Learn how to use Spanish possessive adjectives
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha: Hi everybody, this is Alisha. |
| Fernando: Hola amigos, soy Fernando. Hi everyone, I’m Fernando! |
| Alisha: Meeting your Mexican Host Family |
| Fernando: In this lesson you will learn how to greet someone informally when you visit their house. |
| Alisha: The lesson contains some useful tips on how to respond to someone’s hospitality when they invite you to stay or just for dinner at their own home. This conversation takes place at Maria’s home. |
| Fernando: And it is between Maria and Ashley, the exchange student who just arrived from the U.S. to study in Mexico. |
| Alisha: Maria and Ashley have been in contact already for some time, but Ashley had never been to her home. Since they are already friends, they will be speaking casual Spanish. |
| Fernando: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| A: ¡Bienvenida, Ashley! |
| B: ¡Gracias! |
| A: Esta es tu casa. |
| B: ¡Gracias, qué bonita! |
| A: Y este es mi perro. |
| B: ¡Qué bonito! |
| Alisha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| A: ¡Bienvenida, Ashley! |
| B: ¡Gracias! |
| A: Esta es tu casa. |
| B: ¡Gracias, qué bonita! |
| A: Y este es mi perro. |
| B: ¡Qué bonito! |
| Alisha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| A: ¡Bienvenida, Ashley! |
| Alisha: Welcome, Ashley. |
| B: ¡Gracias! |
| Alisha: Thank you! |
| A: Esta es tu casa. |
| Alisha: This is your home. |
| B: ¡Gracias, qué bonita! |
| Alisha: Thank you, how beautiful! |
| A: Y este es mi perro. |
| Alisha: And this is my dog. |
| B: ¡Qué bonito! |
| Alisha: How cute! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fernando: Alisha, let me tell you a bit about the culture behind this lesson. |
| Alisha: Sure, Fernando, share with us. |
| Fernando: Well, Mexican people have a reputation for being one of the most welcoming people in the world. |
| Alisha: That’s probably why Ashley chose Mexico to go study Spanish. |
| Fernando: But apart from that, I just want to mention that when people invite you to their home, they often say “mi casa es tu casa”. |
| Alisha: Is that something like “my home is your home”? |
| Fernando: Right! That’s the exact translation. It’s a way of saying, make yourself at home, or make yourself comfortable. They can also say “estás en tu casa”, literally, you’re in your home. Or even, Esta es tu casa – this is your home. |
| Alisha: Oh, that’s the one we saw in the dialogue, right? |
| Fernando: Yes. This is what Maria said to Ashley when she came in. |
| Alisha: “This is your home”. |
| Fernando: Right. It’s just a way of saying ‘make yourself at home’. |
| Alisha: And they’re not just saying it out of obligation? |
| Fernando: No, no. They really want you to have a good time. |
| Alisha: What can you say in return? |
| Fernando: A simple Gracias would be fine! |
| Alisha: Great! And with that, 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: bienvenido/a [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: welcome |
| Fernando: bienvenido/a [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: bienvenido/a [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: gracias [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: thanks, thank you |
| Fernando: gracias [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: gracias [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: ser [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: to be |
| Fernando: ser [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ser [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: tu [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: your |
| Fernando: tu [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: tu [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: mi [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: my |
| Fernando: mi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: mi [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: casa [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: house |
| Fernando: casa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: casa [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: perro [natural native speed] |
| Alisha: dog |
| Fernando: perro [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: perro [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/phrase we’ll look at is.... |
| Fernando: bienvenido, or bienvenida. |
| Alisha: I have seen many street signs in Mexico when travelling, that say “Bienvenido” and then the name of the town. Is that because you’re just entering that town? |
