Learn about using prepositions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natalia: Buenos días soy Natalia. |
| Carlos: What’s going on? My name is Carlos. Do You Have Skype? |
| Natalia: Hola, todo el mundo. |
| Carlos: My name is Carlos and with me is Natalia as always. Natty, how are you doing? |
| Natalia: I am doing great Carlos. So tired. |
| Carlos: Ah, you sound it. |
| Natalia: I am so tired. I went shopping all day. |
| Carlos: Oh. |
| Natalia: Yes but I have a problem. |
| Carlos: The first step is admitting that you have one Natty. |
| Natalia: Oh yeah. In today’s conversation, Jorge wants to use Skype. So well Carlos, I think that we should get into it. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 1. JORGE: ¡Buenas! |
| 2. JUANA: Buen día. |
| 3. JORGE: Quisiera saber si ustedes cuentan con el programa Skype... |
| 4. JUANA: Sí, lo tenemos instalado. Cada compu equipada con audífonos |
| cuenta también con Skype. |
| 5. JORGE: Perfecto. ¿A cuánto está la media hora? |
| 6. JUANA: Nada más que diez colones. |
| 7. JORGE: ¡Anda! Y, también cuentan con cámara para chat con video? |
| Carlos: And now with the translation. Ahora incluiremos la traducción. |
| 1. JORGE: ¡Buenas! |
| JORGE: Mornin'! |
| 2. JUANA: Buen día. |
| 2. JUANA: Good mornin'. |
| 3. JORGE: Quisiera saber si ustedes cuentan con el programa Skype… |
| 3. JORGE: I'd like to know if you guys have the program Skype... |
| 4. JUANA: Sí, lo tenemos instalado. Cada compu equipada con audífonos |
| cuenta también con Skype. |
| 4. JUANA: Yes, we have it installed. Each computer equipped with |
| headphones also has Skype. |
| 5. JORGE: Perfecto. ¿A cuánto está la media hora? |
| 5. JORGE: Perfect. How much does a half-hour cost? |
| 6. JUANA: Nada más que diez colones. |
| 6. JUANA: Only ten Colones. |
| 7. JORGE: ¡Anda! Y, también cuentan con cámara para chat con video? |
| 7. JORGE: Wow! And do you also have a camera for video chatting? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: Man, you know, really Skype makes a difference Natie. I know you don’t use it.Like at all, actually now that I think about it. But really once you get on it, I mean it really makes a big difference in communication all over the world. |
| Natalia: Can I say something very, very, very sincere? |
| Carlos: Wow! I like that you have us to lead up and warning for that. |
| Natalia: Well you should work in some sort of advertising. Whenever you talk, either iPhones, Facebook, Skype, food whatever it sounds like you are doing a big commercial for them. |
| Carlos: Now that we’ve gone through the conversation, what do you say we run through some of the vocabulary? |
| Natalia: Sounds like a good idea. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Carlos: So today we are going to start with a verb. |
| Natalia: contar |
| Carlos: To have |
| Natalia: con-tar, contar |
| Carlos: Okay next up, we have a masculine noun. |
| Natalia: programa |
| Carlos: Program. |
| Natalia: pro-gra-ma, programa |
| Carlos: Okay then a past participle. |
| Natalia: equipado, equipada |
| Carlos: Equipped. |
| Natalia: e-qui-pa-do, e-qui-pa-da, equipado, equipada |
| Carlos: Then up a masculine noun. |
| Natalia: audífono |
| Carlos: Headphone. |
| Natalia: a-u-dí-fo-no, audífono |
| Carlos: Okay then we got a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: cámara |
| Carlos: Camera. |
| Natalia: cá-ma-ra, cámara |
| Carlos: And last but not least, a pronoun. |
| Natalia: cuánto-cuánta |
| Carlos: How much, how many? |
| Natalia: cu-án-to-cu-án-ta, cuánto-cuánta. Carlos. |
| Carlos: What? |
| Natalia: Say it all? |
| Carlos: What - contar, programa, equipado, equipada, audífono, cámara, cuánto, cuánta. |
| Natalia: Okay. |
| Carlos: There you are happy now, thank you! Bueno, okay we got the pronunciation tipped down and next I am going to use the “my recording” in the learning center to help my pronunciation. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Natalia: Entonces Carlos. Let’s see some of this vocabulary usage. |
| Carlos: I am ready when you are Natty, let’s get our learn on. |
| Natalia: What? |
| Carlos: Nothing. All right, our first word was - contar - to count right? |
