Learn about using direct object pronouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalia: Buenos días, me llamo Natalia. |
| Carlos: What’s going on? My name is Carlos. |
| Natalia: Where do you think you are shopping? |
| Carlos: What’s going on pod101 world? My name is Carlos and welcome to spanishpod101.com, the fastest, easiest way to learn Spanish. |
| Natalia: Well I am Natalia and thanks again for being here with us for this newbie series, season 2 lesson. |
| Carlos: Alright. Get ready to follow along today’s lesson guide in your PDF reader. |
| Natalia: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| JORGE: ¿Está fresca la corvina? |
| ANA: ¡Pero claro! ¿De dónde cree que está comprando? La trajeron del puerto hace una hora no más. |
| JORGE: ¿A cómo está? |
| ANA: Está a dieciocho soles por kilo… Este pesa dos kilos. Son treinta y seis soles. |
| JORGE: Lo llevo, pero quisiera que me lo limpie y me lo filetee. |
| ANA: Cómo no. Un momentito |
| JORGE: And now slowly. Una vez más esta vez lentamente. |
| JORGE: ¿Está fresca la corvina? |
| ANA: ¡Pero claro! ¿De dónde cree que está comprando? La trajeron del puerto hace una hora no más. |
| JORGE: ¿A cómo está? |
| ANA: Está a dieciocho soles por kilo… Este pesa dos kilos. Son treinta y seis soles. |
| JORGE: Lo llevo, pero quisiera que me lo limpie y me lo filetee. |
| ANA: Cómo no. Un momentito |
| JORGE: And now with the translation. Ahora incluiremos la traducción. |
| JORGE: ¿Está fresca la corvina? |
| JORGE: Is the Sea bass fresh? |
| ANA: ¡Pero claro! ¿De dónde cree que está comprando? La trajeron del puerto hace una hora no más. |
| ANA: Of course it is! From where do you think you're shopping? They brought it from the port just an hour ago. |
| JORGE: ¿A cómo está? |
| JORGE: How much is it going for? |
| ANA: Está a dieciocho soles por kilo… Este pesa dos kilos. Son treinta y seis soles. |
| ANA: It's eighteen Soles per kilo. This one weighs two kilos. That's thirtysix Soles. |
| JORGE: Lo llevo, pero quisiera que me lo limpie y me lo filetee. |
| JORGE: I'll take it, but I'd like you to clean it and fillet it for me |
| ANA: Cómo no. Un momentito. |
| ANA: But of course. Just a moment. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: Nat, what’s your favorite kind of fish? |
| Natalia: Yummy! I like Mahi-mahi. |
| Carlos: Mahi-mahi. |
| Natalia: I love Mahi-mahi. |
| Carlos: I… |
| Natalia: Oh Salmon too. |
| Carlos: Oh Salmon, she loves Salmon. |
| Natalia: Oh yes I… |
| Carlos: Because Salmon is like $18,000 a pound here. |
| Natalia: I know it’s so expensive. |
| Carlos: Why is Tuna expensive? Like the water is right there. That’s what I don’t understand. They get it. |
| Natalia: Exactly. Go get it yourself and don’t be complaining. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Carlos: Good point. Okay let’s take a look at the vocabulary for today’s lesson since I was just put down. All right. We are going to break these words down and give you some key points. Listen closely. To start off, we have an adjective. |
| Natalia: fresco, fresca |
| Carlos: Fresh. |
| Natalia: fres-co, fres-ca. Fresco, fresca. |
| Carlos: As in the example. |
| Natalia: Para que yo coma pescado, tiene que ser muy fresco. |
| Carlos: In order for me to eat fish, it has to be very fresh. Now we have a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: corvina |
| Carlos: Sea bass. |
| Natalia: cor-vi-na |
| Carlos: As in the example |
| Natalia: ¿Prefieres corvina o lenguado? |
| Carlos: Do you prefer Sea bass or Flounder? This time we have a masculine noun. |
| Natalia: puerto |
| Carlos: Port, harbor. |
| Natalia: puer-to |
| Carlos: As in the example. |
| Natalia: Había mucha fusión cultural en los puertos de América Latina. |
| Carlos:There was a lot of cultural fusion in the ports of Latin America. Next up is a verb. |
| Natalia: traer |
| Carlos: To bring. |
| Natalia: tra-er |
| Carlos: As in the example |
| Natalia: ¿Puedes traerme un vaso de agua? |
| Carlos: Can you bring me a glass of water. Move on with another verb. |
| Natalia: filetear |
| Carlos: To fillet. |
| Natalia: fi-le-tear |
| Carlos: As in the example |
| Natalia: Quisiera que me lo filetees. |
| Carlos: I would like you to fillet it for me and to wrap up, we have one more verb. |
| Natalia: pesar |
| Carlos:To weigh. |
| Natalia: pe-sar |
| Carlos: As in the example |
| Natalia: ¿Cuánto pesa? |
| Carlos: How much does it weigh? What pronunciation Natie pesar. |
| Natalia: Si si Carlos filetear. |
| Carlos: Filete-ar. Fileterar. |
| Natalia: No |
| Carlos: Filetear |
| Natalia: Filetear. Fileteaaar. Need water Carlos. That’s… |
