Grupo Básico Español – lección diecinueve

Grupo Básico Español – lección diecinueve

Buenos días señores y señoras. Bienvenidos a la lección diecinueve de la clase de español.

OK, so this morning we’re going to be playing Body Parts Bingo, but first let’s see how well you know your body parts.

Go through body parts by pointing to bits of me.

Follow-up questions:

¿Soy gordo o corpulento? No soy delgado. ¿Qué creen? ¿Quizás bastante delgado?

¿Soy alto o bajo? ¿Qué creen?

¿Soy joven o viejo? Esa pregunta es fácil

¿De qué color es el pelo? Era pelirroja, pero ahora soy canoso.

¿El pelo es corto o largo?

¿El pelo es rizado o liso?

¿De qué color son los ojos? Mitad azul, mitad gris

How would you say: I am of medium height? Soy de estatura mediana.

How would you say: She is of medium height? Ella es de estatura mediana.

OK, now we’re going to play Body Parts Bingo. The rules of Body Parts Bingo are as follows:

1. Play one card at a time.
2. I will say the body part in Spanish, you have to translate to English and if it’s on your list cross it off.
3. When all your body parts are crossed off, you can shout Casa (which is, of course, Spanish for house).

Now let’s look at how we can describe ourselves and other people.

On Page 84, Section 1, there’s a picture of four people and a string of adjectives. These words will be familiar to us (if we’ve done our homework). What can we say about each person?

En la misma página, Sección 3. Mira el pelo de cada mujer. ¿Qué color es? ¿Puedes describir qué tipo de cabello tienen?

¿Qué color de ojos crees que tiene?

En la página Ochenta y Cinco, Sección Cuatro, hay cinco personas. From my description, can you put a name to each one. You might want to write on a piece of paper, or on your book – whatever!

1. Pepe está sentado a la izquierda – es alto, moreno.
2. Teresa está sentada a la derecha, la morena. Ella tiene el pelo corto y rizado.
3. María la del pelo largo.
4. El chico pelirrojo, se llama Carlos.
5. La chica del vestido rojo con pelo rubio, creo que se llama Jacinta.

In the centre section on Page 85, there are a couple of new phrases:

¿Qué te parecen mis amigos? What do you think of my friends ...

Me parece que ... I think that ...

We have come across several ways to say “I think”

We have used the verbs Pensar and Creer and now a new verb Parecer.

Pensar means to think and you should use it when you are thinking (ie processing thought): Dejame pensar por un momento – let me think for a moment.

Creer means to believe and it is the verb the Spanish would use most when expressing an opinion or view. We would say “I think that”, the Spanish would say “Creo que”. Creo que es hora de ir – I think it’s time to go.

Paracer means to seem and you’ll see that it’s often used like the verb gustar, so we have to put our sentence back to front (from an English point of view) and remember those indirect object pronouns.

Indirect Object Pronouns

I = me

You (informal) = te

He, she, it and you (formal) = le

We = nos

You (plural informal) = os

They, you (plural formal) = les

We will also need these when we go to the doctor.

Like gustar, we will tend to use just two conjugations of parecer.

Me gusto – it pleases me (I like it)

Me gustan – they please me (I like them)

Me parece – it seems to me

Me parecen – they seem to me

The Spanish would use the “it seems” conjugation is cases where the English would say “I seem” or “we seem”. Por ejemplo:

I seem to be running late - Parece que estoy llegando tarde

We seem to be running late - Parece que estamos llegando tarde

The phrase parece que is commonly used.

Here are some useful phrases:

Me parece recordar – I seem to remember

Me parece que llego tarde – I seem to be late

Me parece que llego temprano – I seem to be early

Te parece cansado hoy – You seem tired today.

That word cansado (tired) is similar to many other words. Don’t mistake it for casado ‘to be married’. One of our class had been to Spain last year and was practising his Spanish. He’d told the hotel that he was tired and they’d all laughed. It turns out he’d said: estoy castrado – I am castrated.

