Grupo Básico Español – lección cinco
Grupo Básico Español – lección cinco
Buenos días (buenas tardes) a todos.
Todos = all, everyone
Todo el mundo = all the world
Cada uno = each one, everybody
Cada persona = each one, everybody
Bienvenidos a la lección cinco de la
clase de español.
Today we are going to learn to talk about our jobs and our
family. We also have a new verb and a lesson on ‘this’ and ‘that’
(demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns) – sorry, more grammar! We
might have time for a video …
First, back to names
We know how to ask someone's name. Ask someone to ask
me my name. If you're anything like me, you immediately forget. Here's how to
own up:
Lo siento, he olvidado tu nombre = I'm sorry I
have forgotten your name.
Lo siento, no recuerdo tu nombre = I'm sorry, I
do not remember your name.
Lo siento, recuérdame tu nombre = I'm sorry,
remind me of your name.
The verb to forget is olvidar.
It's a regular -ar verb and I forget is therefore (knock off the -ar and add o
= olvido). I have used the perfect tense here
and to create the past participle, we knock off the -ar ending and add -ado, so
olvidado.
The verb to remember and remind is recordar and I have used two examples here. Recuerdo is first person (I remember). To make it a
negative simply say no recuerdo (I do not remember).
To say 'remind me' hook ‘me’ on the end of the verb recuérdame
– this is one of the dreaded reflexive verbs.
No te preocupes, me llamo Eric = don’t worry, my
name is Eric.
Siempre olvido cosas = I am always forgetting things
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 noun)
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:
VIDEO XISCA
Xisca is talking about common words
and phrases to help us build longer sentences. https://youtu.be/POwgBKrlSPE
Verb of the week: Tener
Tener means 'to have' and the Spanish use it a
lot – for all kinds of things!
For example tengo que means 'I
have to' or 'Do I have to?' Tener is also used where, in English, we would say
'I am'. For example tengo sed, which to
translates to I have thirst, means 'I am thirsty'. You do not say estoy sed. It works in lots of instances including
being hungry and being hot.
In English, there are only two conjugations: He/she/it has
I/you/we/they
have
In Spanish, every group gets its own form of the verb and, of
course, there's also the formal and informal to consider.
Present Preterite
yo tengo tuve
tú tienes tuviste
él/ella /usted tiene tuvo
nosotros tenemos tuvimos
vosotros tenéis tuvisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes tienen tuvieron
Past participle: tenido
Gerund: teniendo
Examples (present tense):
Tengo que salir esta noche – I
have to go out tonight
¿Tienes frio? – are
you cold?
¿Cuántos años tiene ella? - how old is she?
Ella tiene dieciséis años - she
is sixteen years old
¿Tiene un dolor de cabeza? - do you have a
headache?
¿Tengo que trasbordar? - do
I have to change? (train, bus, etc)
Gerund: Estoy
teniendo un mal día – I am having a bad day
Examples (preterite):
No tuvimos suerte – we had no luck
Tuve unas vacaciones terribles – I had a terrible
holiday
Tuve un buen viaje – I
had a good journey
Tuve que hacerlo – I
had to do it
Perfect: He
tenido tres maridos – I have had three husbands
More conversation:
Two weeks ago, we learned how to ask someone their name, where
they were from and what languages they spoke. Now let us look at extending the
conversation, what else might we ask? We often say “and what do you do?” when
meeting someone new.
¿A qué te dedicas? (informal)
¿A qué se dedica? (formal)
¿Qué haces? (informal)
¿Qué hace? (formal)
¿En qué trabajas? (informal)
¿En qué trabaja?
(formal)
To answer you might say:
Soy jubilado/jubilada – I
am retired, followed by:
pero solía ser periodista. (solía is the imperfect tense of soler – to usually do)
I used to be a journalist.
He/she or you (formal) is also solía so you could say: él solía ser medico (he used to be a doctor). How would you
say “she used to be a doctor”?
You could be more vague about your
profession
Trabajo en una oficina – I work in an office
You might also say … trabajo de receptionista – I work as ...
Estoy estudiando medicina – I
am studying medicine
Estoy entrenando para ser
carpintero – I am training to be a carpenter
Estudio para ser profesor – I
study to be a teacher
and the most important job of all:
Me dedico al cuidado de niños
Me dedico cuidar de niños
There were some job titles for you to learn on last week´s
homework. I missed afew jobs out. These were the missing ones:
Postman = el cartero
Pall bearer = el portador de féretro
Electro-mechanical technician = técnico electro-mecánico
Boat cleaner = limpiador del barcos
Dental hygienist = la higienista dental
Computer software tester = probador del software
Computer programmer = el programador
Members of the family
Here are some names of family members:
Father – el padre Mother – la madre Husband
– el marido
Wife – la esposa (often “mi mujer” in
Spain) Son – el hijo
Daughter – la hija Brother – el hermano Sister
– la hermana
Grandfather – el abuelo Grandmother – la abuela Grandchildren – los nietos
Children – los hijos Grandson – el nieto Granddaughter – la nieta
Cousin – primo or prima Daughter-in-law
– la nuera
Son-in-law – el yerno Nephew – el sobrino Niece – la sobrina
Aunt – la tía (tiíta is the informal auntie) Uncle – el tío
Also talk about abuelita, abuelito, papá, mami. With Aunt, it
is often the name that is colloquialised, not the title ' so Aunt Ann would
become tía Anita.
Asking about someone's family …
How would we do that?
The verb tener means to have.
You have is tienes and “you have a family” would
be tienes una familia. To ask if someone has a
family use an upward inflection so the listener knows it is a question ¿tienes familia?
To answer, you would say: Sí, (in my case) estoy casado,
y tengo tres hijos, también tres nietos y uno más en diciembre.
How would you ask
the name of my wife?
¿Cómo se llama tu esposa? Mi esposa se llama Margaret
¿Cómo se llaman tus hijos? Mis hijos se llaman Tom, Sam y Max
¿Cómo se llaman tus nietos? Mis nietos se llaman Julia, Arthur y Aureliano
You might also
ask:
¿Estás
casado-a? Are
you married? There are lots of possible answers
Sí, estoy casado/a.
Sí he estado casado por
cuarenta y tres años y somos muy felices.
No, no estoy cansado.
Mi marido está muerto, soy
viuda.
Estoy divorciado/a.
No, soy soltero/a.
¿Tienes
hermanos? Do
you have brothers or sisters? Sí, tengo
una hermana or no, soy hijo unico. If you were a woman, what would your answer be. Soy hija única.
¿Tienes
hijos? Do you have children?
Making an introduction:
Of course, there are several ways to introduce someone:
In an informal situation, you might simply say: “this is ...”
In a more formal situation
you might say “can I
introduce ...”
Este es mi… (man)
Esta es mi…
(woman)
Te presento a mi… (informal)
Le presento a mi… (formal)
vecino,
vecina, amigo, amiga, colega de trabajo. Su nombre es ...
In response, you might say:
Mucho gusto …
pleased to meet you
Encantado (man)
Encantada (woman)
Sus tarea esta semana
Read and absorb Chapter
2
of Sueños. The this-and-that quiz
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