Coffee Break Spanish - CBS 2.20 | End-of-unit test

Episode Date: August 16, 2010

In this week’s episode we reach episode 20 and Mark will be testing Kara on everything she’s learned so far about verbs and adjectives in the past few lessons of the course. Please note that lesson 20 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 220 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.This season of Coffee Break Spanish features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from video versions, lesson notes and bonus audio materials, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Spanish in the Coffee Break Academy.Don’t forget to follow Coffee Break Spanish on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Spanish. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Spanish Facebook page here.If you’d like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram.You can also check out our Coffee Break Spanish Twitter page and the Coffee Break Languages YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Al-a-a-a-mémeninos, a coffee-break Spanish. Welcome back to Coffee Break Spanish. It's Lesson 60, and in this lesson, we're going to test you on all the verbs that you've been learning over the past 20 lessons. So we'll be looking at the present tense, the preterate tense, and the imperfect tense as well of regular and irregular verbs. I hope you enjoy the lesson, and good luck for the test. Okay, in this 60th lesson, we're going to be putting you to the test a little, and seeing how much you remember of the past test. lessons or nine lessons at least, we began back in lesson 51 looking at what we call the

immediate future tense when we were talking about, I am going to do something. So I'm going to test you with a couple of questions on this just now. I'll ask the question in English. I'll ask you to translate something into Spanish and Kara, if you can give our listeners just a little time to think about it and then I'll ask you to see if you can come up with the phrase. So, if there's anything particularly difficult in terms of vocabulary, I'll give you that vocabulary item, and hopefully that will help you get the correct answer. Let's begin then. Number one of your test, okay? Number one, I'd like you to translate into Spanish. I am going to learn Spanish. I'm going to

learn Spanish Very well I'm going to learn and I am going to do something boy a plus the infinitive

So I'm a Apprender Spanish Okay What about number two Number two, number two We are going to travel to Mexico We

We're going to Bayihar A Mexico Very very we'll, the stress on the first syllable, we're going to travel is

Biajar. Biajar. Biajar. Biajar. Biaja. Bamos to viaar a Mexico. Biajaja a Mexico.

Very good. Okay, another one of these, Numero 3. Can you translate into Spanish? They are going to read a book. Now, just in case you need

to read. It's leer. Lear. So try and work that one out. They are going to read a book. So, Kara, they are going to read a book. Van to learn a book. Very well.

Van to learn a book. Okay, one more of these. And this time, we're going to use the vosotros form. So that's the U plural used in Spain. You are going to dance all night long.

Now that's quite tricky. All night long, you could translate that as all the night. Very bien. Toda la noche. So to do is the word for all. Toto, to da, to da, to da la noche. So that's the last part you're looking for.

So you, using the plural, vosotros form, you are going to dance all night long. Bais to bailear Toda la Noche Bais to bailar total la noche perfecto

Baisa baalar total la noche and if you're wanting to use the Ustédes form if you're not involved in Spain-Spanish then you would say Van to bailar

total la noche Ustédez ban to bela all the night okay so that's the immediate future that's the I plus the infinitive

let's think now about something that we covered in lesson 52 and that was the present tense of ER and IR verbs. Let's take a couple of ER verbs to begin with. Can you give me the word for to eat? Commer. Commer.

And what about to drink? Beber. And what about to sell? Bender. Very well. Okay, let's take then, I am. selling the house. So Kara, can you say what I am selling the house would be? Bendo la casa.

Very bien. Bendo la casa. And note that I am selling is the same as I sell. I sell the house, bendo la casa. I am selling the house, bendo la casa. There's another way of saying it, but we'll come to that another time. Bendo la casa. Okay, what about let's take comer and let's take we are eating paella. Comemos paella. Comemos paella. Okay. Comemos paella. And that's a translation of we are eating paella.

How would you say we eat paella or every day? Comemos paella. All the days. To those last days. To those los days. All the day is the word for day. Yes. Yeah, the word for day is masculine.

El dia, so the days are los days, and all the days are todos los days. Toads los days. Because todos has to agree with the gender of the noun. El dia, los days, todos los days, todos los days. All those days. Very well. Comemos paella, all those days.

