Learn how to use the Spanish word nada, which means "nothing"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: There’s Always Something to Do in Latin America. I’m Fernando and I’m joined by JP. JP, what’s going on, man? |
| JP: I’m doing great, Fernando and I’m excited to do this lesson, so what are we gonna talk about today, Fernando? |
| Fernando: In this lesson, you will learn about negative adverbs. This conversation takes place at work. Conversation is between Jorge and Valentina. The speakers will be using the familiar register. |
| JP: Shall we listen to the dialogue? |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Lesson Conversation + Translation |
| (1 time natural native speed, 1 time slowly, 1 time with translation) |
| (1 time natural native speed) |
| Jorge: Ya es hora, gracias a Dios. |
| Valentina: ¿Haces algo esta noche? |
| Jorge: No, nada. Me voy a casa. |
| Valentina: Pues hasta mañana. |
| English Host: Let’s hear it again, dramatic speed. |
| Jorge: Ya es hora, gracias a Dios. |
| Valentina: ¿Haces algo esta noche? |
| Jorge: No, nada. Me voy a casa. |
| Valentina: Pues hasta mañana. |
| English Host: One more time with the translation. |
| Jorge: Ya es hora, gracias a Dios. |
| JP: It's time now, thank God. |
| Valentina: ¿Haces algo esta noche? |
| JP: Are you doing something tonight? |
| Jorge: No, nada. Me voy a casa. |
| JP: No, nothing. I'm going home. |
| Valentina: Pues hasta mañana. |
| JP: Then see you tomorrow. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: All right, we’re back and obviously, Jorge and Valentina are in the office, right? |
| Fernando: Yes. They are pretty eager to flee. |
| JP: Jorge is at least. He says “It’s time go, finally,” right? |
| Fernando: Ya es hora. |
| JP: Literally, he says, “It is already the hour.” |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: But that’s the way Latinos express it’s time to go, right? That the work day is finished. |
| Fernando: Ya es hora. |
| JP: Ya es hora. |
| Fernando: It’s time. |
| JP: It’s time. Okay. And then he says “Thank God.” |
| Fernando: Gracias a Dios. |
| JP: Okay. Now, Valentina has a question for him before he leaves. She’s… |
| Fernando: She’s a little, uh… ¿Haces algo esta noche? |
| JP: “Are you doing anything tonight?” Do you think it’s an invitation? |
| Fernando: I think she winked at him. |
| JP: Okay. So, we’re using the verb hacer, haces, “to do” or “to make.” ¿Haces algo esta noche? “Are you doing something tonight?” |
| Fernando: No, nada. Me voy a casa. |
| JP: Okay. Jorge is like, “No, I’m not. Goodbye.” |
| Fernando: He’s spent. |
| JP: Okay. In fact, he says “I’m outta here. I’m going home.” |
| Fernando: Me voy a casa. |
| JP: Me voy a casa. And so, Valentina gets the point and she says, well, “See you tomorrow.” |
| Fernando: Pues hasta mañana. |
| JP: Pues hasta mañana. |
| Fernando: I noticed the little silence in her voice. |
| JP: Okay. Now, hasta mañana is a common way to say I’ll see you tomorrow, right? Literaly, “Until tomorrow.” What’s that pues? |
| Fernando: Pues… I don’t know. |
| JP: Yeah. It’s hard to explain, right? It’s just kind of a filler, right? It’s like “Well… see you tomorrow.” |
| Fernando: Ah… see you tomorrow. |
| JP: Okay… see you tomorrow. |
| Fernando: Yeah. |
| JP: See you tomorrow then. Shall we listen to the vocabulary in isolation? |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando :hacer [natural native speed] |
| JP: to do, to make |
| Fernando: hacer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: hacer [natural native speed] |
| Fernando: algo [natural native speed] |
| JP: something |
| Fernando: algo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: algo [natural native speed] |
| Fernando: nada [natural native speed] |
| JP: nothing, not...anything |
| Fernando: nada [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: nada [natural native speed] |
| Fernando: irse [natural native speed] |
| JP: to leave, to take off, to get out |
| Fernando: irse [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: irse [natural native speed] |
| Fernando: Hasta mañana. [natural native speed] |
| JP: See you tomorrow. |
| Fernando: Hasta mañana. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: Hasta mañana. [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| JP: Okay. Now, that we’ve heard these words in isolation, let’s talk about them a little bit. So, we’re gonna start with… |
| Fernando: hacer |
| JP: Hacer. Okay, this is the all-purpose verb in Spanish, hacer. It means “to do” or “to make” and there’s so many expressions with hacer. Now, how did Valentina used it in this dialogue? |
| Fernando: ¿Haces algo esta noche? |
| JP: Okay. Now- ¿Haces algo esta noche? we heard the form haces which is the second person singular. Are you doing something? “Are you doing something tonight?” |
| Fernando: and in English, it would be “Doing anything tonight?” |
| JP: “Are you doing anything tonight?” Okay. Now, what’s that word for something or anything? |
| Fernando: algo |
| JP: Algo, which is our next vocabulary word, algo. It is an indefinite pronoun, usually means “something,” algo. |
| Fernando: It is opposite to nada. |
| JP: Nada. Nada is the next one, right? It means “nothing.” |
| Fernando: nothing |
| JP: Nada, okay. So, Fernando, you’re doing anything tonight? |
| Fernando: Nada. |
| JP: Nada. “Nothing.” Right? |
| Fernando: Nothing. |
