Learn about shortening words
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalia: Buenos días soy Natalia. |
| Carlos: What’s going on? My name is Carlos. Does that mean I am Superman? |
| Natalia: Hola Carlos, ¿Cómo estás? |
| Carlos: Chilling Natty, I am doing all right. How about yourself? |
| Natalia: I am doing really good Carlos. When are you moving to your new place? |
| Carlos: Not soon enough Natalia. Not soon enough. |
| Natalia: Well I guess SpanishPod101 is doing well for you. |
| Carlos: Well you could say that. It’s almost like I am being paid to learn Spanish. So pretty soon when you ask me - ¿Cómo estás?, I will answer you in Spanish. |
| Natalia: Hey I hope so. It’s about time. That sounds good but Carlos, you know what, you are getting paid to learn Spanish. You are living in a Spanish speaking country. You should be fluent. |
| Carlos: Okay guys anybody who has been down the Costa Rica knows yes, this is a Spanish speaking country. Yet I have yet to meet a Tico I cannot speak to. |
| Natalia: I know everybody knows a little bit of English. |
| Carlos: I really want to practice. |
| Natalia: Well Carlos! |
| Carlos: You know what, you are just going to keep nagging me until I - |
| Natalia: I will. |
| Carlos: We know, you are going to keep nagging me until you can nag me in Spanish. |
| Natalia: That would be amazing. I mean that’s my goal. |
| Carlos: So then, you will be nagging me in English and then just switch over to Spanish so I am going to be like...in my brain, it is going to go together. |
| Natalia: I just tell you one thing. I am happy you realized it. |
| Carlos: Ah I’ve got to come to accept it Natty. I have come to accept it. How was your week? |
| Natalia: Oh I’ve had a long, long, long, long, long, long week. I’ve been working all week. |
| Carlos: Oh yeah me too. |
| Natalia: You have? |
| Carlos: Yeah I have been working hard this week. |
| Natalia: Aaha! |
| Carlos: But I mean I found my new apartment in 12 hours. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Natalia: Getting back into the lesson…Carlos, Carlos you know what we have a very very important Grammar Point today, and don’t say it … |
| Carlos: Don’t say what? |
| Natalia: We always have an important grammar points Natty y’all! |
| Carlos: Oh y’all! What can I say Natty, we do, but what is it? |
| Natalia: Well contractions. |
| Carlos: Oh you know what, I have to agree. |
| Natalia: I know what I am talking, you always have to realize that Carlitos. |
| Carlos: Natty, I had never doubted it for a second. So is Jaime still being dirty and not helpful? |
| Natalia: Well he is advancing little by little. |
| Carlos: Why advancing? |
| Natalia: Because now at least he is offering to help with the housework. |
| Carlos: Baby steps Natalia, baby steps. |
| Natalia: Carlos, I say we get into today’s conversation. |
| Carlos: Okay you know what I agree but before we do, once again, now will be the time to open up your lesson guide on your PDF reader no matter which PDF reader you use as long as you use a PDF reader, open it up and read the conversation along with us. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 1. JAIME: Isabel, estaba pensando en el mantenimiento de la casa, y bueno, |
| de verdad quiero apoyarte más con las labores domésticas. |
| 2. ISABEL: Me alegra que hayas reconsiderado tu papel. |
| 3. JAIME: ¿Cómo puedo ayudar? |
| 4. ISABEL: Lléveme al cine, porque ya terminé todo. Es que soy la mujer |
| maravilla. |
| 5. JAIME: ¿Eso quiere decir que yo soy el superhombre? |
| 6. ISABEL: Jeje... No tanto. Yo diría el hombre invisible. |
| Carlos: And now slower. Una vez más, esta vez lentamente. |
| 1. JAIME: Isabel, estaba pensando en el mantenimiento de la casa, y bueno, |
| de verdad quiero apoyarte más con las labores domésticas. |
| 2. ISABEL: Me alegra que hayas reconsiderado tu papel. |
| 3. JAIME: ¿Cómo puedo ayudar? |
| 4. ISABEL: Lléveme al cine, porque ya terminé todo. Es que soy la mujer |
| maravilla. |
| 5. JAIME: ¿Eso quiere decir que yo soy el superhombre? |
| 6. ISABEL: Jeje... No tanto. Yo diría el hombre invisible. |
| Carlos: And now with the translation. Ahora incluiremos la traducción. |
| 1. JAIME: Isabel, estaba pensando en el mantenimiento de la casa, y bueno, |
| de verdad quiero apoyarte más con las labores domésticas. |
| 1. JAIME: Isabel, I was thinking about the house maintenance, and well, I |
| really want to support you more with the housework. |
| 2. ISABEL: Me alegra que hayas reconsiderado tu papel. |
| 2. ISABEL: I am glad that you have reconsidered your role. |