Comemos paella, todos los days. Let's think of an IR example. How would you say, are you opening the window? Now, you may need the word for window here. Kara, can you remember what the window is? Ventana. Mentana, la ventana, very well. So, are you opening the window?

I can't remember what to open is. Is it abrier? Yeah, it's abrir. An IR verb, abria. Abriar. So, are you? Are you opening the window? Abres la Ventana?

Abres la Ventana. Yep, that's right. Are you opening the window? Abres la Ventana. Abres, coming from Avr, which goes, Avro, abres, abre. Abrimos, abris, abre. And let's think of another example with an IR verb.

I would you say, they write a letter to their mother. Okay, Kara, are you okay for vocabulary on that one? I think so. Escriben cartas a su-madre. Okay, not quite right.

Escriben they are writing or they write a letter would be One card to their mother. A su-madre.

A su-madre, that's right. A-sumadre. If you said a sus-madres, then it would give the impression that the people who are writing the letter have different mothers. So maybe there are two children there and each one is writing a letter to his or her mother. Okay, a sus madres. But escriben

one a carda a su mother that gives the impression that perhaps there's a brother and sister writing a letter to their mother. Okay, so we covered those present tenses of er and i are verbs before we moved on to a new tense, and that was the preterate tense. So let's test how much you remember of the regular verbs in the preterate tense. Let's take A.R verbs to begin with. Taking avlar, how would you say I spoke? Ably?

That's it, Ablet. And what about taking Bailar, you, the singular two form, you danced. Bilasty. And what about he, she, or it

sang a song? canto yeah a song a song a cancee yeah so he sang a song canto

a canto canto now what's the thing that you've got to remember about the whole business of canto and cante in the preterate tense

you've got to put the stress on the last syllable so that they're different from the present tense exactly and particularly looking at the he-she or it form, canto, compared with the I form of the present tense, canto. Canto versus canto.

Try both of those. Canto, canto. Okay. Let's look at some ER verbs in the preterate. We had, for example, one of the popular ones, Ben-Dair, to sell. So how would you say, he sold the house? Bendio la casa. Bendio la casa, exactly.

Bendio la casa. What about they eat a sandwich? And for a sandwich, you can use a bocadillo. Comiaron an bocadillo. Comerun a bocadillo. Very well. Comeron a bocadillo. What about using the verb that we used earlier in the present tense,

to open, how would you say we opened the window? Abrimos la ventana. Abrimos la ventana. Yeah, you didn't sound too sure about that. Abrimos la ventana. We opened the window. And of course, how would you say we open or we are opening? Abrivos.

And we opened? Abriam. Abribo, same. Yeah, exactly, exactly the same. Abrimos, the ventana can mean we opened or indeed we are opening the window. and it's from the context that you would work that out. Okay, we'll be back in just a moment. When you're not listening to Coffee Break Spanish,

you can still practice your Spanish with our regular posts on social media. Find us on Facebook, just search for Coffee Break Spanish. We're Learn Spanish on Twitter, and you can keep up with the team through our regular posts on Instagram. Follow Coffee Break Languages. It's our mission to help you turn your downtime into your due time. Okay, let's get on with the lesson. We also covered a couple of irregular verbs in the preterate.

The first of these was ather, meaning to do or to make. So, Kara, can you conjugate the whole of ather for me, please? Let's give the listeners a chance to do so first. This will give you some thinking time. So, atheraer in the preterate tense, please. I see, I didiste I did

We didmas Isis Icied Very Very impressive Perfecto Okay So that's

Ather in the Preterate We also looked at Iir In the preterate And that's a little bit strange

That one Because it takes A different Form completely Can you Remember how to I went Fui

Fui So how would you say You went to Salamanca. Fustay a Salamanca. Okay. How would you say we went to Burgos

in 1983? Fubes a Burgos in 1998 33. Very good.

We went to Burgos in 1998 Okay. What about they went to Veracruz in

1976? Fueron Where was again? Beracruz in 1976 1996 1996

1996 1966 Is that sure? What was the date again? 76. 76. 76. Seventy-septeenth-y-six.

1,976. Now let's stick with dates and have a think about I was born. Can you remember how to say I was born? Nathio. Nathio is he or she or it was born. I was born. Nathie. Nathie.

