Immersive Spanish - Immersive Spanish, Season 6, Episode 3 - Walking through San Sebastián

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

For extra episodes, head to https://www.patreon.com/ImmersiveSpanishThe Immersive Spanish App is here!We’re excited to introduce the most effective tool for learning Spanish we’ve ever created. Learn more at:https://studio.com/apps/immersivespanishWant to learn with video too?Head to the Immersive Spanish YouTube channel to learn with videos of Kav exploring the Spanish-speaking world and learning Spanish through real-life experiences:https://www.youtube.com/@ImmersiveSpanishImmersive Spanish: San SebastiánIn this season, Kav explores San Sebastián while guiding you through powerful Spanish patterns that unlock countless new words. Instead of conversations, you’ll learn by listening, responding, and filling in speaking gaps, giving you time to think, speak, and build sentences naturally.The focus is on understanding how Spanish works, so you can say more with confidence and less effort.Follow along with bonus lessons and transcripts on Patreon to reinforce the patterns and practise speaking even more.Learn more at:www.immersivespanish.net Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey guys, it's Kav here from immersive Spanish. I've got some exciting news. I've made some big changes to the immersive Spanish Patreon. And from now on, you can get an extra immersive Spanish episode every single week over on Patreon. Same style, same quality, same length, just more of it. There are two tiers, the Class Erecottiva, executive class tier, which is priced at $5 a month, and that gets you a full extra episode every week. Also, lesson transcripts, add free episodes, and early access to new episodes 48 hours before everyone else.

Then there's Prima Classi, first class, which is $9 a month. That includes everything from Classi Equitiva, but you're also part of the inner circle. You can help decide what we cover next, suggest episode topics, and even influence where I travel for future seasons. If you're enjoying the podcast and want more immersive Spanish in your week, that's where to find it. All right, let's get into the episode. Season 6, episode 3. Ola Viejeroz, and welcome back to immersive Spanish with me, Cav. That tortilla in the tavern was delicious.

But now, I'm ready to explore the city on foot. Whenever I'm in Spain, just from exploring, I easily rack up 20 to 30,000 stars. steps a day. Without even realizing it, you just walk to a cafe, then to a bar, then to another bar, and suddenly you've walked miles. So that's exactly what I'm going to do now. I'm going to head out and explore the city walking through the streets of San Sebastian with one clear goal in mind. I'm heading towards the Cathedral del Buen Pastor. It's the main cathedral here in the city, built at the end of the 19th century in a beautiful neo-gothic style. It sits right in the center of San Sebastian,

and as you walk towards it, it slowly appears between the streets. Tall, elegant and impossible to miss. So let's go. I'm going to continue teaching you a thing or two about Spanish. Right, as we're walking, let me tell you, To say walk or to walk in Spanish, you say Caminar. Caminar.

Now, before I ask you to guess, think back to the cafe lesson where I showed you how to turn one word into four, just by changing the ending. Remember? Como, come, come. Well, it's exactly the same here. So how do you think you would say I walk? remember we take the A.R of the last two letters from Caminar and we change it with one letter.

Do you remember which letter that is? I walk is Camino. Camino. So, Caminar with the ending chopped off becomes Camino. Camino. Next, how would you say you walk? Camina. Camina. Now, let me explain something really important here.

Up to now, I've been teaching you the formal version of you. The one you'd use with someone you don't know, like a waiter, a shopkeeper, or someone on public transport, for example. But if you add an S on the end of Kamina, Kaminas, it becomes informal, the version you'd use with friends or people your own age. So, instead of saying camina, to be informal, you would say caminas. You, informal, walk. Caminas.

Here's why we're focusing on the formal version first. Throughout much of the Spanish-speaking world, in countries like Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, instead, the formal you, is used far more commonly than in Spain. Children often use it with their parents. Friends use it with each other, and it's the default in most everyday situations. So, the formal version is actually what you're here and need most at the beginning, in restaurants, cafes, shops, and on public transport. And here's the key thing to remember.

Making mistakes when learning Spanish isn't a problem. Whether you accidentally mix formal and informal doesn't really matter at this stage. What matters is that you're putting yourself out there and having a good go. Spanish speakers notice the effort, and they really appreciate it. I can't tell you how many times a baker or a shop worker smiled and encouraged my very incorrect Spanish as I tried to order a croissant and a coffee in the past. So don't aim for perfection. Practice is what makes the difference, and the more you try, the better it gets.

So, how would you say he or she walks? Remember, to walk is caminar. Camina. Camina. To say they walk, you change the ending in a very similar way to Comer, which becomes common. We go back to the base, camin, and we add an. Caminan. They walk.

Caminan. So, caminan means they walk. Right. Now that you've got those ones down, I'm going to show you another really useful change you can make to the verb. This time, we're talking about we. To say we do something in Spanish, you change the ending again, just like before. But this time, you add moss at the end. That's it.

So to say we walk, you would say, Caminamos. Caminamos. So whenever you want to say we do something, just listen for that moss at the end. All right, let's test you. How would you say we eat? Comemos. Comeamos.

Remember, the verb to eat is comer. So we just remove the R and we add moss. Comeamos. How would you say we drink? Remember, to drink is. is bea. Bebemos. Bebemos.

How about we pay? Pagamos. Pagamos. And we speak? Ablamos. Ablamos. See? Same pattern, same idea.