| Fernando: That’s right. We often see those signs on the roads, for example Bienvenido a Mexico, which means “welcome to Mexico City”, or Bienvenido a Morelos, “welcome to Morelos”, etc. |
| Alisha: But here Maria said Bienvenida. Why the “a” at the end? |
| Fernando: Remember that in Spanish, the ending of adjectives changes whether it is a feminine or a masculine noun. |
| Alisha: Oh, okay! So if you welcome me, you say bienvenida and if I welcome you, I say bienvenido? |
| Fernando: Yes! That’s right. In the case of street signs, they use the masculine form bienvenido, because that’s what we use to refer to people in general. |
| Alisha: Great, next is? |
| Fernando: Ok, so the next word is “este or esta”, meaning “this” in masculine or feminine form. |
| Alisha: Repeat after Fernando - “This house.” |
| Fernando: Esta casa (give time) |
| Alisha: This dog. |
| Fernando: Este perro (give time) |
| Alisha: Repeat |
| Alisha: These words are used to refer to things which are close in distance to us, right Fernando? |
| Fernando: That’s right. It works just the same as “this” in English. |
| Alisha: Next, let’s review the expression “how cute!” |
| Fernando: Qué bonita or qué bonito |
| Alisha: Those are, of course, the feminine and masculine versions of the phrase. Remember that we learned that que plus an adjective creates an expression like “how beautiful” or “how wonderful”. |
| Fernando: Yes, but there is one other thing I want to mention here. The translation of bonito depends on what it is referring to. |
| Alisha: Oh, good point. When talking about the house, the translation was “beautiful”. When talking about the dog, the translation was “cute”. In Spanish, it kind of encompasses both of those meanings. |
| Fernando: Right, so just keep that in mind. |
| Alisha: Okay, onto the grammar! |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: Ok, the point of our grammar lesson is to become familiar with the use of the possessive adjectives mi, tu, su (my, your, his or her)... What examples can you give us, Fernando? |
| Fernando: The most important one is “my”. In Spanish, this is “mi”. |
| Alisha: Can you give us an example? |
| Fernando: Sure. This is my dog, “este es mi perro”. The possessive adjective comes before what is owned. Mi perro. “My dog.” |
| Alisha: Next example... |
| Fernando: My house is “mi casa”. |
| Alisha: Ok everyone, repeat after Fernando. |
| Mi perro [pause] |
| Mi casa [pause] |
| Now, how would you say “your dog” and “your house”? |
| Fernando: You would use “tu”, which means “your”. Note that this is informal. So those would be Tu perro, tu casa. |
| Alisha: Repeat after Fernando – |
| Fernando: “your dog”, tu perro [pause]. |
| “Your house”, tu casa [pause]. |
| Alisha: Now let’s do the third person singular- |
| “his dog” and “his house”. |
| Fernando: Su perro, su casa. |
| Alisha: Please repeat. |
| Fernando: “His dog”. Su perro [pause]. |
| “His house”. su casa [pause]. |
| Alisha: What about “her dog” and “her house”? |
| Fernando: “Su” is used without distinction in Spanish to mean either his or her, in third person. |
| Alisha: How do you tell which one it’s supposed to be? |
| Fernando: Well, this is determined by context. It might sound confusing, but when you are in the middle of a conversation, it’s easy to see who they refer to. |
| Alisha: Okay, great. So, so far we have only studied nouns in singular form. So how about going through some nouns in the plural form? What if you have multiple dogs, or even… multiple houses? |
| Fernando: Ok, let’s stick with the words “dog” and “house”. Let’s make these plural, starting with the first person - “my dogs” and “my houses”. Repeat after me |
| “My dogs” - Mis perros [pause]. |
| “My houses” - Mis casas [pause]. |
| As you can see, we simply add an “s” to the end of both “mi” and the noun. |
| Alisha: Now let’s hear them in second person. |
| Fernando: Repeat |
| “Your houses”. Tus casas [pause]. |
| Alisha: And finally in third person |
| Fernando: Please repeat - “His dogs” - Sus perros. [pause]. |
| “His houses” - Sus casas. [pause]. |
| Wow. They must all be really rich with so many dogs and houses…! |
| Alisha: (Laughs) I think so! |
Outro |
| Alisha: Okay listeners, we’ve come to the end of this lesson. Don't forget to review the lesson notes to see more examples with these possessive adjectives. |
| Fernando: Leave us a comment if you have any questions! |
| Alisha: Until next time. |
| Fernando: Hasta luego! |
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