Coffee Break Spanish - Season 3 – Lesson 21 – Coffee Break Spanish

Episode Date: September 6, 2011

In this episode of Season 3, Mark and Alba chat about what they were doing during the vacaciones de Semana Santa. Both Mark and Alba have been travelling, and Mark has some buenas noticias. In the intermedio José provides us with some interesting phrases to talk about things in the past, and language points covered include the combination of indirect and direct object pronouns when combined with an imperative, when to use sólo and when to use solo, and the tricky verb cundir. Please note that lesson 21 of Season 3 was originally known as lesson 321 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.

Showtime Spanish episode 21. It's hour to pass to the next level, from the ensignos to the spectacle, that's open the telon.

Well, hello, Alva. Hello, Mark. How are you? Very, very content of to be again with you,

our own our audience for an episode of Showtime Spanish. Well, yeah, I'm very

content to be here because it's a month that we've been we're not? Yes,

Exactly. And of the emails, of the messages that we've received, it's like you, you know, you've extraigned a lot of Showtime Spanish, no? Yes, but that's fine. That's good. So, so it's fine. So, so it's a lot of today. Today, we're

a new season of Showtime Spanish. To make the things a little more FACISELES, we've thought Mark and I, that today we could we could be

the vacations. Because the vacations always are a good excuse for about about the past

and I think that for those that are learning Spanish, then to talk of

the past is a thing a difficult or for the less if we have

to use many times different, it's result a And a

sometimes is difficult to know how combine them in a same, in a

same context. So, Alba, Dinos, what have, what has, done during the

vacations? Well, these vacations have done various things. First, I'm doing

a little of a route touristic for Scotia. No could

have to be to north, and I went to a island,

the island of Sky that is an island. Well, Mark, tell's solo you, that you're the Scotson. Well, it's just that the Scotson, but the

fact is that it's done one way in the Islet of Sky. Solo one way? Yes. Sin embargo, me it. The pageage, that's precious,

the mountains and the accantilades and all this, really me it really makes magnificent. And also, I think,

that's necessary to have a good time when you're in the Isle of Sky. Because with these mountains cubietas of nubes

and the jubes that always is, I think I'm in some a little place, mysterious.

The fact is that sometimes you could be in other planet when you're in the Isla of Sky? Yes,

and let's tell us what you've done in the Isle of Sky. Well, I'm

was going, and the The fact is that alkylamos a coach I and my noviour and we did

all the island with the coche and all the periferia and some some cominitos to the

interior also we know we're we're very well and the really is that

it was very so it was very romantic the very oh no Mark

is Sky an an island maybe can say Alva

I I think that I think you should tell a the audience and a me a story

that you have a well, of the actually there is where I'm that I'm

that's where she was a little on the island of yeah I'm

let me let's about about other things well let

just just you in the island of the vacation

or also did you did I'm yeah I'm

I'm in Barcelona but but only I've four days. So, so were

some vacations quite stresent because I had done much much things and I've done. But you've

seen a little to your family and your friends, no? Yes, I've seen to my

boys, to my brother, to my friends, a four days. Yes, the fact

very interesting. Very interesting. And you, Mark, I think you you're some things many

things to tell us. But well, explain us what you have done you, these vacations. Well, how you, I've also have a little during the vacations. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm going to, really

not really not in the vacations that I'mpec in France, because we're working. So, we're going to Paris, where we filmed a new series of Walk, Talk, and Learn French, a podcast video

of French and then after Paris I went to to see a Germany to see some

a little in Marburg which is a city very in the central of the

but after I'm I'm a little more to the north

where I had to the ceremony to the free

to the first podcast European I here here I

here you been in a ceremony of the prequel a first

podcast European. Well, Mark, for favor, explain us

what happened. Well, many of our audience know coffee break Spanish,

which is our other podcast of Spanish, and well, coffee break

Spanish won in the category of the best professional

European. Wow. We're we're very content. Those are good news,

as Well, many good news for us. Well, much more than Well, thank you. Thanks. And, well, then, then, then, after this Hamburg,

I'll go to and get a and you're going with the maleta. Very well, Mark. Well,

we're going to resume of today. As the today is the first episode of a new series

of Showtime Spanish, we've started with a charla about what we've done during

the vacations of Semana Santa. Alba us has told that he passed some

noviour in the hermosa island of Sky. Sin however, the

ambient not affected to Alba so how me affected to me.

