Learn how to ask whether something belongs to someone and how to respond when asked whether something is yours using colloquial Mexican Spanish
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha: Hi everybody, this is Alisha. |
| Fernando: Hola a todos! Soy Fernando. |
| Alisha: Welcome to SpanishPod101.com. Talking about Possession in Spanish. |
| Fernando: In this lesson, you will learn how to ask to whom something belongs. |
| Alisha: You will also learn how to use the possessive pronouns “mine, yours, his and hers” to respond to the question “Who does this belong to?” |
| Fernando: This dialogue takes place outside on the street, and it is between Ashley, her friend María, and a passerby. |
| Alisha: Ashley and María share a personal connection, so they will be speaking casual Spanish. |
| Fernando: However, the passerby, and María and Ashley don’t know each other, so in that case they will be using formal Spanish. |
| Alisha: Lets listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| María: ¡Mira, Ashley, una bolsa! |
| Ashley ¿No es tuya? |
| María: No, no es mía. |
| Ashley Señorita, ¿esta bolsa es suya? |
| Passerby: Sí, es mía. ¡Gracias! |
| Alisha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| María: ¡Mira, Ashley, una bolsa! |
| Ashley ¿No es tuya? |
| María: No, no es mía. |
| Ashley Señorita, ¿esta bolsa es suya? |
| Passerby: Sí, es mía. ¡Gracias! |
| Alisha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| María: ¡Mira, Ashley, una bolsa! |
| Alisha: Look, Ashley, a handbag! |
| Ashley ¿No es tuya? |
| Alisha: It's not yours? |
| María: No, no es mía. |
| Alisha: No, it's not mine. |
| Ashley Señorita, ¿esta bolsa es suya? |
| Alisha: Ma'am, is this bag yours? |
| Passerby: Sí, es mía. ¡Gracias! |
| Alisha: Yes, it's mine. Thank you! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alisha: María and Ashley were really kind in giving back the bag, don’t you think Fernando? |
| Fernando: Well, yes of course! Someone could have taken it! |
| Alisha: What happens if you find something? Do you take it to the police station? |
| Fernando: No, in Mexico, people almost never hand things to the police. |
| Alisha: Well, surely there must be a Lost and Found section somewhere, right? |
| Fernando: As strange as it may seem, Lost and Found sections are also a rarity in most places. |
| Alisha: So what do you do if you if find something, or lose something? |
| Fernando: You could try to contact the owner if it has a number. Or you could hand it to the person in charge of the facility where you found it. For example, the shop manager. |
| Alisha: That makes sense. And if you lose something, it’d also be best to check with the person in charge of the facility where you lost it? |
| Fernando: If possible, yes. |
| Alisha: Okay, good to know! 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: mirar [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: look |
| Fernando: mirar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: mirar [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: una [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: a |
| Fernando: una [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: una [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: bolsa [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: bag, handbag |
| Fernando: bolsa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: bolsa [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: ser [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: to be (permanent characteristics) |
| Fernando: ser [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ser [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: tuyo, -a [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: yours |
| Fernando: tuyo, -a [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: tuyo, -a [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: mío, -a [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: mine |
| Fernando: mío, -a [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: mío, -a [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: esta [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: this |
| Fernando: esta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: esta [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: suyo, -a [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: his, hers, theirs |
