Love-Spanish.com: 01/03/2013

Sunday, 31 March 2013

It Is Twenty Past One

SCENARIO

Imagine a relative, a friend or a work colleague is asking you: "what time is it?"

In Spanish, the other person could say:

¿Qué hora es?

Now 'click' on the speaker icon below to listen to the other person's question.

The Time is:

The question above is an invitation for you to say what time it is.

Looking at the clock, you see the time is twenty minutes past one, so in Spanish you should say:

Es la una y veinte

Now 'click' on the speaker icon below to listen to the time in Spanish.

Now you should practise answering the question:

¿Qué hora es?

If your system/ device supports it, you may use the widget below to record and listen to your answers.

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Saturday, 30 March 2013

Were You Wanting To Say Goodbye To Your Friends?

SCENARIO

Imagine you are talking to a relative or a work colleague. Maybe you are about to depart on a trip which is going to keep you away for a little while. You are saying your goodbyes and it is then that the other person says to you something like: "were you wanting to say goodbye to your friends?"

In Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:

¿Querías despedirte de tus amigos?

Alternatively, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:

¿Quería (usted) despedirse de sus amigos?

OUR TIP

The question is an invitation for you to say whether or not you want to say goodbye to your friends. When saying what you want to do, you should not need to be concerned about the level of formality in the original question. Your main concern should be about saying what you wanted to do.

Here are some examples of how you could reply:

Sí, quería despedirme de mis amigos (yes, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends);
Sí, quería despedirme de ellos (yes, I wanted to say goodbye to them);
Sí, quería despedirme de todos mis amigos (yes, I wanted to say goodbye to all my friends);
Sí, quería despedirme de todos ellos (yes, I wanted to say goodbye to all of them);
No, no quería despedirme de mis amigos ahora, quería despedirme de ellos más tarde (no, I didn't want to say goodbye to my friends now, I wanted to say goodbye to them later);
No, no quería despedirme de ellos ahora, quería hacerlo más tarde (no, I didn't want to say goodbye to them now, I wanted to do it later);

Now you should practise answering the question:

¿Querías despedirte de tus amigos?

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Friday, 29 March 2013

Tell Me, How Old Is Your Friend?

Introduction

This post is about the practical use of the Spanish numbers in general and more specifically about the use of:

Numbers 20 → 99
Larger numbers which include numbers 20 → 99

SCENARIO

Imagine you are talking a relative, a friend or a colleague. You are telling the other person about a friend of yours. This is a friend the other person doesn't know. At some point, the other person says to you something like: "tell me, how old is your friend?".

In Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:

Dime, ¿cuántos años tiene tu amigo^*?

On the other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:

Dígame, ¿cuántos años tiene su amigo^*?

*NB The use of the word amigo (masculine) implies a male friend. If referring to a female friend, the other person would have used the feminine form amiga in the question.

OUR TIP

Your answer should be quite straightforward. When you say how old someone is, you do should not need to consider different levels of formality for you reply.

Here are some examples of how you could reply:

Tiene veintiún* años (he⁺ is twenty one);
Tiene veintidós* años (he⁺ is twenty two);
Tiene veintitrés* años (he⁺ is twenty three);
Tiene veinticinco* años (he⁺ is twenty five);
Tiene veintiséis* años (he⁺ is twenty six);
Tiene treinta y un* años (he⁺ is thirty one);
Tiene cuarenta y dos* años (he⁺ is forty two);
Tiene cincuenta y tres* años (he⁺ is fifty three);
Tiene sesenta y seis* años (he⁺ is sixty six);

Now you should practise replying to someone who says to you:

Dime, ¿cuántos años tiene su amigo?

+NB We know the friend in question is a he because of the masculine word amigo in the question. You can ignore that in your Spanish answer -the same answer is valid whether your friend is a male or a female.

*Please see grammar topic below, the numbers (20 → 99)

*Grammar-Numbers (20 → 99)

When using numbers (20 → 99), or any larger number containing these numbers in Spanish, you should bear in mind the following:

Numbers: 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71, 81, 91

When these numbers are used just as numbers (nouns), the following form should be used.
- Veintiuno (twenty one);
- Treinta y uno (thirty one);
- Cuarenta y uno (forty one);
- Cincuenta y uno (fifty one);
- Sesenta y uno (sixty one);
- Setenta y uno (seventy one);
- Ochenta y uno (eighty one);
- Noventa y uno (ninety one);

The above forms apply also to larger numbers when they include numbers 21, 31, 41, 51, 51, 71, 81, 91. For example:

Doscientos cincuenta y uno (two hundred and fifty one);
Tres mil trescientos cincuenta y uno (three thousand three hundred and fifty one);

