Newbie - How's it going?

I have a question.  Is it appropriate to use "guapa" or "hermosa" when you're dealing with a clerk at a store or cafe or would that be too flirty?  

I'm thinking of people my own age.

Also, is there an age limit to where that's appropriate?  I know sometimes it's fun in the US to flirt with older women, but would that not be correct in this context?  

And how young is this appropriate?  I certainly don't want to call a young girl beautiful if it's inappropriate.  Are there similar words for dealing with young children in an informal way?

Mucho gracias!

Mauricereeves

It depends on where you are.  Check out this Pa’ Que
Sepas.      --   Pa´que sepas... - Vocab, vocab, vocab!

Mi amiga en la Argentina dice que no utilizan "guapa" como hacen en México.

My friend in Argentina says they do not use "guapa" like they do in Mexico

Maybe more culturally used in Mexico?

stevestrv Mucho gracias!

The Pa'que sepas episode was a help but it didn't answer all my questions.  Thank you again for the link though!  I really appreciate it.

Mauricereeves

gracias is the plural of gracia or grace and is feminine which changes to mucho "o" to an "a"    soooo . . .

muchas gracias

de nada

some other meanings for gracia

gracia sustantivo femenino

maurice reeves

Good question, fingers crossed it might end up on pa que sepas again. Ive wondered about flirting with older women (in spanish). its something I pretty much do withgout thinking although these days im actually getting old enough to be taken seriously. would a spanish abuela giggle coquetishly if you said

su hija?? seguramente no, yo había imaginado que fueran ustedes hermanas.

or just shake her head at the halfwitted foreigner.

or perhaps just laugh at your grammar (help anyone)

Mauricereeves Donperigo

Check out this link:

How can I tell a beautiful Latin woman how beautiful she is in Spanish?

Hey guys,

This is an excerpt from the Del Taco al Tango on Machismo -- sorry about the mistakes; it's not Spanishpod, just my own attempt.

L:         Bueno. Otra cosa nos así pasa en España también en México, creo que sí, es la manera que los hombres tratan a las mujeres que trabajan en los servicios, por ejemplo, en el banco o en una tienda que no la  conocen y le dicen  “Hola corazón,” “Hola reina,” “Muñeca.” Ok something else that happens to us both in Spain and Mexico I think is the way men treat women who work in service occupations, for example, in the bank or in a store, a woman they don't know and they say to her "Hello my heart,"  "Hello queen," "Doll."

            Lo odio.  I hate it.

            Sí. Yes

            Lo detesto y están...I detest it and they are...

            Sí, es totalmente cultural eso también. Yes that's also completely cultural.

E:         Sí, pasa lo mismo en España.  Yes, the same thing happens in Spain.

            ¿Sí?  Yes.

            “Chiquita,” “Mi amor,” “Cosita,” “Corazón.”  Girl, my love, little thing, heart...

            Es de muy, muy, muy mal gusto, de verdad.  Porque imagínate que nosotros a un camarero o a un mesero le digamos, “Ay, chulo, guapo, bonito.” Oye, pésimo.  It's really in very, very, very bad taste. I mean imagine if we said to a waiter:  Hey cutie, handsome, good-looking...

            Sí, de maleducación.  Yes, very rude.

            Sí, pero en un hombre es como percibido como normal.  Yes, but for a man it's perceived as normal.

            Porque es el macho, no, entonces él como que tiene ese derecho a llamarte así.  Because he's the macho, right, then he has the right to address you like that.

            Mmmhmm.

            “!Oye, conejita!” Hey, little bunny!

            ¿Perdona?  Pardon me?

T:         Eso no lo he oído.  I haven't heard that one.

E:         Ni yo tampoco, conejita!  Me either, little bunny!

            Yo soy “Bugs Bunny” o ¿que te pasa?  What am I, Bugs Bunny, or what?

Anyway, from what the ladies are saying here, talking to women like this is seen as, well, kind of, shall we say uncouth?

strange isnt it? my older ladies love it and they are far and away the prolific users of "patronising" terms like pet love and sweetie. I dont know any men who would dare be that intimate with strangers although i believe its more prevalent upt north.

I remember when that DTAT came out thinking i should look up conejita . according to harraps pardon my spanish english spanish slang dictionary. conejita is somewhat more vulgar than the literal translation of little bunny in the same way that the literal translation of gatita into english means more than a small cat.

anna8,

Thanks for the translation!  Much appreciated.  That does make things clear.  I didn't think it was appropriate, but different cultures, etc etc.

cobre, thanks for the correction!  I'm still very new to this, so help like that is always appreciated.  :)

A good site!

