Newbie - Where are you going to eat?

Question of the day: 

• ¿Qué piensas almorzar? What's for lunch? 
  

Hoy pienso comer aquí en frente al restaurante de fideos chinos.  Es muy barato.  Today I'm thinking about going across the street to the Chinese noodle place.  It's super cheap. 

Hoy yo almorce fideos chinos. Lo prepare en la cocina, pues no lo tengo que comprar. Esta muy delicioso. Para la cena, mi amigo y yo fuemos la pizzeria. Bebio el fresco.

What I was trying to say: Today I lunched on Chinese noodles. I made it in the kitchen, so I did not have to buy it. It was very delicious. For dinner, my friend and I went to the pizza place. I drank pop.

Hola :)  A couple questions...

Would it be wrong to answer "no se" without the "lo"?  What determines whether or not to use "lo"? 

What would be the difference of saying "vente conmigo" versus "vienes conmigo" - is the first more of a demand and the second one just a statement?

Hoy comimos unos pollos teriyaki a la parrilla, ensalada, y unos fideos chinos.  Fue muy sabroso.

adela2654-

some suggested corrections, based on the English equivalent you want:

Hoy yo almorcé fideos chinos. Los preparé en la cocina, pues no los tuve que comprar. Estaban muy deliciosos. Para la cena, mi amigo y yo fuimos a la pizzeria. Bebí refresco.

jodibean

I noticed you were asking about the "no lo se" sentence and at first it was kind of confusing to me as well, but I think, and I may be wrong, that the use of "lo" in this sentence is because the guy is trying to say that he "doesnt know" the restaurant that the lady in the dialog mentioned. In other words he's saying, "I'm not familiar with it". If he was saying that he doesn't know which restaurant he wants to go to then he would have definitely used "no se" without the "lo"

Anyway, that's what I'm thinking. Again, I may be wrong though.

hi

what is the different between sabe and sabes?

Sabe is the conjugation for the usted form, as well as for he/she.  So you could say to someone you don't know well "¿sabe (usted) qué pasa?"  Do you know what's happening?

Sabes is the 2nd person informal, so you could say the exact same line to a friend and it would be "¿Sabes qué pasa?"

Jodibean, I believe you're right, vente is the command form, irregular, and te vienes would just mean a statement.

steeveepee - Gracias, that makes sense. There is a lot of thought process that needs to happen in order to form the correct sentence structure.  That is a skill that is slowly developing :) 

thesmithtopher - Thank you too!

Gracias, Strelnikov!

I have a question about ser and estar - should it be

Estaban muy deliciosos

Fueron muy deliciosos

seems like Ser is more for the quality of being delicious - but maybe delicious is more temporary?

¿Los fideos chinos? yo deseo.
Mejor que la patata horneado comé por mi almuerzo. Era tan seca como un bolsa de harina. Queso, mantequilla y ensalada de col todos faltan hacer lo mas comestible. gracias a dios por la pastel de chocolate.

Hola amigos

Here's probalby a dumb question, but it's my favorite type to ask :)

I see that "Ir" often times has "me" or "te" before it..

Me voy a comer

why not

Voy a comer or yo voy a comer

~Russ

Hoy fue muy travieso y yo comí a Subway. No hay bolso comida para me hoy   :)

rok769 --

I think they're technically two different verbs:  ir, and irse.  Ir means to go, irse means to leave.

For example, I would say "voy al bano" but "me voy pa'l monte" (to quote several famous songs).

Ferdberfel --

I think that's a very perceptive question.  I frequently find myself momentarily stumped when (1) I have to select imperfect or preterite at the same time that (2) I have to choose between ser and estar.  Something about that verb selection process makes my brain freeze!

Yo comé un burrito para almuerzo. 

Jodibean TheSmithtopher

vente conmigo" versus "vienes conmigo"

I total agree that you can use the simple present instead of the command form of a verb to soften a command.  I would just like to add two things.  When you use the simple present to ask some to do something, you have to use the same intonation as a question.  Also this came up in the lesson Newbie - Telephone card when the speaker said “Me da una trajeta de teléfono” instead of “Deme una trajeta de teléfono”.  In this lesson, JP and Lile talk about this used (it is 4 min and 14 sec into the lesson).