After my recorried for the north of Scotia, I

needed a little so so I went four days to

Barcelona to pass a end the time with

my family. For the last we had previced. Alba

wanted to be a time, but result that the end

the time the time that back to go

to get to get the time he will

be the end the end I before we

go on I'd like to point out one word that is

Cundier It's a really tricky word to work out how to use in Spanish. So keep listening after the Intermedio and we'll explain it in more detail. And now is hour of pass to the word to Jose. Hello, Jose, what tal you are? Has passed some good vacations? Hello, Mark. And hello, Alba. Enorabuna for the premium, Mark.

It's very mercedo. Well, yeah, I passed some vacations excellent. As you know, I'm a professor of Spanish in a college in England, and, well, the professors, we have many vacations. The truth is that, no me can't quech. During the vacations, I went to excursion with the college at the south of Spain, and my students and I, we do pass us stupendamently. The only problem is that, I know if you can't hear you hear, is that I cogied a

restfriado tremendous, that I still have. Well, we're going to be the time of this intermedia, which is to say how were the success or the event in the past. For example, the vacations,

a film that you've seen in the cinema, no-se, or even a reunion in the work, whatever other things. Much times, the people of English say, "'Tube a good time.'"

If they had a good time. Tuve a good time, not is a good Spanish, no suenna bien. In Spanish, we use passar, which in this context means to spend, but to spend time, not money. So, to say,

I had a great time in Spanish, you say, Lo Paseh, genial, or lo passé, stupendamente, or some combination similar. For example, Alba,

said, I was, I'm very well. If you had a bad time, you could say, Lo Pase, fatal. But that's only if you really had a bad time. In other occasions, for example, in the cinema, a lot more,

could say that was a little aburried and you had to peggikarte, that means to pinch yourself, peyzcartes, to keep your own. In these cases, you can say, The movie Was a Toaston Which means It was a drug

It was a real ball Well, now Now, now You're to repeat After me Are you? Are you? Well, let's go.

It's great. It was fatal. It was a tostone. Well, Well, this We'll give at the final of this intermedia.

I'm going to take another aspirin for my of my and my and our love us with Mark and with Alba in the studio. we're not listening to Coffee Break Spanish. It's still downtime into your due time.

Oh, poor-cito. That's hope Jose is feeling much better next week. Now, just to pick up on something that Jose said there, and that's this whole idea of Tuve a good time. I need to stress here that Tuve a good Spanish. You cannot say, Tuve a good time for I had a good time. Now the chances are if you put that into one of the internet translators, I had a good time.

You might well find something like Tuve a Wendtempo, but it's wrong. You don't say that it sounds very translated from English. If you want to say that you had a good time or indeed that you didn't have a good time, then use one of the phrases that Jose has taught you. Okay, it's time now to take a closer look at some of the words and phrases and the constructions that we've used in today's conversations. First of all, when Alba was talking about the Isle of Sky, she said to me,

Quintaselotu, you're the Scottishes. So she was saying, you tell them, you're the Scottish person. Now, in the one word, Quintaselo, there are a number of points that I'd like to pick up on. Quenta is an imperative, it's the tu form of the imperative. You're giving a command, and it comes from the verb contar. So we know that contar is one of these radical changes. changing verbs, the O in the infinitive of

contar becomes U-I in the conjugated verb. So it would be, Quinto, quantas, quantamos, contais, quantan. So the imperative form, the command form for Tu, would be Qenta. Now, what is it that I'm being asked

to tell? Well, I'm being asked to tell a story and I'm being asked to tell the story to the listeners. So, Quenta A Los Oyentes, La Historia, or

Quenta la Historia A Los Oyentes. So there are two different objects here. One's direct, La Historia, and one's indirect, A Los Oyentes. Now, let's think about this. We're going to begin by replacing the direct object

here. Now, the direct object, as we've already established, is La Historia. However, we don't actually mention any particular story. Equally, it could be a quento, which is another word for a story. So in actual fact, Alba's just saying, tell it to them.

So rather than saying la historia, we'll just make it it. And it will of course be lo, because we're not referring in particular to la history. Consider, for example, athlo, you do it, or dimelo, tell me it. Okay, so we'll just use lo for the it part.