| 3. JAIME: ¿Cómo puedo ayudar? |
| 3. JAIME: How can I help? |
| 4. ISABEL: Lléveme al cine, porque ya terminé todo. Es que soy la mujer |
| maravilla. |
| 4. ISABEL: Take me to the movies, because I already finished it all. I'm Wonder |
| Woman. |
| 5. JAIME: ¿Eso quiere decir que yo soy el superhombre? |
| 5. JAIME: Does that mean that I am Superman? |
| 6. ISABEL: Jeje... No tanto. Yo diría el hombre invisible. |
| 6. ISABEL: Hehe... I would not go that far. I would say the Invisible Man. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: Okay you know what, that is classic thing like you know, offer to help when everything is done. |
| Natalia: I know. |
| Carlos: It’s like or another classic thing is like to do something completely wrong so you never ask me to do it again like Carlos, wash the windows and I do but I mess up on purpose. So you are like, you know what, you know what, just leave it alone. |
| Natalia: I did that all my childhood and teenage years. |
| Carlos: I am glad, I am so glad your mom is listening to this. |
| Natalia: I know, me too. |
| Carlos: Okay ignore it Natty. Now that we’ve gone through the conversation, you know what do you say we run through some vocabulary. |
| Natalia: Sounds like a good idea. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Carlos: Alright. Well listen let’s move on to the vocabulary section on today’s PDF lesson guide. Now today, we are going to start out with a masculine noun. |
| Natalia: mantenimiento |
| Carlos: Maintenance. |
| Natalia: man-te-ni-mi-en-to, mantenimiento |
| Carlos: Next up we have a verb. |
| Natalia: apoyar |
| Carlos: To support. |
| Natalia: a-po-yar, apoyar |
| Carlos: Now we have a masculine noun. |
| Natalia: labor |
| Carlos: Work, labor. |
| Natalia: la-bor, labor |
| Carlos: And then we have an adjective. |
| Natalia: doméstico, doméstica |
| Carlos: Domestic of the house. |
| Natalia: do-més-ti-co, do-més-ti-ca, doméstico, doméstica |
| Carlos: And then we have a past participle. |
| Natalia: reconsiderado |
| Carlos: Reconsider. |
| Natalia: re-con-si-de-ra-do, reconsiderado |
| Carlos: And then we have a verb |
| Natalia: ayudar |
| Carlos: To help. |
| Natalia: a-yu-dar, ayudar |
| Carlos: Man, I am in for it today. |
| Natalia: Carlos, I want you to say all of this. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: be my guest |
| Carlos: mantenimiento |
| Natalia: mantenimiento |
| Carlos: mantenimiento |
| Natalia: mantenimiento |
| Carlos: mantenimiento, apoyar, doméstico, doméstica, reconsiderado |
| Natalia: reconsiderado |
| Carlos: reconside… It’s a hard one yet again. Reconsiderado, it is like preocupe. And I have to get the syllables broken up. |
| Natalia: reconsiderado |
| Carlos: reconsiderado |
| Natalia: ayudar |
| Carlos: ayudar |
| Natalia: Que desconsiderado cuando no me ayuda con las labores. |
| Carlos: What you just said? |
| Natalia: Okay. |
| Carlos: reconsiderado |
| Natalia: I think it’s good. It’s you know, to just go over and over the words again. |
| Carlos: Oh no definitely. I mean that’s definite word that breaking up the syllables and getting them individually will make complete difference but you know what Natty and I am being sincere completely sincere right now, without your support, I could have never gotten into SpanishPod101.com Costa Rican team off the ground. |
| Natalia: Ay… |
| Carlos: Wait! You know what, it has to be said sometimes. |
| Natalia: Ay... thank you. |
| Carlos: Okay actually I was looking for a transition. |
| Natalia: Excuse me. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: I was looking for a translation considering our first word is the verb - apoyar - to support, to help. |
| Natalia: Hahaha! Your jokes crack me up. You are so funny Carlos, so, so funny you know. I will ignore that and give you another example. Okay. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: Okay. From - apoyar, the masculine noun derivation - apoyo. |
| Carlos: As in |
| Natalia: As in Mi hermano mayor me apoyó cuando no tenía trabajo. |
| Carlos: My brother supported me when I didn’t have a job. |
| Natalia: My older brother. |
| Carlos: My older brother. |
| Natalia: Mi hermano mayor. |
| Carlos: Okay my older brother supported me when I didn’t have a job. You know, that’s pretty common here hah Natty. If you lose your job like another family member will like support you. |
