Learn how to use possessive adjectives
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: “Take Your Spanish Learning to A New Level.” I am Fernando and as always, I am joined by JP. JP, what’s going on? |
| JP: Not much, Fernando. ¿Cómo estás tú? |
| Fernando: Muy bien, gracias. |
| JP: So Fernando, tell us what we are going to talk about in this lesson. |
| Fernando: In this lesson, you learn about possessive adjectives. The conversation takes place at a job interview. The conversation is between Claudio and the director of a company. The speakers will be using the formal register. |
| JP: All right. Let’s listen to this job interview. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Claudio: De verdad, muchas gracias por esta oportunidad. |
| Director: Gracias a usted. |
| Claudio: ¿Para cuándo me avisan de su decisión? |
| Director: A más tardar, el siguiente miércoles. |
| Claudio: Truly, thank you so much for this opportunity. |
| Director: Thank you. |
| Claudio: When will you let me know about your decision? |
| Director: At the latest, next Wednesday. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fernando: Apparently yes. Claudio is thanking the director for this opportunity, “De verdad, muchas gracias por esta oportunidad”. |
| JP: Okay, let’s take a look at those words. He started with “de verdad”. |
| Fernando: So “truly”, like a very sincere “thank you.” |
| JP: Okay, “de verdad”, “verdad” is the word for truth. |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: And then he says “thank you.” |
| Fernando: “Muchas gracias”. |
| JP: “Muchas gracias”. Actually “muchas gracias” is “thank you very much.” |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: That “muchas” means “a lot.” So “muchas gracias” for this opportunity. |
| Fernando: “Por esta oportunidad”. |
| JP: Okay. Now what’s the word for “opportunity”? |
| Fernando: “Oportunidad”. |
| JP: “Oportunidad”. And how do you say “this opportunity”? |
| Fernando: “Esta oportunidad”. |
| JP: And the linking word that puts together “thank you” and then “this opportunity” is... |
| Fernando: “Por”. |
| JP: “Por”. So “muchas gracias por esta oportunidad”. |
| Fernando: “Thank you very much for this opportunity.” |
| JP: Now the interviewer says “oh, thank you.” |
| Fernando: “Gracias a usted”. |
| JP: “Gracias a usted”. Now this is a formal register, right Fernando? |
| Fernando: Yes, absolutely, “usted”. |
| JP: “Usted”. |
| Fernando: And Claudio has a follow up question, “¿Para cuándo me avisan de su decisión?” |
| JP: All right. Let’s take this sentence apart. We will start with the last word of the sentence which is “decision.” |
| Fernando: “Decisión”. |
| JP: “Decisión”. Now that sounds almost just like the English word “decision.” |
| Fernando: It’s exactly the same. |
| JP: “Decisión”. Now how do you say “your decision”? |
| Fernando: “Su decisión”. |
| JP: “Su decisión”. |
| Fernando: It’s the formal register and he is referring to the director in the third person singular. |
| JP: Okay, “your decision”, “su decisión”. |
| Fernando: If they were much friendlier, he would say “tu decisión”. |
| JP: You are right but that would probably be inappropriate in an interview, right? |
| Fernando: And it would actually change the rest of the sentence. |
| JP: Okay. |
| Fernando: And let’s not do that. |
| JP: Okay, let’s not do that. “Su decisión”. So the verb here is “to inform” or “to notify”, right? |
| Fernando: Exactly, “avisar”. |
| JP: “Avisar” is “to inform” or “to notify.” Now in this sentence, it’s “when will you notify me your decision?” |
| Fernando: “¿Para cuándo me avisan?” |
| JP: Okay, “me avisan”, there is “avisar” there, right? “Avisan”. Okay and he is actually using the plural which sometimes you do in English, “When are you all going to tell me?” |
| Fernando: Right and we are inferring that he’s met with other people before meeting with a director. |
| JP: Okay, so “avisan” is “you all inform” and how do you say “you all will inform me”? |
| Fernando: “Me avisan”. |
| JP: Okay, “me avisan”, that “me” is “me”, right? “Inform me.” |
| Fernando: Uhum. |
| JP: Now we have the word for “when.” |
| Fernando: “Cuándo”. |
| JP: “Cuándo” means “when.” Now why does Claudio ask “para cuándo”? |
| Fernando: “By when”. “By when will you all inform me of your decision?” |
| JP: Okay, so “cuándo” is “when”, “para cuándo”, “by when.” |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: All right. Let’s put it together. “By when will you let me know of your decision?” |
| Fernando: “¿Para cuándo me avisan de su decisión?” |
| JP: And the director answers... |
| Fernando: “A más tardar el siguiente miércoles”. |
| JP: All right. Let’s take the first phrase “a más tardar”. Now you said, this means... |
| Fernando: “At the latest.” |
| JP: “At the latest”, okay. Now I am not going to go into the grammatical explanation of “a más tardar” because this is just a beginner lesson, right? So for now, let’s just take it as a phrase, right? “A más tardar”, “at the latest”, and then what was the rest of the sentence? |
| Fernando: “El siguiente miércoles”. |