| Natalia: Well it depends. Here it means to have. |
| Carlos: Wait! Wait! Context again hah! |
| Natalia: Well something like that. In other cases, you write it means to count but to make it means to have. We need to use the preposition - con - after it. |
| Carlos: Like |
| Natalia: Contamos con los recursos necesarios. |
| Carlos: So with the preposition - con - it means to have. So that would mean we have the necessary resources. |
| Natalia: Right - contar, is an ar verb but… |
| Carlos: It is a stem changing in the present indicative. |
| Natalia: I was just about to say that. |
| Carlos: I beat you to it. |
| Natalia: Oh please... okay. Then conjugate it. |
| Carlos: I walked right into that one, okay. Cuento, cuentas, cuenta, contamos, contáis, cuentan |
| Natalia: Next word |
| Carlos: programa |
| Natalia: programa. |
| Carlos: Programa - Program, but wait in this sense, a computer program. |
| Natalia: A Carlos le gusta usar Skype. |
| Carlos: That’s right I do. |
| Natalia: But there is something that you should notice. |
| Carlos: What’s that? |
| Natalia: What kind of word is it? |
| Carlos: A masculine noun. |
| Natalia: Right but what letter doesn’t it end it. |
| Carlos: A |
| Natalia: Right next word. |
| Carlos: equipado, equipada |
| Natalia: equipado, equipada, is the past participle of the verb - equipar |
| Carlos: To equip, yeah but here it’s being used as an adjective though right? |
| Natalia: Yep in Spanish, past participles are often used this way. Don’t you notice the similarity to the English word? |
| Carlos: Similarity. |
| Natalia: Do you notice the similarity to the English word? |
| Carlos: Well now that you say it in the English accent, yeah I did notice that. |
| Natalia: Also in this conversation, ojo it says - Cada compu equipada. |
| Carlos: Okay I am looking. |
| Natalia: Well you are listening, not looking. |
| Carlos: I am listening. |
| Natalia: Okay, ojo - don’t take it literally. So Carlos, pay attention. |
| Carlos: I am. |
| Natalia: Here we know that these adjectives need to be feminine singular because - compu - is short for - computadora - also feminine singular. |
| Carlos: I see, Natalia good explanation. |
| Natalia: Thank you. Here is the fun one to pronounce - audífono |
| Carlos: audífono |
| Natalia: Uhoo. |
| Carlos: You know that kind of sounds like audio phone. |
| Natalia: Yeah look closely at both parts of the word -audi- from audio and -fono- like phone. We usually use this word in the plural - audífonos - since there is one for each year. |
| Carlos: You know what, that would make sense. Now next up is a easy one I think - cámara |
| Natalia: cámera. |
| Carlos: My English students used to have so much trouble with the English pronunciation of this word because it was so similar. |
| Natalia: I mean come on, anyone who speaks English would understand what that means. |
| Carlos: I know I mean I pretty much just told them not to worry about it. I mean seriously you could say camera - cámara. I mean it ain’t that much of a jump. |
| Natalia: Only two differences between the Spanish and the English here. The Spanish word is spelled - cámara - while the English is - camera - and in the Spanish word, the first A receives a written accent. |
| Carlos: Well if you want to get all tactical with it. I mean she just likes this because she is a picture junkie. |
| Natalia: What do you mean? |
| Carlos: Natty, tell the truth. ¿Tienes tu cámara ahora? |
| Natalia: Yeah so what? You never know when you can take a good picture, plus I got a bunch of pretty pictures in my camera. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Carlos: Now we have grammar. |
| Natalia: Carlos |
| Carlos: Yes. |
| Natalia: You cannot just switch up like that. Are you sick? |
| Carlos: No. |
| Natalia: I am used to you screaming Grammar. I actually have like little earplugs when I come to record with you just for the grammar. |
| Carlos: Natty, you know sometimes, you just have to keep things fresh. |
| Natalia: Well fine, we will get ready any way. Today we are looking at the preposition A. |
| Carlos: Uh! Sounds technical. So then let’s just bite off a chunk and let’s see what happens. |
| Natalia: Let me ask you something. |
| Carlos: Shoot. |
