Learn about using pronouns to avoid redundancy
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalia: Buenos días, soy Natalia. |
| Carlos: What’s going on? My name is Carlos. “But sir, I have all my papers in order.” What’s going on pod101 world? My name is Carlos and with me as always is Natalia. Naty, how are you doing? |
| Natalia: Yo estoy muyyyy bien Carlos, ¿y tú? |
| Carlos: ¿Muy muy bien? |
| Natalia: Muy, muy, muy, muy requete bien. |
| Carlos: What was that? Before bien. |
| Natalia: Requete bien. |
| Carlos: Requete. |
| Natalia: Requete, like “re” so it’s like reply, requete. |
| Carlos: Requete. |
| Natalia: Requete , requete , requete bien. |
| Carlos: Okay, Naty… |
| Natalia: That’s like triple… |
| Carlos: Wow, so you are really good. |
| Natalia: Yes, I am. |
| Carlos: A bit hungry though. |
| Natalia: A bit. |
| Carlos: Okay Naty, it’s about that time again. |
| Natalia: What time? |
| Carlos: I have to leave Costa Rica. |
| Natalia: Yes! Should we be talking about that? |
| Carlos: You know what? It’s like unofficial because the Costa Rican government is listening in and will deport me. |
| Natalia: You never know, it just might happen. |
| Carlos: Enough of that Natalia, I would tend to think that a Costa Rican official would speak fluent Spanish and would thus have no need whatsoever for my podcast. |
| Natalia: Fine, press your luck, I am not the illegal immigrant. |
| Carlos: You know, I have got to say at this point I don’t think of myself as that. |
| Natalia: I could make a phone call just for fun. |
| Carlos: Can’t be deported huh Naty? |
| Natalia: That would be hilarious. Well, you know what, I don’t think that’s the same connotation as would be an illegal immigrant in the United States. |
| Carlos: You know what, when you are right you are right Naty, it’s hard to get into the States. |
| Natalia: Exactly, you don’t have a clue how difficult it is to go to the United States. People usually tend to think at the Embassy that you want to stay there to work. Well, you know, its pretty logic but not all the time. You know sometimes you just want to go visit and you still have to go through three, four months of paperwork showing your bank balances for the last six months, giving proof, getting letters, such a mess and a bunch of requirements. |
| Carlos: Wow, you know what? I have got to say it’s not exactly easy to get residency or citizenship in Costa Rica. |
| Natalia: Imagine if it was, everyone would want to live here. |
| Carlos: True, and you know what? The ways that I can get residency or citizenship aren’t exactly easy. |
| Natalia: Well, I say we get into that later. |
| Carlos: Alright cool, so we have some grammar as well. |
| Natalia: Okay, so what? |
| Carlos:The use of direct object pronoun. |
| Natalia: Practical or right up your English teacher roots. |
| Carlos: This should be a good one. |
| Natalia: So why wait? Let’s get in today’s conversation. |
| Carlos: You know what? Before we do guys, now would be the time to open up today’s lesson guide in your pdf reader and check out the conversation as we are saying it. |
| DIALOGUE |
| ANA: Buenas tardes, director. Quisiera solicitar una visa de investigación. Estoy aquí en Costa Rica para realizar un estudio sobre la literatura costarricense. |
| DIRECTOR: ¿Tiene usted alguna afiliación con una institución? |
| ANA: No, lo estoy haciendo por mi cuenta. |
| DIRECTOR: Le cuento, señorita, que le convendría más cruzar la frontera o también podría casarse con un ciudadano costarricense. |
| ANA: Pero, señor, tengo todos mis papeles en orden. |
| DIRECTOR: Sí, lo veo. Pero como le digo, el camino más rápido es cruzar la frontera o casarse con un ciudadano costarricense. Depende de usted. |
