Spanish Lesson- Telling Time (Questions and Answers Part II)

In the United States, time is what moves the world " Time is money." In the Spanish speaking countries, time is more relaxed and life moves at a different pace. No matter which way we like it, we need to learn how to tell the time or be able to give it if asked.

The most difficult part of telling the time is to remember that:
When asking the time, the correct way is: 

¿Que hora es? 

When answering, the correct way is:

Es la una de la tarde.
Es la una de la mañana.
Son las dos de la mañana.
Son las dos de la tarde.
Son las tres de la mañana.
Son las tres de la tarde.

Son las + hour other than one.

Remember:

The hour is written with a period or colon ( :): 13.10 or 13:10. 

You can add an h without following it with a period. 

In the case of hours when talking about o'clock, you can omit the two ceros if you write the symbol h.

If you would like to write about a phenomenon's duration like an eclipse. Then, you can use the h after the hour and min after the minutes. An example would be: "El eclipse duró 4 h 10 min."

In the table bellow, I'll attempt to answer some questions by students of all levels in Spanish. I'll be adding or creating more posts as they become more available. If you do not find the answer in the posts, feel free to drop me a line.

QUESTIONS	ANSWERS
which is the correct way to answer "las una de la tarde" instead of " la una de la tarde"?	No, it is not correct. La refers to the hour and una refers to one (hour). As you can see, la una de la tarde is the correct way. Las una de la tarde does not exist when talking about one hour.
What is the correct way to ask for the time, ¿Qué hora es? If so, ¿Is it  "son las diez o es las diez?	Remember that the verb to be has to agree with the number of hours. You ask ¿Qué hora es? depending on the hour the answer will be : es la una, son las dos, son las tres...and so on.  Es is only used with la una. As a result, son las diez is the correct answer.
How would the time be written in phrases like:  un total de 3,50h  ó 3,30h, para decir tres horas y media. ( a total of 3,50h or 3,30h, to say three hours and a half)	The correct expression is: un total de 3,30 o de 3,30 h.
How do you say 01:00 h but not 13 horas-? Which is it correct to say, ¿Es/son la/las una horas (de la madrugada)?	When we are talking about one hour then it is in singular: la hora, una hora, 1 hora or 1:00.
Which is the correct way to ask: ¿A qué horas vas a llegar? o ¿A qué hora vas a llegar?	Hour is always in singular even though the answer is singular or the question mentions 1:00, or in plural: For example: ¿Qué hora es? -Es la una y media. -Es la una menos diez. -Son las cinco. ¿A qué hora vas a llegar? -A la una y media. -A la una menos diez. -A las cinco.
What is the abbreviation of hour?	Since it is a symbol, there is no period after it.  It does not change whether it is singular or plural. An example would be, el tren parte a las 15 h de la Estación Central de Chicago.  Other examples are: Los niños llegarán a las 12 h para almorzar con sus padres.  (the children will arrive at 12 o'clock to have lunch with their parents.) Mi marido llegará a la 1 h para almozar y tomar la siesta antes de volver al trabajo.  ( My husband will arrive at one o'clock to eat and take a nap before returning to work.) If you are writing the word hour , then you should also write the number as well: 2 h becomes dos horas and not 2 horas.  A las 16:30 h se abren las puertas al público.  Debía llegar a las 15 h, pero se demoró por la lluvia. NOTE:  Depending on the context of the phrase: In fiction: son las cinco / cinco horas después / a las cinco horas de... Non- Fiction: son las 5.00 / son las 5:00 horas / son las 5:30 horas. Also, we can write:  «quedamos a las 17 h», «quedamos a las 17:00 h» «quedamos a las 5 h» Better to be more specific by writing: de la tarde (in the afternoon) de la madrugada ( in the morning) AM or PM

Use of Tampoco and También

Sometimes my students are stuck because they read something that makes no sense to them. These is one of them: tampoco and también. I might want to talk about some of this a bit later, but for now let's say:

Tampoco (neither, either):

      It is an adverb used to negate something after you have negated something else.

      When it goes before the verb, is incorrect to use it after the adverb no:

  No hablan árabe pero tampoco inglés.

  No hablan árabe.

