Learn about the Spanish preposition en, meaning "in/on" in English
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalia: Buenos días, me llamo Natalia. |
| Carlos: What’s going on? My name is Carlos. |
| Natalia: “You’re speaking to me in Chinese!” |
| Carlos: What’s going on Pod101World? My name is Carlos and, as always, I am joined by… |
| Natalia: Natalia, ¿cómo están? |
| Carlos: How is everybody doing? I'm doing ok, Nati. How about you? |
| Natalia: I'm doing good, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Good, good. You know what, Nati, in this lesson we’re going to learn about the preposition “en”. |
| Natalia: We’re going through the list. |
| Carlos: Today’s conversation still takes place at Nadia’s house. |
| Natalia: What are they doing? |
| Carlos: They are still trying to install Skype? |
| Natalia: Still? |
| Carlos: Yes, and being that they are family things are still informal. |
| Natalia: Well, let’s hope so. |
| Carlos: You know what, let’s listen to today’s conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| NADIA: Está bien, ya fui a la página ¿y ahora? |
| OLIVIA: Ahora usted lo instala localmente. |
| NADIA: Usted me habla en chino. |
| OLIVIA: Ponga atención, mire, usted hace click en instalar, lo instala y reinicia la computadora. |
| NADIA: A ver… mmm... ¡Lo hice! ¡Ya está! |
| NADIA: Okay, so I am already on that page, now what? |
| OLIVIA: Now you install it locally. |
| NADIA: You are speaking to me in Chinese! |
| OLIVIA: Pay attention. Look, click on install, you install it, and restart the computer. |
| NADIA: Let's see...hmmm...I did it! Now it is ready! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Natalia: Carlos, doesn’t the Skype.com website says step-by-step how to get it? |
| Carlos: Well, you’re an expert at knowing that people don’t read what’s on a website, huh? |
| Natalia: Well… What? Am I? |
| Carlos: It takes three weeks for things to get to the… |
| Natalia: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| Carlos: I am off. People don’t read this stuff. |
| Natalia: No, people don’t read it so… |
| Carlos: Yes, it does. They do have the directions right there and Skype is very easy to use. I mean I use it all the time, it’s how… You know that I know that when I go home, to the States, my nephew and niece know what I look like because we talk on Skype? Can you imagine if you’re gone for like a year and then you just come back to a three year old and a one year old, they’re like, “Who’s this guy?” |
| Natalia: It’s beautiful! |
| Carlos: Quiet. Don’t mock my family. |
| Natalia: I'm not mocking your family, I'm mocking you. Let’s go to vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Carlos: Yes, let’s look at the vocabulary for this lesson. First we have a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: “Página”. |
| Carlos: “Page.” |
| Natalia: “Pá-gi-na”, “página”. Por ejemplo, “esta página tiene letras grandes”. |
| Carlos: “This page has big letters.” Coming up we have a pronoun. |
| Natalia: “Eso, esa”. |
| Carlos: “That, those.” |
| Natalia: “E-so, e-sa”, “eso, esa”. Por ejemplo, “esa chica es loca”. |
| Carlos: “That girl is crazy.” And then a verb. |
| Natalia: “Instalar”. |
| Carlos: “To install”. |
| Natalia: “Ins-ta-lar”, “instalar”. Por ejemplo, “tengo que instalar un programa nuevo”. |
| Carlos: “I have to install a new program.” And then a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: “Atención”. |
| Carlos: “Attention.” |
| Natalia: “A-ten-ción”, “atención”. Por ejemplo, “¡presta atención!”. |
| Carlos: “Pay attention!” And then an adverb. |
| Natalia: “Localmente”. |
| Carlos: “Locally.” |
| Natalia: “Lo-cal-men-te”, “localmente”. Por ejemplo, “localmente esta carnicería es la mejor”. |
| Carlos: “Locally, this butcher is the best.” Last but not least, a verb. |
| Natalia: “Reiniciar”. |
