Learn about the Spanish adverbs of location meaning "here" and "there"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola, hola a todos. Habla Dylan, ¿cómo están? |
| Carlos: What’s going on, Pod101 world? My name is Carlos. In this lesson, you will learn about the adverbs, “acá, allá”. |
| Dylan: The conversation takes place in a dance school. |
| Carlos: The conversation is between Pedro and the owner of the dance school. |
| Dylan: The speakers are strangers, so they are speaking formally. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| PEDRO: ¡¡Aló!!, señor, estoy perdido. |
| DUEÑO DE LA ESCUELA DE BAILE: ¿Dónde está? |
| PEDRO: Estoy en la calle 10, en el edificio 52. |
| DUEÑO DE LA ESCUELA: Ahhh, ahora comprendo, estamos en el edificio 25. |
| PEDRO: Entiendo, voy para allá. |
| Pedro: Hello!! Sir, I’m lost. |
| Owner of the dance school: Where are you? |
| Pedro: I’m on tenth street, building fifty-two. |
| Owner of the dance school: Ahhh, now I understand, we’re in building twenty-five. |
| Pedro: Got it. I’m on my way. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: Hey Dylan, how popular are salsa classes here in Costa Rica? |
| Dylan: I’d say they are pretty popular, a lot of people like dancing. |
| Carlos: Yes, you know, they are popular all over the world. I remember when I was in New York. They are really popular but they cost like 500 dollars a month! |
| Dylan: Well, that’s not what they cost here but I think there’s nothing more fun than going out on a dance floor and knowing the steps and just really have fun with it. |
| Carlos: It does add another element though and you know classes really help you out guys so if you want to learn salsa out there, I guarantee you, you’ll probably find a school near you. But you know what, let’s take a closer look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Perdido”. |
| Carlos: “Lost.” |
| Dylan: “Per-di-do”, “perdido”. |
| Dylan: “Calle” |
| Carlos: “Street.” |
| Dylan: “Ca-lle”, “calle”. |
| Dylan: “Ahora”. |
| Carlos: “Now.” |
| Dylan: “A-ho-ra”, “ahora”. |
| Dylan: “Comprender”. |
| Carlos: “To understand.” |
| Dylan: “Com-pren-der”, “comprender”. |
| Dylan: “Entender”. |
| Carlos: “To understand.” |
| Dylan: “En-ten-der”, “entender”. |
| Dylan: “Allá”. |
| Carlos: “Over there.” |
| Dylan: “A-llá”, “allá”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Okay, let’s have a closer look at the use of some of the words and phrases in this lesson. |
| Dylan: The first word we will look at today is “perdido”. |
| Carlos: “Perdido”. A well found adjective that means… |
| Dylan: “Lost.” |
| Carlos: This is a very important adjective to learn. |
| Dylan: I know! Plus half the fun of being on vacation is getting lost. |
| Carlos: You know that’s true but you can also find yourself in some difficult situations. You know, but it helps to rehearse exactly what we hear Pedro stating to the owner of the dance school. |
| Dylan: “Señor, estoy perdido”. |
| Carlos: “Sir, I’m lost.” |
| Dylan: Very good, but once again audience, if you see a stranger in the street and you say that… |
| Carlos: It’s always a good idea to ask how their day is going, how’s the weather? Did you sleep well last night? |
| Dylan: Okay, you are exaggerating. |
| Carlos: Just a bit, but you get my idea. But I had to learn this phrase quickly when I moved to Costa Rica. |
| Dylan: I can’t imagine. |
| Carlos: La primera vez que fui a San José estaba muy perdido. |
| Dylan: The first time was that bad? |
| Carlos: I was so lost in the first weeks. You know San José may be a small city but it can be very, very confusing. |
| Dylan: It’s not like the grid pattern of New York. |
| Carlos: No. It’s definitely not. |
| Dylan: Well, then you know the verb that relates to this word. |
| Carlos: I do. “Perder”, “to loose.” |
| Dylan: Want to hear a related word that I think you will like the sound of? |
| Carlos: Always. |
| Dylan: “La perdición”. |
| Carlos: Well, it sounds ominous, what does that mean? |
| Dylan: “The ruin”, “the undoing.” |
| Carlos: Let’s move away from that. I want to keep the mood a little lighter for our lesson. |
| Dylan: Alright. Well next up, “calle”. |
| Carlos: Another good directional noun. |
| Dylan: Masculine or feminine? |
| Carlos: Well, if you are asking me that question, Dylan, then it must be feminine. If it was the obvious masculine, you wouldn’t have brought it up. |
