Learn how to tell someone in Spanish when something is "missing" or "lacking"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola, hola a todos. Habla Dylan, ¿cómo están? |
| Carlos: What’s going on pod101 world? My name is Carlos. In this lesson, you will learn about the pronominal verb “faltar”. |
| Dylan: The conversation takes place at a bookstore. |
| Carlos: The conversation is between Ana and Andrés. |
| Dylan: The speakers are friends. So they are speaking informally. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Andrés: Prima, ya casi terminamos las compras. Sólo me falta algo: un diccionario. |
| Ana: Mira, ahí hay una librería, vamos y lo compramos. |
| Andrés: ¡Qué buena suerte! Entremos. |
| Ana: Andrés, ¿qué tipo de diccionario necesitas? |
| Andrés: Un diccionario de español. |
| Ana: No los veo. Pregúntale a ese muchacho que está en la caja. |
| Andrés: Cousin, we're almost done with the shopping. I'm only missing one thing, a dictionary. |
| Ana: Look, here is a bookstore. Let's go and buy it. |
| Andrés: What luck!! Let's go in. |
| Ana: Andrés, what kind of dictionary do you need? |
| Andrés: A Spanish dictionary. |
| Ana: I don't see them. Ask that guy at the cash register. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: So Dylan, you know, I noticed sorry to say, reading is not that popular here in Costa Rica. |
| Dylan: It’s not. You are right and it’s crazy that you realized that. |
| Carlos: Why? |
| Dylan: Well, I don’t know. It’s... |
| Carlos: Like for instance, I am the only one reading on the bus. |
| Dylan: Yes. |
| Carlos: And it’s university bus which really freaks me out. I am in the book like this and I am... You know, New York you go and everybody is like this. |
| Dylan: Everybody has got a book and for the subway, for the bus... |
| Carlos: It could be the trashiest Romance novel. Now does that trend – I haven’t traveled really much in Nicaragua. Have you gone to Nicaragua? |
| Dylan: No, I have not, but I would think it’s the same. |
| Carlos: What about Panama? |
| Dylan: No, I haven’t been there either but Costa Rica in particular, people just – they are not brought up to read. It’s not something that there it’s forced upon them. Parents don’t read to their kids when they are putting them to bed and it’s not something that’s in them. |
| Carlos: So are you making conscious effort to deal with different… |
| Dylan: Oh gosh, yeah. Oh, all the way. |
| Carlos: Okay guys, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Primo, prima”. |
| Carlos: “Cousin.” |
| Dylan: “Pri-mo”, “pri-ma”, “primo”, “prima”. “Suerte”. |
| Carlos: “Luck.” |
| Dylan: “Suer-te”, “suerte”. “Librería” |
| Carlos: “Bookstore.” |
| Dylan: “Li-bre-rí-a”, “librería”. “Necesitar.” |
| Carlos: “To need.” |
| Dylan: “Ne-ce-si-tar”, “necesitar”. “Muchacho”, “muchacha”. |
| Carlos: “Young man”, “young girl.” |
| Dylan: “Mu-cha-cho”, “mu-cha-cha”, “muchacho”, “muchacha”. “Caja”. |
| Carlos: “Box”, “register.” |
| Dylan: “Ca-ja”, “caja”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Okay guys, let’s have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from the lesson. |
| Dylan: The first word we will look at is “primo”, “prima”. |
| Carlos: “Cousins.” It’s all in the family. |
| Dylan: You know, we generally do skip over those familiar words because they are pretty basic. |
| Carlos: But you know what, that’s not a very good assumption. |
| Dylan: So when we hear “primo” or “prima” it means... |
| Carlos: “Cousin” or “close friend” in some cases, right? |
| Dylan: That’s right. |
| Carlos: “Prima, ya casi terminamos las compras. Sólo me falta algo: un diccionario”. |
| Dylan: “Cousin, we are almost done with the shopping. I am only missing a dictionary.” |
| Carlos: You know, I don’t think I’ve ever simply addressed my cousin in that way like “ey, cousin.” |
| Dylan: Yeah, but won’t you just say something like “coz”? |
| Carlos: A “coz” does work. I could definitely say that. |
| Dylan: Carlos, ¿cuántas primas tienes? |
| Carlos: “Yo tengo cinco primas”, “I have five female cousins.” |
| Dylan: How about some other familial words? |
| Carlos: Let’s related in “primo” and “prima”. |
| Dylan: El padre de su primo es... |
