Learn how to introduce yourself
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| First Encounters in Mexico |
| This lesson will teach you how to introduce yourself in Mexico and how to say where you are from. Mexican people are a very curious people, and depending on the geographical region they may be more or less sociable, but in general they are nice and hospitable. A self introduction in Spanish will be a pleasant surprise. Let’s begin the lesson. |
| Let’s imagine that your name is John, and you are from Canada. You came to Mexico and met a person who asked you “What is your name?” That sounds like this in Spanish: |
| ¿Cómo se llama? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) ¿Có-mo se lla-ma? |
| Once more: |
| ¿Cómo se llama? |
| The first word cómo means “how”. |
| (slow) có-mo |
| Cómo. |
| The second and third words se llama are the conjugated form of the verb “to be called”. It can be translated as “are you called” |
| (slow) se lla-ma |
| Se llama. |
| Let’s hear the expression again: |
| (slow) ¿Có-mo se lla-ma? |
| ¿Cómo se llama? |
| The answer to this question will be in our case: |
| Me llamo John, which means “I’m called John.” |
| (slow) Me lla-mo John. |
| Me llamo John. |
| First, we have the little word me which means "I am". Then we have the word llamo which is the verb “to call” conjugated to the first person. |
| (slow) Me lla-mo |
| Me llamo. |
| And the name comes at the end. |
| Let’s hear that again: |
| Me llamo John. |
| You can also answer this question with just your name. In this case, John. |
| The next question you will usually be asked is “Where are you from?” |
| The polite way to say “Where are you from?” is ¿De dónde es usted? Let’s hear the question one more time. |
| (slow) ¿De dón-de es us-ted? |
| ¿De dónde es usted? |
| First we have de, which in this case is translated as “from”. |
| (slow) de. |
| De. |
| Then, dónde, which means “where”. |
| (slow) dón-de. |
| Dónde. |
| Then we have es which means "is". |
| (slow) es. |
| Es. |
| And at the end we have the word usted, which is the formal version of “you” |
| (slow) us-ted. |
| Usted. |
| Once again, altogether: |
| (slow) ¿De dón-de es us-ted?. |
| ¿De dónde es usted?. |
| Our sample answer will be “I’m from Canada” . In Spanish that will sound like this: |
| Soy de Canadá. |
| (slow) Soy de Ca-na-dá. |
| Soy de Canadá. |
| The first word soy means “I am”. |
| (slow) Soy. |
| Soy |
| Next we have de which means in this case “from”. |
| (slow) de. |
| De. |
| And at the end we have the name of the country, in our case Canada: Canadá |
| (slow) Ca-na-dá. |
| Canadá. |
| Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time. |
| Soy de Canadá. |
| 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. |
| “What is your name?” (formal) |
| (3 sec) ¿Cómo se llama? |
| (Slow) ¿Có-mo se lla-ma? |
| ¿Cómo se llama? |
| “I’m called John” |
| (3 sec) Me llamo John. |
| (slow) Me lla-mo Jo-hn. |
| Me llamo John. |
| “Where are you from?” (formal) |
| (3 sec) ¿De dónde es usted? |
| (slow) ¿De dón-de es us-ted? |
| ¿De dónde es usted? |
| “I’m from Canada” |
| (3 sec) Soy de Canadá. |
| (slow) Soy de Ca-na-dá. |
| Soy de Canadá. |
| Alright! That's going to do it for this lesson. Hasta luego. |
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