Learn how to form imperative verbs
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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. |
| Dylan: In this lesson, you will learn about the imperative mood. |
| Carlos: The conversation takes place in a bar. |
| Dylan: The conversation is between Juanca, Lau and Rodri. |
| Carlos: The speakers are friends so they are speaking informally. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| JUANCA: ¡Mesero! ¿nos trae una botella de tequila y limones, por favor? |
| LAU: Tequila, ¡estás loco! Mañana tengo que trabajar, no puedo estar de goma. |
| RODRI: Ay, Lau, no seas abuela, el tequila no me da resaca. |
| JUANCA: Sí, yo puedo tomarme toda la botella y ni me mareo. |
| LAU: Ahhy sí, chico, ¡que machitos que son! |
| RODRI: Otro, otro, otro… Lau el sarpe, vamos tómatelo. |
| Juanca: Waiter! Please bring us a bottle of tequila and some lemons. |
| Lau: Tequila, you're crazy! I have to work tomorrow; I can't be hung over. |
| Rodri: Ah, Lau, don't be a grandma. Tequila doesn't give me a hangover. |
| Juanca: Yeah, I can drink the whole bottle and won't even get dizzy. |
| Lau: Ahh, yeah guys, you are so macho! |
| Rodri: Another one, another one, another one…Lau, the last one. Come on; drink it. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dylan: Oh poor Lau. They got her. |
| Carlos: Well, a bottle of tequila, I’m sorry I don’t know, I’m wondering if they got. That woman, Lau is… No Juanca, she must be like 400 pounds because she took a whole bottle and didn’t get dizzy. |
| Dylan: Juanca’s a boy. Juan Carlos, Juanca. |
| Carlos: Oh! Learn something new every day! Culturally, Juanca is Juan Carlos. I’ve also learned in Costa Rica that you would think Carlos is a common name, not really, with things in front of it, it is. Jose Carlos, Juan Carlos, Carlos, Carlos. |
| Dylan: Yes. But you know what? It’s so odd that they would order tequila and not Guarro. |
| Carlos: Guarro. Dylan, what’s Guarro? |
| Dylan: Guarro is like Costa Rican official liquor. I mean you could use it as tequila as a shot, you know with lemon, you can use it in mixed drinks like vodka or like rum, it’s just like the filler. |
| Carlos: That’s right, it’s a sugarcane liquor guys, kind of like “cachaza” in Brazil. It’s pretty strong and it can kind of knock you down. |
| Dylan: Yes, very hard. |
| Carlos: And also guys, if you hear the word Guarro in Costa Rica, it might refer to many, many different liquors. People talk about alcohol just like that. Is that, right? |
| Dylan: Right. |
| Carlos: Okay guys, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Mesero”, “mesera”. |
| Carlos: “Waiter”, “waitress.” |
| Dylan: “Me-se-ro, me-se-ra”, “mesero, mesera”. |
| Dylan: “Marear”. |
| Carlos: “To make dizzy”, “to make sick.” |
| Dylan: “Ma-re-ar”, “marear”. |
| Dylan: “Goma”. |
| Carlos: “Gum”, “rubber”, “hangover.” |
| Dylan: “Go-ma”, “goma”. |
| Dylan: “Machito”. |
| Carlos: “Macho.” |
| Dylan: “Ma-chi-to”, “machito”. |
| Dylan: “Otro, otra”. |
| Carlos: “Other”, “another.” |
| Dylan: “O-tro, o-tra”, “otro, otra”. |
| Dylan: “Sarpe”. |
| Carlos: “Last call”, “last one” in Costa Rica. |
| Dylan: “Sar-pe”, “sarpe”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Okay guys, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Dylan: The first word we’ll look at is “mesero”, “mesera”. |
| Carlos: “Mesero”, “mesera”. Something I have a lot of experience with. “Waiter” or “waitress.” |
| Dylan: How long were you a waiter again? |
| Carlos: I was a waiter for about eight years and you know what Dylan, I would do it again. |
| Dylan: You would? You know I worked in a bar once and I didn’t like it very much. |
| Carlos: Well, in the States you work for tips and you can make a pretty good living as a waiter if you don’t have any degrees. It’s a good cash on hand kind of thing. You don’t get tips here. |