  No hablan árabe tampoco.

As you can see, we use tampoco to express a negative (no) after another negative (tampoco). Remember to use no before the verb when other negative word like tampoco is used after the verb.

Pablo no tiene el libro tampoco.

Raquel: No soy ingeniera.
Juan: Yo tampoco soy ingeniero
Raquel: Yo no soy de Colombia.

Juan: Yo tampoco soy de Colombia.
No me invitaron y tampoco hubiera podido ir.




También (too, as well)

It is an adverb that is used to add to what has been said before. So, when you say something like : I am confused, I can replay: me too. In Spanish that will translate to: Estoy confundido. I reply: Yo también.
Other examples:

Raquel: Yo soy soltera, ¿Y tú?
Juan: Yo también soy soltero.

Raquel:Yo soy peruana.
Juan: Yo también soy peruano.


As you can see, tambien is used to express iquality.

"Llegué tarde y, tambien, estaba cansado."


  También is used to state equality,similarity,conformity or the relation between one thing with another of whom was spoken before.


NOTE: Please do not confuse también with the adverb that tells us about quantity tan and the adverb that tells us about quality bien. Tan bien is used when we want to make comparisons:
Miguel canta tan bien como su padre (Miguel sings as well as his father). Also, Tan bien can be used to say something that happened that was as a result like in the following example:
Miguel canta tan bien que lo han contratado en una orquesta.(Miguel sings so well that he has been hired in a orchestra.)

  

As you can see, you can change the meaning of what you want to say:

By using también in this sentence, Ella canta también,como su padre you are saying that she  sings like her father. On the other hand, when you say Ella canta tan bien como su padre, then you are saying that she sings as well as her father.

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Spanish Lesson-Family (La Familia) Part 3

Today, we'll review our family tree and the relationship between its members. Up to now, we talked about parents who later became grandparents. Children who grew up to marry and  have children of their own.

Let's Review

José y María  son esposos. José y María son marido y mujer.

José y María tienen dos hijos.

Elena y Carlos son los hijos de José y María.

Elena y Carlos son hermanos.

Elena es la hermana de Carrlos.

carlos es el hermano de Elena.

Elena es la hija de José y María.

Carlos es el hijo de José y María.

Elena se casa con Juan y tienen dos hijos.

Pablo es el hijo de Elena y Juan.

Susana es la hija de Elena y Juan.

 Pablo es el nieto de José y María.

 Susana es la nieta de José y María.

José es el abuelo de  Pablo y Susana.

María es la abuela de  Pablo y Susana.

 Vocabulary and Video

La prima	Cousin (female)
El primo	Cousin (male)
La tía	aunt
El tío	uncle
La sobrina	niece
El sobrino	nephew

La nuera	daughter-in-law
El yerno	son-in-law

Although, it looks like there is a lot of review, you have to remember that the more you practice the more you learn. In this case, the family grows so do relationships. Watch the video which begins with a review of the family and continue to add new relationships and meet new members.

Of course, we can always go on adding more family members and our relationships; but, I will leave that for another post so I can get this one to you now.

Adjectives: Gender, Number, and Position

Before we talk about adjectives, we must know what they are and what is their job in Spanish. An adjective, un adjetivo, is a word that it is used to describe people, things or places. They can also tell us whether something is tall or short or how many there are: few or several.

 Remember that in Spanish we have words in two genders: masculine and feminine. As a result, when we want to describe someone, those words need to match in gender and number. Also, the words that do the description have to be placed in the right place to have the right meaning. Do you understand it so far? If not please ask.

Here, I have an example to see if it can help you
 
Mi amiga es fiel, amable. inteligente y simpática. 
                                                (My friend is loyal, gentle, intelligent and nice.)
Mi amigo es fiel, amable, inteligente y simpático. 
                                                (My friend is loyal, gentle, intelligent and nice.)

As you can see, the sentences in Spanish have differences between genders- that which applies to a female friend and that which applies to a male friend. Also, note that in English, there is only one sentence to  describe both genders: female and male.

ADJECTIVES WITH SER

As I explained in the post dedicated to the verb SER, it is used with describing words ( adjectives) to tell us about the qualities or characteristics of words (nouns) and pronouns they modify.
The verb Ser tells us what it is known to be true, like snow is cold and water is wet.