| Fernando: suyo, -a [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: suyo, -a [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Alisha: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Fernando, in the dialogue María says “Look Ashley, a handbag”. What was the word “look” again? |
| Fernando: “Look,” as a command, is ‘mira’. Repeat after me - ‘¡Mira!’ This is the imperative form of the verb ‘mirar’, “to look”. |
| Alisha Ok, then María and Ashley figure out someone has lost her bag, and they go and ask “excuse me, is this bag yours?” |
| Fernando: Which is ‘¿Esta bolsa es suya?’ |
| Alisha: Now here, Fernando, why is there ‘esta’ before the word “bag”? |
| Fernando: ‘Esta’ is a demonstrative adjective that tells the position of an object relative to the speaker. There are basically three options- ‘Esta’ (“this”), ‘esa’ (“that”), and ‘aquella’ (“that one over there”). |
| Alisha: And these are the ones for feminine single nouns, right? |
| Fernando: Of course! Those are only for feminine single nouns. |
| Alisha: Like ‘bolsa’? |
| Fernando: Yes, like ‘bolsa...’ Notice that earlier in the dialogue, María tells Ashley, ‘una bolsa’. |
| Alisha: And that means “a handbag”? |
| Fernando: Well actually, it can mean many things. It can be a lady’s handbag, a plastic bag from the supermarket, and so on. They are all ‘bolsas’. |
| Alisha: Got it! Now let’s move onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: In this lesson, you’ll learn the use of possessive pronouns “mine”, “yours”, and “his” or “hers”. What are they, Fernando? |
| Fernando: First thing you need to know is that there are masculine and feminine versions. These depend on whether the object is a masculine or feminine noun. |
| Alisha: Okay, so let’s start with the masculine ones. |
| Fernando: mío |
| Alisha: mine |
| Fernando: tuyo |
| Alisha: yours |
| Fernando: suyo |
| Alisha: “his” or “hers”, and also the polite version of “yours” |
| Fernando: And now, the feminine versions. ‘Mía’ |
| Alisha: mine |
| Fernando: tuya |
| Alisha: yours |
| Fernando: suya |
| Alisha: “his” or “hers” |
| Alisha: So Fernando, “his” and “hers” have the same possessive pronoun in Spanish? |
| Fernando: Yes, that’s right. |
| Alisha: And also, do these change if the noun is singular or plural? |
| Fernando: Good point, Alisha. Yes, there are plural forms of these too. |
| Alisha: Wow! That’s a lot to memorize. |
| Fernando: It’s not that difficult - just add an ‘s’ at the end to make these plural. |
| Alisha: Ok, Let’s hear the plural form. |
| Fernando: ‘míos’ (“mine”) , ‘tuyos’ (“yours”) , ‘suyos’ (“his” and “hers”, polite form of “yours”) |
| Alisha: And the feminine plural form. |
| Fernando: ‘mías’ (“mine”), ‘tuyas’ (“yours”), ‘suyas’ (“his” and “hers”, polite form of “yours”) |
| Alisha: Wait! We have possessive pronouns and also possessive adjectives, right? |
| Fernando: Right. What we just went over are possessive pronouns. “Mine”, “yours”, and so on. |
| Alisha: For those, you don’t need to say the noun again. |
| Fernando: Yes. Possessive adjectives, on the other hand, come before the noun. Words like “my”, “your”, “his”, “her”. For example, ‘mi bolsa’ which means ”my bag”. |
| Alisha: Okay, I get it. So it’s basically like the difference between “mine” and “my” in English. |
| Fernando: That’s right! |
| Alisha: So what would YOUR bag be? |
| Fernando: ‘Tu bolsa’ – “your bag.” |
| Alisha: How about “his bag”? |
| Fernando: ‘Su bolsa’ – “his bag”. |
| Alisha: How about “her bag”? |
| Fernando: ‘Su bolsa’ – “her bag”. ‘Su’ means both “his” and “her”. |
| Alisha: Going back to the dialogue, what did Ashley ask the passerby? |
| Fernando: Señorita, ¿esta bolsa es suya? |
| Alisha: Ma’am, is this bag yours? |
| Fernando: Remember that ‘suya’ is the polite form of “yours.” ‘¿Esta bolsa es suya?’ |
| Alisha: “Is this bag yours?” What if Ashley were talking to the passerby in casual Spanish? |
| Fernando: She would say- ‘¿Esta bolsa es tuya?’ |
Outro |
| Fernando: Please review the lesson notes and build up your own sentences with different nouns! |
| Alisha: Ok, listeners. I think that’s going to do it for this lesson. |
| Alisha: See you in our next lesson! |
| Fernando: Hasta la vista! |
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