| Carlos: “To restart.” |
| Natalia: “Re-i-ni-ciar”, “reiniciar”. Por ejemplo, “para solucionar el problema debes reiniciar la computadora”. |
| Carlos: “To solve the problem you can restart the computer.” Ok, guys, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrase from this lesson. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Natalia: The first word we’ll look at is “página”. I remember what happened the last time we talked about this. Oh, there it goes again. Carlos’ eyes is twitching. |
| Carlos: It’s not twitching, it’s simply moving by itself. |
| Natalia: Ok, so why don’t you tell our audience what a simple feminine noun like “página” will make your eye twitch. |
| Carlos: Well, it means “page” and I get flashbacks to my teaching days. “Please open to page…” You know, sometime I miss it, sometimes I don’t. |
| Natalia: What do you miss the least? |
| Carlos: That’s easy, Nati, the fatigue. A teacher is always, and I mean always tired. |
| Natalia: Well, you can relax. |
| Carlos: Why? |
| Natalia: Because we’re not talking about that kind of “página”. I mean we’re talking about a page, but in this sense a web page. |
| Carlos: Right, right. In the conversation, “bueno, ya fui a la página esa, ¿y ahora?”. |
| Natalia: “Ok, so I'm already on that page. What now?” |
| Carlos: Talking about web pages is not a problem for me, Nati. It’s not really a problem. Give me a sec. Ok, I'm good. |
| Natalia: Ok, so here is the question, “¿cuál es tu página favorita?” |
| Carlos: My favorite web page? Let me think, probably Wikipedia. |
| Natalia: I'm so sure you can guess mine. What’s my favorite web page? |
| Carlos: Let me think… |
| Natalia: You don’t have to think so much. |
| Carlos: Etsy. |
| Natalia: Yeah, so… have you made an entry on Wikipedia? |
| Carlos: An entry of what? |
| Natalia: You know you can entry for yourself. |
| Carlos: Not at all, I'm not that egotistical. |
| Natalia: Carlos, are you not… |
| Carlos: Nati, how about a definition? |
| Natalia: “Página…”. I'm going to google you. “Página, cada una...”. |
| Carlos: You haven’t yet? |
| Natalia: No. Carlos, please, come on. “Cada… ¿qué?” |
| Carlos: It’s how you find out about people. |
| Natalia: No, I'm not that weird. Anyway. |
| Carlos: If you google us it comes up SpanishPod101.com. |
| Natalia: Ok, I'm not that weird. Look it the man, just did it. No, you google me, it comes Etsy everywhere, my web page. Anyways, “página: cada una de las dos haces o planas de la hoja de un libro o cuaderno”. |
| Carlos: Thank you. And now moving on. |
| Natalia: “Eso, esa”. |
| Carlos: A pronoun. You know, one of those confusing ones. |
| Natalia: Yeah. To say that has so many translations in Spanish. |
| Carlos: So we’ve already seen it used in the same sentence that we looked at for “página”. |
| Natalia: Right. “Bueno, ya fui a la página esa, ¿y ahora?” We could talk about placement. |
| Carlos: We could, but that would be for other day. |
| Natalia: If you say so. Here is the definition, “eso, esa: designa lo que está cerca de la persona con quien se habla o representa y señala lo que se acaba de mencionar”. |
| Carlos: Exactly. |
| Natalia: Did you get it? |
| Carlos: I did. |
| Natalia: But here’s a simple example to make things clearer. |
| Carlos: No, no, no, wait. I know one. |
| Natalia: Well, go ahead, less work for me. |
| Carlos: “Eso no me gusta”. “I don’t like that.” |
| Natalia: Can you think of a related word? |
| Carlos: Can I ever? This is one of the first and most confusing pairs that I had to memorize. |
| Natalia: Which is… |
| Carlos: “Eso”, “that”, “esto”, “this.” |
| Natalia: How do you remember how to tell them apart? |
| Carlos: My opposite trick again. |
| Natalia: Well, why don’t you remember us about that? |
