Sunday, July 27, 2008

Los Números del 0 al 30- Numbers from 0 to 30

We cannot go very far without running into numbers! As a result today we are going to count together from zero (cero) to thirty (treinta) according to La Real Academia Española (RAE).



1
uno
11
once
21
veintiuno
2
dos
12
doce
22
veintidós
3
tres
13
trece
23
veintitrés
4
cuatro
14
catorce
24
veinticuatro
5
cinco
15
quince
25
veinticinco
6
seis
16
dieciséis
26
veintiséis
7
siete
17
diecisiete
27
veintisiete
8
ocho
18
dieciocho
28
veintiocho
9
nueve
19
diecinueve
29
veintinueve
10
diez
20
veinte
30
treinta

The RAE discorages the other ways to write numbers 16 to 19 and 21 to 29 seen in very old books such as diez y seis (16);diez y nueve (19), etc.



For those of you young at heart, there is a version of a Spanish children's song with numbers. It is called Una Muñeca Vestida de Azul ( A Doll Wearing a Blue Dress)


 


 Tengo una muñeca vestida de azul, con su camisita y su canesú, la saqué a paseo y se me enfermó, la metí a la cama con mucho dolor, esta mañanita me dijo el doctor que le dé jarabe con el tenedor. Dos y dos son cuatro, cuatro y dos son seis, seis y dos son ocho, y ocho dieciséis, y ocho veinticuatro, y ocho treinta y dos, La medalla de oro me la llevo yo. 


For a continuation of the numbers from 31 to 1000, click on the following link:

 Numbers from 31 to 1000

 

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Las Vocales

This is a song by Cri Cri that I found in Youtube. I have used it in my Spanish classes for children to get them interested in the vowels.


                    


 LAS VOCALES       
Let's practice the sounds of the vowels.  If you are an English speaking person, you are going to experience some difficulty in saying Spanish vowels because they are short and tense. This means that they are never drown out with a u or an i sound at the end like in : 
  
   lo is not pronounced  /low/ and de is not pronounced / day/ 
       
 Las vocales:      

There are 5 vowels in Spanish:  
   
a........................like in the a in father but shorter and tense e........................like in the e in they but without the glide in i i.........................like in the i in machine but shorter and tense o........................like in the o in home but without the u sound following u........................like in the u in rule but shorter and tense.        


 VOWEL: A  

         

 cama=bed     
 papa=potato       
casa=house 
 mamá=mother     
nada=nothing         
cara=(noun) face; expensive(adjective)     
 mapa=map     

VOWEL: E 

             

Bebé=baby       
nené=baby       
tendré=will have         
cerveza=beer       
cereza=cherry        
leche=milk      
lente=eyeglasses   

 VOWEL: I 

       

  idea=idea 
 igual=equal     
 infancia=childhood    
 ir=to go       
 importancia=importance       
Inca    

VOWEL: O 

         

oso=bear      
olvidar=to forget      
ocho=eight       
ola=wave     
ojo=eye       
olor=smell 

     
VOWEL: U 


        

uno=one ( number one, one masculine form)   
uña=fingernail   
 uva=grape    
una=one (female)
 un=one  (male)

   
In later posts, I'll have videos or sound files with the vowels paired with consonants to help you with pronunciation. The first post of this kind is:

Las Vocales -practice the sounds 

Next, I'll be adding other posts with more opportunities to listen and practice.

Where do you live? ¿En donde viven?




Today, we are going to explore where we live. For many years, I lived in a building. In recent years, I live in a house. Sometimes I had to use the elevator full of people on my way to the apartment and not much to say. So, I started to greet a few I have seen on my floor and in few days we knew something about each other. If you live in an apartment then the following vocabulary will be useful if like me you are surrounded by strangers:

SPANISH
ENGLISH
Buenos días
Buenas tardes
Buenas noches



 
Good morning
Good afternoon
Good night
¿En qué piso vive?


Which floor do you live at?

Yo vivo en el cuarto piso.

I live in the 4th floor.

¿Usa el ascensor o las escaleras?

Do you use the elevator or the stairs?

A veces subo en ascensor y a veces por las escaleras.




Sometimes I go up on the elevator and sometimes using the stairs.
¿En qué apartamento vive?



In which apartment do you live?
Vivo en el apartamento número 15.



I live in apartment number 15th.

Let's start with the title of today's post: ¿En donde viven? Where do you live? You can go very far with this question such as finding out where people live in the world,country,town, building and a house.
SPANISH
ENGLISH
¿En donde vive?


 

Where do you live? ......formal way (usted)
¿En donde vives?


 
Where do you live?.......familiar way (tu)

¿En donde viven?


 

Where do you live? .......plural form (ustedes)


Possible answers to:

¿En donde vive?
 

Where do you live? ......formal way (usted)


(Yo) vivo en....................



España

 
México


 
Chile


 
Bolivia


 
Venezuela


 
Colombia



Los Estados Unidos



I live in ....................


 Spain









































The United States






¿En donde viven?
Where do you live? .......plural form (ustedes)

(Nosotros )vivimos en.......................



España



 
México



 
Chile



Bolivia

 

Venezuela



Colombia



los Estados Unidos





 We live in…………..
 


Spain
 






Mexico  






   
Chile
 




Bolivia
 




 
Venezuela
 





Colombia
 





The United States
 

VOCABULARY
 

en



 in
   donde

    where

vivir



to live
el piso



floor
el apartamento



apartment
 el edificio

 
building
el ascensor



elevator
la casa


house
el país



country
el número



number
las escaleras



stairways




Friday, July 11, 2008

Related Words-Cognates

Today, I am going to write about the cognates (los cognados). These are words in Spanish and English that are similar or identical in form and in meaning. How can this happen? It is because both languages used Latin based words. In addition, both languages borrow words from each other and change them to fit their language.


Before we start with the cognates, I would like to talk about nouns. Nouns are words used to denote a person, place, thing, or idea. In Spanish, nouns are masculine or feminine. Sometimes, you will be able to tell a masculine noun from a feminine noun by looking at the last letter. If the noun ends with an -o then you could say that is a masculine word such as el cielo (sky). If the noun ends with an-a then you could say that it is a feminine word such as la luna (moon).
Notice that I wrote "you could say" this is because there is always an exception to the rule. There are many nouns that do not end with either letter leaving you guessing its gender such as pared (wall). As a result, the best way to learn new vocabulary is to learn the noun with the article la or el place in front of the word (
la+ female noun and el+masculine noun).

Los cognados are words that may look alike but do not sound the same. I'll write below few words that are cognates. To make it easier, I'll use adjectives ( words used to describe people,places and things) that can be used with a man or a woman.

cruel
eficiente
responsable
terrible
importante

Can you see the similarities with English adjectives? I thought so! Now, I would like to show you words that few changes take place to go with males and females.

-->
Males
Females
generoso
generosa
sincero
sincera
religioso
religiosa

There are cognates that are spelled the same in both languages such as general, animal, gas, hospital to name a few. There are other cognates that change in spelling such as:

posición=position
estudiante=student
examen=exam
secreto=secret


NOTE: I am still trying to get video uploaded to these posts so you can practice the sounds. Thank you for you patience.