Learn about Spanish possessive adjectives
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola, hola everybody, this is Dylan, ¿cómo están? |
| Carlos: What’s going on, pod101 world? My name is Carlos. “The fastest way to possessing the Latin lover of your dreams.” |
| Dylan: In this lesson, you will learn about possessive adjectives. |
| Carlos: This conversation takes place in a home. |
| Dylan: This conversation is between Andrés and Daniel. |
| Carlos: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be speaking informally. Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| ANDRÉS: Bueno, digamos que te creo, cuéntame. |
| DANIEL: Tú sí eres mi mejor amigo, ¡mi compa!, ¡mi hermano!, ¡sangre de mi sangre! |
| ANDRÉS: Ajajajaja, ya Daniel, deja de adularme, no tienes que ser brocha, cuéntame todo. DANIEL: ajajaja, está bien. |
| DANIEL: Cuando la veas te vas a morir de envidia. ¡Es la mujer más bella que hay en el mundo! |
| Andrés: All right, let's say I believe you. Tell me about her. |
| Daniel: You sure are my best friend! My companion! My brother! Blood of my blood! |
| Andrés: Hahahaha! That’s enough Daniel. Stop flattering me, you don’t have to be such a suck-up…tell me everything. |
| Daniel: Hahaha, okay. |
| Daniel: When you see her, you are going to die with envy. She is the most beautiful girl in the world! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: Now Dylan, Latin stereotypes, though we touched this earlier, now from your objective point, what are the Latin stereotypes of specifically men, we can look on the woman too if you’d like. |
| Dylan: Well men, Latin men are usually dogs. |
| Carlos: That’s a recurring theme in Dylan’s banter if you haven’t noticed audience. |
| Dylan: It’s a stereotype! |
| Carlos: Okay, okay so dogs. Now women. |
| Dylan: Women are novella lovers. |
| Carlos: Novella lovers, yes that’s very true. Although I will say my grandmother has been watching novellas for years, my mother too. You know they just sit there and watch them all day. |
| Dylan: Listen, the other day I went to “abuelita’s” house and I said “‘Abuelita!’ At the end this guy’s going to marry that girl, the rich guy’s going to die and he turned out to be her father who had impregnated the maid” and “abuelita’s” like “you saw the end of it?!” |
| They are all the same! |
| Carlos: I guess, they are all the same. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Contar”. |
| Carlos: “To count”, “to tell.” |
| Dylan: “Con-tar”, “contar”. |
| Dylan: “Mejor amigo”, “mejor amiga”. |
| Carlos: “Best friend.” |
| Dylan: “Me-jor a-mi-go”, “me-jor a-mi-ga”, “mejor amigo”, “mejor amiga”. |
| Dylan: “Sangre de mi sangre”. |
| Carlos: “Blood of my blood.” |
| Dylan: “San-gre de mi san-gre”, “sangre de mi sangre”. |
| Dylan: “Adular”. |
| Carlos: “To flatter.” |
| Dylan: “A-du-lar”, “adular”. |
| Dylan: “Envidia”. |
| Carlos: “Envy”, “jealousy.” |
| Dylan: “En-vi-dia”, “envidia”. |
| Dylan: “Bello, bella”. |
| Carlos: “Beautiful”, “handsome”, “fair”, “fine”, “perfect.” |
| Dylan: “Be-llo, be-lla”, “bello, bella”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Okay guys, let’s have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Dylan: The first word we’ll look at is “contar”. |
| Carlos: “Contar”. You know you would think that “contar” just means “to count.” I mean, that is the easiest assumption. |
| Dylan: Right but we’ve gone over this before, it means “to count” or “to tell” and which do you think is the more common use? |
| Carlos: Well, I would definitely say that it would be “to tell”. I mean how many times do you tell someone to count? |
| Dylan: A lot less than you would ask someone to tell you something. |