| Natalia: Yeah you know like obviously because that’s how a family supports you in your bad time. So pretty much yes, if you ran out of job, you can stay at my house, eat my food until you get a job. Funny thing is that these families are going to be on you asking you. Did you get a job yet? Did you get a job yet until you get one? |
| Carlos: That’s good, that’s good. Wait, so with your example your brother gave you support. |
| Natalia: Sí. |
| Carlos: Que bueno es tener un poquito de ayuda. |
| Natalia: Repeat. |
| Carlos: Que bueno es tener un poquito de ayuda. |
| Natalia: Ay! Qué lindo... It sounds so funny when you are talking Spanish but yes Carlos, |
| Carlos: You are supposed to encourage me to speak more Spanish Natty. |
| Natalia: Yeah you put a smile on people’s face. |
| Carlos: Every time. |
| Natalia: Carlos, you could go to funerals and then you say - Lo lamento mucho por tu perdida, and everybody would smile. |
| Carlos: You know I do not have an accent like that. |
| Natalia: Claro Carlos, ayudar is similar to apoyar, pero ayudar means to help. |
| Carlos: Right and being an AR verb, it is our first conjugation. Now what’s its derivation? |
| Natalia: It has a feminine noun derivation. Ayuda, help - como por ejemplo - No te voy a ayudar con la tarea. Tienes que hacerla por tu cuenta. |
| Carlos: I am not going to help you with your homework. You’ve got to do it on your own. Man, I just got a flashback to childhood. |
| Natalia: Why? Did you use to ask your mom to help you with the homework? |
| Carlos: Well sometimes but usually I just wouldn’t do it. |
| Natalia: What? Were you a bad student? |
| Carlos: Yeah actually I was. My school was so boring. I would just sit there like I always felt as if they just – they left me in a room Natty with like all the books that I had to read like eventually I’d get enough interest just to read them and do it on my own but like honestly I just – I hated. I just got so bored with it. Natty, how about you? How did you do at school? |
| Natalia: Well Carlos, I mean I was just like – how can I explain? |
| Carlos: Not there. |
| Natalia: Huh what? |
| Carlos: Not there. |
| Natalia: Carlos, don’t be silly. No, no, no I pretty much would just do business in school. |
| Carlos: Like what kind of business? |
| Natalia: I would just – and don’t take it the wrong way. See how you are terribly negative. |
| Carlos: I am not negative. I am just saying what kind of business. |
| Natalia: The thing is that I learned English when I was 9 years old. By the time I was 10, I spoke it like I speak it right now. So then, when I went to high school years and all that, then I would talk to the best guy in math class, best guy in social studies, I will talk to all of them and say, I will do your English work if you do my Maths, social studies, science, psychology everything. |
| Carlos: Scandal. |
| Natalia: So I would just walk. I mean this is memorable. I would just walk down the hallway getting my homeworks… |
| Carlos: Wow! |
| Natalia: And handing them all their homeworks. So what I would do was to make one English homework, change the answers a little bit, change the fonts, print them all and… |
| Carlos: Natty, you are just an entrepreneur. Okay. |
| Natalia: Honestly man that gets you far. |
| Carlos: You know, school was like a labor, not just – not the learning because I love – you know, I love learning. I am a nerd, but like the actual going. |
| Natalia: I know. The whole fact of you know you have to be here from this time to this time. |
| Carlos: I don’t like that and I think that’s kind of transferred to my whole life. |
| Natalia: Yeah that’s why you don’t want to go to a normal job where you know your lunch time is at 12. So if you are not hungry at 12, I am sorry because your lunch time is at 12. You get your body used to waking up at certain hour, eating at certain hour, relaxing at certain hour, it’s kind of bad. |
| Carlos: Yeah. |
| Natalia: For my opinion, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Yeah. |
| Natalia: I want you to say that in Spanish. |
| Carlos: Say what in Spanish? |
| Natalia: School was a labor, not the learning just the actual going. |
| Carlos: Era una labor el aprender no tanto si no |
| Natalia: si no |
| Carlos: si no, Okay. |
| Natalia: si no, Aaha. |
| Carlos: Trying to get the rhythm there going you know. Era una labor el aprender no tanto sino |
| Natalia: si no |
| Carlos: Era una labor el aprender no tanto el tener que asistir... I am starting. I am going to say that word. |
| Natalia: Okay Carlos. Well you would use - labor - but there is another word you could use too. |
| Carlos: Which one? |
| Natalia: Well - labor, means work, labor. Well you could also have used - trabajar. |