I have no idea of what the difference is in the meanings of venir and venires and would appreciate it if anyone could let us know.

Sorry, I meant venir vs. venirse

Great simple lesson and very useful.  I don't how many times I have spoken this dialogue only in english.

Question: What's the difference between "A dónde vas a comer" versus "Dónde vas a comer"? I was thinking using "a dónde", but maybe they are the same.  Have a great day folks.

Venir vs. Venirse

I might be the only one interested in this, but the quote below comes from a book called A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish Forth Edition by John Butt, and Carmen Benjamin.

“Venirse suggests ‘to come away from somewhere’  either permanently or for a long time.  Applied to inanimates it implies accidental or unexpected coming.  Venir simply means ‘to come to a place’."

rok769 click on this lesson for J.P.'s explanation of the difference between ir and irse because it comes up in the dialogue a couple of times:  Going on Vacation

Me gusta esta lección me hace el apetito para la paella yum yum J

Hay un popular de restaurante español aquí en Manila,Se llama Casa Armas

ferdberful,

I think estaba is correct here it is the imperfect signifying ''was being delicious" which is the way to give say something that went on in the past and existed over time and to give descriptions of things of from the past. Fueron, the preterite, would more be used for an action in the past that occured and was done. For example, Suddenly it rained.= Derepente, llovió.  I do hope that I am right here and hope someone else will correct me if I am wrong.

There are a number of uses for both of these tenses and they will come with time. Hope that is helpful.

Abuelo Jack

Great lesson guys! Very useful! Hoy pienso comer hotdog con chili.. que delicioso!

why is it voy al restaurante? restaurant is el restaurante

ewong, there is a rule in Spanish when putting together prepositions A and DE with the article EL:

A + EL = AL

DE + EL = DEL

Voy al resturante. NOT Voy a el restaurante.

La plaza del pueblo. NOT La plaza de el pueblo.

It's a great rule :) It is bit hard to say "al el" and " de el".

thanks for the very clear explanation and examples.
 
muchas gracias Esti :)

ferdberfel,

Estaban deliciosos is the correct form.. it's better to use "estar" here.   Use ser to indicate an essense or intrinsic quality of the fideos, but estar to talk about something temporary.  For example, those noodles are only delicious while they are fresh and hot; that state of deliciousness is fleeting.  I could, for example, pour my coffee on them.  They would continue to be noodles, but they would cease to be delicious. 

shep1582,

Both ¿adónde vas a comer? and ¿dónde vas a comer? are acceptable.  We actually discussed this at length here in Studio Fiesta.  Usually, you'd expect ¿adónde? in an ir + a question, but in ¿dónde vas a comer?, the a requirement seems to be fulfilled by the a between vas and comer. 

I, personally, am cautious, and so I prefer ¿adónde vas a comer? because it makes more sense to me.  However, my Latino friends are perfectly comfortable with ¿dónde? in this context.

JP
Im afraid i'm still confused, i should have been in bed hours ago and I promise i'm not just being awkward for the sake of it but why does liliana say

"De niña la comida que mi mamá preparaba era deliciosa,"

is that not ser for past tense deliciosity?

is it because its "the food" which is a vague, timeless term rather than the noodles which have a quantifiable and fleeting deliciosity?

buenas noches todos :-)

donperigo

I do not know if this will help clear things up but there is a thread on this the subject on word reference.

donperigo

I found somthing in that says

El pollo es riquísimo - The chicken is very good

El pollo está riquísimo - The chicken is testes delicious.

Then it says that "this is ambiguous. El pollo es riquísimo is either a general statement about chick or it could mean "the chicken (uncooked) is very good quality'.  Estar could only mean 'to taste' ."

