Learn how to use the plural present tense forms of one of the most important Spanish verbs that means "to be"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola, hola a todos, habla Dylan, ¿cómo están? |
| Carlos: What’s going on, pod101world? My name is Carlo. “Use your Spanish to make the next move.” In this lesson, you will learn about the verb “estar” in the plural form. |
| Dylan: This conversation takes place in a coffee shop. |
| Carlos: The conversation is between Daniel and Adriana. |
| Dylan: The speakers are friends and are speaking informally. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| DANIEL: ¡Disculpa!, señorita, ¿me traes un café con leche? |
| ADRIANA: ¡Con mucho gusto, caballero! ¿Deseas algo más? |
| DANIEL: Sí, tu número de teléfono. |
| ADRIANA: Ah, ¿Perdón? |
| DANIEL: Ahhy, disculpame, estoy muy nervioso. |
| Daniel: Excuse me! Miss, can you bring me a coffee with milk? |
| Adriana: Gladly, sir. Would you like anything else? |
| Daniel: Yes, your phone number. |
| Adriana: Hahaha, sorry? |
| Daniel: Ohhhh, excuse me, I’m very nervous. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dylan: Well, that was pretty forward. |
| Carlos: Yes, pretty forward. What I’m kind of confused about or a little interested in is the fact that “can you bring me a coffee?” is that normal here? I thought you’d be a little bit more polite when you are ordering no? |
| Dylan: Yes, “me regala” or “can I please have.” |
| Carlos: “Me gustaría”, “I would like”, right? But just say “bring me a coffee” I don’t know is that acceptable in Latin America? |
| Dylan: No, not really, in Costa Rica particularly, it’s like “hola mi amor, ¿me regala por favor un…?” It’s like “honey, can you please bring me…?” or “can you please give me…?”, everything is just super, super polite. Like I’m doing you a favor. |
| Carlos: Right and the customer service is not very good apparently. |
| Dylan: Not at all. |
| Carlos: Okay guys, let’s have a closer look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Disculpar”. |
| Carlos: “To excuse.” |
| Dylan: “Dis-cul-par”, “disculpar”. |
| Dylan: “Traer”. |
| Carlos: “To bring.” |
| Dylan: “Tra-er”, “traer”. |
| Dylan: “Caballero”. |
| Carlos: “Gentlemen.” |
| Dylan: “Ca-ba-lle-ro”, “caballero”. |
| Dylan: “Desear”. |
| Carlos: “To desire”, “to wish.” |
| Dylan: “De-se-ar”, “desear”. |
| Dylan: “Perdón”. |
| Carlos: “Excuse me.” |
| Dylan: “Per-dón”, “perdón”. |
| Dylan: “Nervioso, nerviosa”. |
| Carlos: “Nervous.” |
| Dylan: “Ner-vio-so, ner-vio-sa”, “nervioso, nerviosa”. |
| 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 “disculpa”. |
| Carlos: From the verb “disculpar”, that’s right. |
| Dylan: Good light on the difference. |
| Carlos: Between? |
| Dylan: Well, we use “disculpa” from the verb “disculpar”, which means... |
| Carlos: “To excuse.” |
| Dylan: And what form is it conjugated in? |
| Carlos: That would be in the imperative informal. |
| Dylan: Right. So back to what I was saying. In English, how do we use the phrase “excuse me”? |
| Carlos: Well, if I bump into someone I will say “excuse me.” |
| Dylan: Is that all? |
| Carlos: No. Also if I wanted to get by someone in the street I would say “excuse me.” |
| Dylan: And? |
| Carlos: And to get someone’s attention like “excuse me!” |
| Dylan: Right. Like Daniel in our conversation today when he says “¡Disculpa!, señorita, ¿me traes un café con leche?” |
| Carlos: “Excuse me miss, can you bring me a coffee with milk?” |
| Dylan: So in English we have at least three uses for excuse me. |
| Carlos: But we use three different expressions in Spanish, don’t we? |
| Dylan: Right, so let’s look at the situations you brought up. |
| Carlos: Okay first, if I bump into someone I would say “perdón”. |
| Dylan: Pretty easy kind of like if you wanted to be very formal in English and said “pardon me”. |
| Carlos: Exactly. |
| Dylan: Now what about if you bumped into someone? |
| Carlos: Well, if I bumped into someone I would say “perdón” also but if I did it really hard I would probably say “lo siento”, “I’m sorry.” |
| Dylan: Right, perfect. And to get someone’s attention? |
| Carlos: I would say “disculpa”, “excuse me.” |
| Dylan: Have you wanted to ask someone for help? |
| Carlos: I could say “disculpeme, ¿me podría ayudar?” |
| Dylan: “Excuse me, could you help me?” |
| Carlos: Got it. |
| Dylan: Next up, “traer”. |
| Carlos: “To bring.” |
| Dylan: How is “traer” used in a conversation? |
| Carlos: Well, we already heard the example “¡Disculpa!, señorita, ¿me traes un café con leche?” |
| Dylan: “Excuse me miss can you bring me a coffee with milk?” |
