Learn how to use the Spanish interrogative adverb which means "Where?"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha: Hi everybody, this is Alisha. |
| Fernando: Hola amigos, soy Fernando. |
| Alisha: Talking About Yourself in Mexico! |
| Fernando: In this lesson you will learn how to talk about yourself among friends in a casual setting. |
| Alisha: This conversation takes place at a party, and it’s between Ashley and her new friend, Jorge. |
| Fernando: Ashley and Jorge are asking each other questions about where they live and where they work. |
| Alisha: Since they are not meeting in a business or formal setting, they are using casual Spanish. |
| Fernando: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Ashley: ¿En dónde vives? |
| Jorge: Vivo en la Colonia Roma. |
| Ashley: ¿Y en qué trabajas? |
| Jorge: Trabajo en una empresa, ¿y tú? |
| Ashley: Yo soy estudiante. |
| Alisha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Ashley: ¿En dónde vives? |
| Jorge: Vivo en la Colonia Roma. |
| Ashley: ¿Y en qué trabajas? |
| Jorge: Trabajo en una empresa, ¿y tú? |
| Ashley: Yo soy estudiante. |
| Alisha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Ashley: ¿En dónde vives? |
| Alisha: Where do you live? |
| Jorge: Vivo en la Colonia Roma. |
| Alisha: I live in Colonia Roma. |
| Ashley: ¿Y en qué trabajas? |
| Alisha: And what do you do for living? |
| Jorge: Trabajo en una empresa, ¿y tú? |
| Alisha: I work in a company, what about you? |
| Ashley: Yo soy estudiante. |
| Alisha: I’m a student. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alisha: Hey Fernando, I’m wondering something - where is the place that Jorge says he lives? |
| Fernando: Oh, Colonia Roma? |
| Alisha: Yes! Where is that? |
| Fernando: It’s a neighborhood in Mexico City. Mexico City has many of these neighborhoods called colonias. |
| Alisha: How many of them are there? |
| Fernando: Too many! There are actually hundreds of them. They all have their own attributes and characteristics. |
| Alisha: Wow, well I guess it makes sense that a place as big as Mexico City would be split up into different neighborhoods. |
| Fernando: Right! |
| Alisha: What can you tell us about Colonia Roma? |
| Fernando: Well, it’s an area that is right in the center of the city, very close to the historical district. It’s a fast-growing place, and one of the more urbanized areas. |
| Alisha: So that’s where Jorge lives! Thanks for sharing! Now let’s move onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Alisha: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Fernando: en [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: in |
| Fernando: en [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: en [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: dónde [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: where |
| Fernando: dónde [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: dónde [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: vives [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: you live |
| Fernando: vives [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: vives [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: colonia [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: neighborhood, ward |
| Fernando: colonia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: colonia [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: qué [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: what |
| Fernando: qué [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: qué [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: trabajar [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: to work |
| Fernando: trabajar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: trabajar [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: empresa [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: company, firm |
| Fernando: empresa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: empresa [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: y [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: and |
| Fernando: y [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: y [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: ser [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: to be |
| Fernando: ser [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ser [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: estudiante [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: student |
| Fernando: estudiante [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: estudiante [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Alisha: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Fernando: The first word we’ll look at is.... |
| Fernando: trabajar |
| Alisha: Meaning to work? |
| Fernando: Yes, it’s an ar-verb meaning “to work”. |
| Alisha: In the dialogue we saw this verb conjugated. Ashley asked Jorge “where do you work?” and what did she say for this? |
| Fernando: ¿En dónde trabajas? Repeat - ¿en dónde trabajas? [pause] |
| Alisha: Is this a common question among young people? |
