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En el avión-On the plane

3/20/2016

¿A que hora parte el avión?
(What time does the plane take off?)
¿Por qué está retrasado el avión?
(Why is the plane delayed?)
Abrochese el cinturon.
(Fasten your belt)
¿Puede darme una manta?
(May I have a blanket?)
Me gustaría una comida vegetariana.
(I'd like vegetarian food.)
¿Puedo cambiar de asiento?
(Can I change my seat?)
Quisiera una siento junto al pasillo/ a la ventana.
(I'd like an aisle seat/window seat)
¿Me puede dar un poco de agua?
(Can I have some water?)

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La playa by La oreja de Van Gogh

3/5/2016

Listen to the song, sing along and check the translation.

Spanish

No sé si aún me recuerdas,
nos conocimos al tiempo
tú, el mar y el cielo
y quién me trajo a ti.
Abrazaste mis abrazos
vigilando aquel momento,
aunque fuera el primero,
lo guardara para mí.
Si pudiera volver a nacer
te vería cada día amanecer
sonriendo como cada vez,
como aquella vez.
Te voy a escribir la canción más bonita del mundo,
voy a capturar nuestra historia en tan solo un segundo.
y un día verás que este loco de poco se olvida,
por mucho que pasen los años de largo en su vida.
El día de la despedida
de esta playa de mi vida
te hice una promesa:
volverte a ver así.
Más de cincuenta veranos
hace hoy que no nos vemos
ni tú, ni el mar ni el cielo
ni quien me trajo a ti.
Si pudiera volver a nacer
te vería cada día amanecer
sonriendo como cada vez,
como aquella vez.
Te voy a escribir la canción más bonita del mundo,
voy a capturar nuestra historia en tan solo un segundo.
y un día verás que este loco de poco se olvida,
por mucho que pasen los años de largo en su vida.

English

I don't know if you still remember me,
we met each other at once
you, the sea, and the sky
and who brought me here
You hugged my hugs
looking out that moment,
although it was the first time,
I keep it for myself.
If I could be born again
I'd see you every day at dawn
smiling like the first time
like that time
I'm going to write the most beautiful song in the world for you,
I'm going to capture our history in just one second.
one day you'll see that this crazy cant be forgotten, although many years passed for his whole life.
The day we said goodbye
from this beach of my life
I made a promise to you,
to see you again this way.
More than fifty summers
since we don't see each other
not you, the sea, or the sky
nor who brought me here.
If I could be born again
I'd see you every day at dawn
smiling like the first time
like that time
I'm going to write the most beautiful song in the world for you,
I'm going to capture our history in just one second.
one day you'll see that this crazy can't be forgotten, although many years passed for his whole life.

El imperativo usted y ustedes-Command forms Ud. and Uds.

1/29/2016

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Follow the next steps to form the imperative:

Drop the -o of the first person singular of the present indicative.
Add the following:

-e for Ud. and -en for uds if the original verb ends in -ar.
-a for Ud. and -an for Uds. if the original verb ends in -er
-a for Ud. and -an for Uds. if the original verb ends in -ir

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Examples:

A: Por favor, hable en francés.
(Please, speak in French.)
B: Lo siento, no hablo francés.
(I'm sorry, I don't speak French)

A:Coma las zanahorias.
(Eat the carrots)
B: No, no me gustan las zanahorias.
(No, I don't like carrots.)

A:Diga su nombre completo.
(Say your full name)
B: Mi nombre es Sandra Lopez.
(Mi name is Sandra Lopez)

Los verbos Pedir y Preguntar-The Verbs pedir and preguntar

11/29/2015

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The English verb "ASK" can be understood in two different ways in Spanish. These forms are "Pedir" and "Preguntar"

"PEDIR" means to ask for or to request something.
"PREGUNTAR" means to ask a question.

See the following examples:

A: ¿Tú vas a pedir dinero a tu padre?
B: Si, voy a pedirle 10 dólares.

(A: Are you going to ask your father for money?)
(B: Yes, I'm going to ask him for 10 dollars.)

A: ¿Qué vas a preguntar al profesor?
B: Voy a preguntarle la fecha del examen.

(A:What are you going to ask the teacher?)
(B:I'm going to ask him for the exam date.)

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3 pasos para la conjugación de verbos regulares en el presente simple-Three steps for regular verb conjugation in the simple present.

11/2/2015

Regular verbs are those verbs that end in -ar;-er;-ir. Their conjugation in the simple present is quite simple. Just look at the chart below.

To conjugate a verb in the simple present follow the next directions:

Identify the infinitive verb ending. For example Mirar ends in -ar
Drop the ending, keep the root of the verb. In the example Mir-
Select the pronoun you want to conjugate and add the correc ending. Let's see: Yo miro, Tú miras, Él mira, Nosotros miramos, Ellos miran.