| Dylan: No. We do not. |
| Carlos: Now how was “mesero” used in our conversation? |
| Dylan: It was the first word. Juanca calls out, “¡Mesero!” |
| Carlos: “Waiter!” Oooh, I hate it when people do that. |
| Dylan: I bet. |
| Carlos: But I remember when I was in New York with my girlfriend and we were in a chocolate restaurant. |
| Dylan: What!! |
| Carlos: Just what I said. A chocolate restaurant. It was amazing. Anyway I ordered and two minutes later I decided to change my order. |
| Dylan: Oh Oh. |
| Carlos: So I turn around and get the waiter’s attention and I say “I need to change my order”. And he says “Sure, no problem. What would you like?” |
| Dylan: And what did she say? |
| Carlos: “Ese mesero es muy amable”. |
| Dylan: “That waiter is very nice.” |
| Carlos: And at the end of the meal she saw me put the tip down. |
| Dylan: Then she understood. |
| Carlos: She understood exactly. |
| Dylan: Well, there’s also a related word if I ever saw one. |
| Carlos: Which? |
| Dylan: “Restaurante”. |
| Carlos: “Restaurant”, true. Can’t really have one without the other. |
| Dylan: Next up, “marear”. |
| Carlos: “Marear”, not familiar. |
| Dylan: It’s “to make dizzy”, “to make sick.” |
| Carlos: Ooooh. Not a feeling anyone likes. |
| Dylan: But apparently, Juanca has the opinion that he will not feel dizzy even after drinking an entire bottle of tequila. |
| Carlos: Big words. |
| Dylan: “Sí, yo puedo tomarme toda la botella y ni me mareo”. |
| Carlos: “Yes, I can drink the whole bottle and won’t even get dizzy.” That dude must be like 300 400 pounds. But even then, I wouldn’t believe a statement like that. |
| Dylan: I agree, I’d be like dead. I mean, “yo no puedo andar en barco porque me mareo”. |
| Carlos: I’m not that bad, I can walk on a boat without getting dizzy but then again it all depend on the water, doesn’t it? |
| Dylan: Yes, so what would the noun “el mareo” mean? |
| Carlos: “Dizziness”? |
| Dylan: You got it! |
| Carlos: Nice, thanks. |
| Dylan: Now do you what is a good thing to do if you are dizzy? |
| Carlos: Put your foot on the floor? |
| Dylan: No, that’s the cure for another type of dizziness. |
| Carlos: Oh, sorry. What’s a good cure for dizziness? |
| Dylan: Chewing our next word, “goma”. |
| Carlos: “Gum”? |
| Dylan: “Gum” and “rubber”, yes. But considering that gum kind of is rubber… |
| Carlos: That’s true. |
| Dylan: But no, the way we are using it in this conversation is very different. |
| Carlos: How so? |
| Dylan: Well, let’s listen to the conversation. “No puedo estar de goma”. |
| Carlos: “I can’t be of gum”? |
| Dylan: No, in this sense, we are talking about a hangover. “I can’t be hungover.” |
| Carlos: I’ve never heard that used before. |
| Dylan: It’s pretty colloquial to Central America. |
| Carlos: Well, if that’s the case, it’s good to know other way. |
| Dylan: Definitely. “¿Cuándo fue la última vez que estuviste de goma?” |
| Carlos: The last time I had a hungover, I don’t know it’s been a while since I’ve been that incapacitated. |
| Dylan: That’s a good thing. |
| Carlos: Wait! What would be a related word? |
| Dylan: I think in Mexico they say “resaca”. |
| Carlos: “Resaca”, that sounds cooler. Good to know. |
| Dylan: Okay, next up “machitos”. |
| Carlos: “Machitos”, wait, doesn’t “macha” mean “blonde”? |
| Dylan: No, here we are thinking of the general sense of being Macho. |
| Carlos: Important in a macho culture. |
| Dylan: Very much, yes. |
| Carlos: Now when did this adjective come into our conversation? |
| Dylan: Right, after Juanca bragged that he won’t get dizzy even if he drank an entire bottle of tequila. |
| Carlos: Right, forgot about the lie. |
| Dylan: “¡Qué machitos que son!” |
| Carlos: “You are so macho” or “you guys are so macho.” |
| Dylan: Carlos, ¿eres muy macho o eres un machito? |
| Carlos: A veces, but in general no. I’d say I’m not. |
| Dylan: Modern man? |
| Carlos: Yes Ma’am. Contemporary man. |
| Dylan: Oh so sometimes you don’t fit in don here with the Machismo. |
| Carlos: No, my idea definitely goes against the grain at times. But what can you do, it happens like that sometimes. |
| Dylan: Very true, but at least you aren’t a “machista”. |
| Carlos: No, are you kidding!! |
| Dylan: Good. So you aren’t like all “the others.” |
| Carlos: “Los otros”, I try not to. |
| Dylan: Good, because our next word is the adjective “otro, otra”. |
| Carlos: “Otro, otra”. Don’t you think that’s a little basic? |
| Dylan: The meaning is basic but its use… |
| Carlos: What do you mean? |
| Dylan: Well, first let’s look at how “otro” was used in today’s conversation. |
| Carlos: Pretty simple actually. “Otro, otro, otro…” |
| Dylan: “Another one, another one, another one.” |
| Carlos: Now what do you mean with it’s use? |
| Dylan: Well Carlos, not to put you on the spot, but I have heard you say “una otra” on more than one occasion. |
| Carlos: Yes? |
| Dylan: Well, what do you mean to say? |
| Carlos: I’m trying to say “another”, “un otra”, “another.” |
| Dylan: That “un, una” is not necessary. |
| Carlos: Oh. |
| Dylan: You can say just “otro”, “otra.” |
| Carlos: So I wouldn’t say “yo quiero uno otro café”? |
| Dylan: No. You just say “otro café”, “yo quiero otro café”. |
| Carlos: Thanks for that correction, Dylan. I’m sure I’m not the only one out there to make that mistake. |
| Dylan: I doubt it. |
| Carlos: “Sarpe”. |
| Dylan: “Last call.” In our conversation we heard “Lau, el sarpe, vamos tómatelo”. |
| Carlos: “Lau, the last one! Come on!” Now this is only in Costa Rica, right? |
| Dylan: Yes. “Vamos a tomar la última cerveza. El sarpe”. |
| Carlos: “Let’s drink the last beer. The last one.” |
| Dylan: Or we could say “la última”? |
| Carlos: Also means “the last one.” |
| Dylan: Okay, commands are still important. |
| Carlos: Well, like really large ship, but yes, commands are important. I remember that they are less harsh than they sound in English. |
| Dylan: Definitely. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Carlos: So we are going to talk about the imperative mood. |
| Dylan: Yes. |
| Carlos: The imperative mood is a way of expressing the speaker’s attitude towards an action. It expresses the will to influence the behavior of another by way of a command or treaty or exploitation. We must remember that even though verbs in this mood are commands, we can and often do express them in a polite manner. |
| Dylan: Our verb today is “traer”, “to bring.” |
| Carlos: Let’s check out the imperative form of “traer”. |
| Dylan: Singular, “trae, traiga”. |
| Carlos: Plural. |
| Dylan: “Traigamos, traed, traigan”. |
| Carlos: Let’s check out some sample sentences in the imperative mood. |
| Dylan: “¡Mesero! ¿nos trae una botella de tequila y limones, por favor?” |
| Carlos: Uuuh, that’s the example from our conversation today where we heard “¡Mesero! ¿nos trae una botella de tequila y limones, por favor?” “Waiter, please, bring us a bottle of tequila” and I don’t think more than some lemons. |
| Dylan: “¡Mire el libro, profesor!” |
| Carlos: “Look at the book professor!” |
| Dylan: “¡Escucha la música, amigo!” |
| Carlos: “Listen to the music my friends!” |
| Dylan: “¡Mirad!” |
| Carlos: “Look you guys!” |
| Dylan: “¡Escuchen señores!” |
| Carlos: “Listen gentlemen!” |
| Dylan: Remember that we do not use the “vosotros” form in Latin America which that for the formal and informal plural we use the “ustedes” “en” form for the imperative mood of “ar” verbs. “¡Escuchen todos!” |
Outro |
| Carlos: Everybody listen and we hope that you guys did listen because you know what? That just about does it for today. |
| Dylan: ¡Chao! |
| Carlos: ¡Nos vemos! |
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