| JP: “El siguiente miércoles”. Now the last word “miércoles” means “Wednesday”, right? |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: “Miércoles”. Which Wednesday is it? |
| Fernando: “The following Wednesday”, “el siguiente miércoles”. |
| JP: “El siguiente miércoles”, right. “Siguiente” means “following.” |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: And let’s move on to the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando: “La oportunidad”. |
| JP: “Opportunity”, “chance.” |
| Fernando: “La o-por-tu-ni-dad”, “la oportunidad”. |
| JP: What’s next? |
| Fernando: “Avisar”. |
| JP: “To inform”,” to let know”, “to warn.” |
| Fernando: “A-vi-sar”, “avisar”. |
| JP: What’s next? |
| Fernando: “Miércoles”. |
| JP: “Wednesday.” |
| Fernando: “Miér-co-les”, “miércoles”. |
| JP: Okay, and the last one. |
| Fernando: “La decisión”. |
| JP: “Decision.” |
| Fernando: “La de-ci-sión”, “la decisión”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: All right. Let’s have a closer look at the usage of some of these words. What do you want to start with, Fernando? |
| Fernando: How about “la oportunidad”? |
| JP: “La oportunidad”. Okay, now that means “opportunity” and you know, the words in Spanish and English are basically the same, right? “Opportunity”, “oportunidad”. The only difference really is the ending. It’s “opportunity” in English and in Spanish “oportunidad”, and I think you are going to find a lot of cognates between English and Spanish where the English word ends in “ity” and the Spanish equivalent will end in “idad”. Now I can think of a few like “identity.” |
| Fernando: “Identidad”. |
| JP: Okay. How about “quality”? |
| Fernando: “Calidad”. |
| JP: “Society.” |
| Fernando: “Sociedad”. |
| JP: “Opportunity.” |
| Fernando: “Oportunidad”. |
| JP: “La oportunidad” was our vocabulary word today and “oportunidad” obviously we use it to mean “opportunity.” Sometimes you can also use it when you are trying to say the English word “chance” like “I never had a chance.” |
| Fernando: “Nunca tuve oportunidad”. |
| JP: Exactly. Anyway, we are getting away from things. Let’s move on. |
| Fernando: “Avisar”. |
| JP: “Avisar”. Now this verb describes the action of informing someone that something may happen in the future. |
| Fernando: Right. |
| JP: Now Fernando, I noticed that you like to use the English phrase “to give a heads up.” |
| Fernando: Yeah, sure. |
| JP: I just want to give you a heads up about this. |
| Fernando: All right. Let’s move on to “la decisión”. |
| JP: All right, “la decisión”. Now this is another cognate word. It doesn’t end in “ad” it ends in “sión”. And you know what? It does in English too, “la decisión”, “decision.” |
| Fernando: It’s very straightforward. |
| JP: Yeah. There is not much to say about it. What’s the last word? |
| Fernando: “Miércoles”. |
| JP: “Miércoles”. Okay, this is the word for “Wednesday”, “miércoles”. |
| Fernando: And it doesn’t mean anything else. |
| JP: Nope. |
| Fernando: Nope. That was pretty fast. |
| JP: Yeah. Let’s move on to the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Fernando: What are we talking about today, JP? |
| JP: Well, I think one basic serious thing we can talk about here is possessive adjectives and we heard a possessive adjective in the line where Claudio asks “by when will you inform me of your decision?” |
| Fernando: “¿Para cuándo me avisan de su decisión?” |
| JP: But the possessive adjective you heard there was “su”, right? “Su decisión”. “Su” corresponds with “usted” and when Claudio says “su decisión” he is meaning the decision of the director, who he is addressing as “usted”. So the corresponding possessive adjective would be “su”, “your decision”, right? “Su decisión”. |
| Fernando: Right. |
| JP: Now we said that “su” goes with “usted”. All of the other subject pronouns also have corresponding possessive adjectives, right? For example, if I want to say “it was my decision”... |
| Fernando: “Mi decisión”. |
| JP: “Mi decisión”. If I want to say “it was your decision”? I was speaking familiarly... |
| Fernando: “Tu decisión”. |
| JP: “Tu decisión”. Now we already know that “usted” is “su decisión”, right? |
| Fernando: Yes. |
| JP: How about “his decision”? |
| Fernando: “Su decisión”. |
| JP: Okay, same one, right? |
| Fernando: Yeah, same. |
| JP: How about “her decision”? |
| Fernando: “Su decisión”. |
| JP: Okay, same thing. Okay, that’s all the singulars. “Mi decisión”, “tu decisión”, “su decisión”. There is also the plurals which I want to mention very quickly. “Our decision”... |
| Fernando: “Nuestra decisión”. |
| JP: How about “your all’s decision”? |
| Fernando: “Su decisión”. |
| JP: Is it the same? |
| Fernando: It apparently is. |
| JP: It’s the same singular or plural, “su decisión”, and also “their decision”... |
| Fernando: “Su decisión”. |
| JP: It’s all the same. |
| Fernando: It’s very easy actually. |
| JP: It is, and you know what will actually make it easier? Is if you take a look at the chart that I put together which we’ve written and put in the grammar section of the lesson notes of this lesson. |
Outro |
| Fernando: JP, I think that’s it. |
| JP: Excellent. Let’s say goodbye, ¡hasta luego! |
| Fernando: ¡Adiós! |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide