Newbie - Let's Party

Fiesta! La pregunta del día es: ¿Cómo festejaste tu cumpleaños?

Party! The question of the day is: How did you celebrate your last birthday?

Mi cumpleaños numero 30 lo festeje en un restaurante español, con los amigos y con una enorme paella, mucha sangría y buena música.

My last 30th birthday I celebrated in a Spanish restaurant, with friends and with a big paella, lots of sangria and great music.

Lili,

I'll double that 30, and raise you a mum.

Me n me mum

Para mi cumpleaños un año pasado, me darme un praxis pass, pero por éste cumpleaños, nos fuimos a St.Paul Conservatory y fingimos el invierno no existe.

me dime un praxis pass

The mind is the first to go . . .

oh well, see you soon...

Cobre!

Nice picture! It is great to put a face to your name! Seems like u had a great time! Love the shirt!

This is my BDAY picture. You can see JP and Leo having a good time in the background!

Feliz cumpleaños, cobre y Liliana.  Me doy cuenta de que no es su cumpleaños de verdad pero espero que ustedes pasaran un buen día.

Hoy es el "cumpleaños" de IRLANDA. 

Feliz Día de San Pádraig (Patricio en español ¿no?) a todos.

Mi compleaños es el día de Navidad. Pues, recibo los regalos en el mismo día. :(

Pero, es un día con mucho alegría porque estoy con mi familia. Y, recibo más que otros. Jajaja.

Feliz compleaños a ambos de ustedes.

Cobre:

If you happen find your mind, have a look around for mine, too.

Jeff (jgrob)

Cobre – me encanta la foto, y la idea de festejar el cumpleaños con la mamá quien te dio la vida!

Lili – ojala que algún día yo pueda celebrarme el cumpleaños mío en la manera tuya.  Me parece perfecto.

Hola Spanishpod! How do you say:

Advanced Happy Birthday!

and

Belated Happy Birthday!

in Spanish.

Muchas Gracias!

yo celebre mis 25 de cumplianos com mis amigos en un clube, fue muy divertido. Bebemos, dancamos y tivemos una noche muy alegre.

Hola Spanish Pod Team,

Yo feste mi ultimo cumpleanos, sesenta y tres con mi esposa cuando comimos una cena especial y bailamos todo el noche!!

Gracias, Bob

Bobgs

Bailar es una excelente manera de festejar un cumpleaños.

Estaba01

Advanced Bday, you can say "Feliz cumpleaños por adelantado". Belated Bday you say "Feliz cumpleaños retrasado."

Me encanta a JP y Liliana.  Ambas son conductores sobresalientes.

I understand that during your first year, you won the "La entrega del Paco".  It's no wonder and I'm pretty sure this year 2009 you will win again guys. The best of Luck for your extraordinary work. 

Y por eso todo el equipo del Spanishpod hay un razon para festejar...

I know you have episodes about travel and vacation but I'd rather post this comment in this show.   If you Spanishpod friends are based in Shanghai and would like to unwind, why don't you consider having a vacation "en las islas Filipinas??" 

I recommend my country to you for it is the coolest place to be...

"en verano... claro que si, tenemos las playas hermosas, blancas, soleado y los mares son tan hermosos, tambien, la clima es muy agradable.   Y las personas aqui son muy amables y hospitalarias"  Typical sunny days here are during the months of April and May.  June start of the rainy season but still okay to come.

Here we welcome guests with VIP treatment and with a genuine smile!

Dozens of hablantes español están aqui...

Manila simplemente es muy cerca del pais de China. 

Bueno! the Philippines is best place to shop, to feast the eye on the beautiful natural sceneries, to feast on summer fruits, to relax, great place for religion and spirituality and to enjoy the summer experience.

Lovely that's our ISLAS!  Treasured that's our Guests!   And you (TODOS USTEDES)... keep coming back.

Hasta luego!

round-eyed

Thanks so much for your lovely comment! It is great to hear you enjoy our work! We enjoy it too.

The other day we had a visitor from Manila and she was also inviting us to come visit. I haven´t been to the Philipines but I will come for sure this year! I love the culture and would really like to come visit and relax for a while. It is true is actually close to Shanghai, we are just looking for a good deal to come!

I want to go to a place they told me is great, it is called LAS PALMAS or something.

If we come visit , we will call u!

Saludos!

LILIANA

Hola SpanishPod!

I have a few questions:

1.)

So "Tu pagas" means "you pay", but actually, "pagas" already means "you pay" right?

The "you" is already embedded inside the verb "pagas".

So, can I simply say "Pagas!" to mean "You pay!"? (Or maybe I need to use the command/mandato form)?

2.)

Instead of saying "Tengo trabajo nuevo", Can I say "Encontró un trabajo nuevo" (I found a new job).

3.) If instead of Vamos de fiesta, I said Vamos a la fiesta, does that imply that the party is being hosted by some other person, and that I am merely attending the party? If I say Vamos de fiesta, that means I am hosting the party (in other words, I am the invitee), right?

Thanks so much in advance for your help. I love listening to you guys. SpanishPod is such a cool way to learn the Spanish language, as well as the Spanish and Mexican cultures.

Muchisimas Gracias!

-Alan

Round_eyed,

I am originally from Manila as well. Nice to see fellow kababayans learning Spanish. After all, the Filipino language shares so many words, terms, and phrases with Spanish that I feel that it is a no-brainer that Filipinos should learn it.

I am also learning French through FrenchPod, but I find that Spanish is so much easier to learn (especially to pronounce) for me as a native Filipino language speaker. The liaisons and the nasal vowels are driving me crazy! But I am getting by slowly with practice.

Back to Spanish... the thing that I am struggling with is memorizing the different conjugations for simple past, imperfect past, future, conditionals, subjunctive, etc... but I know I will get there someday...

How did you learn to write in Spanish? It looks like you are pretty fluent already. I would appreciate it if you could provide some tips for me from your perspective.

Everyone else, please feel free to chime in as well.

Thanks,

Alan

Hi Alan,

Kamusta kababayan!

Learning how to conjugate is really a struggle at first but with some memorization (verb suffix or endings) and practice you will get used to it.

I learned how to write by studying on my own by reading a good grammar book by... can I say the brand of book here?  With the help of a lot of online resources too.   But my conversational ability has improved a lot thanks to Spanishpod!   With the help of their lessons and excellent hosts.

I prefer Spanish as the third language for me for I believe there are more than 400 million speakers worldwide and spoken in at least 20 nations.  Many native speakers and more chance for learners to practice it.

Here are some of my verb conjugation study tips:

1. Memorize the verb endings in different tenses and mood (indicative, conditional and imperative)
2. I would always start with the verbs that always have issues  (ser, estar, ir, hacer, venir, decir etc.)
3. Dont just learn how to conjugate the verbs but learn how the natives use them not just the way it is presented in the grammar book.
4. I learned from kababayan JP that we also learn which preposition goes with the verb such as 'de', 'que', 'con', 'a', etc.  
   
5. We should say the verb out loud when conjugating so you can avoid altering the original sound of the stem.

   (buscar - buscé it should be busqué; colgar - colgé it should be colgué)       

Should you need more info, please feel free to shoot me an email.  paul.mato@yahoo.com

Hasta luego!

Hi Liliana,

Yes please do call me even before coming here.  The Philippines is a great place to visit it is the melting pot of cultural influences (Hispanic, Chinese, Malay, Indonesian and American). and maybe I can practice my spanish with you all.

Me and my friends here could help you make a good deal of an efficient and hassle-free travel itinerary for you to really enjoy your stay here.

Island of Cebu, Bohol, the coastal towns of Padre Burgos and Pagudpud in the North are highly recommended place to see.

Saludos!