Once you've got that moss ending in your head, you can suddenly talk about yourself and other people at the same time. Which, I might remind you is a huge step forward. Ah, the sun is coming in out behind the clouds. Cua! What a beautiful day!

And there's nothing I like more than a Spanish city which also has the sea. The best of both worlds. An enormous choice of restaurants as well as the calming nature of the sea. I'm going to stop here for a bit and just look at the sea. to say to stop in Spanish is parar so how do you think you'd say I stop

paro see we've removed the A.R. From parar see what we've done here? We've removed the A.R. from parar and replaced it with an O.

Paro. Paro. What about you, formal stop? Para. Para. How about he or she stops? Barra. Barra.

How about they stop? Baran. Paran. Now, try, we stop. Paramos. Paramos. Maybe later I'll enter a restaurant again for dinner. To say to enter in Spanish is,

Entrar, enter. So how do you think you'd say I enter? Entro. What about you enter? Enter. Enter. Entra. How about he or she enters?

Enter. Enter. How about they enter? Entran. Entran. Now try we enter. Entramos. Entramos.

I'm getting tired from all this walking. Maybe I should sit down for a bit. Ah, as is often the case in Spain, here's a bench. Right. Now, let's look at one slightly different verb. Don't worry. It's still very common and you'll hear it all the time in cafes and bars. The verb is

to sit down To say to sit down in Spanish we say Scentarese Scentarse Now you might notice something straight away This one looks a bit longer than the others

That's because Sentrse works a little differently Once you see it, it's actually very natural Let's start with I sit down To say I sit down, you say, me sienta. Notice something different here. Instead of just changing the ending, Spanish adds a small word at the front.

Me. That me is important. It's what makes this a reflexive verb. But don't overthink it. Just think of it as part of the verb, almost like one sound. Me Siento. Me Siento. I sit down.

Now, how about you sit down? That is, se siesta. Se sienta. And here's something nice and simple. He sits down or she sits down is also se sienta. Se sienta. So just like before, you sit down. Se sienta.

He sits down. Se sienta. She sits down. Se sienta. Same words. same sound. Now, how about they sit down?

That becomes Se Sientan. Se Sientan. And finally, we sit down. Nos sentamos. Nos

Sentamos. Now let me explain very simply what's going on here. No grammar terms. With Sentarse, Spanish likes to say you're doing the action to yourself. So instead of just saying I sit,

Spanish says something closer to, I sit myself down. That's why you hear me siento, se sienta or nos sentamos. Those little words, me, se, nos are not optional. They're part of how the verb works.

We actually have something similar in English. For example, you might say, I'm going to sit myself down or she's going to wash herself. The difference? In English, we can drop that myself or herself and the sentence still works fine. I'm going to sit down or she's going to wash.

Those are perfectly acceptable. But in Spanish they take the reflexive part more seriously. You can't just drop the me or se. It's built into the verb. It's not optional. The good news, well, you don't need to analyze it. You just learn it as a chunk, the same way you learned, Voi A.

And you already know how to use it naturally. You've heard things like, I'm going to sit down here. Or no sentamos in the bar. We sit down in the bar. So even though, sentarse looks a bit different, It's doing the same job as the other verbs, helping you describe what's happening around you. And that's it.

One more verb, one more pattern. Still real, usable Spanish. All right. Let's look at another really useful verb. This one you'll use constantly when you're walking around a city. The verb is to look. To say to look in Spanish, we say, Mirar, mirar.

Nice and simple. Let's start changing it, just like we've been doing all along. To say I look, you say, Miro, Miro. So mirar, with the ending changed, becomes Miro. I look. How about you look? Mira, mirror.

And just like before, Mira also means he looks and she looks. So, you look, mira, he looks, mirror, she looks, mirror, she looks, mirror. Same word, no extra effort. Now, how about they look? Well, that becomes miran, miran. And finally, we look. That is miramos.

So from just one verb, mirar, you now have to look, which is, mirar, I look, which is, come on, you got this, mirro, you look, he looks, she looks, which is, come on, mira they look miran and we look miramos

and just like before you don't need to add yo you or theyjjjos the verb ending already does the work for you this one is great for real life

you can say things like mirro el mar mir I look at the sea Miramos the menu We look at the menu Or miran la Ciudad

They look at the city Simple, useful and very natural Spanish Now you probably already know this But the word for here in Spanish is Here Aki Aki

It's a fun sounding word Very different to anything in English How do you think you say I'm going to stop I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop. So then how do you think you would say I'm going to stop here? Voya parer here.

I'm going to parer. That's right. You simply add here on the end of it. Right then, a quick test. How do you say, aren't you going to stop? No, you say, no vas a parer? How would you say, I'm not going to walk? No going to comeiner.

No voy to caminar. How would you say, you're going to stop? Va to parer. How about, aren't you going to stop? No, not parer? No, no, parer. How about, I'm going to sit here. I'm going to sit here.

So then how would you say, I'm not going to sit here? I'm not going to sit here. No, I'm not going to sit here. No, I'm going to sitar me here. No, no, no, no, no, no going to sitar me here. Right then, let me check my step count for the day. Poo! 22,836 steps.

That's a lot. I think I'm about ready to grab some more food. I did pass a seafood restaurant earlier that looked quite nice. And remember, if you want to take your learning further, you can download the immersive Spanish app, which has on-screen transcripts, multiple choice quizzes, and most importantly, speaking tests. Head over to studio.com forward slash,

immersive Spanish to get started now. Until the proxima.