| Carlos: Now we just talked about but again, is it rude to order like that now that we know the Spanish? |
| Dylan: It’s not really rude, it’s just not common. It’s how it should be, you shouldn’t have to beg them to serve you. |
| Carlos: Okay, so the reason I ask is that whenever I order something I either ask “me gustaría” or “me regala” the latter being if I’m using you know in Costa Rica. |
| Dylan: Well, it depends on the setting I guess but I don’t think anyone would be offended if you asked for something using “traer”, especially if she’s young. |
| Carlos: Oh wait. I can think of another way to use it. |
| Dylan: And what’s that? |
| Carlos: “Cuando Montse viene a mi casa trae vino”. |
| Dylan: “When Montse comes to my house, she brings wine.” |
| Carlos: You’ve got to have priorities, Dylan. |
| Dylan: Now there is a related word. |
| Carlos: Right, “llevar”, “to take” or “to carry”, you can take something somewhere just as easily as bringing it. |
| Dylan: Not sure that makes sense but okay. |
| Carlos: Listen to it a couple of times and it will make sense. It made sense in my mind at least. |
| Dylan: And sometimes that’s all that matters. |
| Carlos: Shall we? |
| Dylan: Sí, caballero. |
| Carlos: I love that word, “caballero”, “gentlemen” or in this case, “sir.” |
| Dylan: “¡Con mucho gusto, caballero! ¿Deseas algo más?” |
| Carlos: “Gladly sir, would you like anything else?” |
| Dylan: Now we should mention that “caballero” refers to someone who is not young. |
| Carlos: Right, I don’t think you would say “caballero” to a twenty one year old. |
| Dylan: Do you get called “caballero”? |
| Carlos: It all depends on how thick my beard is. Usually I’m called “muchacho” which is reserved for adolescents and someone in their early twenties I assume and I’m holding on to that as long as I can. |
| Dylan: I know that the first time you are addressed as “Señor” is a very difficult moment. |
| Carlos: Especially for me I’d be kind of confused but I can imagine. You know… |
| Dylan: “Señor Carlos”. |
| Carlos: “Señor” or “Don”. “Don Carlos”. |
| Dylan: “Don Carlos”. |
| Carlos: That’s what I’m waiting for. |
| Dylan: But the use of “caballero”, “gentlemen”, is not simply a form of address. |
| Carlos: Right, it can be used to describe a “knight.” |
| Dylan: A knight? Which knight? |
| Carlos: Well, “El Rey Arturo era un caballero”. |
| Dylan: “King Arthur was a knight.” Okay, I’ll give you that. |
| Carlos: Now what is the female form of “caballero”? “Caballera”? |
| Dylan: Well, it’s not the female form so to speak. But I think you are referring to the feminine noun “dama”, which means “lady.” |
| Carlos: Oh, like “dama Dylan”. |
| Dylan: That’s right. |
| Carlos: Okay, so then don’t use that when addressing women respectfully. |
| Dylan: Not that I know of. Unless they are nobility and it is the 16th century. |
| Carlos: You know that would have been a cool time to live. |
| Dylan: Not so sure about that. I assume it would have to be in which position of society you lived in. |
| Carlos: Good point. |
| Dylan: Okay, the verb “desear”. |
| Carlos: Well, that one is pretty easy, “to desire” or “to wish.” |
| Dylan: I love this exchange. |
| Carlos: Which? |
| Dylan: Come on. What was the question in our conversation where “desear” was used? |
| Carlos: “¡Con mucho gusto, caballero! ¿Deseas algo más?” |
| Dylan: “Gladly sir, would you like something else?” And what was his answer? |
| Carlos: “Sí, tu número de teléfono”. |
| Dylan: “Yes, your phone number.” Come on! Are you serious?! |
| Carlos: Dylan, don’t be so quick to judge. This all depends on the way he delivered this and a deliberately corny line can be just as effective if delivered correctly. |
| Dylan: I’ll take your word on that one. |
| Carlos: “Él desea hablar más con ella”. |
| Dylan: I understand that “he wants to speak with her more”, I’m just saying that I wouldn’t be receptive to that pickup. |
| Carlos: Bueno, to each their own. |
| Dylan: He has “el deseo”, “the desire”, “the wish.” |
| Carlos: From all these lessons building up to this lesson, so do I. |
| Dylan: Look at that. |
| Carlos: What? |
| Dylan: We are already mentioning our next word. |
| Carlos: Really? Remind me. |
| Dylan: “Perdón”. |
| Carlos: Oh, you are right and it is used in the correct way when it looks like Adriana didn’t exactly understand what Daniel said. |
| Dylan: “Ah, ¿Perdón?” |
| Carlos: “Sorry?” She’s either being polite or kind of flirty. |
| Dylan: Well, I can just imagine the smile that was on her face. |
| Carlos: So do I man. I love those nervous moments. |
| Dylan: Do you really? |
| Carlos: No, not at all. Actually I hate them. |
| Dylan: I bet. I don’t know any guy that does. |