| Carlos: Which also means to work but why? |
| Natalia: Well while the verb - trabajar, means to work, laborar - implies more exertion and less compensation. |
| Carlos: Ah okay. It’s the difference between work and labor. |
| Natalia: Labor is more grueling. You are sitting in classroom and not breaking rocks. |
| Carlos: Man I just felt like I was breaking rocks though. |
| Natalia: Carlos! |
| Carlos: Okay true but you know what Natty, how about an example? |
| Natalia: Well, ¿Cómo te puedo ayudar con la labor doméstica? |
| Carlos: How can I help you with the housework? |
| Natalia: Well by hiring someone to do it for you. |
| Carlos: Okay that’s also true. |
| Natalia: Well Carlos, but you see the difference. That will be a good way to differentiate it. |
| Carlos: Oh I also noticed that you used our next word in the example. |
| Natalia: Work smart, not hard Carlos. |
| Carlos: True, true. Okay - doméstico, doméstica, domestic or of the house. |
| Natalia: Remember that verb - domar. |
| Carlos: Well from the lesson at the hair salon? |
| Natalia: Well that’s the one - domar |
| Carlos: To tame right? |
| Natalia: Yeah but is that, doméstico, doméstica - means more than just domestic. It means of or relating to the home. |
| Carlos: Like, Ella prefiere la vida doméstica es mamá por oficio. |
| Natalia: Some do prefer the domestic life raising the children, all this. |
| Carlos: What about you Natty? |
| Natalia: Umm I don’t want to go there. |
| Carlos: She is saying no comment. |
| Natalia: I don’t want to go there. I have played house sometimes and I…Why did you laugh? |
| Carlos: Because it has a different connotation altogether where I come from. Okay you know what, let’s move on. |
| Natalia: That’s so weird. |
| Carlos: reconsiderado |
| Natalia: What a weirdo, so any ways - reconsiderado |
| Carlos: reconsiderado |
| Natalia: That will be the past participle of the verb - reconsiderar, to reconsider like - Carlos huviese reconsiderado lo que acaba de decir, antes de decirlo. You should have reconsidered what you just said before saying it. |
| Carlos: Well story of my life. |
| Natalia: Definitely. |
| Carlos: Looks like I shoke a nerve. |
| Natalia: Carlos, I mean don’t get with my housemate abilities because that gets merely sensitive. |
| Carlos: Natty, I know, I know, I never ever, ever… |
| Natalia: Just tell a short story to the listeners because I never tell stories of my own. Ony Carlos talks. A person told me that I did not have the domestic gene. I didn’t have the gene in my DNA of cooking and cleaning and doing all that because I just didn’t have it. |
| Carlos: And thus I was inundated with pictures of food that she cooked. |
| Natalia: I am showing the world that I cooked and as a matter of fact, I should put it in a forum or something. I cooked two times to prove the world that I can cook. |
| Carlos: She did, she did. |
| Natalia: Carlos, Carlos…. |
| Carlos: And Natty it looked delicious not that I got to eat any of it, but it looked delicious. It was good. |
| Natalia: Poor me. |
| Carlos: You know. |
| Natalia: So yeah I mean I don’t know if that person actually said that, so I would go clean their house and cook a meal probably. |
| Carlos: You know like I say, twitches all, but you know what, she does because the women can’t cook. Okay word formation study. |
| Natalia: Well you know what, I figured you were going there. Re - is a prefix and it’s added to the beginning of a word. |
| Carlos: Why? |
| Natalia: Well when this happens, the idea of repetition comes into play. Then we have the root of the word consider. This is where the meaning comes from to pay heed or to consider. |
| Carlos: Uh informative. |
| Natalia: Yes and also the ending - ado |
| Carlos: Which we know is used for participles of verbs in the first conjugation. |
| Natalia: Learning center. |
| Carlos: That obvious. |
| Natalia: Carlos pretty much but well you know, you need to like find excuses at least. So when I ask you. |
| Carlos: Yeah and you want to respond, man, you are getting egocentric. |
| Natalia: Yeah you know, there is no win-win point. |
| Carlos: There is just no – there is no winning with this one. |
| Natalia: What are we going to do? Any way Carlitos, let’s say I made an offer on something you are selling. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: I could ask - Has reconsiderado mi oferta. |
| Carlos: Have you reconsidered my offer? |
| Natalia: Exactly. Good sentence to learn for one of those negotiations. |