| Fernando: It is, Alisha. You might hear someone ask ¿estudias o trabajas? |
| Alisha: Literally, do you study or do you work? Okay, what’s our next phrase? |
| Fernando: Sure, our next phrase is soy estudiante |
| Alisha: I’m a student. |
| Fernando: People who are devoted to studying full time are estudiantes. Repeat after me - soy estudiante. |
| Alisha: Does this include all types of students? |
| Fernando: Yes, it could be a high school student, college, or a Spanish school student. |
| Alisha: Great, now onto the grammar point! |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: The focus of this lesson is to teach you the use of the interrogative adverb meaning “where”, which is... |
| Fernando: Dónde |
| Alisha: Let’s hear some examples. |
| Fernando: ¿En dónde vives? |
| Alisha: This means where do you live? Please repeat. |
| Fernando: ¿En dónde vives? [pause] |
| Alisha: Fernando, can you break it down? |
| Fernando: We have En donde, which means “where”, and vives, which means “you live.” So… where do you live? ¿En dónde vives? |
| Alisha: And so how do we answer this? |
| Fernando: We start with Vivo en... |
| Alisha: I live in... |
| Fernando: And then the name of where we live. In the dialogue we used La Colonia Roma, a neighborhood in Mexico |
| Alisha: So altogether it’s…? |
| Fernando: Vivo en la Colonia Roma |
| Alisha: Please repeat! |
| Fernando: Vivo en la Colonia Roma [pause] |
| Alisha: Now let’s practice asking where someone works. What changes in this sentence? |
| Fernando: Well, En donde stays the same. Instead of vives, we have trabajas. |
| Alisha: And this means “you work”, right? |
| Fernando: Yes, it comes from the AR-verb Trabajar. |
| Alisha: So when we put it all together, we get? |
| Fernando: En dónde trabajas? |
| Alisha: Repeat after Fernando. |
| Fernando: En dónde trabajas? [pause] |
| Alisha: And so how do we answer this? |
| Fernando: We start with Trabajo en... |
| Alisha: I work at, or in... |
| Fernando: And then where we work. In the dialogue we had una empresa, which means “a company”. |
| Alisha: So all together it is? |
| Fernando: Trabajo en una empresa |
| Alisha: Repeat after Fernando. |
| Fernando: Trabajo en una empresa [pause] |
| Alisha: Now, if you’re a student like Ashley, how can you answer? |
| Fernando: Soy estudiante. |
| Alisha: “I’m a student.” Repeat everyone |
| Fernando: Soy estudiante [pause] Soy means “I am”. It is the same as Yo soy. |
| Alisha: Okay, let’s review all the questions and answers again. Everyone repeat |
| Fernando: ¿En dónde vives? [pause] |
| ¿En dónde trabajas? [pause] |
| Alisha: And the answers? |
| Fernando: Vivo en Colonia Roma. [pause] |
| Trabajo en una empresa. [pause] |
Outro |
| Alisha: Great! Listeners, be sure to leave us a comment on this lesson and tell us where you live or work! |
| Fernando: We’ll be waiting to hear from you. |
| Alisha: That’s going to do it for this lesson. Thanks for listening everyone! |
| Fernando: See you next time, hasta luego! |
Comments
HideHi everyone,
¿En dónde vives?
Hola David,
Gracias por compartir.
Thank you for sharing.
Please let us know if you have any questions or doubts.
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Yo vivo en eslovaquia, en una ciudad llamada Presov.
Hola Ed,
Thank you for sharing.
We're happy to have you here and help you in this new journey.
Let us know if you have any questions.
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Hola todos. Vivo en Atlanta, una ciudad en Georgia en la parte sureste de los Estados Unidos.
Hola Aras,
Thank you for sharing.
We’re happy to have you here.
Please don’t hesitate to leave us your questions.
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Vivo en Aleppo
Hola Troost,
Bienvenido!
Hope you’re enjoying the lessons.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Buenos noches! Vivo en la ciudad de Kansas.
Hola Craig,
Mucho gusto!
Great! Please let us know if you have any questions or doubts.
Sigamos practicando.
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Vivo en Neuva Zealande
is it correct that the -s at the end of trabajas is virtually silent ???
Hola Tamara,
Thank you for participating.
Yo soy de Perú.
Sigamos practicando.
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Hola a todos,
Vivo en los Estados Unidos
Hola Shari,
Gracias por tu participación.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Sigamos practicando!
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Hola Gila,
No problem.
Sigamos practicando!
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Hola!
Vivo en Florida en los Estados Unidos
muchas gracias por la respuesta !
Hola Gila,
Thank you for your questions.
Is ok to use En donde and only donde. “En donde” emphatizes the place.
Sigamos practicando!
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Why don´t I get an answer to my question??
Hola,
I have some problem to understand why I have to say: en dónde trabajas, en dónde vives?
Because I had learned previously just to say: dónde instead of en dónde.
Could you please explain a bit further?
Muchas gracias