| ANA: Good afternoon, Sir. I would like to request a research visa. I'm here in Costa Rica to carry out a study about Costa Rican literature. |
| DIRECTOR: Do you have some kind of affiliation with an institution? |
| ANA: No, I'm doing it on my own. |
| DIRECTOR: Let me tell you, Ms., that it would be more suitable for you to cross the border or you could also get married to a Costa Rican citizen. |
| ANA: But, Sir, I have all of my papers in order. |
| DIRECTOR: Yes, I see that. But, as I said, the fastest way is to cross the border or get married to a Costa Rican citizen. It's up to you. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Natalia: Carlos, that’s absolutely true, the best way to get citizenship is to marry somebody and I’m not marrying you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I said no. |
| Carlos: She says no before I even ask. |
| Natalia: I said no Carlos, don’t beg me. |
| Carlos: No means yes, Naty. |
| Natalia: What? |
| Carlos: No means yes. |
| Natalia: What? Who says? |
| Carlos: Everybody. |
| Natalia: Please. |
| Carlos: You are the one who brought up marriage here on this topic. |
| Natalia: Because I’m saying, that’s a good way to get Costa Rican citizenship. |
| Carlos: Okay, I’m at least not considering citizenship right now. |
| Natalia: Oh you don’t? We’ll see. |
| Carlos: I do remember somebody actually asking me what my opinion was because someone was offering her like four grand to get married. |
| Natalia: Oh, people here really do get money for that. You know, they just go to you and say how much do you want, please marry me. |
| Carlos: No, but you know what? I actually have a funny story about that. I have a cousin right, who got paid ten thousand dollars to marry a Peruvian woman. |
| Natalia: Wow! |
| Carlos: But then they met and fell in love. [Laughs] So he got like ten grand and a wife he loves! Like they are always sitting around and holding hands with each other. It’s funny. |
| Natalia: It’s funny they sit around and hold hands? |
| Carlos: Well no, the whole situation, “hey, hey man listen, I’ve got ten grand, she needs to be a citizen, will you marry her?” And you see her and it’s like you know, like sunshine and lollipops and like you know all that mushy stuff and like…. |
| Natalia: No, it’s funny, it’s funny. |
| Carlos: You know, I fell in love and I got ten thousand dollars. |
| Natalia: That’s quite a romantic. |
| Carlos: And you know what he did? He went a bought her a nice ring. It’s true. But now that we’ve gone through the conversation what do you say we go through some of the vocabulary? |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natalia: Sounds like a good idea. |
| Carlos: So today we are going to start off with a verb. |
| Natalia: “Solicitar”. |
| Carlos: “To request”, “to solicit.” |
| Natalia: “So-li-ci-tar”, “solicitar”. |
| Carlos: Next up we have a verb. |
| Natalia: “Realizar”. |
| Carlos: “To carry out.” |
| Natalia: “Re-a-li-zar”, “realizar”. |
| Carlos: Then up we have a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: “Afiliación”. |
| Carlos: “Affiliation.” |
| Natalia: “A-fi-lia-ción”, “afiliación”. |
| Carlos: Then a masculine and feminine noun. |
| Natalia: “Ciudadano, ciudadana”. |
| Carlos: “Citizen.” |
| Natalia: “Ciu-da-da-no, ciu-da-da-na”, “ciudadano, ciudadana”. |
| Carlos: Next up a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: “Frontera”. |
| Carlos: “Border”. |
| Natalia: “Fron-te-ra”, “frontera”. |
| Carlos: Then last but not least, a verb. |
| Natalia: “Depender”. |
| Carlos: “To be up to”, “to depend on.” |
| Natalia: “De-pen-der”, “depender”. Carlos, these are longer words, it’s getting good. |
| Carlos: Okay, no, listen. “Solicitar”. |
| Natalia: “Solicitar”. |
| Carlos: “Realizar”. |
| Natalia: “Realizar”. |
| Carlos: “Afiliasón”. |
| Natalia: No, because look, “afiliación”. |
