Learn about the Spanish verb importar, which means "to matter to"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: Table for One. In this lesson, you will learn about the verb importar. This conversation takes place in a restaurant, and the conversation is between Jimmy and the server. The speakers will be using the formal register. |
| JP: Alright, let’s get right to it. |
| DIALOGUE |
| MESERA: Buenas tardes, señor. ¿Cuántos son? |
| JIMMY: Uno. |
| MESERA: ¿Sección de fumar o no fumar? |
| JIMMY: No fumar, por favor. |
| MESERA: Bueno, venga conmigo. Ok, aquí estamos. |
| JIMMY: Hmm, ¿le importa si me siento aquí? |
| MESERA: Cómo no. ¿Algo de tomar? |
| JIMMY: Agua con hielo, por favor. |
| MESERA: ¿Y sabe qué quiere ordenar? |
| JIMMY: ¿Qué me recomienda? |
| MESERA: El pescado frito está muy rico. |
| JIMMY: Muy bien. Y aquel señor ¿qué come? |
| MESERA: Es el pollo pibíl. |
| JIMMY: Bueno, eso también. |
| MESERA: Muy bien, señor. |
| ---- |
| MESERA: ¿Todo está bien? |
| JIMMY: Sí, todo muy rico, gracias. |
| JP: One more time, with the translation. |
| MESERA: Buenas tardes, señor. ¿Cuántos son? |
| WAITRESS: Good evening, sir. How many in your party? |
| JIMMY: Uno. |
| JIMMY: Just one. |
| MESERA: ¿Sección de fumar o no fumar? |
| WAITRESS: Smoking or nonsmoking? |
| JIMMY: No fumar, por favor. |
| JIMMY: Nonsmoking, please. |
| MESERA: Bueno, venga conmigo. Ok, aquí estamos. |
| WAITRESS: Okay, come with me. All right, here we are. |
| JIMMY: Hmm, ¿le importa si me siento aquí? |
| JIMMY: Hmm, is it okay if I sit here? |
| MESERA: Cómo no. ¿Algo de tomar? |
| WAITRESS: Of course. Something to drink? |
| JIMMY: Agua con hielo, por favor. |
| JIMMY: Ice water, please. |
| MESERA: ¿Y sabe qué quiere ordenar? |
| WAITRESS: So do you know what you want to order? |
| JIMMY: ¿Qué me recomienda? |
| JIMMY: What do you recommend? |
| MESERA: El pescado frito está muy rico. |
| WAITRESS: The fried fish is very good. |
| JIMMY: Muy bien. Y aquel señor ¿qué come? |
| JIMMY: Okay. What is that gentleman eating? |
| MESERA: Es el pollo pibíl. |
| WAITRESS: It's chicken "pibil." |
| JIMMY: Bueno, eso también. |
| JIMMY: Okay, that too. |
| MESERA: Muy bien, señor. |
| WAITRESS: Very well, sir. |
| ---- |
| MESERA: ¿Todo está bien? |
| WAITRESS: Is everything all right? |
| JIMMY: Sí, todo muy rico, gracias. |
| JIMMY: Yes, everything's great, thanks. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: Ok, Fernando, so it looks like Jimmy's on his own for dinner tonight. |
| Fernando: Well, when you're away on business sometimes you're on your own for meals. |
| JP: So he goes to a restaurant and we hear the standard lines, how many in your party... |
| Fernando: ¿Cuántos son? |
| JP: Smoking or non smoking... |
| Fernando: ¿Sección de fumar o no fumar? |
| JP: And then he picks out a seat, she asks him if he wants anything to drink.... |
| Fernando: ¿Algo de tomar? |
| JP: And then he orders, right? Now he doesn't take a long time to look at the menu. |
| Fernando: No, in fact he asks the server what she recommends, which was the pescado frito. |
| JP: Fried fish. You know, asking for the recommendation is a good way to get out of reading the menu. Also just pointing at someone else and saying "I'll have what he's having." |
| Fernando: Which is exactly what he does. He ask fof the pollo pilbil, like the guy across the room. |
| JP: Wow, he must be hungry. |
| Fernando: Well, you gotta try it all. Anyway, later the server comes back and asks if everything's ok. ¿Todo está bien? |
| JP: ¿Todo está bien? |
| Fernando: And he says yes, it's all delicious. Sí, todo muy rico, gracias. |
| JP: Alright, let's take a look at the vocabularies. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando: ¿Cúantos son? [natural native speed] |
| JP: How many? |
| Fernando: ¿Cúantos son? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ¿Cúantos son? [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: venir [natural native speed] |
| JP: to come |
| Fernando: venir [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: venir [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: ordenar [natural native speed] |
| JP: to order |
| Fernando: ordenar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ordenar [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: recomendar [natural native speed] |
| JP: to recommend |
| Fernando: recomendar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: recomendar [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: ¿Todo está bien? [natural native speed] |
| JP: Is everything ok? |
| Fernando: ¿Todo está bien? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ¿Todo está bien? [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: Ok, now let's take a look at the words in context. The first phrase we’re looking at first was… |
| Fernando: The first phrase we’re looking at is ¿cuántos son? |
| JP: ¿Cuántos son? this is the standard way of asking, how many in your party. ¿Cuántos son? |
| Fernando: Ok, next we have the verb venir. |
| JP: Venir, to come... what else? |
| Fernando: Ordenar. This is to order. Ordenar. |
| JP: Ordenar. I think in Spain they like to use pedir for to order. |
| Fernando: Right, but in today's dialog we hear the word "ordenar." Ok, next is the verb recomendar. |
| JP: Recomendar, to recommend. Recomendar. |
| Fernando: And finally the question is everything ok? ¿Todo está bien? |
| JP: ¿Todo está bien? |
| Fernando: Cool. JP, let's do the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| JP: Ok, Fernando, today we're talking about the verb importar and indirect object pronouns. |
| Fernando: Sounds complicated.... |
| JP: Well... meh. Importar just means to matter, and when you say something matters, you have to say, it matters to me, to you, to her... those are all indirect objects. So today we're going to see how to say that in Spanish. So Jimmy asks "does it matter to you if I sit here? |
| Fernando: ¿Le importa si me siento aquí? |
| JP: Le importa. That "le" means to you. So... le importa. |
| Fernando: that's the formal. the familiar would be "te importa" |
| JP: Te importa. That "te" means "to you." te importa. How about it matters to me? |
| Fernando: Me importa. |
| JP: Cool, so we have me importa it matters to me, te importa it matters to you, and le importa, it matters to you, formal. And depending on the context, le can also mean to him, to her, and to it. |
| Fernando: Ok, this is a lot of information... me, te, le. |
| JP: I'll tell you what, Fernando, me, te, le, that's probably good enough for now. If you'd like to see a chart of all the indirect object pronouns that can go with importar, please check out the chart we made for you all. |
| Fernando: That works. |
Outro |
| JP: It’s time to say goodbye, hasta luego. |
| Fernando: Hasta luego. |
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