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

 

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

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.

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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.