Learn how to refer to objects using demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," and "these")
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: Light reading. In this lesson, you will learn about demonstrative pronouns. The conversation takes place at a convenience store, and the conversation is between the store clerk and Jimmy. They will be speaking in the formal register. |
| JP: Alright, let’s listen to this conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| DEPENDIENTE Buenas noches, señor. |
| JIMMY Hola. |
| DEPENDIENTE Una botella de agua, unas papitas Pringles, un People |
| en español. ¿Algo más? |
| JIMMY ¿Qué es esto? |
| DEPENDIENTE Son tamales. Éstos son de queso, y éstos de pollo. |
| JIMMY Un tamal de pollo, por favor. |
| DEPENDIENTE 45 pesos. |
| JIMMY Aquí tiene 50. |
| DEPENDIENTE 5 pesos es su cambio. Gracias, que le vaya bien. |
| JIMMY Igualmente. Adiós. |
| JP: One more time, with the translation. |
| DEPENDIENTE: Buenas noches, señor. |
| CLERK: Good evening, sir. |
| JIMMY: Hola. |
| JIMMY: Hi. |
| DEPENDIENTE: Una botella de agua, unas papitas Pringles, un People en español. ¿Algo más? |
| CLERK: A bottle of water, some Pringles potato chips, and a "People en Español." Anything else? |
| JIMMY: ¿Qué es esto? |
| JIMMY: What's this? |
| DEPENDIENTE: Son tamales. Éstos son de queso, y éstos de pollo. |
| CLERK: They are tamales. These ones are cheese, and these ones are chicken. |
| JIMMY: Un tamal de pollo, por favor. |
| JIMMY: One chicken tamale, please. |
| DEPENDIENTE: 45 pesos. |
| DEPENDIENTE: Forty-five pesos. |
| JIMMY: Aquí tiene 50. |
| JIMMY: Here's fifty. |
| DEPENDIENTE: 5 pesos es su cambio. Gracias, que le vaya bien. |
| DEPENDIENTE: Your change is five pesos. Thanks, have a good one. |
| JIMMY: Igualmente. Adiós. |
| JIMMY: Likewise. Goodbye. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| JP: Ok, so Jimmy goes to the corner store and buys... |
| Fernando: una botella de agua |
| JP: a bottle of water, he's keeping hydrated... |
| Fernando: unas papitas Pringles |
| JP: Ok, I'm familiar with the brand Pringles so papitas Pringles must be |
| Fernando: ...exactly what you think they are; same with People en español. |
| JP: People magazine... en español. |
| Fernando: Right. |
| JP: Now he notices something next the counter... |
| Fernando: They've got tamales de queso and tamales de pollo. |
| JP: So cheese tamales, tamales de queso... and chicken tamales, tamales de pollo. |
| Fernando: Mmmm, tamales... |
| JP: Tamales are moist corn dough stuffed with chicken or cheese, in this case, and then wrapped in a corn husk or banana leaf and then steamed to a moist perfection. Tamales.... Mmmmm |
| Fernando: Mmmm.. So Jimmy asks for un tamal de pollo, and then the clerk gives him the total, cuarenta y cinco pesos. |
| JP: 45 pesos... |
| Fernando: And Jimmy pays him with a 50. he says "Aquí tiene cincuenta." |
| JP: so then he gets 5 back in change and then it's thanks, have a nice day! |
| Fernando: Gracias, que le vaya bien. |
| JP: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Fernando: la papita [natural native speed] |
| JP: the potato chip |
| Fernando: la papita [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: la papita [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: el cambio [natural native speed] |
| JP: the change (money) |
| Fernando: el cambio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: el cambio [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: el tamal [natural native speed] |
| JP: the tamale |
| Fernando: el tamal [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: el tamal [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: ¿Algo más? [natural native speed] |
| JP: Anything else? |
| Fernando: ¿Algo más? [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: ¿Algo más? [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Fernando: Let's start with "las papitas." |
| JP: Las papitas, this is the Latin American world for potato chips, I think Spaniard would call them las patatas fritas de bolsa. |
| Fernando: But we call them papitas. las papitas. |
| JP: Mmmm. Now, Jimmy was buying papitas Pringle... the kind in the tall can. |
| Fernando: Right. Let's move on to "el cambio." |
| Fernando: El cambio. This is the world for change.... and it can be social change, change clothes, or the change the cashier makes for you. el cambio |
| JP: El cambio. Can it mean the coins in your pocket. |
| Fernando: No, that's a different word. In today's dialog, we say "cambio" to mean the change you get back when you pay in cash; it's not necessarily coins. |
| JP: Cool. El cambio. What's next? |
| Fernando: el tamal. |
| JP: mmm, el tamal. I think a lot of English speakers know this word in the plural, los tamales... remember these are the steamed packets of cornmeal dough stuffed with cheese or chicken... or pork, or beef... and everybody makes them right? Most of the countries in Latin America have their own version of tamales. |
| Fernando: But you know, tamales are really Mexican... it comes from the Nahuatl word "tamali." |
| JP: Right, I think the Mexican version is the one we see most often in the US. Ok, what's the last item? |
| Fernando: Our last item today is a phrase. ¿Algo más? |
| JP: ¿Algo más? this is the last thing the cashier says to you before totaling up your items. Right, it's like "anything else?" or "will that be all?" ¿Algo más? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Fernando: Ok, JP. What’s our grammar point today? |
| JP: I want to talk about demonstrative pronouns. |
| Fernando: That again? |
| JP: Ok, a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun; a demonstrative is a pointing word. So a demonstrative pronoun is a word you say when you’re pointing at something. |
| Fernando: Ok, so what’s an example? |
| JP: Let’s take an example from the dialog. Jimmy asks what kind of tamales they had, and the cashier answers…. |
| Fernando: Éstos son de queso, y éstos de pollo. |
| JP: Right, did you hear the pointing? Éstos son de queso… these ones are cheese, éstos. he’s pointing at them… éstos. |
| Fernando: ok, then he says y éstos de pollo. |
| JP: right, he said that when he started pointing at a different group of tamales. “éstos son de queso, y éstos de pollo.” He was pointing out two different groups. |
| Fernando: Ok, so that means “these ones” is “éstos.” |
| JP: Right. “éstos” is a demonstrative pronoun. Now “éstos” is the masculine plural form, if you’re pointing at other objects, you have to use a demonstrative pronoun that shows the gender and number of the thing you’re pointing to. So if he’s pointing at strawberries |
| Fernando: Las fresas… that would be éstas. |
| JP: Right. and if he’s talking about only ones strawberry, he point at it and say… |
| Fernando: Ésta. |
| JP: Ok. So when he’s pointing at a bunch of tamales, he says éstos, but if he wants to single out a single tamal, he’s going to call it éste. |
| Fernando: Right. the masculine singular form is “éste.” Plural, ‘éstos,’ singular ‘éste.’ |
| JP: Yep and it means “this one” and “these ones” Now one more thing I want to point out before we go… Jimmy says “¿qué es esto?” to ask what all the stuff is. He used that form “ésto.” “Ésto” is the one you use when you’re not referring to a specific object, it’s more abstract. You use ésto when you’re pointing out ideas or situations. |
| Fernando: So when Jimmy asks “¿qué es ésto?” he’s asking about an abstraction… |
| JP: Yeah, well, he doesn’t know the grammatical gender of whatever *that* is, so he uses “ésto.” |
Outro |
| Fernando: That brings today’s session to a close, JP. |
| JP: Ok. So, for now, it’s time to go. Hasta luego. |
| Fernando: ¡Adiós! |
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