:)

Que tal?

I'm Jesnut...

You know it's cool to learn spanish!!!

This a cool site,GRACIAS!!!

Jesnut!

¡Hola! Como estas! Bienvenido a SpanishPod.

¿De dónde eres?

This is a great site!

By the end of this month I attempt to speak and read spanish as well as lili!!

haha.

what a great dream*

azreencomel

azreencomel

You can do it! Estudia, estudia!

Saludos

did all of you guys buy this program? its expensive. I thought it was free at first, but then i found out that it has a limited trial. but its awesome i just don't know if i want to spend 300+ on it

Dear tmannhicks

Welcome to SpanishPod!

It´s true now it´s  paid subcription after the 7 days free trial expires.

You can get more information on:

http://spanishpod.com/help/subscription#1

There are some subscription for as little as 9 USD a month. Hope you join :)

Let  us know if u have any ideas for lessons!

tmannhicks,

you can get a basic subscription for $5 per month. 

ok thanks you guys. are you guys anywhere near fluent yet, with this site?

tmannhicks,

This site is awesome. Are we fluent yet? I'm not fluent yet but I can definitely get by. Just keep listening to these lessons and you will be amazed how fast your listening skills will improve.

kikuyu question, I haven't brought the program "yet" but i've copied and pasted my url to the itunes, and when i go to play it, it doesn't play. Do you have to purchase first, before you can play the podcasts on your ipod?

tmannhicks,

the newbie lessons are free, so until you purchase a subscription, those are the only ones that you will be able to download.

go to itunes store, select podcasts, select education, you'll see the spanishpod icon, select it and then select subscribe free and then all of the free newbie lessons will be downloaded.  You won't get the other lesson levels until you pay for a subscription.

tmannhicks & kikuyu: just for clarification: within the 7-day trial period you should be able to use the personal feed on itunes and your ipod for free.

And it is true, a basic subscription for a year for $69 is very affordable. I've spent a lot more on books and CDs, which were far less engaging than SpanishPod. (You live, you learn. :).

tmannhicks & martinillo,

tmannhicks, sorry for giving you the wrong information about the free downloads. Hope you were able to figure it out and that you are already listening on your ipod:)

martinillo, Thanks for letting us know.

Thanks guys. Im having a problem though. When i go to itunes, and i search for spanishpod, i find all the newbie lessons and other stuff. I can put thoughs on my ipod. But when you go to the website, and you click lessons, how do you get all thoughs elementary, intermediate, and advance lessons onto itunes? when i copy and paste my url it comes up as tmannhicks, but thats it, i can't click on it to listen to anything.

it also says "There are no playable episodes for 'Spanishpod-tmannhicks."  " The url might point to text-only episodes, or contain file types that itunes cannot play."

tmannhicks,

I don't know, I'm not a tech person.  If you scroll to the bottom of this page and select "contact us"  and submit your question someone on the tech team at spanishpod will help you sort it out.

tmannhicks

I am not sure if tried the following but just incase, here is my suggestion.

If you have either a 7 day free subscription or a paid subscription you can use iTunes to download all the lessons.  Logon to the Spanishpod website, and click the “My Lessons” link under “Me” in the lower left hand side of the page.  On the right and side of the new page you will see a box with the title “My Personal RSS Lesson Feed”.  You will use the RSS feed there which will begin “http://spanishpod.com” in iTunes.  To setup your RSS feed and see directions on how to load the feed into iTunes, click the “Settings & Help” button.

The truth is I think you can down load back lessons with a 7 day free subscription but I am not 100% sure.

one more question. if I subscribe to the basic, do i still get this same access to the site as i do now. be it doesn't say that you have full access to the web, with the basic.

• Starting from $5 a month.
• A personal podcast RSS feed to make it easier to get your lessons, be they bookmarked from the archive or from subscriptions to future podcasts
• High quality audio file with the dialogue transcript available on your iPod

tmannhicks

With a basic membership, you still will have access to the SpanishPod blog, that is to say, you will be able to post and read comments. 

If you look at the chart:

The 4 things listed for premium access will not work, they are on this page.

1. The lesson audio review - an MP3 file listed in the box above left just below the Lesson play dialog. (also avail by RSS feed from iTunes to premium subscribers)
2. The lesson review suite - the tabs at the top of this column.
3. Vocabulary study tools - bottom left under Me -- Flashcard lists and at least one game. (I am lobbying for the addition of a crossword feature, anyone care to join me?)
4. Mobile/iPhone access - sign on from your pda to check threads, post messages, use the vocabulary flashcards, ...