Or of course in Latin America, nasi. So, Nathie. And so how would you say I was born in 1841? You like your dates today, Mark? Nathie in 1841, did you say? 1,871. Not 71?

Do you not say 71? 41? 41. 41? Oh, 41. 18401. Nacci in 1841.

Okay. And one last one with dates. They died in 2003. Morien? Is that he said? No quite. The verb is morier.

And it would be he died, Murio. So they died would be Muriel. Muriaron. Muriaron. Muriaron in 2003? Murieren in 2003.

Muriaron in 2003. Very well. I was kind of putting you on the spot there with some of those ones. Okay, let's move on and think about the imperfect versus the preterate. Kara, I would like to know three common situations, three sort of trigger words for using the imperfect in Spanish. when you're using was or where plus an action used to do and would do that's it so was or where doing something used to do something or would do something when you're looking into the past good and what is the tense that interrupts the imperfect the preterate and it interrupts it with a thum does it not yep it interrupts or dumdy dum that's right okay now we learned the imperfect of regular verb starting with AR verbs.

And what was the rather musical ending that we added to AR verbs? Aba? That's right. So AR verbs, let's take, for example, Bailar, how would you say I was dancing? Baalaba. Baalava.

Okay, try translating this then. We were dancing with our friends. Baalavamos with our friends. We were dancing with our friends And Nosters has to be plural And it has to be masculine Because in this case we're talking about Amigos, the general word for friends

If we were specifying that they were female friends Then it would be Nuestra's amigas So we were dancing with our friends Give me that again when when Jorge arrived

when Jorge lege not lege lego Igo when

Jorge hego an actual fight in Spanish you'd probably turn around When Jago Jorge When Juego

Liego Liego When Liego Jorge When Liego Jorge Now let's continue this story and I'm going to introduce

something else that we covered in this unit and that was the indirect object pronouns So we're talking about when Jorge arrived He said to us

So you turn that around and say to us He said Let's take the To Us part first Not Yeah, it's nos. And he said from

Deciro. Yeah, well done. Nos diho, he said to us Hello. Hello. Yeah, he said to us hello. Nos diho, Ola.

But he wasn't very happy. Now, he wasn't. Which verb are you going to use? Which verb to be are you going to use to talk about how somebody's feeling? Yeah, so he was not very happy in perfect tense. But no he was quite contento.

Yeah, but no was Tavu'nso. So he wasn't very happy. So he left. How would you say so? You would say, asique. Asique.

To leave. Salke. Yeah, we're in the right lines. It's from Salir, and you got it there. It's Salio. Salio. Okay, so he left. So, he left.

So sa'i'o. Or you could say, soe marcho. So, so se marcherse is to head off, to go off. Se marcho. So let's go through the whole of that again. We were dancing with our friends. When Jorge arrived, he said to us, when Jorge arrived.

When he came Jorge, he said to us, hello. But he wasn't very happy. But he wasn't very happy. So he left. So he left. Yep, that's it exactly. Now, that's a really good way of practicing your tenses in the past, telling a story like that. And obviously, you need a little more vocabulary, especially when you're coming to talk about specific things.

But you could practice that by using the verbs and the constructions that you do know and using the vocabulary that you're familiar with already. And indeed, one of the best ways of improving your confidence about talking in the past is sort of telling the story of your day or the story of your week and using the preterate and imperfect tense to do so. As we move into Unit 7, we will be covering another tense and that's a tense used for specific purposes in the past. It's called the perfect tense.

I've deliberately not introduced it so far because you can very, very easily get by with the preterate and the imperfect to talk in the past. And indeed in many parts of the Spanish-speaking world, the perfect tense isn't used at all. other than in very specific situations. But we will be covering it in the first few lessons of Unit 7. I think for the time being, we've tested you and we've tested Kara quite thoroughly,

so I think we'll leave it there for the time being. And that's where we're going to leave it today for this edition of Coffee Break Spanish. Thanks for joining us, and we hope it's been useful. You can join the Coffee Break Spanish community on Facebook at facebook.com slash Coffee Break Spanish and follow at Learn Spanish on Twitter. Much grazie, and hasta pronto. This is a production of the Radiolingua Network. Find out more at radiolingua.com.