Learn about talking about past actions and hypothetical future actions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalia: Hola, soy Natalia. |
| Carlos: What’s going on? My name is Carlos. |
| Natalia: “If I were to win the lottery.” |
| Carlos: Hello and welcome back to spanishpod101.com the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Spanish. And I’m joined in the studio by... |
| Natalia: Hello everyone, Natalia here. |
| Carlos: Naty, do you ever play the lottery? |
| Natalia: No Carlos, you know I’m not a very lucky person. |
| Carlos: Well, in the next few lessons you might change your mind. |
| Natalia: We’ll just see. |
| Carlos: What are we learning about today, Naty? |
| Natalia: The imperfect subjunctive. |
| Carlos: I’m going to wait till the grammar point then. |
| Natalia: Alright, if you insist. |
| Carlos: So the conversation is between Mariana and someone selling lottery tickets, right? |
| Natalia: Yes, like those guys on the streets. |
| Carlos: So would that make it formal? |
| Natalia: Until they feel comfortable enough to keep bothering you. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| VENDEDORA: ¡Sorteo, sorteo...! Señora , ¡lleve su número de la suerte! |
| MARIANA: Hola, me da el número veinte y dos, por favor. ¿Qué tal el premio? |
| VENDEDORA: Está muy bueno, señora, el que gane se hace millonario. |
| MARIANA: ¡Ojalá ganara! |
| VENDEDORA: Y... ¿qué haría, usted, con tanto dinero? |
| MARIANA: ¡Ay, Dios! Si yo ganara, pagaría todas mis deudas, viajaría y me hiciera un arreglito.. los años pasan, ¿sabe? |
| VENDEDORA: ¡Jajaja...! ¡Cómo lo sé! Que tenga mucha suerte. ¡Sorteo, sorteo...! ¡lleve su número de la suerte! |
| VENDOR: Lottery, lottery...! Ma'am, get your lucky number! |
| MARIANA: Hi there, give me number twenty-two, please. What's the prize like? |
| VENDOR: It is very good, Ma'am, whoever wins will become a millionaire. |
| MARIANA: I hope I win! |
| VENDOR: And what would you do with so much money, Ma'am? |
| MARIANA: Oh, God! If I were to win, I would pay off all my debts, travel, and do a little nip and tuck.. the years go by, you know? |
| VENDOR: Hahaha...! Oh how I know! Good luck! Lottery, lottery... get your lucky number! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: I don’t know Naty, after hearing that conversation I feel like buying a ticket. |
| Natalia: Carlos you know the big, big Costa Rica “gordo navideño” is coming? |
| Carlos: The what? |
| Natalia: “El gordo navideño”. |
| Carlos: The fat Christmas? |
| Natalia: The fat one for Christmas. So they do like in Costa Rica they do it like a big lottery thing at the end of the year. Three hundred million I believe. |
| Carlos: O I don’t think I can win that because if I buy it I can’t collect. |
| Natalia: Well you can, sure you can, I think you could. Don’t worry just give me the ticket. |
| Carlos: I knew she was going to say that. |
| Natalia: Carlos, Oh my God! I’m such a nice person, I would just go get the millions for you. |
| Carlos: Oh yes, she would. |
| Natalia: And just not get a cab and disappear to the airport. |
| Carlos: Of course not. |
| Natalia: Vocabulary, Carlos! |
| Carlos: Well, it’s time to move on to the vocabulary list on your pdf lesson guide. Hoy vamos a empezar con un sustantivo masculino. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natalia: “Sorteo”. |
| Carlos: “Lottery”, “raffle.” |
| Natalia: “Sor-te-o”, “sorteo”. |
| Carlos: Como por ejemplo... |
| Natalia: “Si yo ganara el sorteo, no sé qué haría”. |
| Carlos: “If I won the lottery, I don’t know what I would do.” La próxima palabra que vamos a estudiar es otro sustantivo masculino. |
| Natalia: “Premio”. |
| Carlos: “Award”, “prize.” |
| Natalia: “Pre-mio”, “premio”. |
| Carlos: Contextualicemoslo así. |
| Natalia: “¿Por qué siempre a tí te tocan los premios?” |
| Carlos: “Why do you always win the prizes?” Esta vez tenemos un adjetivo que puede usarse también como sustantivo masculino o femenino. |
| Natalia: “Millonario, millonaria”. |
| Carlos: “Millionaire.” |
| Natalia: “Mi-llo-na-rio, mi-llo-na-ria”, “millonario, millonaria”. |
| Carlos: A ver, otro ejemplo... |
| Natalia: “No quiero hacerme millonario, porque los impuestos serían muy altos”. |
| Carlos: “I don’t want to be a millionaire because the taxes would be really high.” A continuación tenemos el sustantivo femenino. |
| Natalia: “Deuda”. |
| Carlos: “Debt.” |
| Natalia: “Deu-da”, “deuda”. |
| Carlos: Como por ejemplo... |
| Natalia: “¿Quién pagará mis deudas?” |
| Carlos: “Who will pay my debts?” La penúltima palabra de hoy es un sustantivo que puede ser masculino o femenino. |
| Natalia: “Dios, Diosa”. |
| Carlos: “God, Goddess.” |
| Natalia: “Dios, Dio-sa”, “Dios, Diosa”. |
| Carlos: Un ejemplo sería... |
| Natalia: “Estamos muy bien, gracias a Dios”. |
| Carlos: “We are all well, thank God.” Y la última palabra de hoy es el sustantivo masculino... |
| Natalia: “Año”. |
| Carlos: “Year.” |
| Natalia: “A-ño”, “año”. |
| Carlos: Y un ejemplo más... |
| Natalia: “Trabajé mucho el año pasado”. |
| Carlos: “I worked a lot last year.” |
| Natalia: Carlos, today we are going to practice the pronunciation of the “eñe” as we heard in “año”. |
| Carlos: “Año”. |
| Natalia: Not the kind of word you want to mistake, “año”. Here’s some others that have the “eñe”, “ñato”. |
| Carlos: “Ñato”. |
| Natalia: “Añadir”. |
| Carlos: “Añadir”. |
| Natalia: Muy bien. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: I try. Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the verbs and phrases from this lesson. |
| Natalia: The first word phrase we’ll look at is “sorteo”. |
| Carlos: “Sorteo”. |
| Natalia: Okay, this masculine noun refers to the action of the verb “sortear”. |
| Carlos: Which means “to raffle.” |
| Natalia: Someter a alguien o algo al resultado de los medios fortuitos o casuales que se emplean para fiar la suerte de una resolución. |
| Carlos: So “un sorteo” is “a lottery” or “raffle.” |
| Natalia: Right and in today’s conversation “¡Sorteo, sorteo...! Señora, ¡lleve su número de la suerte!” |
| Carlos: “Lottery! Lottery! Ma’am get your lucky number.” There has to be related terms. |
| Natalia: Claro. Other words that refer to the lottery include “lotería” which is pretty universal and in Perú they say “la tinka”. |
| Carlos: Do you know what I hate? |
| Natalia: What? |
| Carlos: Once again, the fact that when the lottery in Costa Rica I can’t collect my winnings because I’m a foreigner. |
| Natalia: Carlos, come on. I already put it out there that you can give it to me. Moving on, “premio”. |
| Carlos: “Premio”. |
| Natalia: Otra vez, sustantivo masculino. Un premio es la recompensa que se otorga en rifas, sorteos o concursos. |
| Carlos: Again a masculine noun, so what’s an “award”, a “prize.” Now how was this used in today’s conversation? |
| Natalia: “¿Qué tal el premio?” |
| Carlos: “What’s the prize like?” And related terms? |
| Natalia: The verb “premiar” which means “to award”, “to give a prize”, to check out the ______ (inaudible 0:07:32) winnings, profit, reward. |
| Carlos: Oh oh, Naty getting a little advanced on us. |
| Natalia: Oh my God! Well, the next word’s easy though. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: “Millonario”, yet another masculine noun. |
| Carlos: “Millionaire.” |
| Natalia: Se refiere a quien posee un millón o más de unidades monetarias. So again “un millonario” or “una millonaria” its “millionaire.” |
| Carlos: And in today’s conversation... |
| Natalia: “Está muy bueno, señora, el que gane se hace millonario”. |
| Carlos: “It’s very good Ma’am whoever wins will become a millionaire.” I think I know a related term. |
| Natalia: Be my guest. |
| Carlos: How about “millón” which means “million” or “mil” which means “thousand”? |
| Natalia: Carlos knows his numbers. See getting you to do all of those hundreds worked. |
| Carlos: It was Sesame Street. You know what? The basics are important. |
| Natalia: Okay, well next up, “deuda”. |
| Carlos: “Deuda”. Now this time, a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: Es la obligación que alguien tiene que pagar, satisfacer o reintegrar a otra persona algo, por lo común dinero. |
| Carlos: Okay, so “una deuda” is “a debt.” |
| Natalia: Yes. So in today’s conversation we heard “Si yo ganara, pagaría todas mis deudas, viajaría y me hiciera un arreglito”. |
| Carlos: “If I were to win, I would pay off all my debts, travel and do a little nip tuck.” Related terms? |
| Natalia: Well, there’s the verb “endeudar” which means “to get into debt.” |
| Carlos: And we all know about that. |
| Natalia: “Año”. |
| Carlos: “Año”. This is a masculine noun, an easy one at that. It means “year.” |
| Natalia: And in today’s conversation, “los años pasan, ¿sabe?” |
| Carlos: “The years go by, you know?” |
| Natalia: Be careful when you pronounce it. |
| Carlos: Why? |
| Natalia: Because if you don’t pronounce the “eñe” if you just say “ano” then you are not saying “year” but “anus.” A classic way of blundering. |
| Carlos: [Laughs] Really? |
| Natalia: Carlos... |
| Carlos: I’m sorry, I’ve never heard anyone say a... |
| Natalia: Do you know how many times... |
| Carlos: “¡Ano!”. |
| Natalia: Carlos, do you know how many times a gringo has tried to ask me how old I am but because they don’t get the pronunciation right he asks how many anuses do you have? |
| Carlos: No, Naty, how many? |
| Natalia: Carlos! |