| Carlos: “Afiliación”. |
| Natalia: Mhm. When you see the “c-i-ó-n” ending sort of like singular “afiliación”. |
| Carlos: “Afiliación”. |
| Natalia: “Afiliación”. |
| Carlos: “Afiliación”. |
| Natalia: Great. “Ciudadano”. |
| Carlos: “Ciudadano”. |
| Natalia: “Frontera”. |
| Carlos: “Frontera”. |
| Natalia: “Depender”. |
| Carlos: “Depender”. Naty, ¿qué dices si ahora proseguimos al vocabulario? Naty, what do you say we move on to the vocabulary? |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Natalia: ¡Mira tú! Ya sabe hablar, Carlitos. So now we know that our first word was “solicitar”, an “ar” verb which means… |
| Carlos: “To request.” Speaking of which, I request an example. |
| Natalia: Don’t be so corny, see you made through the whole lesson without doing a dumb joke! |
| Carlos: Why is that corny? |
| Natalia: Look man! |
| Carlos: Naty, I think our audience deserves an example. |
| Natalia: They do, but well, you get it. Anyways, your example, “voy a solicitar una visa”. |
| Carlos: “We are going to request a visa.” |
| Natalia: Exactly. But see, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Yes, Naty. |
| Natalia: It can get mixed up with the word solicit. |
| Carlos: Okay, I see that, but is that wrong? |
| Natalia: También el sustantivo femenino “solicitud” is a formal request. Well you know what, next up we have “realizar”. |
| Carlos: “To realize.” |
| Natalia: Not so fast Carlos, “realizar” is what we call “un amigo falso”. |
| Carlos: “A false friend”, ¿¿por qué?? |
| Natalia: Because it looks the same to realize but it really means a very different thing. |
| Carlos: Okay, what does it mean? |
| Natalia: It means “to carry out.” As in “voy a realizar un nuevo proyecto”. “I’m going to carry out a new project.” |
| Carlos: So how do we say “to realize”? |
| Natalia: That would be “darse cuenta” as in “me di cuenta que no estudiaste”, “I realize you didn’t study.” |
| Carlos: What! No. |
| Natalia: Carlos, it’s an example. |
| Carlos: But really, now seriously I realize the difference. |
| Natalia: Carlos, well you know, you just look at all these over. You know I recommend you to go get a pdf and just go along with it. |
| Carlos: You hear that audience? Natalia has put her stamp of approval on the pdfs now you must go and look at it. |
| Natalia: Hey, I never said anything bad against the pdfs. I say bad things about you pushing to people like “PDF!” in your face. Get it, open it, use it. |
| Carlos: Next up we have a tough one Naty, “ciudadano”. |
| Natalia: “Ciudadano”, “citizen.” I don’t see how that one’s very hard. |
| Carlos: Well, I practiced it before. |
| Natalia: Oh Carlos, you know the word “ciudad”, “city”, and “ciudadanía”, “citizenship.” |
| Carlos: Now just let everybody know it is very hard once again to get citizenship in Costa Rica. You know even residency is hard to achieve. |
| Natalia: Carlos, you would either have to marry a “tica”? I’m not in the line or get one pregnant then you wouldn’t have a problem. |
| Carlos: You know Naty I don’t… |
| Natalia: Carlos don’t get people pregnant, you know the world has so many of us already. There are so many poor children, Carlos, you might as well want to adopt one. Carlos, please don’t get anyone pregnant. Will you please? |
| Carlos: Naty, you are rambling. |
| Natalia: Carlos, please? Carlos? |
| Carlos: What? |
| Natalia: Don’t get anyone pregnant and don’t get pregnant yourself. |
| Carlos: I’ll try not to. It’s really hard. |
| Natalia: That’s the point. Get a dog. |
| Carlos: I’m going to try. No but you know what? I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t have any problems with that, Naty. |
| Natalia: Carlos. |
| Carlos: Yes? |
| Natalia: Carlos, ¿te casarías con una “tica” para obtener la ciudadanía costarricense? |
