Tuesday 21 June 2011

Where Did you Buy That Book?


SCENARIO

Imagine you are talking to a relative, a friend or colleague. As you are talking, you are holding a book. Your relative/ friend/ colleague wants to find out where you bought it. That person decides to ask: where did you buy that book?

He/ she could choose to be less formal and ask you:
¿Dónde compraste ese libro?

Alternatively, he/ she could choose to be a little bit more formal and say:
¿Dónde compró (usted) ese libro?
  


OUR TIP

You DO NOT need be concerned about the degree of formality in the question you are asked. Whether the other person uses the more/ less formal question is irrelevant to your choice of answer. Your answer depends only on what you want to say about where you bought the book. Perhaps you want to choose between saying that:
  • You bought it in a book shop
  • You bought it in New York
  • The book is not yours, it belongs to your friend John

Here are some examples which deal with those basic possibilities:
  • Lo compré en una librería (I bought it in a book shop)
  • Lo compré en Nueva York (I bought in New York)
  • No es mio, es de mi amigo John (it is not mine it belongs to my friend John)

Now you should practice answering the question:
¿Dónde compraste ese libro?

This is another Free online Spanish lesson from Love-Spanish.com. We conduct lessons online on this and many other topics using the latest video conferencing facilities. Online lessons are the ideal way to improve listening and speaking skills. For more details on our lessons online and how to book them, please visit:

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