| Carlos: Mi tío. |
| Dylan: ¿Y la madre? |
| Carlos: Mi tía. |
| Dylan: ¿Y usted? |
| Carlos: Soy “el sobrino”, “the nephew.” |
| Dylan: Okay, moving on, “suerte”. |
| Carlos: “Suerte”, “luck.” Always a good thing and a feminine noun at that. |
| Dylan: Well, that’s something you’ve had since moving to Costa Rica. |
| Carlos: Most definitely. |
| Dylan: Like when you got your radio show and we said the same thing than Andrés does. |
| Carlos: And what was that again? |
| Dylan: “¡Qué buena suerte!” |
| Carlos: “What luck!” Yeah, I did hear that a lot. |
| Dylan: How would you say “I have really good luck”? |
| Carlos: “¡Qué buena suerte tengo!” |
| Dylan: You knew that pretty fast. |
| Carlos: I say it all the time. |
| Dylan: Well, don’t say that too much. |
| Carlos: Why not? |
| Dylan: Because then you might get the opposite. |
| Carlos: True. I don’t want to jinx and then get “mala suerte”, “bad luck.” |
| Dylan: No, you don’t. |
| Carlos: Next up... |
| Dylan: “Librería”. “Bookstore”, “bookcase.” |
| Carlos: You know, I will never forget that word. |
| Dylan: Why? |
| Carlos: Because I always flashed back to my Spanish class when I was in high school and for some reason, I will always remember “señora Belushi”. Yes, I know but we were in suburban New York and the name was “Belushi”. Say to the class “librería” and everyone immediately thought... |
| Dylan: Let me guess, “library.” |
| Carlos: Exactly. You would think so. |
| Dylan: Well, that would be a related word but for now, let’s focus on how “librería” was used. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Carlos: “Mira, ahí hay una librería”. |
| Dylan: “Look, here is a bookstore.” |
| Carlos: Me encantan las librerías en los Estados Unidos. |
| Dylan: I love the bookstores that are too, they are giant. |
| Carlos: Yeah, I do miss the bookstore café culture. |
| Dylan: Well, definitely you don’t have that here. |
| Carlos: Nor do we have many of our aforementioned related word. |
| Dylan: Right, “library”, and how do we say “library”? |
| Carlos: “Biblioteca”. |
| Dylan: Never left that class, did you? |
| Carlos: To be honest, that was like one of the few answers that I remember getting completely right. |
| Dylan: Well, luckily, you are here now. |
| Carlos: What’s next? |
| Dylan: The verb “necesitar”. |
| Carlos: “Necesitar”, “to need.” |
| Dylan: How do you remember what that verb means? |
| Carlos: It reminds me of the word “necessity”, that immediately jumped off my head when I hear that. |
| Dylan: Well, luckily you are here now. |
| Carlos: What’s next? |
| Dylan: The verb “necesitar”. |
| Carlos: “Necesitar”, “to need.” |
| Dylan: How do you remember what that verb means? |
| Carlos: It reminds me of the word “necessity” that immediately jumps out of my head when I hear that “Andrés, ¿qué tipo de diccionario necesitas?” |
| Dylan: “Andres, what kind of dictionary do you need?” |
| Carlos: Now Dylan, what is one thing that you cannot live without? I mean something you simply need. |
| Dylan: I know, it’s something right up your alley. |
| Carlos: That’s always a good thing. |
| Dylan: “Todas las mañanas necesito tomar un café”. |
| Carlos: Only one coffee in the morning? I go more. As a matter of fact, I just got a new coffeemaker and I know it’s going to be trouble. |
| Dylan: Why? |
| Carlos: For years, I had a French press and it kind of controls the output but now I have a normal maker and let me tell you, I am going to be drinking a lot more coffee. |
| Dylan: So for you, coffee is “necesario”. |
| Carlos: Yes, as a related word, an adjective coffee is 100% necessary. |
| Dylan: Next up is a word that is a little misunderstood. |
| Carlos: Oh yeah? |
| Dylan: Yes, “muchacho”, “muchacha”. |
| Carlos: “Young boy”, “young girl.” Yeah, you are right. |
| Dylan: Here in Costa Rica, at least you can call someone “muchacho”, “muchacha”, without it sounding condescending. |
| Carlos: I will admit that I had to get used to the fact that I could have called a waiter or a waitress “muchacho” or “muchacha”. |
| Dylan: Ana is using it in the similar way. “No los veo. Pregúntale a ese muchacho que está en la caja”. |
| Carlos: “I don’t see them, ask that guy at the cash register.” |