| Carlos: I do. Traer. |
| Natalia: Traer. |
| Carlos: Traer. |
| Natalia: Tra-er. |
| Carlos: Tra-er. Traer. |
| Natalia: Traer. Puerto |
| Carlos: Puerto. |
| Natalia: Purto no. Puerrrto. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Puerrrto. Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases for this lesson. |
| Natalia:F: The first word phrase we will look at is fresco. |
| Carlos: Fresco. |
| Natalia: Fresco. And this adjective means fresh and it is an adjective that is going to change its form to agree with a noun it modifies. So, las verduras frescas. |
| Carlos:The fresh vegetables. |
| Natalia: Or, para que yo coma pescado tiene que ser muy fresco. |
| Carlos: In order for me to eat fish, it has to be very fresh. |
| Natalia: We should also learn the some related words like the feminine noun frescura, freshness, and the diminutive adjective fresquecito. |
| Carlos: Learned. |
| Natalia: Oh please. Corvina, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Sea bass. |
| Natalia: Not so fast. Probably there is other names for this fish throughout the Spanish speaking world. So if you are not a Spanish speaker and you are listening to this lesson and you are getting all heated up because you think you know another way to say Sea bass in Spanish, please let us know. We’d be happy to hear. |
| Carlos: It’s not corvina it’s this. That’s how you say Sea bass. They are wrong. |
| Natalia: You say Puerto Rico not Puerto Rico. |
| Carlos: Ho ho! |
| Natalia:Ho ho ho ho! |
| Carlos:Just leave a comment on today’s lesson. |
| Natalia: ¿Prefieres corvina o lenguado? |
| Carlos:Do you prefer Sea bass or Flounder? |
| Natalia: I like Corvina better. |
| Carlos: Okay first Sea bass. Yeah Flounder is kind of weird. It’s so flat and eyes like – two eyes on the side. I don’t trust anything with two eyes on one side. |
| Natalia: Why? Okay. |
| Carlos: It’s just the rule. |
| Natalia: Carlos, you like this one: puerto. |
| Carlos: Puerto. Yeah its part of my identity. This masculine noun means port. |
| Natalia: Notice that it ends with an O. Don’t confuse it with puerta, door, which ends with an A. And I have a question. |
| Carlos: Yes. |
| Natalia: Why do you say Puerto Rican and it is not only you, everybody I know in the states has the same thing. Puerto Rico oh! |
| Carlos: But I think it’s an inability for them to pronounce puerto. So it just became Puerto and then that just stopped. |
| Natalia: Había mucha fusión cultural en los puertos de América Latina. |
| Carlos: There was a lot of cultural fusion in the ports of Latin America. |
| Natalia: Filetear. |
| Carlos: Filetear. |
| Natalia: This can be kind of a tricky verb. Since it has that er ending, filetear. It just means to fillet as in quisiera que me lo filetees. |
| Carlos: I would like you to fillet for me. |
| Natalia:F: Here is a little hint in Spanish. Whenever using a word of French origin which has a letter T near the end, the T is always pronounced. For example, we say buffet instead of buffe as we do in English or Merlot instead of Merlot in English without the T. Although I still always say Merlot. |
| Carlos: Her favorite. Really she loves Merlot |
| Natalia: Merlot. |
| Carlos: Okay last but not least. |
| Natalia: No but you know actually when you go to a restaurant Carlos and you say Merlot, they are like hah! You’re Merlot. Oh cool that way oh! |
| Carlos: Can you fillet my fish please. |
| Natalia:F: Carlos, that’s done. |
| Carlos: Can I have some filleted fish with some Merlot. I want to eat my fillet of fish with my Merlot at a buffet. |
| Natalia: Buffet. |
| Carlos: Okay last one. |
| Natalia: Pesar. |
| Carlos:How much does it weigh? |
| Natalia:F: Pesa un montón. |
| Carlos: It weighs a ton. |
| Natalia: Something that is heavy is pesado, like you. |
| Carlos:Such an easy joke but I will chill. Yeah I always didn’t want to. |
| Natalia: Better for you mister but don’t chill for too long because the grammar point is coming up. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Natalia: Okay today, direct object pronouns using on a main example: La trajeron del puerto hace una hora. They brought it from the Sea, the Sea bass from the port an hour ago. |
| Carlos: A direct object is that which directly receives the action from the verb. For example, agradezco su ayuda. I appreciate your help. Now what do I appreciate? I appreciate your help. A direct object is that which becomes a subject of the sentence when it is constructed in the passive. |
| Natalia: Like, agradezco su ayuda, I appreciate your help, active or su ayuda es agradecida, your help is appreciated, passive. |