| Carlos: You know if he was nervous, he might jump up and say “¡perdón! No quería ofenderte”. |
| Dylan: “Sorry, I didn’t want to offend you.” Oh yes, that would have been smooth. |
| Carlos: No, it wouldn’t nor is his next verb response. |
| Dylan: Right, to her “perdón” he uses our last vocab word. The adjective “nervioso, nerviosa”. |
| Carlos: “Estoy muy nervioso”. |
| Dylan: “I’m very nervous.” Pobrecito... |
| Carlos: Yes, after that it’s pretty much crash and burn. |
| Dylan: Well, if this girl is as “preciosa” as they’ve said in the last number of lessons, then yes, it is a crash and burn. |
| Carlos: With as much as [inaudible 08:24] can approach completely. |
| Dylan: Guys get really nervous in these situations. |
| Carlos: Yo estaba nervioso siempre. |
| Dylan: Always nervous? |
| Carlos: Always and I’m not ashamed of it. It is the ones that are completely not nervous that you have to worry about. |
| Dylan: I have to agree with you there, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Sometimes “los nervios son buenos”. |
| Dylan: Yes, “sometimes the nerves are good.” |
| Carlos: Okay Dylan, what’s our grammar point for today? |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dylan: The second part of our last lesson, here we are dealing with “estar” in the plural. |
| Carlos: Talk about baby steps. |
| Dylan: Let’s recap. |
| Carlos: Right, once again guys, the verb “estar” is a first conjugation verb ending in “ar”. “Estar” means “to be” and we use this verb to describe changeable kinds of being as opposed to... |
| Dylan: “Ser”, “to be”, which describes permanent states of being such as those of origin. |
| Carlos: “Estar” on the other hand has to do with the kind of beings that come and go such as being angry, being happy, being tired, being excited and so forth. It’s one of the single most important verbs of the Spanish language. Which is why we are going over it again and again. |
| Dylan: Like in today’s conversation... |
| Carlos: “Estoy muy nervioso”. |
| Dylan: “I’m very nervous.” |
| Carlos: Okay guys, let’s go through formation. Now to form the present tense on the indicative mood of the verb “estar” in plural you need to remove the “ar” ending and then add the personal plural endings. So we have the plural present tense of the indicative mood of “estar”, “to be.” First person plural... |
| Dylan: “Nosotros estamos”. |
| Carlos: “We are.” Second person plural... |
| Dylan: “Vosotros estáis”. |
| Carlos: “You all are”, informal. Third person plural... |
| Dylan: “Ellos están”. |
| Carlos: “They are”, masculine. Third person plural... |
| Dylan: “Ellas están”. |
| Carlos: “They are”, feminine. And the other third person plural... |
| Dylan: “Ustedes están”. |
| Carlos: “You all are”, formal. Okay, let’s have a look at how these are all formed using the sample sentences. You know examples always help it to sink in. So Dylan, how about a sample sentence using “nosotros”? |
| Dylan: Okay. “Nosotros estamos fastidiados”. |
| Carlos: Ah, “we are annoyed.” How about one, let’s talk about this second person plural... |
| Dylan: “Vosotros estáis felices”. |
| Carlos:” You all are happy.” Okay, and now one of our third person plurals. |
| Dylan: “Ustedes están contentos”. |
| Carlos: “You are all pleased.” |
| Dylan: Verbs don’t come more regular than “estar”. |
| Carlos: No, they don’t and these formations can get you well on your way to regular “ar” verbs. |
| Dylan: For all the tenses in the Spanish language, the first person plural for example in the “nosotros” form always ends in “-mos” as in “estamos”. |
| Carlos: In all the tenses, the third person plural always ends in “n” as in “están”. This is an important characteristic to remember as it will help you decide the functions of verbs as you learn more tenses. |
| Dylan: Hey do you know a good related expression? |
| Carlos: Know what? |
| Dylan: A useful expression to learn with “estar”, “to be”, is “be well” if you want to say “a close friend” you would say “¡que estés bien!” if you want to say it to an older person and thus formally you would say, “¡que esté bien!”, if you want to say it to more than one close friend, you would say “¡que estén bien!” in Latin America or “¡que estéis bien!” in Spain. Finally, if you want to say it to more than one older person and thus say it in a formal way, you would say, “¡que estén bien!” |
| Carlos: Well then Dylan, ¡que estés bien! |
| Dylan: You’ll be well too, Carlos. |
Outro |
| Carlos: Be well Dylan and to you too audience. That just about does it for today. |
| Dylan: Gracias, ¡chao! |
| Carlos: ¡Nos vemos! |
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