Learn about telling someone not to do something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Lizzie: Hola, soy Lizzie! |
| Allan: Allan here. I’ve got to read it for myself. |
| Lizzie: Sean ustedes bienvenidos. |
| Allan: Hey there everybody. Welcome back to SpanishPod101.com. My name is Allan and I’m the founder of the El sol Spanish language school here in Lima, and an invited guest to the SpanishPod101.com series. Here I am again in Lima Peru and joined by the beautiful, elegant, intelligent, musical, Lizzie. Hey, Liz! |
| Lizzie: Thank you. Thank you very much, Allan. It’s a pleasure to be with you. |
| Allan: You’re listening to the 39th lesson of the Beginner Series and, again, it’s coming to on demand from SpanishPod101.com |
| Lizzie: Ready for a challenge? |
| Allan: Well, I hope so because we’ve got one for you. Today we’re going to stay on this literary road trip that we’ve been on since Beginner Lesson number 36 and today we’re going to talk about one of the most interesting Argentine novelists to ever write in the Spanish language. |
| Lizzie: Ernesto Sabato. |
| Allan: That’s right, Ernesto Sabato. Escritor de varios libros entre ellos los más conocidos son “Sobre héroes y tumbas”, “Abaddón el exterminador” y el reconocido libro que le ha traído tanta fama “El túnel”. |
| Lizzie: En la conversación de hoy vamos a escuchar a Jorge y Claudia quienes son amigos y por eso su conversación será informal. |
| Allan: Now guys, today’s conversation takes place in a café here, in Lima. So as you listen to it, try to imagine yourself there among the other patrons, the smell of espresso, the sound of the street bustle, it will really help you to contextualize the conversation. |
| Lizzie: Bueno Allan parece que ya llego la hora. |
| Allan: No doubt, Lizzie. Alright guys, now is the time to open up today’s lesson guide in your PDF reader to follow along in the transcripts and translations as we listen to today’s lesson conversation. |
| Lizzie: In this lesson, we will learn about one of the most famous Argentine novelists, Ernesto Sabato. The conversation is between Jorge and Claudia. |
| Allan: It takes place at a little cafe up in Avenida Larco, here in Lima, what used to be Tito Drago’s Place. |
| Lizzie: The speakers are friends, therefore they will be speaking to each other informally. |
| Allan: Now, if you’re listening on an iPod… |
| Lizzie: Or an iTouch or iPhone… |
| Allan: Click the center button of the iPod or tap the screen of an iTouch or iPhone to see the notes for this lesson while you listen. |
| Lizzie: Read along while you listen. |
| Allan: This technique will help you remember faster, okay? Let’s listen to the conversation. Be sure to follow along with today’s lesson guide, which you can open up in your PDF reader. Here we go! |
| DIALOGUE |
| ANA: Oye, José, ¿tienes una copia del libro "El túnel"? |
| JOSÉ: ¿La novela de Ernesto Sábato? |
| ANA: Sí, la misma. |
| JOSÉ: Lo dificulto. Es que suelo prestar mis libros y nunca vuelvo a verlos. ¿Por qué me preguntas? |
| ANA: Porque perdí mi copia justo cuando estaba por terminarlo. |
| JOSÉ: ¡Ah, pero te has perdido lo más interesante...! ¿Quieres que te cuente cómo termina? |
| ANA: ¡Ay, no, no, no me digas nada! Tengo que leerlo yo misma para vivirlo. Me encantó la primera parte y el final me tiene intrigada, pero yo misma lo averiguaré. No me hables. ¡Chau! |
| JOSÉ: Jajaja, ¡chau! |
| ANA: Si encuentras tu copia, me avisas. ¡Chau! |
| ANA: Hey, José, do you have a copy of the book "The Tunnel"? |
| JOSÉ: The novel by Ernesto Sábato? |
| ANA: Yep, that very one. |
| JOSÉ: I doubt it. The thing is, I tend to lend out my books and I never see them again. Why do you ask? |
| ANA: Because I lost my copy just when I was about to finish it. |
| JOSÉ: Oh, but you've missed the most interesting part...! Do you want me to tell you how it ends? |
| ANA: Ah, no, no, don't tell me anything. I've got to read it myself in order to live it. I loved the first part and I'm intrigued about the ending, but I'll figure it out myself. Don't say anything to me. Bye! |
| JOSÉ: Hahaha, bye! |
| ANA: If you find your copy, let me know. Bye! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Allan: Don’t you just hate that cuando un libro me tiene intrigado lo tengo que terminar. |
| Lizzie: A si. |
| Allan: Soy capaz de quedar toda la noche. Ok, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. Now is the time to move on to the vocabulary section of today’s lesson guide. Here, we’re going to break these words down and give you some key points, so listen closely. Today’s first word is a verb. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Lizzie: averiguar |
| Allan: To figure out. |
| Lizzie: averiguar, averiguar |
| Allan: As in the example… |
| Lizzie: No se bien a que hora llega el bus pero lo puedo averiguar. |
| Allan: “I don’t really know what time the bus arrives but I can figure it out.” This time we have another verb. |
| Lizzie: perder |
| Allan: To lose, to miss. |