| Carlos: Right, which is why you see it twice in our conversation today. We heard Andrés use “contar” in the first line when he says “Bueno, digamos que te creo, cuéntame”. |
| Dylan: “Alright, let’s say I believe you. Tell me about her.” |
| Carlos: It would take some experience to know that “cuentame” is “contar” conjugated. |
| Dylan: Yes, you wouldn’t think that would be an irregular verb but at last, it is. |
| Carlos: Well audience, we all know that now. |
| Dylan: While it is an “o” to “ue” stem changing verb in other conjugations it stays normal. |
| Carlos: Right, like if I were to use the preterit tense with “contar” I could say… |
| Dylan: “Marcia le contó la verdad a sus amigas”. |
| Carlos:” Marcia told the truth to her friends.” |
| Dylan: So we see that the conjugation is not so hard. |
| Carlos: No, not at all. So once again guys “contar” two really different meanings. |
| Dylan: “To say” or “to tell.” |
| Carlos: But you know where you’d hear a noun related to the meaning of “to count”? |
| Dylan: Where? |
| Carlos: When you’ve finished counting something and you have the final “cuento”, the final count. |
| Dylan: Well, we only have one vocabulary word under our belt so our count is... “uno”. |
| Carlos: So let’s move on to number two. |
| Dylan: “Mejor amigo”. |
| Carlos: “Best friend.” So we see here that the normal role of adjectives did not apply. |
| Dylan: Don’t open that can of worms yet, remember, here we are just going to try to take a closer look at the vocabulary and see how it’s used. |
| Carlos: Right, sorry to get ahead of myself, you would think that after so many lessons, I would have a better idea. |
| Dylan: Yes, you would. |
| Carlos: So then let’s take a look at how it was used in the conversation. So we have Daniel saying “Tú sí eres mi mejor amigo, ¡mi compa!, ¡mi hermano!, ¡sangre de mi sangre!” |
| Dylan: “You sure are my best friend, my companion, my brother, blood of my blood.” Man, they must really be close. |
| Carlos: You know how some friends are, but yes you get the sense that they are very, very close that’s for sure. |
| Dylan: With “mejor amigo”, “best friend”, we see a label used that I think is used a little differently in Latin America than it is in the United States. |
| Carlos: Why do you say that? |
| Dylan: Well, let me ask you a question. |
| Carlos: Shoot. |
| Dylan: How many best friends do you have? |
| Carlos: In my group I would say I have about four. |
| Dylan: Exactly, here you would only use that label to apply to one person and one person only. So when Daniel calls Andrés his best friend, he’s giving him quite the title. |
| Carlos: I’ll keep that in mind. |
| Dylan: Now who would you say is your best friend? I put two on there for a fact. |
| Carlos: Nice. I would have to say that Rony is my best friend. |
| Dylan: So say that in Spanish. |
| Carlos: “Rony es mi mejor amigo”. |
| Dylan: How long have you known him? |
| Carlos: “Lo conozco hace veinte años”. “I met him twenty years ago.” |
| Dylan: That’s a long time. |
| Carlos: Yes, I’m getting old. |
| Dylan: Yes, the ripe old age of twenty eight, you have one foot in the grave. |
| Carlos: Yes, yes, yes. So what would the opposite of “mejor amigo” be? |
| Dylan: “Tu peor enemigo”. “Your worst enemy.” |
| Carlos: Now I don’t know if I have a worst enemy. I wonder what it would be like to have a nemesis. |
| Dylan: Why would you ever want to find that out? |
| Carlos: Don’t know, I’m not asking for one either. |
| Dylan: Next up. An expression that you have probably heard many times in English. |
| Carlos: Shoot. |
| Dylan: “Sangre de mi sangre”. |
| Carlos: “Blood of my blood.” |
| Dylan: I always have like a biblical feel when I say that. |
| Carlos: You know I was thinking of a rapper from the nineties. He used to say it all the time. |
