Learn how to use the verb estar ("to be") to explain where people or things are
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Anna: Hola soy Anna. |
| Eric: Eric here! Is Your Spanish Friend Answering the Phone? |
| Anna: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the verb estar to explain where people or things are. |
| Eric: This conversation takes place on the phone in the afternoon. |
| Anna: And it’s between Paula and Santiago's mother, who answered the phone. |
| Eric: The speakers are in a formal situation, so they'll be speaking formally. |
| Anna: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Madre de Santiago: ¿Diga? |
| Paula: Soy Paula. ¿Está Santiago? |
| Madre de Santiago: Ahora no está. |
| Paula: ¿Sabe dónde está? |
| Madre de Santiago: Está en la biblioteca. |
| Eric: Now let's listen to the same conversation at a slow speed. |
| Madre de Santiago: ¿Diga? |
| Paula: Soy Paula. ¿Está Santiago? |
| Madre de Santiago: Ahora no está. |
| Paula: ¿Sabe dónde está? |
| Madre de Santiago: Está en la biblioteca. |
| Eric: Let's now listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Madre de Santiago: ¿Diga? |
| Santiago's mother: Yes? |
| Paula: Soy Paula. ¿Está Santiago? |
| Paula: This is Paula. Is Santiago there? |
| Madre de Santiago: Ahora no está. |
| Santiago's mother: He's not here right now. |
| Paula: ¿Sabe dónde está? |
| Paula: Do you know where he is? |
| Madre de Santiago: Está en la biblioteca. |
| Santiago's mother: He's at the library. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: In Spain there are several ways you can answer the phone. |
| Anna: That's right. At home, people tend to answer by saying ¿Sí?, which means "Yes?" Another option is ¿Diga? meaning "Tell me." And ¿Sí, quién es? which means "Yes, who is it?" |
| Eric: However, if it's a company calling or answering, things will be more formal. |
| Anna: Right. They'll probably give you the name of the company or organization when they answer the phone, like Le atiende Marta de Atención al cliente, ¿en qué puedo ayudarle? which means, "This is Marta from Customer Service. How can I help you?" |
| Eric: When answering from a personal phone, like a mobile, the most common way is to say... |
| Anna: ¿Sí? But if you know who's calling, you can answer pretty much however you want. |
| Eric: Okay. Now, let's take a look at the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Anna: estar |
| Eric: to be |
| Anna: estar [slowly] |
| Anna: estar |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: decir |
| Eric: to tell |
| Anna: decir |
| Anna: decir |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: saber |
| Eric: to know, to know how |
| Anna: saber [slowly] |
| Anna: saber |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: ahora |
| Eric: now, just now, right away |
| Anna: ahora [slowly] |
| Anna: ahora |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: biblioteca |
| Eric: library |
| Anna: biblioteca [slowly] |
| Anna: biblioteca |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: dónde |
| Eric: where |
| Anna: dónde [slowly] |
| Anna: dónde |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Anna: ser |
| Eric: to be |
| Anna: ser [slowly] |
| Anna: ser |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Anna: en |
| Eric: at, in |
| Anna: en [slowly] |
| Anna: en |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Anna: The first word we'll look at is biblioteca, which means "library." |
| Eric: This word is a Spanish feminine noun, but Spanish also has the word... |
| Anna: Librería. But librería means "book store," not library, and it's also a feminine noun. So be careful to not confuse them. |
| Eric: Could you give us some sample sentences? |
| Anna: Sure! Siempre estudio en la biblioteca means, "I always study in the library." And Alquilo libros de la biblioteca means, "I rent books from the library." |
| Eric: Okay so, what's our next word? |
| Anna: The next word we'll look at is saber. Saber is an irregular Spanish verb that means "to know" or to have knowledge about something. |