That's the direct object. Now, the indirect object to them would normally be les. Quintales what you're going to do. Tell them what you're going to do. However, when Les and Lo come together, you'll remember that that combination doesn't quite work in Spanish. so you replace the less the indirect object pronoun with say so quantaselo tell to them it really it should be quanta leslo but that sounds really strange so quantaselo is how you get round that you change you change the les to say tell it to tell it to them now another example of this idea could be something like um

se to him to her to them lo it do i give so i give it to him or to her or to them i give it to him or to them so i give it to him or to her or to them and equally i could say say lo quinto to them, or indeed to him or to her, it, I tell. So coming back to coventaselo, we've got one more point to pick up on, and that's the accent. There's an accent on the i of quentaselo, because, of course, we need to keep the stress on that syllable, we couldn't say quentacelo or quentaselo or anything like that. Quentaselo, it has to maintain the stress on the que, quentaselow. syllable. So we put a written accent. Quentaero, too. You tell them it. Okay, that was about four minutes to explain one word. Hopefully it's been useful to you. Let's look at something else now. Something that I often find quite difficult in Spanish is knowing when the word solo takes an accent. Now, it's actually fairly straightforward, but it's the kind of thing that is quite easy to make the mistake.

Solo can mean two things. It can mean only, or it can mean alone. So let's take the example that I said, I've only been once to the Isle of Sky. Solo has been one-a-bef in the Isla of Sky. Now here, I have only been once. It means only, so solo takes an accent. Now, solo with an accent is the equivalent of Solamente,

another word for only. you may have heard the song Solamente one a me in la vida so I have only had one true love in my life

Solamenti one Ves ame in la vida Now that could equally be Solo one a me in the Vida and solo with an accent But it probably doesn't scan as well as Solamente for the song

Now solo without an accent means alone So so, I am alone. Fui to the Isla de Sky solo. Or Fui solo at the Isla of Sky. I went to the Isle of Sky alone.

And therefore, solo, when it means alone, agrees. Therefore, you could be solo, a chicka solo, two enamorados solos, like Alba and David, and so on. So this time is a normal adjective, which agrees with which.

whichever noun is qualifying. And there's no accent. Okay, we'll be testing this in this week's Encore podcast. One more thing, and that's what I promise we'd talk about before the intermedia, is the word gondier. Now, I have to say that this is really quite a tricky word to understand how to use. If you learn it within phrases, then it's fine. But using it yourself will probably be a little more challenging.

cundi it has two basic meanings. Firstly, it can mean to spread. So you may come across a phrase such as cunde el rumourke. The rumor is spreading that, for example, cunde the rumor is spreading that Miguel is with Teresa. The rumor is spreading that Miguel is with Teresa.

Or quite a common phrase, that no cunda the panico. That no cunda el panico. Literally, may panic not spread. So this is this kind of exhortation that results in a subjunctive. But can no cunda al panico is really just a way of saying don't panic. Now, the other use of cundir is when it means to achieve something or really to achieve what you hope to achieve.

So, for example, consider this. Oi no me has condido el trawajo. So today, work didn't go well for me, or I didn't get done what I said. out to achieve, or even I didn't get as much out of today as I'd hoped. So the suggestion is that you didn't have time to do everything that you wanted, because perhaps other things happened. Now, you could also ask someone if they're working on something, for example, pecundee. Now, you're asking there, are things going well for you? Are things working out for you the way

you hoped? It could just be translated as, how's it going, or are you making progress, are you making headway. So when I said about Alba's weekend in Barcelona, it meant that it didn't work out well for her. She didn't get done all that she had hoped to do, or she didn't get as much out of her weekend as she'd wanted. Something like that. As I say, it's quite a tricky verb to use, but if you can use it gradually by throwing in phrases like teconde when you're asking someone, how's it going, then you'll begin to get a feel for using Kundir. Now, as usual, there's lots more information

about all the language covered in these conversations and the Intermedio today in the notes for this week. Well, we're coming to the end of another episode of Showtime Spanish. And as, as always, we hope that you've got used and that now know how to use

the word Kundir. As you know, you can't visit our page, which is www. showtimespanish.com And if you use Twitter, then you can't continue.

And we're in Twitter.com barradilingua. Well, chicoes, me despido and just say you're

that a pleasure to be with you know. We're going in the next episode. Until the next.

Adios. Understood from Madrid to Bogot to Argentina to Nicaragua. It's showtime. Now, as this is a new season of Showtime Spanish, the bonus materials are available in a new membership,

the season pass for Season 2 of Showtime Spanish, which will take you up to Lesson 40. As usual, you'll get the comprehensive lesson guides which provide full transcripts for our conversations and the intermediars. There's also an Encore podcast for each episode, which tests you on your understanding of the constructions and grammar we've covered in each podcast, and the Encore podcast comes with notes too. You should note that the Encore materials tend to be available a few days after the regular lesson is published. If you've previously accessed the Showtime Spanish materials through our membership system, you'll need to add the new product through your control panel. Go to Radiolingua.com and click on the control panel link in the members section.

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