| Dylan: To each their own, Carlos. |
| Carlos: But to use it in this way “Tú sí eres mi mejor amigo, ¡mi compa!, ¡mi hermano!, ¡sangre de mi sangre!” |
| Dylan: “You sure are my best friend, my companion, my brother, blood of my blood.” |
| Carlos: See I know what you mean about degree now. I wouldn’t just call any friend, blood of my blood. |
| Dylan: But you can have friends that are like family. |
| Carlos: Right, like the three sisters I met on your birthday. |
| Dylan: Two. Exactly. |
| Carlos: Sorry, thought it was three. See, I don’t know if I would ever say that but hey, maybe I will next time. I’m more comfortable saying “mi hermano”, “my brother.” |
| Dylan: Yes, but that is a lot more common, you have to admit that. |
| Carlos: No, I do admit that. |
| Dylan: But think about it with family. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Dylan: Like I would say about my son Ticko. “Ticko es mi hijo. Es como yo, es sangre de mi sangre”. |
| Carlos: “Ticko is my son. He’s like me, he’s blood of my blood.” That he is but I must say that Samba looks more like you. |
| Dylan: That’s because she is a girl, but Ticko’s hair is just like mine. Definitely my kid. |
| Carlos: I guess so. I wouldn’t have any firm reference so... |
| Dylan: You are not the bet. |
| Carlos: Now, what do we have next? |
| Dylan: The verb “adular”, “to flatter.” |
| Carlos: “To flatter”, a very important skill to have. |
| Dylan: True but it must be done tactfully, otherwise it’s just kissing up. |
| Carlos: Very true. Now it seems to me that Andrés senses that because he says “ya Daniel, deja de adularme, no tienes que ser brocha, cuéntame todo”. |
| Dylan: “That’s enough Daniel, stop flattering me, you don’t have to be such a suck up! Tell me everything.” |
| Carlos: Hey, we got two for the price of one with that one. We used our first vocab word “contar” as well. |
| Dylan: I would say that with all this Daniel is trying to convince himself that this is a true love story more than suck up to his friend. |
| Carlos: You may be quite right. |
| Dylan: When we were in school my friend Javier was the worst. |
| Carlos: Why? |
| Dylan: “A Javier le gusta adular a sus profesores”. |
| Carlos: “Javier likes to flatter his professors.” That is the worst. |
| Dylan: No. What is worse are the teachers that play into it. |
| Carlos: True, but I have been on the other side of that and when you face hordes of uncooperative children, one student sucking up even just a little bit is a welcome break. |
| Dylan: I don’t know, I really despise suck-ups. |
| Carlos: Well, like we said in the beginning, you had to be really tactful about it. |
| Dylan: Dish out the “la adulación”, adulation of flattery sparingly. |
| Carlos: But I will say that other than students, I don’t like being flattered otherwise in life. |
| Dylan: Because the other side of flattery is… |
| Carlos: “Envidia”. |
| Dylan: A noun that means “envy” or “jealousy.” Now we all feel jealous at times. |
| Carlos: Of course. It’s a natural part of being human. |
| Dylan: But when you try and make someone jealous or envious, that’s when the problems come in. |
| Carlos: You know, I think that Daniel isn’t being serious when he says “Cuando la veas te vas a morir de envidia”. |
| Dylan: “When you see her, you are going to die with envy.” I agree, I mean it’s a thing you say to a friend… |
| Carlos: “You are going to be so jealous.” |
| Dylan: As if they are in a competition for girls. |
| Carlos: Dylan, men are always in competition for girls. |
| Dylan: Alright, alright. I forgot. |
| Carlos: You know it’s the truth, if my boys were with beautiful women “por supuesto, tengo envidia”, well unless my girl is beautiful too and then there’s you know, no reason to be jealous at all. |