If you did want to say ‘I’m knackered’ in Spanish, say estoy hecho polvo.

Hecho means ‘made’, but also ‘indeed’. I am, indeed, knackered. Polvo can mean dust or also shattered.

So we have learned how to say what people look like, but can we say what kind of person they are? Here are some words to describe that:

Simpático/a, amable significa - friendly

Antipático/a, hostil, amistoso significa - unfriendly

Divertido/a significa – fun or entertaining

Aburrido/a significa - boring

Inteligente significa – clever, intelligent

Tonto/a significa - stupid

Extrovertido/a significa – outgoing, an extrovert

Timido/a significa – shy

How would you say?

1. He is very friendly Él es muy simpatico.
2. I don’t like that woman, she is unfriendly. No me gusta esa mujer. Ella es antipática
3. A day with Mike and Sue is great fun Un día con Mike y Sue es muy divertido
4. An hour with that man is so boring una hora con ese hombre es tan aburrida
5. She is very clever. Ella es muy inteligente
6. What a fool he is! ¡Qué tonto es él!
7. Marta is such an extrovert Marta es tan extrovertida
8. I feel sorry for Jim. He is so shy. Siento lástima por Jim. Es tan tímido.

Hand out homework for next week

For homework last week, I asked you to write a description of yourself so that someone picking you up at the airport would have an idea who you were. Well done to those who submitted work. Here’s a selection:

Ejemplo uno

Soy un hombre de sesenta y ocho anos. Tengo ciento sesenta y dos centímetros de altura. Soy de mediana estatura y tengo pelo blanco y soy calvo encima de mi

cabeza. Tengo barba de cabra y llevo gafas. Voy a usar pantalones beige, camisa

azul claro y un blazer crema. Voy a llevar una bolsa naranja.

Soy un hombre de sesenta y ocho anos años. Tengo ciento sesenta y dos centímetros de altura. Soy de mediana estatura y tengo pelo blanco y soy calvo encima de mi cabeza. Tengo barba de cabra chiva y llevo gafas. Voy a usar pantalones beige, camisa azul claro y un blazer crema. Voy a llevar una bolsa naranja.

Good use of ir to create future tense. A cabra is a goat, a chiva is an old goat. That’s the word the Spanish use for a goatee. The Spanish also say chaqueta de sport for blazer.

Ejemplo dos

Soy una mujer madura.  Soy pelo corto e gris.  Soy delgada y no muy alta.  Tengo ojos azules.  Voy a llevar una chaqueta negro.  ¡Mirar hacia fuera para el clavel rosado!

Soy una mujer madura.  Soy y tengo pelo corto e y gris [canoso].  Soy delgada y no muy alta.  Tengo ojos azules.  Voy a llevar una chaqueta negro negra.  ¡Mirar hacia fuera para el clavel rosado! Busca el clavel rosa

The second sentence says “I am short grey hair”, you need to use the verb tener (to have). Canoso means hoary as in grey and is often used to describe people with our hair colouring. It makes us sound more distinguished. I like your idea with the last sentence, but I think you may have said “look outside for the pink carnation”. Buscar is the verb “to search for” and is used when you’re looking for something. Also, Me pondre un clavel rosa.

Ejemplo tres

Soy alta y delgada y en mis años cincuenta. Me pelo es larga, rubia y ondulada. Usaré un abrigo rojo y un sombrero también gafas. Tendré un una pequeña maleta gris conmigo

Well done. Just got the gender of the suitcase wrong. Good use of future tense of to wear and to have.

Ejemplo cuatro

Soy bastante alto con cabello castaño claro, es liso y largo de hombres. Mi cabello esta teñido porque tango muchas canas. 

Tango una tez clara y mis ojos son azules/grises - no puedo decidir. No soy ni delgado ni gordo. No soy feo y no soy guapa - estoy en el medio!