| Carlos:So then a direct object pronoun is a word that replaces direct object to avoid redundancies. For example, la agradezco, I appreciate it. |
| Natalia: In Spanish, this it is either masculine or feminine and either singular or plural. |
| Carlos:But how do we decide which to use? |
| Natalia: In order to decide which direct object pronoun to use, you need to figure out the gender and number of the noun which you want to replace. |
| Carlos: Oh my god, I have a feeling there are lot of examples about to rain down. |
| Natalia: Carlos, don’t be dramatic. It’s for your own good. La manzana, for example is the feminine singular so the noun will be replaced with the object pronoun la. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: La manzana. ¿Las verduras, Carlos? |
| Carlos: Feminine plural. |
| Natalia: So while we will replace the noun. |
| Carlos: Well the noun will be replaced with direct object pronoun las. |
| Natalia: El chorizo. Ew. |
| Carlos: Delicious. |
| Natalia: I hate it oy! |
| Carlos: Masculine singular. The noun will be replaced with direct object pronoun lo. |
| Natalia: Los fideos. |
| Carlos: Masculine. Pleural noun will be replaced with direct object pronoun los. |
| Natalia: Here are some example sentences. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: Yo veo la manzana. |
| Carlos: I see the apple. So that will become: Yo la veo. I see it. |
| Natalia: Yo compro las verduras. I buy the vegetables. |
| Carlos: Okay that was a personal pronoun plus a verb plus a direct object. So that will become: Yo las compro. I buy them. |
| Natalia: Right. So personal pronoun plus direct object pronoun plus verb. Just learn that. |
| Carlos: I think I got the hang of this. |
| Natalia: Okay. El cocina el chorizo. He cooks the sausage. |
| Carlos: Which by our formula will become: Él lo cocina. He cooks it. Personal pronoun plus direct object pronoun plus verb. |
| Natalia: Okay let’s see the last one. Tú preparas los fideos. You prepared the noodles. |
| Carlos: Personal pronoun plus verb plus direct object. Tú los preparas. You prepared them which is the personal pronoun plus direct object pronoun plus verb. |
| Natalia: Good. The direct object pronoun is often but not always placed before the verb and after the personal pronoun if the personal pronoun is included because personal pronouns are often omitted the sentence can begin with a direct object pronoun. |
| Carlos: Right so that means that we may transform yo veo la manzana to la veo, I see it, where the yo, I, the personal pronoun is implicit in the ending of the verb veo. |
| Natalia: Carlos, you know it’s important to remember that we use the direct object pronouns to replace nouns when we want to avoid redundancies. |
| Carlos: Okay what do you mean? |
| Natalia: Like for example: ¿Limpiarás el baño? Will you clean the bathroom? Ya lo limpié. I already washed it. |
| Carlos: I see. |
| Natalia: It would sound redundant to answer ya limpie el baño, I already cleaned the bathroom. The use of pronouns is largely stylistic however. Especially it is important to learn to recognize direct object pronouns when others use them. If you don’t, you can always ask ¿a qué te refieres? What are you referring to? You got it. |
| Carlos: Well after a little time in learning center, I will get it down more. |
| Natalia: Well that’s why the learning center is there for. Take advantage of it. |
| M: Trust me Natie. I do. |
| Natalia: Time for la tarea. |
| Carlos: And that’s right. Before we wrap up today, it’s time to assign today’s homework. |
| Natalia: So in today’s grammar point, we learned how to use direct object pronouns in order to refer to things that have already been mentioned so that we don’t sound redundant when we speak. |
| Carlos:So here is what you have to do. We are going to give you five short sentences in Spanish. This sentence will include a subject, a verb and a direct object and what you have to do is replace direct object with a direct object pronoun while maintaining the rest of the sentence. So if the question is hice la tarea, I did the homework, the answer would be la hice, I did it. Here are the five sentences. |
| Natalia: Ahí vamos. 1. Vi un choque. 2. ¿Comes pescado? 3. ¿Tomáis vino? 4. Llevare las mochilas. 5. Añade hierbas. |
| Carlos: And remember to you overachievers, you can always check out the answers and comments on the answers by downloading the premium audio track labeled Tarea, homework. |
Outro |
| Carlos: That’s about it. Chao, adiós, hasta luego, hasta la vista, lo veo. |
| Natalia: Hasta luego, adiós. |
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