| Dylan: It’s a general way of address like “ayer conocí a un muchacho que trabaja en el banco”. |
| Carlos: “Yesterday I met a guy that works at the bank.” |
| Dylan: There are some other forms of address like when you get older, people will not call you “muchacho” but “caballero”, “gentleman.” |
| Carlos: That’s fine. I am more when they say “señor”, “sir”, but I am okay. I am 28 and they still call me “muchacho” or “joven”, “youngster.” |
| Dylan: Yeah, “señor” o “señora” is hard to hear for the first time. |
| Carlos: I bet. |
| Dylan: Last but not least the feminine noun “caja”. |
| Carlos: “Box”, “register.” Seriously, that word just confused me. |
| Dylan: Yeah? |
| Carlos: Yeah. I mean it did. In stores, I had first moved here and I had no idea what meant “register.” |
| Dylan: Well, if you didn’t know, it isn’t like you could just guess the meaning by looking at the word but you could have just followed the arrows. |
| Carlos: And that’s what I did. |
| Dylan: So how is it used in the conversation? Maybe this time it will help it stick. |
| Carlos: “Pregúntale a ese muchacho que está en la caja”. |
| Dylan: “Ask that guy the cash register.” |
| Carlos: Now is ATM “caja” or... |
| Dylan: “Cajero”. It’s a “cajero”. “El cajero automático no funciona, voy a ir a la caja del banco”. |
| Carlos: I see the difference. So “the ATM is not working, I will go visit the counter.” |
| Dylan: Exactly, but you can see the relationship between that and “cajero”. |
| Carlos: Yeah, I see it now. |
| Dylan: Today’s topic is the verb “faltar”, “to lack”, “to be missing.” |
| Carlos: Now isn’t that a verb used a lot with indirect object pronouns? |
| Dylan: Yes thanks for pointing that out. This verb is often used with indirect object pronouns much the same way as “gustarse”, “to be pleasing to oneself”, and “dolerse”, “to hurt oneself.” |
| Carlos: Now before you ask, Dylan, the person pronouns we use are “me, te, le, nos, os, les”. They maybe small but they are pesky. |
| Dylan: Pesky. |
| Carlos: Find annoying. |
| Dylan: With the verb “faltar”, “to lack”, we must translate it figuratively to get the desired meaning in the context where it is being used. There is one thing to note about the verb “faltar”, “to lack”, when combined with the direct object pronoun. |
| Carlos: And what’s that? |
| Dylan: Well, the word “faltar” must be conjugated according to what it is that is lacking, not according to who is lacking that thing. This is the same issue when we see verbs like “gustar”, “to be pleasing.” Let’s check out the formation. |
| Carlos: Okay, first off, the formation for the singular. |
| Dylan: “Me falta”. |
| Carlos: “I lack.” |
| Dylan: “Te falta”. |
| Carlos: “You lack.” |
| Dylan: “Le falta”. |
| Carlos: “He/she lacks.” |
| Dylan: “Nos falta”. |
| Carlos: “We lack.” |
| Dylan: “Os falta”. |
| Carlos: “You all lack.” |
| Dylan: “Les falta”. |
| Carlos: “They lack”, okay? Plural. |
| Dylan: “Me faltan”. |
| Carlos: “I lack.” |
| Dylan: “Te faltan”. |
| Carlos: “You lack.” |
| Dylan: “Le faltan”. |
| Carlos: “He/she lacks.” |
| Dylan: “Nos faltan”. |
| Carlos: “We lack.” |
| Dylan: “Os faltan”. |
| Carlos: “You all lack.” |
| Dylan: “Les faltan”. |
| Carlos: “They lack.” Okay, I think we got that down but let’s make it more clear with the sample sentences. |
| Dylan: “Me falta cenar”. |
| Carlos: “I haven’t eaten dinner yet.” |
| Dylan: “Te faltan 30 pesos para comprar la entrada”. |
| Carlos: “You are missing 30 pesos to buy the ticket.” |
| Dylan: “¿Le falta algo señor?” |
| Carlos: “Are you missing something sir?” |
| Dylan: “Les faltan materiales para acabar con la construcción”. |
| Carlos: “They are lacking materials to finish the construction.” |
| Dylan: “Me haces falta”. |
| Carlos: “I miss you, you make me lack.” |
| Dylan: The verb “faltar” must be conjugated according to what it is that is lacking, not according to who is lacking that thing. This is the same issue again that we see with verbs like “gustar”, “to be pleasing.” |
Outro |
| Carlos: Okay guys, you know what, that just about does it for today. |
| Dylan: ¡Hasta luego! |
| Carlos: Nos vemos, ¡chao! |
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