Learn how to ask how something is written in Spanish
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| Learn to Write in Mexican Spanish Without Lifting a Pen |
| In the previous lesson, we covered how to ask, “How do you say this in Spanish?” ¿Cómo se dice esto en español? Do you remember? In this lesson, because we don’t want you to be caught off guard in any kind of situation in Mexico, we are going to introduce a new phrase that is very important to help you focus your skills, not on the sounds, but on the writing. So let’s start this new lesson. |
| In Spanish, “Can you write it down, please?” is |
| ¿Podría escribirlo, por favor? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) ¿Po-drí-a es-cri-bir-lo, por fa-vor? |
| Once more: |
| ¿Podría escribirlo, por favor? |
| The first word Podría is translated in this case as “could you”. Podría also makes the phrase formal. |
| (slow) Po-drí-a |
| Podría |
| Next we have escribirlo, which is translated as “write it” |
| (slow) es-cri-bir-lo |
| escribirlo |
| Por favor is “please”, as you can remember from previous lessons. |
| All together: |
| ¿Podría escribirlo, por favor? |
| This means, "Can you write it down, please?” |
| But this phrase is not very specific. To make yourself more clear, you can say: “Can you write down this phrase?” |
| ¿Podría escribir esta frase? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) ¿Po-drí-a es-cri-bir es-ta fra-se? |
| Once more: |
| ¿Podría escribir esta frase? |
| There are three new words in this question. They are escribir, esta, and frase. |
| Escribir is the dictionary form of the verb "to write." |
| (slow) es-cri-bir |
| escribir |
| Next we have esta, which is the feminine form for "this." |
| (slow) es-ta |
| esta |
| Last is frase, which means “phrase” |
| (slow) Fra-se. |
| Frase. |
| Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time: |
| ¿Podría escribir esta frase? |
| It might happen that you are not carrying a piece of paper or a pen. So before asking ¿Podría escribirlo?, try asking ¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted? That means “Do you have a pencil and paper with you?” |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) ¿Ti-e-ne lá-piz y pa-pel, con us-ted? |
| Once more: |
| ¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted? |
| The first word, tiene, means literally "have". In this sentence, it implies the question “do you have?” |
| (slow) tiene |
| tiene |
| Then we have lápiz, which means literally “pencil”. |
| (slow) lá-piz. |
| lápiz. |
| Then you have y which means “and”. |
| Next you have papel, which means "paper." |
| (slow) Pa-pel. |
| Papel. |
| Con means "with". |
| (slow) con |
| con |
| Finally you have usted, which is the formal way to say "you". |
| (slow) us-ted. |
| usted. |
| Here’s the whole sentence: |
| ¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted? |
| As usual, before asking about someone else’s stationery supplies, it’s a good idea to say “excuse me”, disculpe, at the beginning of the sentence. |
| Disculpe, ¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted? |
| To close out today's lessons, we’d like you to practice what you have just learned. I’ll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so !buena suerte! which means “Good luck!” in Spanish. |
| “Can you write it down, please?” - ¿Podría escribirlo, por favor? |
| “Can you write this phrase?” - ¿Podría escribir esta frase? |
| “Do you have a pencil and paper with you?” - ¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted? |
| Alright! That's going to do it for this lesson. Hasta luego. |
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