Learn how to talk about your ethnicity using the verb meaning, "to be"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| JP: This is Basic Bootcamp Lesson 2. My name is JP and I'm here with Fernando. |
| Fernando: Hola, JP. |
| JP: Hola, Fernando. So today we’ve got another basic lesson about introductions. And in this lesson we’re not only going to learn somebody’s name, but we’re also going to learn their nationalities. Alright, let’s listen to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| MICHELLE: ¡Hola! Soy Michelle. Soy costarricense. |
| CARLOS: ¡Hola, Michelle! Yo soy Carlos. Soy estadounidense. |
| JP: Let’s hear it again, dramatic speed. |
| MICHELLE: ¡Hola! Soy Michelle. Soy costarricense. |
| CARLOS: ¡Hola, Michelle! Yo soy Carlos. Soy estadounidense. |
| JP: One more time with the translation. |
| MICHELLE: ¡Hola! Soy Michelle. Soy costarricense. |
| MICHELLE: Hello. I'm Michelle. I'm Costa Rican. |
| CARLOS: ¡Hola, Michelle! Yo soy Carlos. Soy estadounidense. |
| CARLOS: Hello, Michelle. I'm Carlos. I'm American. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: Alright, Fernando, what just happened? |
| Fernando: Looks like Michelle and Carlos met for the first time, so they told each other their names and nationalities. |
| JP: Ok, so Michelle was Costa Rican, right? |
| Fernando: Right, she said she was costarricense. And Carlos said he was estadounidense. |
| JP: Now, Fernando, do Latinos always introduce themselves with their nationalities? |
| Fernando: Sometimes we do. Your nationality gives you a lot more information. Remember, there are 20 countries where Spanish is the official language and the population of Spanish speakers in the US is huge. |
| JP: Ok, so I guess nationality is a good thing to be able to talk about even at the very beginning level. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando: Sure. So let’s take a look at the vocabulary. Estadounidense. |
| JP: American. |
| Fernando: Estadounidense. |
| JP: Alright, what’s next? |
| Fernando: Costarricense. |
| JP: Costa Rican. |
| Fernando: Costarricense. |
| JP: Right. What’s next? |
| Fernando: Puertoriqueño. |
| JP: Puerto Rican. |
| Fernando: Puertoriqueño. |
| JP: Right. What’s next? |
| Fernando: Inglés. |
| JP: English. |
| Fernando: Inglés. |
| JP: Ok, last one. |
| Fernando: Español. |
| JP: Spanish. |
| Fernando: Español. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: Alright, Fernando. Where are we going to start today? |
| Fernando: Let’s start with Costarricense. |
| JP: Costarricense. This is someone from Costa Rica. |
| Fernando: Costarricense. |
| JP: Got it. Costarricense. So how about someone from Puerto Rico? |
| Fernando: Puertoriqueño. |
| JP: Puertoriqueño. So puertoriqueño is a Puerto Rican dude, right? |
| Fernando: Yes. The feminine word would be puertoriqueña with an A vowel at the end. |
| JP: Puertoriqueña. Alright, that A vowel at the end of an adjective indicates feminine. So like Jennifer Lopez… |
| Fernando: Puertoriqueña. |
| JP: And Marc Anthony? |
| Fernando: Puertoriqueño. |
| JP: Ok, so Marc Anthony doesn’t get the A vowel at the end because he’s not feminine. |
| Fernando: Right. Jennifer Lopez is puertoriqueña. Marc Anthony is puertoriqueño. |
| JP: Cool. So puertoriqueño is an ethnicity. What’s their nationality? |
| Fernando: Estadounidense. |
| JP: Ok, so estadounidense is American. |
| Fernando: Yes, because Puerto Rico is part of the US. |
| JP: Right, so how do we say it again? |
| Fernando: Estadounidense. |
| JP: Estadounidense. But that’s the masculine form, right? So what’s the feminine form? |
| Fernando: Estadounidense. With this word the masculine and feminine forms are the same. Estadounidense. Same with costarricense, the masculine and feminine forms sound the same. |
| JP: So Marc Anthony is estadounidense. |
| Fernando: Jennifer Lopez es estadounidense tambien. |
| JP: Yo tambien. Me too, I'm American. Yo soy estadounidense. |
| Fernando: That’s your nationality. |
| JP: And my ethnicity? |
| Fernando: Filipino. |
| JP: ¡Claro! Of course. |