With the Basic,
You get the PDF lesson summary, the lessons, the video lessons, the RSS feed to make iTunes automatically download the lessons you have paid for,  access to the forums and groups to ask questions.

Ok muchas gracias Cobre and the other guys. Im so thankful you guys are so helpful and patient with the new people. Other sites, they often don't respond if a person seems a bit "slow" lol. thanks you guys, i will most definitely be purchasing this program.

seeya

thanks guys

En la sección de expansión:

Me cae bien.

Por favor, explique cómo esta oración significa "I like her."

Jeraldina

If you want to say “I like her” you might be tempted to say “me gusta ella”

And I think that that would work find in Spain.  But in most of Latin America, that would imply that you are sexually attracted to her.  A much safer way to say that you like someone is to use the verb caer – to fall.  So in Spanish you could say

Me cae bien. -  I like her/him/usted

Me Caen muy bien – I like them very much.

¿Te cae bien Juan? – Do you like Juan?

So think of “me cae bien” as "she falls well to me".  That is how they say “I like her”.

BTW there was a Pa’ Que Sepas on this subject but I do not remember when.

Also see LoMasTV

Stevestr

Gracias otra vez por ayudarme. Hay tanto que aprender.

buena leccion, y gracias a stevestre y Jeraldina por ayudarme aprender "me gusta ella" y "Me cae muy bien"

I have been using guapa with my Spanish female friends, and they love it.

deedeewarren

Claro que les gusta! Of course they love it! It´s nice to compliment girls! Now I have to write one complementing men!...

Hola guapo! or maybe Hola guapísimo!

Hello,

I've just begun learning Spanish, and I'm having a little hard time understanding how to use the verb ser. I've noticed that sometimes in Spanish you can use "es" or "esta" "estoy" (does "esto" exist?).

(I'm assuming that esta is for feminine nouns? If esto exists, is it for masculine nouns?

Some of the examples I saw in some comments posted above:

Yo tengo Windows xphome y Ubuntu y quiero comprar una computadora del Apple, pero no tengo dinero por esto hoy.

Por favor, explique cómo esta oración significa "I like her."

So I have a few questions:

• When do you use the forms of esta or es?
• How do you know when to use which form?
• What's the difference between the forms?

Also, something else that I've noticed in Spanish, is that you don't have to use pronouns when using a lot of verbs. But then, I see that some verbs you can use pronouns. Why is that? Why is it okay not to use pronouns?

(I speak fluent French so a lot of Spanish grammar seems strange to me, because I notice contradictions)

Hola, cómo están? soy hablante nativo de español, me agregue a esta página para ayudar a quién necesite a clarificar sus dudas y bueno, ayudar también en difundir un idioma tan lindo como el nuestro. Hablo Inglés, portugués y Quisiera perfeccionar mi árabe, asi que bueno, como ya dije esoy aqui para ayudar.

Hi , how you doin? im a spanish native speaker, i came to this page to help out anyone who needs to speak spanish, or learn some more spanish. I would like to clarify doubts and spread out a beautiful language as spanish it is. I speak English, Portugese and i would like to improve my arabic so, as i said im here to help :)

Pleasantly surprised that the new exercise format is in such an old lesson. I guess someone has gone back and done this. I find they're all useful exercises, but particularly the dictation exercises...not only testing listening comprehension but it makes sure I get my spelling right. So thanks for this SPod :)

From the expansion:

Tu novia es muy guapa.

...tu novia is translated as your girlfriend but my rollover has it translated as bride [novia sounds like new to me, and bride is your newly become wife] or bridegroom. Can it be both girlfriend and bride and context dictates or is my rollover wrong? What's the story here?

Also, from the expansion:

Me cae bien

..is translated as "I like her" but the SPod rollover for it in that same expansion sentence has "cae" translated as "he seems". Is it gender neutral and context dictates, or is one wrong?

can we use for men (masculino) "guapo", lindo or bello? or that words use only women?

gracias.

Hola

Mi nombre es Sylvia Oneil, vi tu perfil y me interesé en ti, es por eso que decidí contactar con usted, yo también me gustaría saber algo más, y quiero que usted envíe un correo electrónico a mi dirección de correo electrónico (sylvia.oneil@ymail.com) para que yo pueda darle mi imagen para que sepas que yo soy, Recuerde que la distancia, el color o el idioma no importa, sino el amor asuntos mucho en la vida, estoy a la espera de su respuesta.

We even informally and very locally in Chile use the word Rico for a man wich means rich and Rica for a woman wich means the same when we want to say that someone is very atractive, but i insist this is informal and only used in Chile.

We sometimes say esta buena, or esta bueno the first for a woman and second adressing to a man, but once again it is informal :)