Learn expressions to give and understand directions, review the imperfect indicative (pretérito imperfecto del indicativo)
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Getting Directions in Mexican Spanish. John Here. |
| Laura: Hola. I'm Laura. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn about getting directions to a conference center. The conversation takes place in a taxi and at a conference center. |
| Laura: It's between Alan Brown and the taxi driver, and Alan Brown and the receptionist. |
| John: They will speak both formal and informal Spanish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Conductor de taxi: ¿Para dónde va? |
| Alan Brown: Al Centro de Convenciones que está sobre la avenida Insurgentes Sur. Váyase sobre el Paseo de la Reforma, por favor. |
| Conductor de taxi: Estaba muy congestionado esta mañana. Mejor tomamos la vía alterna. |
| at the conference center |
| Alan Brown: Buenos días, soy Alan Brown. Traía mi gafete pero se me quedó en el taxi. |
| Recepcionista: Bienvenido señor Brown. ¿Trae su identificación? |
| Alan Brown: Sí, aquí tiene. ¿En dónde está el auditorio principal? |
| Recepcionista: Al fondo del pasillo a la izquierda. |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Conductor de taxi: ¿Para dónde va? |
| Alan Brown: Al Centro de Convenciones que está sobre la avenida Insurgentes Sur. Váyase sobre el Paseo de la Reforma, por favor. |
| Conductor de taxi: Estaba muy congestionado esta mañana. Mejor tomamos la vía alterna. |
| at the conference center |
| Alan Brown: Buenos días, soy Alan Brown. Traía mi gafete pero se me quedó en el taxi. |
| Recepcionista: Bienvenido señor Brown. ¿Trae su identificación? |
| Alan Brown: Sí, aquí tiene. ¿En dónde está el auditorio principal? |
| Recepcionista: Al fondo del pasillo a la izquierda. |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Conductor de taxi: ¿Para dónde va? |
| Taxi driver: Where are you going? |
| Alan Brown: Al Centro de Convenciones que está sobre la avenida Insurgentes Sur. Váyase sobre el Paseo de la Reforma, por favor. |
| Alan Brown: (I'm going) to the Convention Center that’s on the Insurgentes Sur Avenue. Take Paseo de la Reforma, please. |
| Conductor de taxi: Estaba muy congestionado esta mañana. Mejor tomamos la vía alterna. |
| Taxi driver: It was overcrowded this morning. We better take an alternate road. |
| at the conference center |
| Alan Brown: Buenos días, soy Alan Brown. Traía mi gafete pero se me quedó en el taxi. |
| Alan Brown: Good morning, I'm Alan Brown. I had my nametag with me but I left it in the cab. |
| Recepcionista: Bienvenido señor Brown. ¿Trae su identificación? |
| Receptionist: Welcome, Mr. Brown. Do you have your ID? |
| Alan Brown: Sí, aquí tiene. ¿En dónde está el auditorio principal? |
| Alan Brown: Yes, here you are. Where is the main auditorium? |
| Recepcionista: Al fondo del pasillo a la izquierda. |
| Receptionist: Down the hall to the left. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: This time, the conversation started off in a taxi. |
| Laura: Yes, Alan was on his way to a business convention. |
| John: Conventions and similar events are very common in business all around the world. |
| Laura: They’re a great way to show off your business to others. |
| John: Yes, there you can find other local and national businesses and network. |
| Laura: There are many of these events in Mexico each year. |
| John: That’s good to hear. Are they important in Mexico? |
| Laura: Well, people prefer to conduct business face-to-face in Mexico, so I’d say so. |
| John: It’s easier to get the measure of someone when you meet them, I think. |
| Laura: I agree. You can see their character and find out if they are trustworthy. |
| John: Are these interactions usually pretty formal? |
| Laura: They can be relaxed, but you should still remain formal and polite as you’re representing your company. |
| 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: Centro de Convenciones [natural native speed] |
| John: Convention Center |
| Laura: Centro de Convenciones [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: Centro de Convenciones [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Laura: sobre [natural native speed] |
| John: about, upon, on top of, over, above, envelope |
| Laura: sobre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: sobre [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Laura: avenida [natural native speed] |
| John: avenue |
| Laura: avenida [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: avenida [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Laura: congestionado (a) [natural native speed] |
| John: congested, crowded |
| Laura: congestionado (a) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: congestionado (a) [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Laura: traer [natural native speed] |
| John: to bring |
| Laura: traer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: traer [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Laura: vía alterna [natural native speed] |
| John: alternate road |
| Laura: vía alterna [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: vía alterna [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Laura: gafete [natural native speed] |
| John: badge, nametag |