One more example with the verb leer:

Leer ends in -er.
Keep the root Le-
Add the ending (yo)leo, (tú)lees,(é/ella)lee,(nosotros)leemos, (ellos/ellas) leen.

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3 Reglas básicas de la pronunciación del español-Three basic rules for Spanish pronunciation

10/15/2015

Rule 1
Stress the second-to-last syllable if the word ends on the vowels (a,e,i,o,u) or the consonants "s" or "n"
Examples
Mesa (table), Gente (people), Taxi (taxi), Perro (dog) Tribu (tribe), Carros (cars), Miran (they look at)

Rule 2
If the word ends in a consonat except "n" or "s", stress the last syllable.
Examples
Llevar (to carry), Edad (age), Mujer (woman), Verdad (truth), total (total), etc.

Rule 3
Many words don't follow the above rules, but they have the accent mark (´) to specifically show which syllable is stressed.
Lápiz (pencil), Menú (menu), Canción (song), Árbol (tree), Azúcar (sugar)

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¿Cómo está el clima?/¿Qué tiempo hace?-How's the weather?

10/2/2015

In Spanish, there are two ways to talk about the weather. You can use the verb ‘hacer’ (to do) or simply the verb be (estar). Look at the following dialogs:

¿Cómo está el clima? (How's the weather?)
Está soleado. (It's sunny.)
Está frío. (It's cold.)
Está humedo. (It's humid)
Está nublado. (It's cloudy.)
Está lluvioso. (It's rainy.)
Está nevando. (It's snowing.)
Está muy bueno. (It's nice.)
Está muy malo. (It's awful.)

Audio

¿Qué tiempo hace? (How's the weather?)
Hace sol. (It's sunny.)
Hace frio. (It's cold)
Hace viento. (It's windy)
Hace buen tiempo. (It's really nice)
Hace mal tiempo. (It's awful.)

Audio

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Los pronombres de complemento directo en español-Spanish direct object pronouns-simple present

8/12/2015

A Direct Object pronoun is a noun or pronoun that receives the verb's action.
For example:

Yo pateo la pelota.
(I kick the ball)
Yo la pateo
(I kick it)

Yo=subject; pateo=verb; la pelota=direct object.
Notice how the direct object pronoun in Spanish is placed between the subject and the main verb.

Spanish
Yo pinto la pared
Yo la pinto.

English
(I paint the wall.)
(I paint it.)

The following chart shows the correspondent object pronoun for each personal pronoun.

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En el hotel-At the hotel

6/7/2015

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Recepcionista: Buenas tardes,¿En qué puedo servirle?
Cliente:Necesito una habitación, por favor?
Recepcionista: ¿Desea una habitación simple o doble?
Cliente: Una habitación simple. El cuarto tiene baño privado, ¿no?
Recepcionista: Si, también tiene televisión por cable y conexión inalámbrica a Internet.
Cliente: ¿Cuánto cobran la noche?
Recepcionista: Sesenta dólares.¿Cuántas noches va a quedarse?
Cliente: Dos noches.
Recepcionista: ¿Desea pagar en efectivo o con tarjeta de crédito?
Cliente: En efectivo.
Recepcionista: Correcto. Aquí tiene las llaves. Su habitación es la 303. El botones le ayudará con su equipaje.
Cliente: Muchas gracias.

Receptionist: Good afternoon, what I can do for you?
Customer: I need a room, please?
Receptionist: Do you want a single or double room?
Client: A single room. The room has a private bathroom, right?
Receptionist: Yes, it also has cable TV and wireless Internet conection.
Customer: What do you charge for a night?
Receptionist: Sixty dólares.How many nights will you stay?
Customer: Two nights.
Receptionist: Do you want to pay with cash or credit card?
Customer: Cash.
Receptionist: Right. Here are the keys. Your room is 303. The bellboy will help you with your luggage.
Customer: Thank you.

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Asking Yes/No questions-Formulando preguntas afirmativas y negativas

3/14/2015

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Asking Yes/No questions in Spanish is really easy. It basically consists on a change of intonation over a simple afirmative sentence. For example:

Afirmative sentence:
Tú trabajas en el hospital. /Flat intonation/ (You work at the hospital.)
Question:
¿Tú trabajas en el hospital? /Rising intonation/ (Do you work a the hospital?)

Listen to this example in the following audio.

Very often you might want to drop the personal pronoun.

Affirmative sentence:
Ella tiene dos hijos. (She has two children.)
Question:
¿Ella tiene dos hijos? (Does she have two children?)
Dropping the pronoun:
¿Tiene dos hijos? (Does she have two children?)

Listen to this example in the following audio.