Learn how to ask questions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: Recommendations? In this lesson, you will learn how to form questions. This conversation takes place in a cab. The conversation is between the cab driver and Jimmy, and the speakers will be using the formal register. |
| JP: Let's listen to this conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| TAXISTA: Buenos días. ¿Para dónde? |
| JIMMY: Buenos días. A la Refaccionaria Diesel De Cancún. |
| TAXISTA: ¿Tendrá usted la dirección? |
| JIMMY: Sí lo tengo escrito aquí. |
| TAXISTA: Usted habla bien español. |
| JIMMY: Gracias. Un poquito. |
| TAXISTA: [Risas]. Se me hace más que un poquito. |
| JIMMY: No, no. Y usted ¿habla inglés? |
| TAXISTA: ¿Yo? Para nada. La refaccionaria, ¿eh? Hay un restaurante buenísimo cerca de ahí. |
| JIMMY: ¿Cómo se llama? |
| TAXISTA: “El Fogoncito” |
| JIMMY: ¿Me lo podría escribir, por favor? |
| TAXISTA: Claro, espere un momento… Ya llegamos. 120 pesos. |
| JIMMY: Aquí tiene. Gracias. |
| TAXISTA: Su cambio, y el nombre del restaurante. |
| JIMMY: ¿Me da el recibo, por favor? |
| TAXISTA: Aquí tiene. |
| JP: One more time, with the translation. |
| TAXISTA: Buenos días. ¿Para dónde? |
| TAXI DRIVER: Good morning. Where to? |
| JIMMY: Buenos días. A la Refaccionaria Diesel De Cancún. |
| JIMMY: Good morning. The Diesel Refinery of Cancún. |
| TAXISTA: ¿Tendrá usted la dirección? |
| TAXI DRIVER: Do you have the address? |
| JIMMY: Sí lo tengo escrito aquí. |
| JIMMY: Yes, I have it written here. |
| TAXISTA: Usted habla bien español. |
| TAXI DRIVER: You speak Spanish well. |
| JIMMY: Gracias. Un poquito. |
| JIMMY: Thanks. Just a little bit. |
| TAXISTA: [Risas]. Se me hace más que un poquito. |
| TAXI DRIVER: [Laughter.] It seems like more than just a little bit. |
| JIMMY: No, no. Y usted ¿habla inglés? |
| JIMMY: No, no. What about you, do you speak English? |
| TAXISTA: ¿Yo? Para nada. La refaccionaria, ¿eh? Hay un restaurante buenísimo cerca de ahí. |
| TAXI DRIVER: Me? No way. So, the refinery... There's a great restaurant near there. |
| JIMMY: ¿Cómo se llama? |
| JIMMY: What's it called? |
| TAXISTA: “El Fogoncito” |
| TAXI DRIVER: "El fogoncito." |
| JIMMY: ¿Me lo podría escribir, por favor? |
| JIMMY: Could you write it down for me? |
| TAXISTA: Claro, espere un momento… Ya llegamos. 120 pesos. |
| TAXI DRIVER: Sure, just a second... We have arrived. 120 pesos. |
| JIMMY: Aquí tiene. Gracias. |
| JIMMY: Here you go. Thanks. |
| TAXISTA: Su cambio, y el nombre del restaurante. |
| TAXI DRIVER: Your change and the name of the restaurant. |
| JIMMY: ¿Me da el recibo, por favor? |
| JIMMY: Could I have the receipt, please? |
| TAXISTA: Aquí tiene. |
| TAXI DRIVER: Here you go. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: Ok, Fernando, Jimmy's in a taxi today. |
| Fernando: Did you hear where he's going ? |
| JP: La refacionería... that's like a diesel refinery. |
| Fernando: right. he's got the address written down for the driver to look at. And the driver comments that there's a restaurant near the refinery. |
| JP: Jimmy should check that out. |
| Fernando: Well actually, he asked the driver to write down the name of the restaurant for him, so maybe he will check it out. |
| JP: How is the driver going to write it down while he's driving. |
| Fernando: You didn't hear? He wrote it down when the arrived at the refinery, and gave it to Jimmy along with his receipt. Do you remember what it was called, by the way? |
| JP: Haha, I remember but only because it's a popular name. it was "el fogoncito." Actually i've been to a restaurant in Cancún called "el fogoncito." It was amazing. So much food, I couldn't finish. Ok, let's take a look at the vocabulary now. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando: Un poquito. [natural native speed] |
| JP: A little bit. |
| Fernando: Un poquito. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: Un poquito. [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: llamarse [natural native speed] |
| JP: to be called |
| Fernando: llamarse [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: llamarse [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next word. |
| Fernando: la dirección [natural native speed] |
| JP: the address |
| Fernando: la dirección [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: la dirección [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: ¿Para dónde? [natural native speed] |
| JP: Where to? |
| Fernando: ¿Para dónde? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ¿Para dónde? [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: esperar [natural native speed] |
| JP: to wait |
| Fernando: esperar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: esperar [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: Alright, let's have a closer look at the words and phrases. |