Graciela es interesante. (Graciela= noun; es= verbo Ser; interesante= adjective)
Ella es interesante. (Ella= pronoun used instead of Graciela; es= verbo Ser;
                                   interesante=adjective)
In English, both sentences say the same thing: Graciela is interesting. She is an interesting person.
The examples that come to mind are:

Sonia es amable. Ella es amable.(Sonia is nice. She is nice person.)
El libro es barato. ( the book is cheap; the book is inexpensive.)

FORMS OF ADJECTIVES

So, what do I mean when I say that each adjective has more than one form? It means that in addition to agreeing in gender and number, adjectives endings will tell us how many forms they have.

1. Adjectives that end in -e ( inteligente=intelligent) and  in most consonants (fiel=loyal) have only two forms: a singular form and a plural form.NOTE: Like the plural of nouns (casa, amigo, amiga,etc), the plural of adjectives is formed by adding s to words ending in a vowel and es to words ending in a consonant: Los papeles son verdes. (The green papers.); Las luces azules. (The blue lights.)

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	amigo inteligente amigo fiel	amiga inteligente amiga fiel
Plural	amigos inteligentes amigos fieles	amigas inteligentes amigas fieles

2. Adjectives that end in -o (alto) have four forms, showing gender and number. Also, words used to describe that end in -dor (trabajador=worker), -ón (glotón, glotona =gluttonous ) , -án and -in also have four forms.

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	amigo alto	amiga alta
Plural	amigos altos	amigas altas

3. Most adjectives of nationality have four forms, but  nacionalities that end in -e have only two forms (singular and plural) like in canadiense(s) and estadounidense(s). 

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	el doctor mexicano español alemán inglés	la doctora mexicana española alemana inglesa
Plural	los doctores mexicanos españoles alemanes ingleses	las doctoras mexicanas españolas alemanas inglesas

The names of many languages, which are masculine in gender, are the same that the name of the language like el español, el inglés, el alemán.

REMEMBER
 1. -o adjectives have four forms: alto, alta, altos, altas
 2. Adjectives that end in -e have two forms: inteligente, inteligentes
 3. Most nationality adjectives have four forms.
 3. Most other adjectives have two forms: fiel, fieles

PLACEMENT OF ADJECTIVES 

 If you are describing the qualities of a person or something then the adjective goes generally after the noun.

Un libro rojo. (A red book.)

Common adjectives like bueno, malo, pequeño, grande, mucho, and numberals generally go before the noun.

El pequeño sombrero (The little hat.) 
cinco hombres (five men)


Later, I will talk more about adjectives and their position. For now, let's practice what you have learned so far:

1. Most often adjectives are used to describe a noun or distinguish the noun from a group of similar objects:
     
 Un carro rojo. (or un coche rojo)  

  A red car. 

2. Most adjectives change form, depending on whether the word they modify is masculine or feminine. 

      The tall friend. 

       La amiga alta.
       El amigo alto.

3.Adjectives change form depending on the word they modify and if it is singular or plural. 

The tall friend. The tall friends

El amigo alto. Los amigos altos.
La amiga alta. Las amigas altas.

4. Do you see it now? The correct form of the adjective depends on the noun it modifies and whether the noun is masculine, feminine, singular or plural.

libro rojo; libros rojos

5. Adjectives that end in -e add an -s to make it plural. This adjective is the same for masculine and feminine noun.


La amiga inteligente.
Las amigas inteligentes.
El amigo inteligente.
Los amigos inteligentes.

6. Adjectives that are descriptive usually go after the word they describe:

                              El amigo alto
                              La amiga alta.
                              Los libros pequeños.
                              Las camisas rojas.

7. Adjectives of quantity most of the time go before the noun and tell us how much or how many.
                   
                 pocos libros
                 mucha alegría
                 mucho trabajo
                 poco dinero

Later on, I'll have a part two about adjectives usage and position not mentioned in this post.  If you think you need more info please feel free to ask. In the meantime, I'll try to build upon what we have learnt so far. Remember have fun learning Spanish!