| Carlos: That depends Naty, am I facing extraditions in the United States? Because if so, then yes. |
| Natalia: See what I mean, in a moment of desperation, you might just run and get some lady pregnant. |
| Carlos: PLEASE, PLEASE MARRY ME! I want to stay I am going to jail! |
| Natalia: Carlos, quite the screaming. |
| Carlos: I’m just saying, I lost my headphones, I don’t know how loud I am. |
| Natalia: Well Carlos, if you need a ring, I can make it. |
| Carlos: Oh Naty, I know that already. Next up is a word I learned recently. |
| Natalia: Which one’s that one? |
| Carlos: “Frontera”. I need to walk across the border of Panama. |
| Natalia: Over the region Sixaola? |
| Carlos: Yes, you mean that poor excuse of a bridge? Yes. |
| Natalia: Do you know why it is in that condition? |
| Carlos: Why? |
| Natalia: Porque el puente está en la frontera y ni Costa Rica ni Panamá quiere arreglarlo. Ambos dicen que es la responsabilidad del otro país. |
| Carlos: Aaah, because the bridge is on the border? |
| Natalia: Neither Costa Rica, nor Panama want to pay to fix it. They both say it’s the other’s responsibility. |
| Carlos: That makes a lot of sense now. |
| Natalia: You know, we just bounce things back and forth. |
| Carlos: Yeah, I see that. |
| Natalia: Notice that “frontera” is a feminine noun which means “border.” |
| Carlos: Kind of looks like frontier and the word front in the beginning, almost like front line. |
| Natalia: Bueno, entonces last word of the day would be the verb “depender”. |
| Carlos: “To depend”? |
| Natalia: Yes, why do you say it like that? |
| Carlos: Well, because I thought it might be “un amigo falso” otra vez. |
| Natalia: Now he is getting traumatized with “amigo falso”. That’s so funny. Carlos, this time you are good, it does mean “to depend” but also “to be up to.” Carlos, we say “depende de usted”, “it’s up to you.” |
| Carlos: Oh, lie today’s conversation. |
| Natalia: Very, very observant. |
| Carlos: You know I’m trying to observe some grammar, Naty. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Natalia: Observe them. Today we have a direct object pronoun. |
| Carlos: Very direct, I like that. |
| Natalia: Not that kind of directness. |
| Carlos: Well, then what kind? |
| Natalia: The kind that, brace yourself, receives an action directly from the verb. |
| Carlos: Like? |
| Natalia: I see Miguel. |
| Carlos: Okay, so there Miguel would be the direct object. |
| Natalia: Exactly. He is what I see. |
| Carlos: Okay, so why is that just not a pronoun? |
| Natalia: Because when we replace a direct object with a pronoun, it becomes a… |
| Carlos: Direct object pronoun, I get it. |
| Natalia: You don’t need me anymore! |
| Carlos: Naty, don’t think like that. |
| Natalia: Carlos… |
| Carlos: I still need you. |
| Natalia: Okay, but I’m not marrying you. |
| Carlos: Okay, I might not get married now anyway. |
| Natalia: Carlos, I’m not getting married, okay? |
| Carlos: No, okay. |
| Natalia: So right. |
| Carlos: So you just give me that common look kind of thing?... |
| Natalia: Carlos, Carlos you know what? |
| Carlos: Yes? |
| Natalia: Like the direct object pronouns that we mentioned in the newbie season two in lesson number eight, both people and things can be direct objects of a verb, we must use gender and number to indicate the object which we each direct object pronoun refers. |
| Carlos: Aaah good old concordance. |
| Natalia: You have to learn this by heart. Have you found out that people have been forgiving all these small mistakes? |
| Carlos: Oh no, most definitely, you know once you get over the initial nervousness in speaking the language in front of people, they will generally correct you in a nice tone. |
| Natalia: Now there is a typical word order. |
| Carlos: I like that, typical means pattern. |