| Lizzie: perder, perder |
| Allan: As we see in… |
| Lizzie: Ya he perdido tres buses. |
| Allan: “I’ve already missed three busses.” And again a verb. |
| Lizzie: prestar |
| Allan: To lend, to borrow. |
| Lizzie: prestar, prestar |
| Allan: And a sample sentence for that would be… |
| Lizzie: ¿Me prestas cinco dólares, por favor? |
| Allan: “Would you lend me five dollars, please?” Now this time we’ll hear an adverb. |
| Lizzie: nunca |
| Allan: Never, ever. |
| Lizzie: nunca, nunca |
| Allan: For example… |
| Lizzie: Nunca lo probaré. |
| Allan: “I’ll never try it.” Second to last we have an adjective. |
| Lizzie: intrigado, intrigada |
| Allan: Intrigued. |
| Lizzie: intrigado, intrigada, intrigado, intrigada |
| Allan: As we hear in the sample sentence… |
| Lizzie: El libro me tiene intrigada, lo tengo que terminar. |
| Allan: “The book intrigues me I have to finish it.” And finally a feminine noun. |
| Lizzie: copia |
| Allan: Copy. |
| Lizzie: copia, copia |
| Allan: And one more example? |
| Lizzie: Perdí mi libro. ¿Tienes una copia? |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Allan: “I lost my book. Do you have a copy?” Ok, friends, I think today’s list is pretty straight forward. You might want to pay particular attention though to the word copia so it’s not copia it’s copia, so the accent is on the first syllable and IA runs together. copia. |
| Lizzie: copia. |
| Allan: Alright. Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Lizzie: Estudiemos entonces el uso de alguno de los vocablos. |
| Allan: That’s right, we’ll switch our focus and we’ll put the words into context and really see what they mean. |
| Lizzie: Empecemos con el verbo averiguar. |
| Allan: Alright, so let’s think about what this one means. |
| Lizzie: Bueno el verbo averiguar significa inquirir la verdad hasta descubrirla. |
| Allan: Ok, so to inquire about the truth right until discovering it. So, in English, we generally translate this word as “to figure out” or something like that. |
| Lizzie: Claro como por ejemplo: Averigué que habia pasado con mi libro. |
| Allan: Right, “I figured out what had happened to my book”. Let’s look at another verb this time perder. |
| Lizzie: Perder. |
| Allan: That’s the one. |
| Lizzie: ¿Y su significado? |
| Allan: Well if una pérdida is “a loss” and un perdedor is “a loser” than the verb perder must mean… |
| Lizzie: To lose. |
| Allan: Right you are. |
| Lizzie: Mencionemos el cambio radical en el tiempo presente. |
| Allan: Hey, that’s a good idea. As Lizzie has so graciously just reminded us, in the present tense in the indicative mood, this verb undergoes a stem change so we wouldn’t say perdo. That’s gringo talk, instead we say pierdo. |
| Lizzie: Claro o pierdes, pierde, perdemos, perdéis y pierden. |
| Allan: Exactly. So as you can see that stem change occurs in all of the forms except for the first and second person plural. |
| Lizzie: Ala proxima |
| Allan: la próxima palabra es el verbo prestar is an interesting verb since it means both “to lend” and “to borrow”. |
| Lizzie: ¿Pues como se traduciria ese ejemplo? |
| Allan: I tend to lend out my books. |
| Lizzie: Mencionemos también la palabra derivada: prestamo. |
| Allan: Claro, un préstamo is “a loan”. |
| Lizzie: Claro pues si te presto dinero me estas dando un préstamo. |
| Allan: Alright, just one more word to go. |
| Lizzie: Terminamos con el adverbio nunca. Bueno el adverbio nunca es muy fácil es sinonimo de jamas, osea en ninguna ocasión. |
| Allan: That’s right it means “never”. Now, going back for a second ok to the topic of Ernesto Sabato there is one part of the book in El tunel or “the tunnel” which I find really interesting. The protagonist Juan Pablo falls in love with Maria who is married to an older blind man named Allende. Now guys there is one scene when Juan Pablo and Maria are on the beach at night, and Juan Pablo who is, well, I guess obsessive to say the very least demands that she declare her love for him. Now she does this but it’s not enough since his understanding of love, well, I guess, it’s not emotional anyways. So he is unsatisfied with her declaration, he strikes a match and says now declare your love for me so that I can see it. |
| Lizzie: That noun will describe perfectly to Sabato Island. |
| Allan: I know I think you’re a big Sabato fan, aren’t you? |
| Lizzie: Yes, yes, él es argentino de Roja, fue profesor de física en la Universidad de la Plata. Su carrera literaria estuvo influida por el experimentalismo y por el alto contenido intelectual de sus obras de raíz existencialista. |
| Allan: That’s right, he is one of these big-brained fellows, he is a physics teacher, existentialist. It’s time to check out the grammar point for this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Lizzie: What are we talking about today again? |
| Allan: Commands. |
| Lizzie: Bueno. In Spanish the use of commands affirmative and negative is very, very common. |