Soy bastante alto alta con cabello castaño claro, es liso y largo de hombres a los hombros. Mi cabello esta teñido porque tango tengo muchas canas.

Tango Tengo una tez clara y mis ojos son azules/grises - no puedo decidir. No soy ni delgado delgada ni gordo gorda. ¡No soy feo fea y no soy guapa - estoy en el medio!

Hombres are men, hombros are shoulders. Maybe auto-correct caught you with the Tango, either that or you fancied a fizzy drink. Don’t forget the upside down exclamation mark at the front of the sentence. Tez is complexion.

We are working our way through Chapter 8. We have learned body parts, now we are off to see the doctor. How are you all feeling?

From doler, we get dolor (a pain). Dolor de cabeza is a headache. Estar con dolores is to be in labour, un dolor sordo is a dull, nagging pain.

The verb doler means to hurt.

The verb sentir means to feel

We can also use estar (to be) and even ser (to be) if it is a permanent problem

Tener means to have

Necesitar is to need

Ver is to see

Visitar is to visit

And other useful words

Enfermo/a is ill

Dolor is an ache

We can put together these verbs and nouns with the body parts we have been learning to tell a doctor what is wrong with us. We need those Indirect Object Pronouns again …

Doler means to hurt. It hurts is duele and they hurt is duelen.

To say something hurts in Spanish you have to turn the sentence around.

Not: My leg hurts me, instead we say Me, it hurts, the leg

In Spanish, that’s: me duele la pierna. Note that it is the leg that hurts, not your leg.

You can also use tener (to have):

Tengo una dolor de cabeza - I have a headache

Tengo tos – I have a cough

I have two videos. I’m afraid these are a little annoying (you’ll see why) but they do have some useful phrases. As always, links to these will be on the websites, so don’t worry if you don’t catch all the dialogue, you can watch again later (if you can bear it).

https://youtu.be/yyB8lD2HzYA

https://youtu.be/C9-kwdFoNFo

If your husband falls over and breaks a leg: él se ha roto la pierna you need to call 112 and be sure to have your insurance and European Health Card to hand. Do check what the emergency numbers are before visiting a country. In Peru, the ambulance is 117, in Ecuador it is 911.

Remember that he has broken the leg, not his leg. In Spanish you do not say “my arm hurts” you say “the arm hurts me” - me duele el brazo. Never: me duele mi brazo.

If you're staying in a hotel, you'd go to reception and the conversation might be something like:

¿Puede ayudarme por favor? Mi marido está enfermo, él necesita ver a un médico.

Now in reality, they´d probably speak very good English, but we want to learn, so we'll put our spouse's life at risk while we practise our Spanish:

¿Me puede dar el número del doctor?

¿Puedes decirme dónde está el doctor?

Calling the doctor is a little like calling a restaurant only instead of a table, you want to see a doctor.

Mi marido está enfermo, él necesita ver a un médico.

Sí ¿Es urgente?

Es bastante urgente. Él no puede respirar.

OK, hay una cita mañana de la mañana a las diez.

Exercise 2 at top of Page 86. Exercise 3 same page.

You can say to the doctor me duele or if two things hurt me duelen. You can also tell him that you have something using the verb tener:

Tengo dolor de cabeza

Tengo dolor de espalda

Tengo fiebre

Tengo gripe

Tengo tos

Tengo un resfriado

Tengo catarro

You can also explain how you are feeling by using the verb estar:

Estoy enfermo o estoy enferma

No estoy bien

Estoy cansado or estoy cansada. How would you say “I am tired all the time” - estoy cansado todo el tiempo

Estoy deprimido o estoy deprimida

Here are some more:

He estado vomitando

Él ha estado vomitando

Tengo diarrea

Tienes una pierna rota

Él tiene una reacción alérgica

Creo que está teniendo un ataque al corazón

Él no puede respirar