| JP: Now, nada is interesting and we’re gonna talk about this in the grammar section of the podcast because it’s often used in a structure with “no,” right? So, it goes “no” and then verb and then nada, and we’ll talk about that later. For now, let’s move on to the next vocabulary. |
| Fernando: irse |
| JP: Irse, okay. Now, I think most of us know the verb ir. Ir means “to go,” right? |
| Fernando: Mm-hmm. |
| JP: Irse is a little bit different. It’s got that reflexive pronoun at the end of it, -se, so irse emphasizes the leaving aspect of going, okay? So, it’s kind of like “I’m outta here.” So, it’s kind of like being out of here, like if I say me voy , it means “I’m outta here.” |
| Fernando: Me voy, sí. |
| JP: Okay. I’m gone. |
| Fernando: ¡Adiós! |
| JP: ¡Adiós! “I’m outta here.” In fact, that’s how Jorge says to Valentina, right? |
| Fernando: Me voy a casa. |
| JP: Me voy a casa. Okay, he’s out of here. He’s going home. |
| Fernando: Exactly. |
| JP: Me voy a casa. Casa would be the word for “home.” Okay. Now, the last vocabulary word? |
| Fernando: Hasta mañana |
| JP: Okay. It’s a phrase that means “See you tomorrow,” right? |
| Fernando: See you tomorrow. |
| JP: Now, mañana means “tomorrow” and hasta is the word “until,” okay. |
| Fernando: until |
| JP: Literally, this is “Until tomorrow.” |
| Fernando: Right. |
| JP: Hasta mañana. |
| Fernando: Hasta mañana. |
| JP: Okay. Is that the end of the podcast? Hasta mañana, Fernando. |
| Fernando: No, we still have grammar point. |
| JP: Okay. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| JP: Now, as I promised before, we were gonna talk about negative adverbs. Now, we had one negative adverb in our vocabulary, right? It’s the word for “nothing.” |
| Fernando: nada |
| JP: Nada. I listed nada as an indefinite pronoun, right? ‘Cause usually, when it means the word “nothing,” that’s an indefinite pronoun like I haven’t eaten nothing or I haven’t eaten anything. |
| Fernando: No he comido nada. |
| JP: No he comido nada, okay. So that’s an indefinite pronoun. Now, you can also use nada as an adverb and it means something like “not at all.” So, if I say, “Fernando, you’re not at all curious.” |
| Fernando: No eres nada curioso. |
| JP: No eres nada curioso, okay. “Not at all curious.” Or you’re “Not at all nosy.” |
| Fernando: [*] |
| JP: Okay. [*]. In that case, it’s kind of an adverb. We have other adverbs that behave like nada. For example, the words for “never.” |
| Fernando: nunca |
| JP: Nunca, okay. Now, nunca means “never.” You can use it at the beginning of a sentence like “Never will I eat meat.” |
| Fernando: Nunca comeré carne. |
| JP: Okay. “I shall never eat meat.” Or you can use it with a “no” structure, so no [verb] nunca. So like… |
| Fernando: No lo he visto nunca. |
| JP: “I’ve never seen it,” right? |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: Okay, “I’ve never seen it.” Here, we used the sentence no + [verb] + nunca, okay? What’s our other word for “never”? |
| Fernando: jamás |
| JP: Jamás. Okay, it means the same thing as nunca, right? |
| Fernando: Exactly. |
| JP: Okay, and it’s used the same way. Is there any difference between jamás and nunca? |
| Fernando: [*] |
| JP: As far as you know, there’s none. |
| Fernando: [*] |
| JP: “I have never noticed a difference.” Jamás and nunca are the same. Also, no nunca and no jamás. |
| Fernando: No jamás, no nunca, sí. |
| JP: Okay. Now, while we’re talking about negative words, let’s talk about the word for “nobody.” |
| Fernando: nadie |
| JP: nadie |
| Fernando: So, “Nobody is here. No one is eating.” |
| JP: Nadie come. |
| Fernando: Nadie come, okay. “Nobody is eating.” Let’s do a structure with no nadie. How about “Nobody is here”? |
| JP: [*] |
| Fernando: [*] right? There’s no [*] nadie, [*]. Cool. |
| JP: We did nada, we did nunca, jamás, we did nadie. Is there another one? Or we have to do ni and ni, okay? |
| Fernando: Mm, that’s true. |
| JP: So this word ni usually means “not even,” right? |
| Fernando: Not even. [*] neither, nor, I don’t know what else to say. |
| JP: Okay. So, for example - “Not even Fernando is hungry.” |
| Fernando: Ni Fernando tiene hambre. |
| JP: Okay, not even Fernando, are you kidding me? That’s a crazy situation. |
| Fernando: That’s weird. |
| JP: Okay. So, Ni Fernando… “That’s not even Fernando.” |
| Fernando: You can also say ni siquiera. |
| JP: Ni siquiera. That means the same thing, right? |
| Fernando: Yes. Ni siquiera Fernando… |
| JP: Ni siquiera Fernando tiene hambre, so “Not even Fernando is hungry.” That’s just what we said, right? |
| Fernando: Mm. |
| JP: Ni Fernando - Ni siquiera Fernando means the same thing. |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: All right. How else do we use ni? |
| Fernando: For example - Ni Fernando ni JP tienen hambre. |
| JP: Okay. “Neither Fernando nor JP are hungry.” |
| Fernando: And that is really weird. That is troublesome. |
| JP: Yeah, that’s- yeah. That must be the end of the world. It’s also an example of the grammar Ni…ni, right? “Neither…nor” |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: Okay. So, those are three good uses of ni and that will probably wrap our negative section for the grammar today. I found this entire grammar section pretty negative. |
| Fernando: Pretty negative. |
Outro |
|---|
| JP: Fernando, it’s time to go. |
| Fernando: ¡Adiós! |
| JP: ¡Hasta luego! |
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