| Dylan: Dios mío, you men! |
| Carlos: I won’t even touch upon the jealousy of a woman. |
| Dylan: No, you shouldn’t. “¡Qué envidiosas!” |
| Carlos: How jealous, huh? |
| Dylan: There’s another word you have no idea about. When you touched on something that deals with our last vocab word of the day. |
| Carlos: And what’s that? |
| Dylan: The adjective “bello, bella”. |
| Carlos: “Bella”, a very flattering word to call someone. “Beautiful”, “handsome”, “fine”, “fair” or “perfect.” |
| Dylan: That’s a whole lot of adjectives fit into one word. |
| Carlos: Just save it when you want to describe someone that literally knocks your socks of. |
| Dylan: I think that’s a safe bet. |
| Carlos: So you know that Daniel is smitten when he says “¡Es la mujer más bella que hay en el mundo!” |
| Dylan: “She is the most beautiful woman in the world!” |
| Carlos: I bet she is. Wait a little bit until that new love feeling wears off. |
| Dylan: You are one to talk! |
| Carlos: Exactly, the devil knows his own. Okay, something more universal, I was driving home the other day and I saw a billboard with Penelope Cruz. You can easily say that Penelope Cruz is “muy bella, muy, muy bella”. |
| Dylan: Do I even need to translate that? |
| Carlos: No, I think the translation is pretty straight forward. |
| Dylan: Bueno, do you know a related word? |
| Carlos: Sure, the noun “la belleza”, “the beauty.” |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dylan: Now let’s jump into the beauty of possessive adjectives. |
| Carlos: Oh possessive adjectives are so hot. |
| Dylan: Okay, let’s not take this metaphor too far. |
| Carlos: Sorry. Entonces, explícame possessive adjectives. |
| Dylan: Let’s both do it. |
| Carlos: Sure. |
| Dylan: First off we know an adjective is… |
| Carlos: An adjective is a word that modifies a noun. It describes it in some way. |
| Dylan: Okay, and so what would a possessive adjective be describing? |
| Carlos: Probably possession or ownership. |
| Dylan: Exactly and all possessive adjectives must... |
| Carlos: Like all adjectives agree with number and gender. |
| Dylan: Now, we’ve said it before, but keep in mind that not all possessive adjectives have both singular and plural, masculine and feminine forms. |
| Carlos: So what do we do when it’s unclear to whom the ownership refers? |
| Dylan: In that case, we use extra words to clarify. |
| Carlos: Ah okay, so let’s go through the formation. So we have a singular adjective, plus a singular noun. |
| Dylan: “Mi”. |
| Carlos: “My.” |
| Dylan: “Él es mi hermano”. |
| Carlos: “He is my brother.” So then we have a singular adjective plus a plural noun. |
| Dylan: “Mis”. |
| Carlos: “My.” |
| Dylan: “Ellos son mis hermanos”. |
| Carlos: “They are my brothers.” Okay, let’s bring it to the plural side of things. Plural adjectives plus a singular masculine noun. |
| Dylan: “Nuestro”. |
| Carlos: “Our.” |
| Dylan: “Él es nuestro hermano”. |
| Carlos: “He is our brother.” And then we have a plural adjective, plus a plural masculine noun. |
| Dylan: “Nuestros”. |
| Carlos: “Our.” |
| Dylan: “Ellos son nuestros hermanos”. |
| Carlos: “They are my brothers.” Then we have a plural adjective plus a singular feminine noun. |
| Dylan: “Nuestra”. |
| Carlos: “Our.” |
| Dylan: “Ella es nuestra hermana”. |
| Carlos: “She is our sister”, and then we have a plural adjective plus a plural feminine noun. |
| Dylan: “Nuestras”. |
| Carlos: “Our.” |
| Dylan: “Ellas son nuestras hermanas”. |
| Carlos: “They are our sisters.” Okay, let’s take it to the second person construction. We are going to follow the same format. So we have a singular adjective plus a singular noun. |
