say:
We will arrive on Saturday and we will stay for a week?
Vamos a llegar el sábado y vamos a quedarnos
para una semana.
Tell the
receptionist you would like a double room with a double bed and en suite
bathroom for two nights.
Quisiera una habitación doble, con cama doble y
un baño privado por dos noches.
Ask how much
the room costs and whether breakfast is included.
¿Cuál es el precio de la habitación? ¿Está incluido
el desayuno?
Ask if the
room has air-conditioning and if there is a restaurant in the hotel.
¿Hay aire acondicionado en la
habitación? ¿Hay un restaurante en el hotel?
Let’s assume
you have made a reservation and you arrive at your hotel. It’s
time to check in ...
Buenos días
¿Tiene usted una reserva?
¿A nombre de quién?
Sí Snr, aquí está.
Snr, me pone aquí su dirección, número de
pasaporte, su firma aquí y aquí, y su tarjeta de crédito por favor.
Snr, su habitación es la dos mil y noventa
siete. Está subiendo las escaleras, a mano derecha y bienvenida.
Let’s look
in more detail at the questions you are likely to be asked:
What name:
¿Cuál es su apellido, por
favor? – what is your surname.
¿Cuál es su
nombre? – what is your name
¿Como se
llama, por favor? – what is your name
The details:
Por favor, me da el número de su pasaporte
Su dirección permanente
How long will you stay?
¿Por cuántos días va a permanecer aquí en el hotel?
¿Por cuántos días va a quedarse aquí en el hotel?
¿Cuántos días se quedará en el hotel? Me quedaré por tres noches
Finally, the bill:
¿En qué forma nos cancelaría su cuenta?
¿Cómo le gustaría pagar?
Making complaints … tengo una queja (a hacer)
Something is
missing – No hay ...
Something is
not working – No funciona ...
Something is dirty -
........ está/estan sucio/s
There are no
towels in the bathroom
No hay toallas en el baño - Lo siento, la
camarera las traerá ahora
The towels
in the bathroom are dirty
Las toallas en el baño están sucias - Lo
siento, las cambiaremos ahora
The television is not working
La televisión no funciona – vale, alguien la
revisará
The room is dirty
El cuarto está sucio
La habitación está sucia – no, se limpió esta
mañana
The
air-conditioning is not working
El aire acondicionado no funciona – ¡Ha! No hace calor
hoy
The bathroom
is dirty
El baño está sucio - No tenemos limpiadores. Los haremos más
tarde.
There is no
soap in the bathroom
No hay jabón en el baño - Usted tiene que
comprar su propio jabón
The bed is dirty
La cama está sucia - Lo siento mucho, señora.
La camarera le atenderá de inmediato
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