Learn how to use the imperative form in the formal register, first encounters in a business setting
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Introducing Yourself in a Business Setting in Mexico. John Here. |
| Laura: Hola. I'm Laura. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the formal imperative in a business setting. The conversation takes place at an office. |
| Laura: It's between Alan Brown and Alejandra Soto. |
| John: The speakers are employees from different branches, therefore, they will speak formal Spanish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| [Alan knocks the door and enters Alejandra's office.] |
| Alejandra Soto: Pase por favor. Buenos días. |
| Alan Brown: Buen día, Licenciada Soto. Soy Alan Brown de la división de Los Ángeles. |
| Alejandra Soto: Gusto en conocerlo. Tome asiento por favor. |
| Alan Brown: Gracias. Vengo a representar a mi divisón en la junta de mañana. |
| Alejandra Soto: Bienvenido. Le enviaré los detalles por correo. |
| Alan Brown: Me parece perfecto. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| [Alan knocks the door and enters Alejandra's office.] |
| Alejandra Soto: Pase por favor. Buenos días. |
| Alan Brown: Buen día, Licenciada Soto. Soy Alan Brown de la división de Los Ángeles. |
| Alejandra Soto: Gusto en conocerlo. Tome asiento por favor. |
| Alan Brown: Gracias. Vengo a representar a mi divisón en la junta de mañana. |
| Alejandra Soto: Bienvenido. Le enviaré los detalles por correo. |
| Alan Brown: Me parece perfecto. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| [Alan knocks the door and enters Alejandra's office.] |
| Alejandra Soto: Pase por favor. Buenos días. |
| Alejandra Soto: Please, come in. Good morning. |
| Alan Brown: Buen día, Licenciada Soto. Soy Alan Brown de la división de Los Ángeles. |
| Alan Brown: Good morning, Ms. Soto. I'm Alan Brown from the Los Angeles division. |
| Alejandra Soto: Gusto en conocerlo. Tome asiento por favor. |
| Alejandra Soto: Nice to meet you. Please, take a seat. |
| Alan Brown: Gracias. Vengo a representar a mi divisón en la junta de mañana. |
| Alan Brown: Thank you. I came to represent my division in tomorrow's meeting. |
| Alejandra Soto: Bienvenido. Le enviaré los detalles por correo. |
| Alejandra Soto: Welcome. I will send you the information by email. |
| Alan Brown: Me parece perfecto. |
| Alan Brown: Sounds good. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: We just heard a nice, easy introduction. |
| Laura: Yes, it was very typical of an introduction in Mexico. |
| John: Are business cards common in introductions? Do people in Mexico still use them? |
| Laura: Yes, they’re very common. They’re usually given at the end of the conversation. |
| John: So that you can get in touch with anyone you want to keep in contact with. Are they ever given at the start of a meeting? |
| Laura: That happens sometimes too. |
| John: How should a business card be given? |
| Laura: Usually with your left hand. |
| John: Do you give a business card to everyone at the meeting or just the most senior? |
| Laura: You should give a card to everyone. It’d appear rude if you didn’t. |
| John: I presume the cards are in Spanish. |
| Laura: That’s right. If someone does business internationally, they might have a translation on the back. |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laura: pasar [natural native speed] |
| John: "to pass" |
| Laura: pasar[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: pasar [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: división [natural native speed] |
| John: "division" |
| Laura: división[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: división [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: tomar asiento [natural native speed] |
| John: "to take a seat" |
| Laura: tomar asiento[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: tomar asiento [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: representar [natural native speed] |
| John: "to represent" |
| Laura: representar[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: representar [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: junta [natural native speed] |
| John: "meeting" |
| Laura: junta[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: junta [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: por correo [natural native speed] |
| John: "by mail or email" |
| Laura: por correo[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: por correo [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: Licenciado [natural native speed] |
| John: "Mr. (literally, referring to a man with a Bachelor's degree)" |
| Laura: Licenciado[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: Licenciado [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: Licenciada [natural native speed] |
| John: "Ms. (literally, referring to a woman with a Bachelor's degree)" |
| Laura: Licenciada[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: Licenciada [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have... |
| Laura: detalles [natural native speed] |
| John: "details" |
| Laura: detalles[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: detalles [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Laura: parecer [natural native speed] |
| John: "to seem" |
| Laura: parecer[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: parecer [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is... |
| Laura: Licenciado - Licenciada |
| John: a natural translation to English would be "Mr. - Ms." |
| John: This literally means "to be licensed," and refers to having at least a Bachelor's degree. |
| Laura: That’s right. You use this title to be respectful to people with those degrees. |
| John: You use it mainly with people in a business setting. |
| Laura: Yes, it is a formal way to refer to someone, but you can use it in informal situations with friends too. |
| John: How do you use it in that situation? |
| Laura: You can say Lic., or Licenciado for men and Licenciada for women. Sometimes people add the last name too in an informal setting. |
| John: Can you give us an example using these words? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... El Licenciado Gómez tenía una reunión con el Juez y la Licenciada Domínguez. |
| John: ...which means "Mr. Gomez had a meeting with the judge and Ms. Dominguez. " |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laura: tomar asiento |
| John: meaning "to take a seat." |
| John: Let’s look at the words in this phrase. |
| Laura: First is tomar, which means "to take" or "to get." Then is asiento. |
| John: That means "a seat," "a place to sit." So altogether, it means "to take a seat." |
| Laura: You can use this in both formal and informal situations. |
| John: But, you need to conjugate the verb correctly. |
| Laura: Yes, if you want to use this phrase in an imperative tone for example, the formal version is tome asiento, and informal toma asiento |
| John: Can you give us an example using this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... Nos pidieron tomar asiento silenciosamente al entrar al teatro. |
| John: ... which means "They asked us to take a seat silently as we entered the theater. " |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laura: me parece perfecto |
| John: meaning "sounds good." |
| John: What can you tell us about this phrase, Laura? |
| Laura: First is me. |
| John: This is the reflexive pronoun for the first person singular. The next word means "seems." |
| Laura: Yes, that is parece. Last is perfecto. |
| John: That is "perfect." It literally means "seems perfect to me," but can be translated as "sounds good." |
| Laura: You can use this phrase in both formal and informal situations. |
| John: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say... Me parece perfecto que podamos salir temprano. |
| John: ... which means "It sounds good that we can go out early." |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about using the formal imperative in a business setting. |
| John: We use the imperative mood to tell someone to do something in a direct manner. They are commands and instructions. Now, in Spanish, there are two ways of talking regarding formality. |
| Laura: We call them the informal and formal registers. |
| John: Basically, you use the informal register when you are talking to friends or people your own age or younger, and the formal register, when you are talking to someone in a position of authority or older than you. A clear example is the pronoun "you." |
| Laura: There is the informal form, tú and the formal usted. Usted is usually used in business settings. |
| John: It’s used with people in authority. It’s a form of respect. Now that you have a clear concept of what we are referring to with "formal," let’s talk about the imperative form. The verbs in the imperative form can be conjugated to give either an informal or a formal command. |
| Laura: The verbs are conjugated differently depending on what form of "you," tú or usted, you would use for that person. |
| John: Let’s look at the difference by using the sentence "Please come in." |
| Laura: The informal version is Pasa por favor. The formal version is Pase por favor. |
| John: Let’s look at another couple of sentences. First, "Take the initiative." |
| Laura: Informally, it is Toma la iniciativa. Formal is Tome la iniciativa. |
| John: The next example is "Present the proposal." |
| Laura: The informal is Presenta la propuesta. The formal version is Presente la propuesta. |
| John: The last example is "Send your information to this address." |
| Laura: The informal is Envía tus datos a esta dirección. And the formal is Envíe sus datos a esta dirección. |
| John: Next we’ll look at some sentence patterns that will help you navigate through your first encounters in a business setting. |
| Laura: First is Pase a_ |
| John: This means "Come into…" |
| Laura: Pase a la oficina. |
| John: "Come into the office." The next phrase is... |
| Laura: Soy_ |
| John: "I am…" |
| Laura: Soy Alejandro Ruiz. |
| John: "I’m Alejandro Ruiz." Next is… |
| Laura: Vengo a_ |
| John: "I’m here for_" |
| Laura: Vengo a la entrevista para el puesto de contador. |
| John: "I’m here for the interview for the accountant position." Next is... |
| Laura: Soy de la división de_ |
| John: "I’m from the _ division." |
| Laura: Soy de la división de ventas. |
| John: "I’m from the sales division." Our last example for this lesson is... |
| Laura: Le enviaré _ por correo (electrónico). |
| John: "I will send you _ by email. |
| Laura: Le enviaré mi curriculum por correo. |
| John: "I will send you my resume by email." |
| John: Listeners, you can find more examples and sentence patterns in the Lesson Notes PDF file for this lesson. |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Laura: Hasta la próxima. |
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