| Dylan: “Tu”. |
| Carlos: “Your.” |
| Dylan: “Él es tu hermano”. |
| Carlos: “He is your brother” and then take it to a singular adjective, plus a plural noun. |
| Dylan: “Tus”. |
| Carlos: “Your.” |
| Dylan: “Ellos son tus hermanos”. |
| Carlos: “They are your brothers.” And then we have a plural adjective plus a singular masculine noun. |
| Dylan: “Vuestro”. |
| Carlos: “Your.” |
| Dylan: “Él es vuestro hermano”. |
| Carlos: “He is your brother.” And then we have a plural adjective plus a plural masculine noun. |
| Dylan: “Vuestros”. |
| Carlos: “Your.” |
| Dylan: “Ellos son vuestros hermanos”. |
| Carlos: “They are all your brothers.” And then we have a plural adjective plus a singular feminine noun. |
| Dylan: “Vuestra”. |
| Carlos: “Your.” |
| Dylan: “Ella es vuestra hermana”. |
| Carlos: “She is all of your sister” and then a plural adjective plus a plural feminine noun. |
| Dylan: “Vuestras”. |
| Carlos: “Your.” |
| Dylan: “Ellas son vuestras hermanas.” |
| Carlos: “They are all your sisters.” Okay guys, we’ve taken care of the first person formation and the second person formation. So let’s take a look at the third person. Okay, so we are going to start off with a singular adjective plus a singular noun. |
| Dylan: “Su”. |
| Carlos: “His”, “her”, “your”, “it.” |
| Dylan: “Él es su hermano”. |
| Carlos: “He is his/her/your/it’s brother.” Now we have a singular adjective plus a plural noun. |
| Dylan: “Sus”. |
| Carlos: “There/all/your.” |
| Dylan: “Ellos son sus hermanos”. |
| Carlos: “They are there/all/your brothers.” Then we come with a plural adjective plus a singular noun. |
| Dylan: “Su”. |
| Carlos: “Their/all/your.” |
| Dylan: “Él es su hermano”. |
| Carlos: “He is their brother.” “He is all your brother”, and then last but not least guys we have a plural adjective plus a plural noun. |
| Dylan: “Sus”. |
| Carlos: “Their/all/your.” |
| Dylan: “Ellos son sus hermanos”. |
| Carlos: “They are their/all/your brothers.” Now guys that sounds kind of strange in the English translation but keep in mind that translation’s a sticky thing and it will not translate directly. No, don’t let this intimidate you. |
| Dylan: No, not at all. These will come along as you make mistakes with them. |
| Carlos: You heard her and she’s completely right. You learn as you make mistakes. But just to make everything crystal clear, let’s check on some more sample sentences. |
| Dylan: “Nuestra reunión será muy divertida”. |
| Carlos: “Our get together will be a lot of fun.” |
| Dylan: “Ese chico tiene problemas, sus notas son bajas”. |
| Carlos: “That boy has problems, his grades are low.” |
| Dylan: “Es tu idea”. |
| Carlos: “It’s your idea.” |
| Dylan: “Su consejo es inteligente. Gracias, señora”. |
| Carlos: “Your advice is intelligent, thank you ma’am.” Now don’t confuse the second person singular adjective “tu”, “your”, with the personal pronoun “tú”, “you.” And if you heed my warning, I guarantee you will, I still confuse them all the time but you know what? It will certainly click. |
| Dylan: Notice that the accent here not only tells us where to emphasize the pronunciation of the word but it also tells us that the word is a possessive adjective and not a personal pronoun. |
| Carlos: In other words, we are also being told of function. Hey Dylan, if my pronunciation wasn’t correct can you do the difference between “tu” and “tú”? |
| Dylan: Tu, “your”’; tú, “you.” |
Outro |
| Carlos: See, I know guys I heard the difference. It takes time to get exposed to more Spanish every day and the little things like that will happen. Okay guys, you know what? That just about does it for today. Okay, ¡nos vemos! |
| Dylan: ¡Chao! |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide