The Focus of This Lesson Is the Verb Ser ("to Be").
Yo soy Monserrat, mucho gusto.
"I'm Monserrat; it's a pleasure to meet you."

Ser is one of the Spanish verbs that means "to be," and it's the one we use to describe identity. We heard two forms of ser in the dialogue today. One was in the first person: soy Jesús, soy Monserrat. That word soy is the first person form of ser, so it means "I am."

We also heard the third-person form of ser later in this dialogue when we heard el gusto es mío ("the pleasure is mine"). The word es means "it is."

You'll notice that the forms of ser are irregular; that is, it's hard to predict that soy and es are forms of ser. You'll have to memorize these irregular forms. 

We mentioned earlier that two Spanish verbs correspond to the English verb "to be." Ser, as we said, deals with describing identity. There's another verb, estar, that also means "to be."

Names in Spanish

Although many people in the Spanish-speaking world have first names and middle names, it's also common to have double first names; for example, Juan Carlos, José Luis, or for women María Luisa, Ana María, and so forth. In informal situations, Spanish speakers will abbreviate with the second name (rather than the first). For example, my first name in Spanish is Juan Patricio; someone trying to be informal with me might call me Patricio but not Juan.

Spanish speakers may also present themselves with double last names as well. In this case, the first family name you hear will be the paternal last name and the second will be the maternal name. In less formal situations, we just use the paternal name.

As an example, my name in Spanish would be Juan Patricio Villanueva Mari. Juan Patricio is my double first name, my last name is Villanueva, and the Mari you hear at the end is my maternal family name. I wouldn't use this extended version of my name unless I were in a formal or official situation.

Finally, Spanish speakers in general love to use apodos. These nicknames may or may not be based on your name. They can shorten your name (e.g., Juan Patricio becomes Patricio, Santiago becomes Santi). They may lengthen your name by adding cute suffixes like -ito, -ico, or -ita, so Miguel becomes Miguelito, David becomes Davidico, Teresa becomes Teresita, and Ana becomes Anita. They may also give you descriptive apodos, such as el alto, la turca, el silbador, el ministro, hamburguesa, and so forth.

In most cases, these apodos will indicate affection.

Hola ("Hello")
Hola is the standard greeting in the Spanish language. This greeting is universal throughout the Spanish-speaking world. We can use hola in either formal or informal situations. When greeting people throughout the day, we often pair it with either buenos días ("good morning"), buenas tardes ("good afternoon"), or buenas noches ("good evening").

Soy ("I am")
Soy means "I am": it's the verb ser in the first person. Ser, of course, is the verb that means "to be." We use ser to describe identity. Both Jesús and Monserrat use soy to tell the other person what his name is.

Mucho gusto ("a pleasure to meet you")
Mucho gusto is what people say immediately after an introduction. In English, we would say "a pleasure to meet you." A common response to mucho gusto is el gusto es mío (literally, "the pleasure is mine"). 

To Kiss or Not to Kiss...

Spanish speakers as a rule greet each other with physical contact. We greet women with a kiss to the cheek (more often than not, this "kiss" is actually touching cheeks and kissing the air). The number of kisses is specified by region, and anywhere from one to four kisses is customary. Men greet each other with handshakes rather than kisses.