| Carlos: Related terms. |
| Natalia: How about “aniversario”, “anniversary” or “anual”, “annual.” |
| Carlos: Alright, right on. Well, alright guys don’t go anywhere because today’s grammar point is coming up next. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Natalia: Now we are going to get a little more advanced. |
| Carlos: I think we are already. |
| Natalia: The imperfect subjunctive. |
| Carlos: Aaah, that. |
| Natalia: Imperfect subjunctive can be used in relation to both past actions and hypothetical future actions that frequently appear in the conditional statement. |
| Carlos: Okay, when you put it like that. |
| Natalia: Listen, in the grammatical terms we use the subjunctive mood when there is an independent clause, a dependent clause in the same statement. |
| Carlos: Okay, and the imperfect subjunctive? |
| Natalia: Well, we use the imperfect subjunctive mood when the verb in the independent clause is in a present or past tense and the dependent clause refers to an action or state posterior to the action of the main clause and prior to the moment of speech. |
| Carlos: Oh, is that all? |
| Natalia: Carlos, well you know, we also use it when the verb is in the independent clause, is in the conditional mood and the dependent clause refers to a hypothetical future action or situation. When these conditions apply, use the imperfect subjunctive in the dependent clause. |
| Carlos: Okay, hypothetical action, conditional actions. Check! |
| Natalia: Okay, when you are expressing a hypothetical action and a conditional action, in a single statement, remember that there are some options. If the verb expressed in the hypothetical action is in the imperfect tense of the subjunctive mood, then the verb expressing the condition action can be in either the same tense and mood or it can be in the conditional. |
| Carlos: Okay, seriously Naty, you are going to have to give me a lot of examples. |
| Natalia: Okay, so for example, “Si ganara el sorteo, viajaría por todo el mundo”. Or “Si ganara el sorteo, viajará por todo el mundo”. |
| Carlos: “If I were to win the lottery, I would travel all around the world.” I would agree with that. |
| Natalia: Didn’t you just say you were going to keep the money under your bed? |
| Carlos: Well, I would just not tell anybody, I would just travel around the world like a poor gringo backpacker. |
| Natalia: Sure you would, sure you would. |
| Carlos: With my walking stick and my really big backpack. I would stay at the world class resorts though. |
| Natalia: Sure. “Si yo tuviera más tiempo, terminara la película”. Or “Si yo tuviera más tiempo, terminaría la película”. |
| Carlos: “If I had more time, I would finish the movie.” |
| Natalia: “Si hubiera comida, comiéramos”. Or “si hubiera comida, comeríamos”. |
| Carlos: “If there were food we would eat” and if it’s there you can’t resist sometimes. |
| Natalia: Carlos, while you are studying the topic you also want to remember that there are two sets of personal endings for this tense and mood and the decision to use one set or the other really doesn’t affect the meaning of the verbal expression. |
| Carlos: Okay, well that makes things easy. |
| Natalia: So when do I use one or the other you might be asking. Well, the truth is that this decision is largely regional. |
| Carlos: So really, the meanings are interchangeable? |
| Natalia: Exactly. |
| Carlos: But still learning both is important. |
| Natalia: Definitely, no reason to get lazy. |
| Carlos: You know, Naty? I think I may need some homework just to make this stick. |
| Natalia: Ask and you shall receive my friend. In today’s grammar point we studied the imperfect tense in the subjunctive mood and learned how it can be used to express hypothetical actions. Now we are going to give you five sentences in Spanish each of which will contain a verb conjugated to this tense and mood. What you have to do is identify the verb in the imperfect subjunctive and give the person and number. Ready? |
| Carlos: Ready. |
| Natalia: Número uno, “si ganara el sorteo no sé que haría”. Número dos, “te dije que me acompañaras”. Número tres, “si pudiera hacerlo lo haría, pero no puedo, así que no lo hago”. Número cuatro, “en el lugar a donde fueras, haz lo que vieras”. Número cinco, “si hubiera más preguntas te enloquecieras”. |
| Carlos: And remember hotshots, you can always pick up the questions, answers and comments on the answers by downloading the premium audio track labelled “tarea”. |
| Natalia: The homework. |
Outro |
| Carlos: You know what, Nat, that just about does it for today. |
| Natalia: Gracias por escuchar. ¡Chao! |
| Carlos: Ya nos vemos. |
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