This came from:

A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish Forth Edition by John Butt, and Carmen Benjamin. Section 29.4.3

Now get some sleep and think about it some more in the morning.

donperigo

I just asked my Colombian girlfriend and she said that both la comida está riquísima  and la comida es riquísima are used.

Steve

ewong, estibaliz,

Dímelo si me equivoque pero "a él" no puede ser "al", ¿verdad?

Por ejemplo "a él le gusta la gramática".  Quiero estar seguro de eso porque lo uso mucho!

hola stevestrv and donperigo,

These ser and estar questions are a trap! 

A lot of teachers make the mistake of saying ser is the only possibility in once case, estar is the only possibility in another case, and when their students find counter-examples, they find themselves backpeddling for an explanation.  The difference between ser and estar is intuitive to Spanish-speakers, but it is tough to articulate.

To complicate the matter, words like rico, delicioso, and riquísimo all change the equation.

So la comida está riquísima and la comida es riquísima both grammatically correct sentences; they mean different things, and therefore are used in specific contexts. 

la comida es riquísima:  you might say this if a) the food has a lot of money; b) the food is rich in something like fiber or protein; or c) you're talking about the food in a way that's bigger than just the momentary fork-in-mouth taste experience. 

For example: 

• La comida vasca está rica.  The Basque food tastes good.  Maybe you're at a table with several dishes, and you're pointing out that the Basque dish is yummy.
  
• La comida vasca es rica.  Basque cuisine is delicious.  In this case, we're not talking about the momentary fork-in-mouth experience, but rather the cuisine as a whole.

donperigo, for your question about Lili's sentence: 

• "De niña la comida que mi mamá preparaba era deliciosa." Lili is talking about all the food her mama used to prepare when Lili was little.
  

If we swap in estar (and remove de niña): 

• La comida que mi mamá preparaba estába deliciosa.  The food my mama was making was yummy.  Now it feels like she's talking about one particular instance of her mama preparing food.  She tasted it, and it was tasty.

Ok, in conclusion, ser and estar have different connotations.

The standard way of teaching the difference between ser and estar is by setting tricky semantic traps like this and frustrating the students.

I think a better way to teach (and to learn) ser and estar is to concentrate on practicing correct usage, and not spending a lot of time on analysis. 

Analysis works best as a review, not as an initial presentation.  By the way, there are times when I am unsure about whether to use ser or estar, and in those cases, I just turn to Esti and ask.  :)

Jp

Thank you and it is good to know that somtimes even you are not sure.

thesmithtopher,

a + el (followed by a noun) = al / This rule works for the determiner article masculine singular "el"=the, and not for the pronoun personal masculine singular "él"=he (notice the pronoun has an accent mark).

Some examples:

- Vamos al mercado. = We're going to the market.

- Díselo a él. = Tell him. (Literally "tell it to he").

buenos dais todos

hace mal tiempo asi que, mas spanishpod :-)

JP, and stevestrv  thanks, hi 5. lots to learn there. It sounds to me like I need to be Spanish (ser) or live in Spain (estar)  to have a chance of getting this right ,especially at talking speed. Sadly my opportunities for live practice are almost non existant.........
(psst.jp. thats your cue ;-)

I believe it was Harrison Ford who once said,
 "you can write this stuff George but you cant say it.
(although he wasnt talking about spanish.)

" when i am , and lets be generous here, "speaking" spanish its real seat of the pants pick a verb and  move on sort of affair.
i supppose i have at least a 50/50 chance of picking the right "to be " verb and a few rules probably push the success rate up to maybe 75% so it doesnt hurt to have a go.
I dont think it would be an issue were it not for the fact that some phrases have "special" meanings.

what are the ser/estar critical phrases that we need to know if we are to avoid our spanish speaking interlocutors choking on their cervezas?

Hola J.P.

At the end of the lession you mentioned marking the lesson as finished.  I haven't been doing this.  (This is partially because I didn't know to begin with and now I wonder that if I mark the lesson as completed I will not be able to return to it.)

Forgive me for not writing this in Spanish, but I have to leave soon and it takes me forever to construct things in Spanish.

Ann

minor corrections to PDF