| Laura: gafete [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: gafete [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Laura: identificación [natural native speed] |
| John: ID, identification |
| Laura: identificación [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: identificación [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Laura: auditorio [natural native speed] |
| John: auditorium |
| Laura: auditorio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: auditorio [natural native speed] |
| John: And last.. |
| Laura: dónde [natural native speed] |
| John: where |
| Laura: dónde [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Laura: dónde [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: para dónde va |
| John: Which means "Where are you going?" |
| John: Let’s break down this phrase. |
| Laura: The first word, Para, means “for.” The next word is dónde. |
| John: This means “where.” The final word means “go.” |
| Laura: That is va. Altogether the phrase is para dónde va |
| John: You can use this to ask someone where they are going. |
| Laura: The informal version is Para dónde vas |
| John: Can you give us an example that includes this phrase? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say.. Dígame para dónde va. |
| John: ..which means "Tell me where are you going." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Laura: váyase sobre |
| John: meaning "go on" |
| John: Let’s break down this expression. |
| Laura: The first word is váyase. This means “go,” The next word is sobre. |
| John: This means “on.” You can use this to direct someone towards a specific place or destination. |
| Laura: This is a formal phrase and is used in formal settings or with people you don’t know. |
| John: What is the informal version? |
| Laura: Vete sobre |
| John: Can you give us an example using this expression? |
| Laura: Sure. For example, you can say.. Váyase todo derecho sobre la avenida principal. |
| John: Literally meaning, "Go on all straight on the main avenue," but can translate to "Go straight on the main avenue.” |
| John: Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about getting directions. |
| John: First, we will revise a relevant grammar topic that will be useful for business situations in Spanish. In this lesson we will be forming the imperfect indicative tense. |
| Laura: In Spanish, this is called pretérito imperfecto del indicativo. |
| John: This simple tense is used for many things. You can describe past actions that took place at the same time, talk about a time that something happened, speak about previous habitual actions, or describe past emotional states or conditions. |
| Laura: It’s simple to make, too. With regular -ar verbs, first, take off the -ar. |
| John: As you already know doing so gives us the stem of the verb. The ending we add depends on the pronoun the verb is paired with. For example, to say “I spoke…” |
| Laura: Yo hablaba. We add -aba. |
| John: For the informal “you spoke” |
| Laura: It’s Tú hablabas. We add -abas. |
| John: You can see the full list of conjugations in the lesson notes. |
| Laura: Regular -ir and-er verbs act in the same way. We take the ending off to make the stem. |
| John: Again, the ending that is added depends on the pronoun the verb is to be used with. For example, to say “we lived,” is... |
| Laura: Nosotros vivíamos. The ending we add is -amos. |
| John: And to say “he, she, it drank” is... |
| Laura: Él/Ella bebía. The ending we add is -ía. There are more examples in the lesson notes |
| John: There is also information on irregular verbs. Let’s listen to some sentence examples so you can see how this tense works in action. |
| Laura: Yo leía el reporte cuando ella llegó a la oficina. |
| John: “I was reading the report when she arrived at the office.” |
| Laura: El jefe llegaba temprano el verano pasado, pero últimamente llega muy tarde. |
| John: “The boss used to arrive early last summer, but lately he arrives very late.” |
| Laura: Ella trabajaba en esa compañía antes de que se declarará en bancarrota. |
| John: “She was working for that company before it went bankrupt.” Finally, we’ll look at some sentences and phrases that will help when giving directions to and in a conference center. |
| Laura: You could say Váyase sobre el camino hasta llegar a la puerta principal. |
| John: “Go on the path until you reach the main door.” Or, as we heard in the dialogue, you can use this phrase “Go on” |
| Laura: Váyase sobre… |
| John: If you want to give directions to the taxi driver to “Go on” or “Take Paseo de la Reforma” say |
| Laura: Váyase sobre el Paseo de la Reforma. |
| John: If you want to find a specific place, you can ask |
| Laura: ¿En dónde está...? |
| John: “Where is?” For example: |
| Laura: ¿En dónde está la sala de conferencias donde se encuentran mis colegas? |
| John: “Where is the conference room where the rest of my colleagues are?” You might add... |
| Laura: Al fondo del… |
| John: “At the end of the…” or |
| Laura: Diríjase todo derecho… |
| John: “Go on all straight…” Listeners, you will find a chart with more useful sentence patterns and examples that will help you reach your objective. |
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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