| Allan: That’s why you’re always ordering me around. Ok. Well, hey guys, maybe we should explain what it is exactly we mean when we say “a command”. |
| Lizzie: Good point. Well, when we refer to a command, we’re talking about a speaker's desire to do something. |
| Allan: So it’s not exactly being pushy. |
| Lizzie: It can be, but generally no, not in that sense. |
| Allan: Some examples here |
| Lizzie: For example, if I say “I want you to do it”, this is a statement of desire. But if “I say do it now” we have a command. |
| Allan: Making an affirmative command. |
| Lizzie: Right, but today we are looking at negative commands. What is this? Well, again, if I say “I don’t want you to do it”, we are making a negative statement. Yet if I say “Don’t do it now”, we have a command. |
| Allan: Makes sense. What do you guys in the audience think? |
| Lizzie: In Spanish there are both informal and formal commands. In general these are effective tools to express what you want or don’t want to happen. |
| Allan: A negative command can be either singular or plural, and either formal or informal. |
| Lizzie: We need to mention the rules. |
| Allan: That’s right, I was getting to that. I mean what’s grammar without rules? Now guys, there are a couple of rules to remember with regards to their formation. To form negative commands the word “no” must always be used before the verb. |
| Lizzie: Let’s start with negative informal singular commands. |
| Allan: This is saying “you”, the one person over there, you do it and it always uses the present subjunctive form of the second person singular. |
| Lizzie: Por ejemplo: No me llames nunca más. |
| Allan: “Don’t ever call me again” or “don’t you ever call me again”. |
| Lizzie: And informal negative plural commands. |
| Allan: Informal negative plural commands i.e. vosotros always use the present subjunctive form of the second person plural. |
| Lizzie: David, Alejandro, no me espereis. |
| Allan: “David, Alejandro, don’t wait for me.” Lizzie, now how would you tackle formal singular negative commands? |
| Lizzie: Formal singular negative commands, this would be when you’re commanding one single person in a formal way. It always uses present subjunctive form or third person singular. |
| Allan: For example? |
| Lizzie: Señora no saque conclusiones precipitadas. |
| Allan: Ma’am, don’t jump to conclusions. |
| Lizzie: Negative formal plural commands are when you’re commanding more than one person in a formal way, and they always use the present subjunctive form of the third person plural. como por ejemplo No me malinterpreten, señores. |
| Allan: “Don’t misinterpret me, gentleman.” As you can see, it is very important to learn the forms of the present subjunctive in order to form negative commands. |
| Lizzie: We should mention that when we form commands affirmative or negative, we use el modo imperativo, the imperative mode. |
| Allan: Commands are much more common in Spanish than they are in English, and they may take a little while to get used to hearing and making them without associating this to a feeling of bossiness. |
| Lizzie: So study the present tense of the subjunctive mode alongside this topic of negative commands. |
| Allan: Really, you’re killing two birds with one stone here since the two structures are so similar in both formation and usage. For example using the present tense of the subjunctive mode in the second clause we might say… |
| Lizzie: No quiero tu me llames. |
| Allan: I don’t want you to call me or using the imperative mode, i.e. a negative command, we can say… |
| Lizzie: No me llames. |
| Allan: “Don’t call me.” You know the song No me llames. |
| Lizzie: The song happy song by Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez? No me llames. What about it? |
| Allan: Well, same rules No me llames. |
| Lizzie: Don’t love me. |
| Allan: I wasn’t just talking about the song. |
| Lizzie: Time for the Tarea. |
Outro |
| Allan: That’s right. Before we wrap up for today, it’s time to assign the homework. |
| Lizzie: In today’s grammar point, we covered negative commands in terms of their formation and usage. So now, let’s see if you really understood today’s topic. |
| Allan: So here is what you have to do. We’re going to give you five negative statements in Spanish and what you have to do is change them to negative commands and figure out who is commanded. For example if I say No sacas la basura, “You don’t take the garbage out”, the answer would be No saques la basura. “Don’t take the garbage out.” Ready? |
| Lizzie: Ahi vamos. Número 1: No eres malo conmigo. Número 2: No nos miran. Número 3: No salen en la noche. Número 4: No venis temprano. Número 5: No me fastidies. |
| Allan: And remember, overachievers, you can always check out the answers and the comments on the answers by downloading the premium audio track titled Tarea. Ok, friends, that just about does it for today. Keep up the good work, you’re making progress! |
| Lizzie: Till next lesson, guys. Bye-bye. |
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