| Eric: This is an irregular verb, so we have a conjugation chart in the lesson notes for you to review. |
| Anna: A good example sentence for this would be Sé hablar español, which means, "I know how to speak Spanish." |
| Eric: The next word we're going to look at is... |
| Anna: Ahora. Ahora means "now" and is an adverb of time that indicates that something is happening in this moment, nowadays, or at the present time. |
| Eric: Could you use it in a sentence? |
| Anna: Sure! You could say something like, Ahora estoy corriendo. |
| Eric: Which means, "Now I'm running." |
| Anna: Ahora can also mean "immediately before" or "immediately after" the moment in which it's used. An example sentence would be something like, Ahora lo hago, which means, "I'll do it now." |
| Eric: Alright, now let's move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the verb estar to explain where people or things are. |
| Anna: In the dialogue we heard the phrase, Está en la biblioteca. |
| Eric: Which we translated as "He's in the library." |
| Anna: So far, we've seen quite a few uses for the verbs SER and ESTAR in Spanish. |
| Eric: You can now introduce yourself, as in... |
| Anna: Soy María, which means "I'm María." |
| Eric: And you can use them to express temporary moods or feelings like… |
| Anna: Está cansada, which means "She’s tired." And in this lesson, we'll use estar to explain where people or things are. |
| Eric: Just like in the dialogue when Paula called Santiago's house and another person answered the phone. She asked.. |
| Anna: ¿Está Santiago?, which means "Is Santiago there?" |
| Eric: When Santiago's mother answers "No," Paula wanted to know where he was—where to find him—so she asked, |
| Anna: ¿Sabe dónde está? |
| Eric: Which means "Do you know where he is?" |
| Anna: She uses the estar verb because it expresses the location of someone or something, in this case Santiago. |
| Eric: Let's look at the conjugations of this verb. How do you say, "I am?" |
| Anna: Yo estoy. |
| Eric: And "You are?" |
| Anna: Tú estás. |
| Eric: And "You are" using the formal speech? |
| Anna: Usted está. |
| Eric: And "He/she/it is?" |
| Anna: Él está, ella está. |
| Eric: "We are?" |
| Anna: Nosotros estamos, Nosotras estamos. |
| Eric: "You all are?" |
| Anna: Vosotros estáis, vosotras estáis. |
| Eric: "You all are" formal speech? |
| Anna: Ustedes están. |
| Eric: And "They are?" |
| Anna: Ellos están, ellas están. |
| Eric: Perfect. So, in affirmative sentences, you could say something like... |
| Anna: La universidad está cerca del ayuntamiento, which means, "The university is near the city hall." |
| Eric: Or for a negative sentence, you could say something like... |
| Anna: El hospital no está en la avenida Diagonal, which means, "The hospital is not on Diagonal Avenue." |
| Eric: And for question sentences, remember that you don't need to change the word order to ask a question. You just ask it with a rising tone at the end. |
| Anna: Right. Unless it’s an open question. |
| Eric: So, for example, if you’re asking, “Where is she?” |
| Anna: Meaning, ¿Dónde está ella? Here’s another example. Juan está en el parque. |
| Eric: It's a statement: "Juan is in the park." |
| Anna: But if I say, ¿Está en el parque? it means, "Is Juan in the park?" Note that we used the preposition en. |
| Eric: It indicates location and determines the action of the verbs it refers to. |
| Anna: When talking about a location, this preposition almost always follows the verb estar. An example sentence of this would be ¿Está mi móvil en tu casa? |
| Eric: Which means, "Is my cell phone at your home?" |
| HOMEWORK |
| Anna: Okay, before we go, here’s the answer to the previous Tarea. The correct sentence is number two: Mi hermana está cansada. |
| Eric: And this time you’ll have to identify the incorrect sentence. |
| Anna: 1) ¿Dónde está la casa de Pablo? |
| 2) ¿Dónde está tú? |
| 3) ¿Dónde están los estudiantes? |
Outro |
| Eric: Well that just about does it for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Anna: ¡Hasta luego! |
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