| Dylan: Touché. |
| Carlos: You know this word also helps because in many Spanish speaking countries “calle” precedes any other identifying information. |
| Dylan: Like Pedro explains when he says “estoy en la calle 10”. |
| Carlos: “I am on Tenth Street.” |
| Dylan: Try to use “calle” in an example sentence that is less obvious than “estoy en la calle once”. |
| Carlos: That’s exactly what I was going to say. |
| Dylan: I knew it! |
| Carlos: Bueno, “me encanta la música de Calle 13”. |
| Dylan: “I like the music of Calle 13”. Okay, I was not expecting that one. |
| Carlos: Probably but it is a line. I don’t really like reggaeton. I know, I know, I’m Puerto Rican and I don’t like reggaeton but the group is Puerto Rican so I don’t mind giving them some free advertising. |
| Dylan: Don’t tell the bosses. |
| Carlos: I think it’s a little late for that, isn’t it? |
| Dylan: Well, you have a point. Try out the related word “camino”. |
| Carlos: I like the word “camino”, there is something calming about a “path.” |
| Dylan: Also means a “way.” |
| Carlos: For me the word has a lot of philosophical overtones. |
| Dylan: Okay, space cadet. |
| Carlos: Okay, so then we should move on. |
| Dylan: “Ahora”. |
| Carlos: Sí, “ahora”. |
| Dylan: Now we are going to delve into the mysterious realm of Latin American time. |
| Carlos: Why do you say that? |
| Dylan: First, let’s hear the example from the conversation. “Ahora comprendo”. |
| Carlos: “Now I understand.” Now that that’s out of the way, let’s share the explanation we have. |
| Dylan: Well, we know that “ahora” is an adverb of time…. |
| Carlos: Right, and it means “now”. |
| Dylan: But it can also mean, “in a little bit”. |
| Carlos: Isn’t that like saying “ahorita”? |
| Dylan: Yes, but if I say “nos vemos ahora” you would think it would mean “we will see each other now.” |
| Carlos: Well, that’s exactly what I would think. |
| Dylan: Well, it means “soon.” |
| Carlos: Wait, like “pronto”? |
| Dylan: Exactly. Remember, you have a first world sensitivity to time. |
| Carlos: That I do. |
| Dylan: And what have you experienced with time? |
| Carlos: Nothing is ever needed at that exact moment. |
| Dylan: Exactly. So if you tell someone “ahora” do not be shocked if whatever you are talking about does not happen right away. |
| Carlos: Oh trust me, I won’t be shocked. |
| Dylan: Good, I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t still a complete “primer mundista”. |
| Carlos: I’m not, but it’s good that we won votes. |
| Dylan: ¡Qué bueno que entendiste! |
| Carlos: After almost two years of living here, I should be able to understand. |
| Dylan: Good. “Comprender” is our next word. |
| Carlos: One of my favorite verbs. |
| Dylan: Now we have an example from the conversation. “Ahora comprendo”. |
| Carlos: “Now I understand.” |
| Dylan: And how is “comprender” conjugated here? |
| Carlos: “Comprender” is conjugated in the first person singular of the indicative mood, thus “comprendo”. |
| Dylan: “I understand.” Aparentemente tú comprendes conjugación. |
| Carlos: I will say that I can say for certain that I have the present tense down. Although now that I say that I’m sure something’s going to come up and bite me for saying that. |
| Dylan: Well, you can ask me. |
| Carlos: That I know. |
| Dylan: “Yo comprendo muy bien la gramática del español”. |
| Carlos: I should hope you understand Spanish grammar. If you didn’t this lesson would be a fraud. |
| Dylan: Good thing then. Thinking about the verb “comprender”, what related noun could you bring up? |
| Carlos: A related noun... well, that will have to be “la comprensión”. |
| Dylan: “The understanding.” |
| Carlos: Now what about the “entender”? |
| Dylan: I was just about to bring that up and “entender” is our next word and it’s a verb that also means.. |
| Carlos: “To understand.” |
| Dylan: And in our conversation it was used … |
| Carlos: “Entiendo, voy para allá”. |
| Dylan: “Got it. I’m on my way.” |
| Carlos: Now Dylan, is there a difference in using “comprender” and “entender”? |
| Dylan: Actually no, they are pretty much interchangeable. You could say “te comprendo”. |
| Carlos: “I understand you.” |
| Dylan: Or “te entiendo”. |
| Carlos: “I understand you”! So in any situation I could use either? |