| Carlos: Well you know that’s upper intermediate territory Natty and I am not going there yet. |
| Natalia: Soon enough Carlito, soon enough. |
| Carlos: Oh thanks for the faith Natty. We just high 5ed in here. |
| Natalia: Oh my god! |
| Natalia: Today is a good grammar point Carlos. |
| Carlos: As always. |
| Natalia: Seriously Carlos, especially today. |
| Carlos: Why Natty? |
| Natalia: Because we are looking at contractions. |
| Carlos: Okay making words smaller. Yeah you know what that can be confusing for some people. |
| Natalia: You know how in English you all will shorten certain expressions like can’t instead of cannot or don’t instead of do not. |
| Carlos: Yeah. |
| Natalia: So well in Spanish, this happens in two cases and when either of these cases arise, we don’t have a choice. We have to form a contraction. |
| Carlos: Sounds so like I don’t know like final. |
| Natalia: Carlos, it is. It’s only the prepositions, a or de, with a masculine singular definite article Él and are fused in Spanish - al and del. - al and del. |
| Carlos: Okay I remember that. |
| Natalia: Yes it’s pretty simple Carlos. The final case, when the preposition - de, is followed by Él. The singular masculine definite article - El mantenimiento de el edificio, becomes - El mantenimiento del edificio. |
| Carlos: de el, del - I don’t expect the problem. |
| Natalia: It’s incorrect to say - de el edificio. That would be like gringo talk. |
| Carlos: Then I would never say it. |
| Natalia: Carlos, this doesn’t happen when the definite article is feminine. For example, El mantenimiento de la casa. |
| Carlos: Man, Natty, you got like a grammar rage on today. |
| Natalia: I know Carlos, I know I am flying. You know Carlos, you know sometimes I just get into that mood especially with things that I know they are so easy to learn. That I know people can pick up super quickly. You know, then in the second case when the preposition, a, is followed by - él, the singular masculine definite article - Llevame a el cine. becomes - Llevame al cine. Again notice how these doesn’t happen when the definite article - la, is used - Llevame a la playa. |
| Carlos: Trust me I noticed. I am almost afraid not to. Now, Natty, did I ask about it in writing? |
| Natalia: In writing, when we use the preposition, de or a, and then any masculine plural or feminine singular or even plural definite article, we never form a contraction. However, when we are speaking fast, these words can sound like they are blended together. |
| Carlos: Oh okay like in English like an example would be like going to becomes gonna. |
| Natalia: Yes. |
| Carlos: If we heard it, it is kind of understood like I am going to go over there but in writing, it’s completely incorrect. |
| Natalia: Exact, for example even though we write - A la casa, as three separate words, we often pronounce them like if they were one - a la casa. |
| Carlos: Natty, I need to get better. I need homework. |
| Natalia: Well time for - la tarea. Are you ready? |
| Carlos: Natty, I am always ready for tarea. |
| Natalia: I am going to blow you words up with five sentences in Spanish and what you need to do is to decide whether there is a contraction being used or just the spoken fusion of words, ¿Qué te parece tontito? |
| Carlos: I deserve this. I am ready to go. |
| Natalia: Carlos, what’s with you today? Come on, cheer up. |
| Carlos: I am very happy – Natty, I am smiling, such a coolest smile right now. You have no idea. |
| Natalia: Well I think I have because I am staring at your face. |
| Carlos: Ou..The reflection of that… |
| Natalia: Listeners, let’s do this you and I. Number one-Fui a la tienda, number two - Regresé del mercado, number three-¿Llamaste al doctor?, number four-Llegué tarde a la fiesta, number five-Es la tienda del viejo. |
| Carlos: And remember you can always pick up the answer with comments in the premium audio track titled - tarea. |
Outro |
| Carlos: Well Natty, sorry to say, it’s about that time again. Our lessons are done. |
| Natalia: All right, Carlos. |
| Carlos: I know, it’s so sad. |
| Natalia: [*] |
| Carlos: Later! |
| Natalia: No, say bye in Spanish now. |
| Carlos: Okay - Hasta luego. Does that make you be happy now? |
| Natalia: No Carlitos, you need to say it more… |
| Carlos: Hasta luego. |
| Natalia: No, no, no, no, no say something more. |
| Carlos: Ciao |
| Natalia: No, no, no, no, no I am thinking. |
| Carlos: por allá |
| Natalia: No, no, no, no, no I am thinking something more like |
| Carlos: Los vi por TV. |
| Natalia: Great! |
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