| Natalia: When you were just beginning to learn Spanish, what were you told about the preposition A. |
| Carlos: Well, very simply that it was a way of expressing the English preposition, to. |
| Natalia: Well that’s right and what else did you learn as you went on. |
| Carlos: Well quite simply that the preposition A has like a lot of uses. I mean not only translated as to but also as on, at, from, by or in. And I mean other prepositions as well. |
| Natalia: Well it might be confusing but sometimes this is not translated at all. |
| Carlos: Okay. How would you suggest learning how to use A? |
| Natalia: Umm well probably by looking at how it’s used. |
| Carlos: Okay so what would be the first function on your list? |
| Natalia: To express motion. |
| Carlos: Example. |
| Natalia: Voy a Granada. Una carta dirigida a ella. Aspirar a capitán. Voy a Granada |
| Carlos: Okay, I am going to Granada. |
| Natalia: Una carta dirigida a ella. |
| Carlos: I don’t know what - dirigida - means. |
| Natalia: A letter directed to her. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: Aspirar a capitán. |
| Carlos: So then about a captain. |
| Natalia: Carlos - aspirar, aspire. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: Aspire to a captain, aspire to be a captain. There is three different examples. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: Well you know what else, it is used with infinitives. |
| Carlos: Oh that wasn’t a sentence. |
| Natalia: Oh my god! He got it. |
| Carlos: I am sorry. Took me a little time. |
| Natalia: We are expressing motion. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: So Voy a Granada. - I am going to Granada. motion, I am going. However you are getting it as to express emotion. A letter directed to her. |
| Carlos: Aaha |
| Natalia: Aspire to captain. |
| Carlos: Okay I get it, I get it. |
| Natalia: Okay well this is used with infinitives that compliment the conjugated verb of movement. |
| Carlos: Like ir - to go? |
| Natalia: Yeah. |
| Carlos: For example. |
| Natalia: Viajaré a Madrid. |
| Carlos: Okay so I see. So this is like saying I will travel to Madrid. |
| Natalia: Yep. Now let’s look at another role of the preposition, A. |
| Carlos: Which is? |
| Natalia: Well this is used when an infinitive verb complements a conjugative verb with a sense of finalization. For example - Aprendo a nadar. Enseña a leer. |
| Carlos: I learn to swim, he learns to read. |
| Natalia: Yet on the other hand, Quiero nadar. and Deseo leer. are verbs of volition that do not signify a sense of finalization and there before do not carry A. |
| Carlos: Okay that was pretty technical. |
| Natalia: So you get it? |
| Carlos: Except for the fact that you said the word volition. |
| Natalia: Quiero nadar and Deseo leer, are verbs of volition. That’s how you say it. |
| Carlos: Yes. |
| Natalia: Okay great. So what’s wrong with you? And do not signify a sense of finalization and there before do not carry A |
| Carlos: Okay so since it’s like an open thing - I wanna swim. Not like - I want to swim now. |
| Natalia: All right. So now it is time for homework. |
| Carlos: Oh I like – I want to read. |
| Natalia: Carlos, time for homework. Don’t ignore it. Their homework. Any way… |
| Carlos: Okay - La tarea |
| Natalia: La tarea - Here is today’s assignment. Today we’ve talked about how the preposition A can be used to express motion or to express a sense of finalization. For example, if I say Manejé a la fiesta - I drove to the party, this expresses emotion but if I say - Aprendí a manejar - I learn to drive, now it’s expressing finalization. Are you ready? |
| Carlos: Sure let’s have it. |
| Natalia: Okay number one-Ella me enseñó a bailar, number two-Volamos de Costa Rica a los Estados Unidos, number three-Él aprendió a cantar cuando era joven. |
Outro |
| Carlos: Now remember people, you can always get the answers and comments on answers by checking out the premium audio track label Tarea. |
| Natalia: Okay. You just have to apply what you have learned. Well Carlos, it’s time for us to say adiós. |
| Carlos: Goodbye. Que tengan una linda semana. |
| Natalia: He is like a parrot. |
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