| Carlos: Ok, really quickly. If I wanted to know which was which I would try to remember that the answer was contradictory to my initial assumption. So if I wanted to say “that”, I would think it was “esto” at first because of the T in “esto”. But since I knew that my assumption was wrong, I would guess that it was actually “eso” and then it stuck. |
| Natalia: Ok, so it’s all about those little tricks. You wouldn’t need one of these for the next word, though. |
| Carlos: Why not? |
| Natalia: You can considerate a cognate. “Instalar”. |
| Carlos: A verb that means, let me guess, “to install”? A verb to learn for the technology age. |
| Natalia: Well, since our conversation starts with installing a program, I would think so. |
| Carlos: “Ahora usted lo instala localmente”. |
| Natalia: “Now you install it locally.” But I can think of another use that is kind of close to home for me. |
| Carlos: What’s that? |
| Natalia: “Tengo que instalar alarmas en mi casa”. |
| Carlos: “I have to install alarms in my house.” I thought you were just going to get a dog. |
| Natalia: I will, but a dog and an alarm helps matters. I'm always thinking in taekwondo and all of that. |
| Carlos: That’s true, you want to make sure you are safe. |
| Natalia: Let’s just clear that I don’t like in that much of a dangerous neighborhood, I'm just kind of … like that. Anyways, Carlos, here is the definition “instalar: poner o colocar en el lugar debido a alguien o algo” . |
| Carlos: Could “poner” be considered a related word? |
| Natalia: Sí. |
| Carlos: Alright, I'm on a roll today, that was a good guess. Well, “poner”, “to put”, right? |
| Natalia: Yes. |
| Carlos: “To put on” like just to put and like to install. |
| Natalia: Keep it up, keep it up. What about the next word? |
| Carlos: Let me know what it is and it’ll be my pleasure. |
| Natalia: “Reiniciar”. |
| Carlos: “Reiniciar”, a verb, “to restart”. Ok, that one I couldn’t figure out on my own. I know my limitations. |
| Natalia: Well, look at the example from the conversation. |
| Carlos: Ok, “lo instala y reinicia”. |
| Natalia: “Reinicia”. |
| Carlos: “Reinicia”, sí, thank you. Ok, “lo instala y...”. |
| Natalia: “Instala”. |
| Carlos: Ok, “lo instala y reinicia la computadora”. “You install it and restart the computer.” |
| Natalia: Good, and the definition is simple. It’s actually the same as “recomenzar”. |
| Carlos: “Recomenzar”. “To recommence”, “to begin again”, “start again”. Ok, I see the link. |
| Natalia: Well, you didn’t even listen to the definition. |
| Carlos: Ok, sorry, go ahead. |
| Natalia: “Recomenzar es volver a comenzar”. |
| Carlos: In a sample sentence? |
| Natalia: “Voy a recomenzar el libro”. |
| Carlos: “We’re going to restart a book?” |
| Natalia: Yes, I'm reading the book again. So… |
| Carlos: Now you got my intention, Nati. |
| Natalia: Ok, Carlos, don’t give up or next word away. Our next word is a feminine noun which is… Carlos, you already gave the translation. |
| Carlos: “Atención”. “Attention.” |
| Natalia: Pretty simple cognate. |
| Carlos: I think so. And it did come up in another lesson, though. |
| Natalia: Actually, it was used in the same way. |
| Carlos: What?, “¿pongo atención?” |
| Natalia: Yeah, “pay attention”. |
| Carlos: What I don't know is the Spanish definition, Nati. |
| Natalia: Well, that’s easy, “acción de atender”. |
| Carlos: Ok, yeah, you’re right, it is simple enough. |
| Natalia: Here’s an example to make sure it hits home, “esa muchacha de vestido rosado me llama mucho la atención”. |
| Carlos: “That girl in the pink dress calls my attention a lot.” Which, audience, would never be Nati because, Nati, how do you feel about the color pink? |
| Natalia: Well, I don’t like color pink but I don’t think people want to hear about my hatred of pink things, but well let’s get our final word. |
| Carlos: Which is? |
| Natalia: “Localmente”. |
| Carlos: “Localmente”, an adverb. |
| Natalia: It’s a cognate of sorts because the English word is within the Spanish word. |