However, when any of these numbers is followed by a noun, then gender agreement is required and the noun in question should be in its plural form. In these cases, each number takes the form shown in the examples below:
- Veintiún euros (twenty one Euros- masculine);
- Veintiuna libras (twenty one pounds- feminine);
- Treinta y un euros (thirty one Euros- masculine);
- Treinta y una libras (thirty one pounds- feminine);
- Cuarenta y un euros (forty one Euros- masculine);
- Cuarenta y una libras (forty one pounds- feminine);
- Cincuenta y un euros (fifty one Euros- masculine);
- Cincuenta y una libras (fifty one pounds- feminine);
- Sesenta y un euros (sixty one Euros- masculine);
- Sesenta y una libras (sixty one pounds- feminine);
- Setenta y un euros (seventy one Euros- masculine);
- Setenta y una libras (seventy one pounds- feminine);
- Ochenta y un euros (eighty one Euros- masculine);
- Ochenta y una libras (eighty one pounds- feminine);
- Noventa y un euros (ninety one Euros- masculine);
- Noventa y una libras (ninety one pounds- feminine);

The above peculiarities apply also to larger numbers when they include numbers 21, 31, 41, 51, 51, 71, 81, 91. For example:

Doscientos cincuenta y un euros (two hundred and fifty one Euros- masculine);
Doscientas cincuenta y una libras (two hundred and fifty one pounds- feminine);
Tres mil trescientos cincuenta y un euros (three thousand three hundred and fifty one Euros- masculine);
Tres mil trescientas cincuenta y una libras (three thousand three hundred and fifty one pounds- feminine);

Numbers 20 → 29

These numbers may all be spelled as single words as shown in the examples below:
- Veintiuno (twenty one);
- Veintidós (twenty two);
- Veintitrés (twenty three);
- Veinticuatro (twenty four);
- Veinticinco (twenty five);
- Veintiséis (twenty six);
- Veintisiete (twenty seven);
- Veintiocho (twenty eight);
- Veintinueve (twenty nine);

The above forms apply also to larger numbers when they include numbers 20 → 29. For example:

Doscientos veintiuno (two hundred and twenty one);
Tres mil trescientos veinticinco (Three thousand three hundred and twenty five);

Numbers 31 → 99

Numbers in this range should be spelled as per their individual components separated by 'y' as shown in the examples below:
- Treinta y dos (thirty two);
- Cuarenta y tres (forty three);
- Cincuenta y cuatro (fifty four);
- Sesenta y cinco (sixty five);
- Setenta y seis (seventy six);
- Ochenta y siete (eighty seven);
- Noventa y ocho (ninety eight);

The above peculiarities apply also to larger numbers when they include numbers 31 → 99. For example

Doscientos noventa y nueve (two hundred and ninety nine);
Tres mil trescientos treinta y cinco (Three thousand three hundred and thirty five);

Now you should practise the use of the numbers 20 → 99 with some examples of your own.

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Thursday, 28 March 2013

Escalera

Today's WOTD is: "escalera" = stair/ stairs

Image source: Google images

In Spanish, “escalera” or it's plural form “escaleras” is a feminine noun of Latin origin, which means stair/ stairs.

In addition, the Spanish noun “escalera” is not only often used to refer to a staircase or a stairway, but also:

In card games it is used to refer to five consecutive cards (sequence/ straight).
In Spain it is often used to refer to a bad haircut

A related Spanish noun is “escalón”, which is commonly used to refer to a step in stairs or a rung in a ladder.

The related action word/ verb “escalar”, which means to climb*.

*NB The Spanish verb “escalar” is seldom used in the context of 'walking up stairs'. A more commonly used verb in that context is “subir” (to go up).

Some commonly used expressions with the word “escalera” are:

Bajar la(s) escalera(s) (to walk down the stairs);
Barrer la(s) escalera(s) (to sweep the stairs/ staircase);
Escalera de color (straight flush- game of Poker);
Escalera de caracol (spiral stairs/ staircase);
Escalera de incendios (fire escape/ stairs);
Escalera de mano (ladder);
Escalera de servicio (service stairs/ staircase);
Escalera de tijera (stepladder);
Escalera doble (stepladder);
Escalera eléctrica (escalator);
Escalera mecánica (escalator);
Escalera móvil (escalator);
Escalera real de color (royal flush- game of Poker);
Subir la(s) escalera(s) (to walk upstairs);

Some examples of the use of the word "escalera" are:

También tengo una escalera, pero la tuya me gana (I also have a straight run, but yours beats mine);
Menuda escalera te ha dejado el barbero (what an uneven/ bad haircut has the barber given to you);
Por favor, bajar la escalera despacio (please walk down the stairs slowly);
Hay que barrer la escalera a menudo (the stairs have to be swept often);
Con una escalera de color sólo se gana a veces (with a straight flush you only win sometimes);
Bajamos por la escalera de incendios (we went down the fire escape);
Hace falta una escalera de mano para subir al desván (you need ladders to go up to the attic/ loft);
Bajamos por la escalera de servicio (we walked down the service stairs);
Tengo una escalera de tijera para tareas de bricolaje (I have a stepladder for DIY jobs);
Tengo una escalera de tijera para tareas de bricolaje (I have a stepladder for DIY jobs);
Bajamos por la escalera eléctrica (we went down on the escalator);
Bajamos por la escalera mecánica (we went down on the escalator);
Bajamos por la escalera móvil (we went down on the escalator);
Con una escalera real de color siempre se gana (with a royal flush you always win);
Subimos las escaleras de dos en dos (we climbed the stairs two at a time);