| Fernando: Y yo soy mexicano. |
| JP: You’re Mexican. |
| Fernando: Sí, Mexicano. |
| JP: Mexicano What about the feminine form. What about like Salma Hayek? |
| Fernando: Salma Hayek is Mexicana. |
| JP: Es mexicana. Y Penelope Cruz? Mexicana, no? |
| Fernando: JP, Penelope Cruz es española. |
| JP: Oh, right. She’s Spanish. Ok, so how do we say that again, a Spanish woman? |
| Fernando: Española. Penelope Cruz es española. |
| JP: Española. So that’s the feminine form. And a Spanish dude would be… |
| Fernando: Español. Same as the language, español. |
| JP: Ok, the language español. That’s a good point. English is like that too, right? The word for an English dude is |
| Fernando: inglés. |
| JP: Inglés like David Beckam. |
| Fernando: es Iinglés |
| JP: And Victoria Beckam. |
| Fernando: Es inglésa |
| JP: Ok, David Beckam es inglés, Victoria Beckam es inglésa. |
| Fernando: Así es. |
| JP: Got it. So, Fernando, before we get to the grammar point I want to ask you about my nationality again. |
| Fernando: Sí, JP. Tú eres estadounidense. |
| JP: Right, soy estadounidense. What about the word Americano? |
| Fernando: We get that all the time. Americano or the feminine americana would be someone from America. |
| JP: Right, so I am from America. |
| Fernando: In Spanish America means North America and South America, so if you say Soy Americano we get it, but technically it’s not a nationality. |
| JP: Alright, now let’s talk about some grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Fernando: We’ve been using the verb ser to talk about nationalities. The verb ser is like the English word “to be” and we use it to talk about identity, so if I want to say “I'm American” we said… |
| Fernando: Soy estadounidense. Soy is the first person form of ser. |
| JP: So soy means “I am”. |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: Ok, now what if I'm not talking about myself? |
| Fernando: Who do you want to talk about? |
| JP: Fernando, I want to talk about you. So in English I’d say “You are Mexican”, for example. |
| Fernando: Eres mexicano. |
| JP: Mexicano means “Mexican”. |
| Fernando: And eres is the word for “you are”. |
| JP: Eres. |
| Fernando: Sí! Eres mexicano. “You’re Mexican” but… |
| JP: But what? |
| Fernando: You probably won’t go around telling people that they’re Mexican. You might ask someone if they’re Mexican. |
| JP: Alright then, so how do you make Eres mexicano into a question? |
| Fernando: ¿Eres mexicano? “Are you Mexican?” |
| JP: ¿Eres mexicano? Just like that? With the question intonation? |
| Fernando: ¿Eres Mexicano? |
| JP: No Fernando, soy estadounidense. |
| Fernando: I see what you did there. |
| JP: Yeah, so “I am”. |
| Fernando: soy |
| JP: You are? |
| Fernando: eres |
| JP: What about a third person? When we talk about Salma Hayek? |
| Fernando: es mexicana, Salma Hayek. |
| JP: es so that’s “she is”, right? |
| Fernando: “He is”, “she is”, “it is”. It’s all es |
| JP: Es. Ok, cool. So those are the singular forms of ser. “I am”. |
| Fernando: soy |
| JP: You are. |
| Fernando: eres |
| JP: He is, she is, it is. |
| Fernando: es |
| JP: Cool. So those are all the singular forms of ser that we used in the dialogue and in this lesson. There are also plural forms. |
| Fernando: Do we have time to teach them now? |
| JP: Well, we can just list them off real quick because I know some people want to know. So “we are”. |
| Fernando: somos |
| JP: You are. |
| Fernando: son |
| JP: And “they are”. |
| Fernando: son, it’s the same word. |
| JP: Ok, then I should mention that in Spain they have a special form for “you all are”. |
| Fernando: sois |
| JP: Sois, right? And you’re only going to hear that with your friends from Spain. So anyway, those are the plural forms of the verb ser. |
| Fernando: We’ll go over those in a future lesson. |
Outro |
| JP: Solid. Ok, thanks, Fernando, and thanks everyone for listening to Basic Bootcamp lesson 2, and we’ll see you at lesson 3. |
| Fernando: Hasta luego. |
| JP: Bye. |
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