| Fernando: Let's look at the first item, which is "un poquito." |
| JP: Un poquito. this means a little bit. Un poquito. |
| Fernando: Right, the driver asks Jimmy if he speaks Spanish, and Jimmy answers "un poquito." |
| JP: Now you can say "un poquito" if you only want a tiny little bit of something, like if someone is putting cream in your coffee you can say "un poquito." Anyway, what's the next item? |
| Fernando: The next item is llamarse |
| JP: Llamarse. it means to be called... literally it's to call one's self. So how did we hear this in the dialog? |
| Fernando: Jimmy was asking what the restaurant was called. He asked ¿Cómo se llama? |
| JP: ¿Cómo se llama? this is how you ask what something or someone is called ¿cómo se llama?. |
| Fernando: Right, that's formed with the verb llamarse. Ok next is the taxi driver's question... |
| JP: Where to, buddy? |
| Fernando: In Spanish it's ¿Para dónde? |
| JP: ¿Para dónde? Pretty straight forward, ¿dónde? means "where?" so ¿para dónde? means where to... it's the way your taxi driver will ask your destination. |
| Fernando: ¿Para dónde? Ok, two more items, first is "la dirección" |
| JP: La dirección, this is the word for direction. |
| Fernando: Yes, in this case, though, in this dialog "la dirección" means the address. The taxi driver asks Jimmy "¿Tendrá usted la dirección?" |
| JP: Ohh, yah, the address. la dirección. So it's the same word for "direction" and "address? They're both la dirección? |
| Fernando: yep. |
| JP: So how do people tell the difference? |
| Fernando: We just do. Nobody is ever confused by that, we just figure it out from the context. |
| JP: Ok. La dirección. And what's next? |
| Fernando: Our last item is a verb... esperar |
| JP: Esperar to wait for. Esperar. it can also be "to expect." Esperar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| JP: Ok, in the grammar section today I want to talk about asking questions... how you form question sentences in Spanish. |
| Fernando: Is there some kind of special grammar transformation to make an affirmative statement into a question? |
| JP: Actually there's not. In Spanish if you want to make a question, you just say a regular sentence with question intonation. Usually this means using rising intonation at the end. We do the same thing in English... I can say "you speak English," and then turn it into a question with intonation, "you speak English?" Same thing in Spanish, we can say "habla español" and it's a declarative sentence, but when we add the question intonation... |
| Fernando: ¿Habla español? |
| JP: ¿Habla español? It sounds like a question. ¿Habla español? |
| Fernando: Ok, so this is not earth shattering news... |
| JP: No, but think about the way you have to learn how to make questions in French... or in English.. you have to switch word positions and add .. stuff.. in Spanish it's a lot simpler, just use question intonation. Now we hear this three times in the dialog, the first time when he asks the driver ¿habla inglés? |
| Fernando: Do you speak English? That's right. The second question was "¿Me lo podría escribir? |
| JP: ¿Me lo podría escribir? could you write it for me. You know this is a good formula question in itself, because you can request a lot of favors this way, using me lo podría and an infinitive. So it this one, the infinitive we use is "escribir," which means to write. So "me lo podría escribir," could you write it for me? We can swap out that infinitive, put in a different one, and get a different request. So maybe if you can't read, you can ask "could you read it for me?” |
| Fernando: ¿Me lo podrías leer? |
| JP: I'm always asking people to slice my sandwich in half. So "to slice in half..." |
| Fernando: Me lo podría cortar por la mitad? |
| JP: Ok, so that's a great question formula with question intonation, "me lo podría" with an action in the infinitive" it's a way to ask someone to do something for you. Ok, we have one more example from the dialog where we use question intonation to make a question, it's when Jimmy asks for the receipt. |
| Fernando: He says, me da el recibo, por favor? |
| JP: ¿Me da el recibo? This is the way to request an object. You as "me da" and then name the object, and remember to use question intonation. So let's say you wanna ask for a coffee... |
| Fernando: ¿Me da un café, por favor? |
| JP: or a glass of water |
| Fernando: ¿Me da un vaso de agua? |
| JP: Ok, that's the formula "me da" plus object, using question intonation. |
Outro |
| Fernando: I think that brings us to a close today, JP. |
| JP: I think it’s time to go. Fernando, hasta luego! |
| Fernando: Hasta luego! |
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