| Dylan: Well, if you are referring to someone’s inner feelings, you could use “comprender” more. |
| Carlos: So, “entender” would be wrong? |
| Dylan: No, but this is just a matter of nuance. |
| Carlos: Good to know. |
| Dylan: Well then, let’s learn a related noun to the verb “entender”. |
| Carlos: A related noun. “El entendimiento”? |
| Dylan: Which also means, “the understanding”. |
| Carlos: And it’s always good to understand. |
| Dylan: Last but not least, an adverb, “allá”. |
| Carlos: Good opportunity to practice tilde. |
| Dylan: “Allá”, “allá”. |
| Carlos: “Allá”, “allá”. |
| Dylan: Okay, okay. Enough of that. They can rewind. |
| Carlos: That’s true. |
| Dylan: So how was “allá” used in today’s conversation? |
| Carlos: “Voy para allá”. “I’m on my way.” That makes me laugh. |
| Dylan: Why? |
| Carlos: Well, I recently returned from New York and for the first time in my life Dylan, I notice the features of Puerto Rican Spanish. |
| Dylan: Yes?! |
| Carlos: Yes. And this is a prime example. |
| Dylan: And why is that? |
| Carlos: Okay, now I think I have a pretty obvious Costa Rican accent. |
| Dylan: Well, I could agree with that. |
| Carlos: More or less. But when I was in New York, I heard my family talking. If they would have said the same thing, they would have said “voy ‘pa’ allá”. |
| Dylan: That’s a Caribbean Spanish. Cubans do it as well. |
| Carlos: Right. But it got me thinking. If you are trying to learn Spanish, and you hear on the first hand “voy para allá” or “voy ‘pa’ allá”, you would think they are saying something different. |
| Dylan: Well, in fact they are very much the same. That was a good little pronunciation tidbit. |
| Carlos: Sometimes, learning opportunities present themselves. |
| Dylan: So let’s have an example sentence by using a clear accent, please. |
| Carlos: “Yo no vivo aquí, vivo allá”. |
| Dylan: “I don’t live here, I live there.” And that’s a perfect lead in for our grammar point for today. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Carlos: Which is? |
| Dylan: “Adverbios”: “acá”, “allá”. “Adverbs”: “here”, “there.” |
| Carlos: Right, which we heard. “Entiendo, voy para allá” |
| Dylan: “Got it. I’m on my way.” |
| Carlos: So we know this is an adverb of location. |
| Dylan: Right, and what do adverbs of location describe? |
| Carlos: Adverbs of location describe where an action takes place. |
| Dylan: That’s right. And we can divide these locations into two general categories. One, near the speaker, and two, at a distance from the speaker. |
| Carlos: So when do we use which? |
| Dylan: Well, for those actions near the speaker, we use “acá”, “here”, and “aquí”, “over here”, interchangeably. For those actions a distance from the speaker, we use “allá”, “over there” and “ahí”, “there”, interchangeably. |
| Carlos: So is there a formation that we should take into account? |
| Dylan: These adverbs of location are indeclinable. Which means that the form never changes. This ought to make them easy to remember. |
| Carlos: So near the speaker we will have … |
| Dylan: “Acá”, “aquí”, “here”, “over here.” |
| Carlos: And at a distance from the speaker we are going to have…. |
| Dylan: “Allá”, “ahí”, “over there”, “there.” You may notice, that we often use the preposition “para”, “for”, “in-order to”, before these adverbs of location. When we use it in this way, the meaning of the preposition, changes in the direction of... so to speak. |
| Carlos: Oh what do you mean? |
| Dylan: Well, for example, we can say “¡Ven acá!”, “come here!” or “¡Ven para acá!” , “come over here!” |
| Carlos: Now, let’s make this a little clear with the sample sentences. |
| Dylan: “La fiesta es acá”. |
| Carlos: “The party is here.” |
| Dylan: “Aquí están José y Miguel”. |
| Carlos: “Here are José and Miguel.” |
| Dylan: “Vamos para allá”. |
| Carlos: “We are going over there.” |
| Dylan: “Ahí almuerzan”. |
| Carlos: “They eat lunch there.” |
| Dylan: Adverbs of location are important because they tell where the action of a verb takes place. |
| Carlos: Right, but there are many more of these kinds of adverbs. |
| Dylan: But they aren’t all similar. With these other adverbs, you will find large distinctions. But we will get to that in another lesson. |
Outro |
| Carlos: Okay guys, you know what? That just about does it for today. |
| Dylan: ¡Chao! |
| Carlos: ¡Nos vemos! |
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