| Natalia: Okay, the typical word order with direct object pronouns is first the subject then the direct object pronoun and the verb. Except when an infinitive or gerund is used in which case the direct object pronoun can be suffixed or attached to the end of the infinitive or gerund. |
| Carlos: Man, that was a mouthful Naty, you are going to have to help us out with an example. |
| Natalia: Okay, aquí tenemos un ejemplito. You can say “te estoy llamando” or “estoy llamándote”. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: Notice where the stress falls here. “Llamándote”. |
| Carlos: “Llamándote”. |
| Natalia: Aha. Well okay, Mr. knowledge, let’s go through our direct objects pronouns. |
| Carlos: ¡Vamos! |
| Natalia: First for people. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: Singular “me”, “te”, “lo” masculine, “la” feminine. |
| Carlos: Okay y plural? |
| Natalia: Plural, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Y plural? |
| Natalia: Plural “nos”, “os”, “los”, “las”. |
| Carlos: Now you mentioned things too. |
| Natalia: That I did, that’s easy, check it. Masculine singular “lo”, feminine “la”. |
| Carlos: Makes sense. Ok, so plural would be “los” and “las”. |
| Natalia: Good catch. |
| Carlos: Now hey you know, patterns are your friends. |
| Natalia: Okay, here are some examples. “Yo te vi en el restaurante”. |
| Carlos: “I saw you in the restaurant.” |
| Natalia: Good. “Ella quiere verlo más tarde”. |
| Carlos: “She wants to see it later.” |
| Natalia: Notice the formation, Carlos? |
| Carlos: Yes and like I said, I like patterns. |
| Natalia: “Nos llamaron ayer”. |
| Carlos: “They call this yesterday.” |
| Natalia: “Estaré buscándote en Skype”. |
| Carlos: “I’ll be looking for you on Skype.” Man! You are throwing some difficult conjugations. |
| Natalia: Yes, this keeps you on your feet, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Well, now I am on my feet. |
| Natalia: Good because it’s time for “la tarea”. |
| Carlos: Homework! What’s today’s assignment? |
| Natalia: Okay, today’s assignment, what you have to do, we are going to give you five sentences in Spanish and you have to translate them to English using a direct object pronoun and then you need to figure out whether the person number of the direct object pronoun is. |
| Carlos: This could be tough. |
| Natalia: Yes, it could be. But well, number one is, “él me recogió al mediodía”. Number two, “te vi en el supermercado”. Number three, “nuestros amigos nos invitaron a una cena”. Number four, “mi familia está esperándote”. Number five, “¿puedes ayudarme?” |
| Carlos: And remember people, you can always get the answers and comments on the answers by checking up the premium audio track labeled “tarea”. |
| Natalia: You should apply what you learn. |
| Carlos: Alright Naty, I think we got to the end of this lesson. |
| Natalia: Yes, Carlos. |
| Carlos: And you have made it clear that you are not getting married. |
| Natalia: I’m not getting married. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: For papers. |
| Carlos: For papers. |
| Natalia: No. |
| Carlos: So if I was like in trouble you wouldn’t like lower that and marry me? |
| Natalia: No. |
| Carlos: You’d just let me get deported? |
| Natalia: Yes. |
| Carlos: But what would you do for work? |
| Natalia: Well, I’ll find a way. |
| Carlos: Okay, you see the love there? You here this? |
| Natalia: No, no, no, I can always get you know, somebody to marry you. |
| Carlos: Ah true. Problem solved. |
| Natalia: You know there are these bums in the streets, they would do it like for two thousand colones. |
Outro |
| Natalia: Bueno, es hora de decir adiós. |
| Carlos: We’ll see you later. |
| Natalia: Bye bye. |
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