| Carlos: Right, “local”. |
| Natalia: And we know that as a general rule. If a word ends with the “mente” in Spanish it’s usually the equivalent of… |
| Carlos: LY in English. |
| Natalia: As heard in our conversation, “ahora usted lo instala localmente”. |
| Carlos: “And now you install it locally.” Can we think about definition? |
| Natalia: “Localmente: en un área cerrada, en un área cercana”. |
| Carlos: Ok, can we think about an example that doesn’t have to do with computers? |
| Natalia: Sure. “La venta de aguacate es muy popular localmente”. |
| Carlos: “The sale of avocados is very popular locally.” That it is and I love avocado. Funny thing is I used to hate it. |
| Natalia: Well, ok. Carlos hates avocado. |
| Carlos: I love avocado. That was my nickname |
| Natalia: Why? |
| Carlos: I say I love avocado. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Natalia: That doesn’t have anything to do… Anything. |
| Carlos: My god you have to relax.. |
| Natalia: Not really, but well, tell me Carlos. Questions. |
| Carlos: I remember in the introduction you mentioned that you wanted to continue our discussion of prepositions. You know, we’re getting pretty thorough on it. |
| Natalia: Our audience deserves no less, but yes, we’ll continue today with the preposition “en”. |
| Carlos: “En”. Yeah, that one is used a lot. |
| Natalia: Carlos, they are prepositions. All of them are used a lot. |
| Carlos: True. Ok, so for argument’s sake, if I were to be completely ignorant of the preposition “en”, what is the first thing that I should know? |
| Natalia: Ok, “en” is used to communicate concepts of space and time. |
| Carlos: But doesn’t the preposition “a” do that? |
| Natalia: The preposition “a” establishes a dynamic relations while “en” establishes static relationships. |
| Carlos: Oh well, when you say it like that… |
| Natalia: Por ejemplo, “vivimos en San José”. |
| Carlos: “We live in San Jose.” And after your vacation I'm sure you’re reconsidering that. |
| Natalia: Now that’s true, but we look at this example. The special concept of living in San Jose is static permanent. |
| Carlos: Right, and I have a feeling that isn’t the only use of the preposition “en”. |
| Natalia: Not at all, the preposition “en” can denote participation in abstract and collective concepts. |
| Carlos: Huh, |
| Natalia: Carlos, “soy hábil en engañar”. “I'm skilled in deception.” |
| Carlos: You’re making yourself sound like a ninja. |
| Natalia: You have no idea. |
| Carlos: Oh my god, so devious. Let’s move on. |
| Natalia: If you say so. The preposition “en” can often be combined with verbs of motion to vaguely express the end of the movement. |
| Carlos: Like “caer en el agua”, “to fall in water”. |
| Natalia: Exactly. |
| Carlos: And what else? |
| Natalia: “En” also has model significance for adverbial phrases. |
| Carlos: Oh wait, like “en serio”, “seriously”. |
| Natalia: Yes, and “en broma”, “jokenly”. We can also use the preposition “en” to convey the instrument, means, or price of something. |
| Carlos: I know, I know. |
| Natalia: Finally, the preposition “en” is used with infinitives and in the gerund to form verbal phrases. |
| Carlos: You mean like “estoy caminando en el parque”, “I am walking in the park”? |
| Natalia: But remember, “en” is the Spanish counterpart to the English word... |
| Carlos: “In”. |
| Natalia: Right, but keep in mind that it can have some slightly different meanings when translated. |
| Carlos: Like what? |
| Natalia: “Te recompenso en besos”. |
| Carlos: “I’ll pay you in or with kisses.” |
| Natalia: Or “llegaré en dos minutos”. |
| Carlos: “I’ll arrive within two minutes.” |
Outro |
| Natalia: Ok. |
| Carlos: That just about does it for today. All right, nos vemos. |
| Natalia: ¡Hasta luego! |
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