Learn about the Spanish question word que, which means "what"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: Late Night Snack. In this lesson, you will learn about the question word que. This conversation takes place at the taco truck on the street. The conversation is between Jimmy and the taco vendor. The speakers are using the formal register. |
| Fernando: Alright, let's get into it. |
| DIALOGUE |
| TAQUERO: A sus ordenes. ¿En qué le puedo ayudar? |
| JIMMY: ¿Qué es eso? |
| TAQUERO: Son fritangas. |
| JIMMY: ¿Y qué tipo de carne hay? |
| TAQUERO: Hay de suadero, chorizo, longaniza, machitos, moronga... |
| JIMMY: ¿Y cuánto cuestan? |
| TAQUERO: Una orden de tres tacos cuestan veinte pesos. Pero una orden de cinco, treinta. |
| JIMMY: Quiero probarlo todo. Deme cinco tacos, cada uno de otra carne. |
| TAQUERO: Bueno, amigo. 30 pesos. |
| JIMMY: ¿Puedo pagar con un billete de 200? |
| TAQUERO: ¿No tiene algo más pequeño? |
| JIMMY: Lo siento, más pequeño no tengo. |
| TAQUERO: No problem... aquí tiene su cambio. Ahora le preparo sus tacos. |
| JP: One more time, with the translation. |
| TAQUERO: A sus ordenes. ¿En qué le puedo ayudar? |
| TACO GUY: At your service. What can I do you for? |
| JIMMY: ¿Qué es eso? |
| JIMMY: What's this? |
| TAQUERO: Son fritangas. |
| TACO GUY: These are "tacos de fritangas." |
| JIMMY: ¿Y qué tipo de carne hay? |
| JIMMY: What kind of meat is it? |
| TAQUERO: Hay de suadero, chorizo, longaniza, machitos, moronga... |
| TACO GUY: There's breast bone meat, spicy sausage, red sausage, lamb testicles, blood sausage... |
| JIMMY: ¿Y cuánto cuestan? |
| JIMMY: And how much do they cost? |
| TAQUERO: Una orden de tres tacos cuestan veinte pesos. Pero una orden de cinco, treinta. |
| TACO GUY: One order of three tacos is twenty pesos. But an order of five is thirty. |
| JIMMY: Quiero probarlo todo. Deme cinco tacos, cada uno de otra carne. |
| JIMMY: I want to try it all. Give me five tacos, each one of a different meat. |
| TAQUERO: Bueno, amigo. 30 pesos. |
| TACO GUY: Okay, my friend, thirty pesos. |
| JIMMY: ¿Puedo pagar con un billete de 200? |
| JIMMY: May I pay with a two hundred? |
| TAQUERO: ¿No tiene algo más pequeño? |
| TACO GUY: You don't have anything smaller? |
| JIMMY: Lo siento, más pequeño no tengo. |
| JIMMY: Sorry, I don't have anything smaller. |
| TAQUERO: No problem... aquí tiene su cambio. Ahora le preparo sus tacos. |
| TACO GUY: No problem... Here's your change. Now I'll make your tacos. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: Ok, Jimmy's got a bunch of questions for the taco guy today. |
| Fernando: Yah, you'd think he'd be more familiar, being from LA... Anyway, let's get right to it. This particular stand sells fritangas. |
| JP: Ok, so the meats are going to be fried, what do we have today? |
| Fernando: The dude says suadero, chorizo, longaniza, machitos, moronga... |
| JP: Wow, so some sausages, some spicy meats... some cuts of meat that's not usually found in the American diet. |
| Fernando: That's right. You know, let's talk about these fritanga options in the comments section of this lesson, join us at www.spanishpod101.com. |
| JP: Ok, so moving on... our boy Jimmy gets one of each. |
| Fernando: Yah, he wants to try it all. Five tacos comes out to 30 pesos. |
| JP: So cheap! |
| Fernando: He pays with a 200, gets his change, and then the taquero makes his tacos. |
| JP: Aww, a happy ending. |
| JP: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando: pequeño [natural native speed] |
| JP: small |
| Fernando: pequeño [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: pequeño [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: A sus ordenes. [natural native speed] |
| JP: At your service. |
| Fernando: A sus ordenes. [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: A sus ordenes. [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: preparar [natural native speed] |
| JP: to prepare |
| Fernando: preparar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: preparar [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: ¿Cuánto cuestan? [natural native speed] |
| JP: How much do they cost? How much are they? |
| Fernando: ¿Cuánto cuestan? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ¿Cuánto cuestan? [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: Ok, now let's take a look at words, what’s first? |
| Fernando: let's take a look at pequeño. |
| JP: Peqeño... a lot of English speakers already know this word. It means "small." Pequeño. |
| Fernando: Next... the phrase "a sus ordenes" |
| JP: Literally "at your service." Why is the taquero talking this formally? |
| Fernando: Well, we have these orders of politeness in Mexico. It's nicer than saying "what do you want." Right? A sus ordenes. |
| JP: A sus ordenes. What's next? |
| Fernando: Next we have the verb preparar. |
| JP: Preparar, to prepare. Almost sounds the same in English. Preparar. |
| Fernando: Now the question ¿Cuánto cuestan? |
| JP: How much do they cost. Literally cuanto means how |
| much, and cuestan, they cost. So ¿Cuánto cuestan? |
| Fernando: Correct. And finally the word "joven" |
| JP: Ok, joven is an adjective that means young. Joven. |
| Fernando: You're right, JP; but also, you can call male waiters "joven" to get their attention. |
| JP: Just the male waiters? |
| Fernando: Well, yah, the ladies you'd want to call "señorita" or if she's older "señora." |
| JP: Ok, but the dudes... Joven. That's mostly in Mexico, right? |
| Fernando: Yes, I don't think it's common in Spain. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| JP: Ok, Fernando, today in the grammar section, we're going to talk about the word ¿qué? |
| Fernando: ¿Qué? |
| JP: We're going to talk about... |
| Fernando: ¿Qué? |
| JP: Oh I see. That joke never gets old. Anyway, the interrogative pronoun, it means "what." ¿qué? |
| Fernando: ¿Qué? |
| JP: Ya... We heard qué three times in the dialog. The first one was "What can I help you with? |
| Fernando: ¿En qué le puedo ayudar? |
| JP: Ok, you heard that en qué.. in what aspect can I help you. en que. The next one was What is that? |
| Fernando: ¿Qué es eso? If you're traveling in the Spanish speaking world, you need to know this sentence, to be able to point at something and then ask what's that? ¿Qué es eso? |
| JP: ¿Qué es eso? There was also "what type of meat is there" |
| Fernando: ¿qué tipo de carne hay? |
| JP: cool, ¿qué tipo? what kind. Wow, all kinds of examples of the word ¿qué? today. |
| Fernando: ¿Qué? |
Outro |
| JP: For now, it’s time to go, so hasta luego. |
| Fernando: Hasta luego. |
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