Lesson Introduction
Dude, where's your car? We're not sure why the people in this lesson are in such a big hurry... Maybe they're late; maybe they're running from someone... who knows. What we do know is that in the big podcast today, we'll have a lesson about colors and demonstrative words (i.e., words you use when you're pointing), so that you'll be able to shout them in Spanish one day when you're running through the parking lot...
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¡Hola a todos!
This dialog has been cracking me up ever since we recorded it. The question of the day...
Yo creo que es algo muy urgente. A lo mejor se van a perder un vuelo.... Pero, ¿por qué las sirenas? I think that it must be something urgent; maybe they're going to miss their flight... But what's with the sirens?
"...que es tarde." Could the "que" in this case be a shortened form of "porque", in the same way that in English we say "cause" for "because"? As in, "hurry up, 'cause it's late!"
jbeaudin1, the que here it's not a short form of porque.
Date prisa, es tarde.= Date prisa que es tarde.
jbeaudin1,
I suppose it doesn't hurt to think of that "que" as a short form of "porque" in this example. :)
Or you can think of it as "(es) que..."
However, it's just a way to wrap your brain around the use of "que." I hesitate to say that it actually is a contraction for porque.
How's that for linguistic diplomacy? ; )
Maybe she was rushing him because she had just peppered sprayed JP. The sirens were the cops coming to arrest her.
Are you okay, JP?
JP, when/why were you pepper sprayed?!
Hi everyone,
it was in 1992, in France, and technically I wasn't pepper sprayed, I was maced. I think. It was something called crimogène... whatever that is...
by the CRS by any chance? did you forget to tip your waiter :-)
Hola Liliana y JP,
Tengo una pregunta..
He aprendido que la traducción de la palabra " car " es " el coche ".
Hay una diferencia entre el coche y el carro? o es el mismo?
Continúo en inglés :)
It may be a stupid question but I just want to know.
I learned at school that the translation of car is "el coche", but i heard in the dialogue that they used "el carro".
Is there any difference between those words or are they used mixed up? Or does it depends on the situation in which the word is used? Or is there no difference between those 2 translations?
Anyways..
Muchas gracias!
Stephanie
Well, we saw the video of JP goring his co-workers... so the pepper spraying doesn't come as a surprise!
Pero seriamente, tengo un pregunta sobre la palabra "maybe". ¿Es muy diferente el significado entre "a lo mejor/la mejor", "quizá/quizás", y "tal vez"?
Is there a difference in context or regional usage?
(excuse the grammatical errors)
Xstephaniex
You might what to listen to the “Del Taco al Tango” on Spanglish. It is very funny and they talk a little about the word carro.
¡Apúrate! ¡Corre, Corre, qué llegamos tarde!
No hay problema. No te apures tenemos tiempo. He esperado este momento desde hace tres meses, por fin podremos tener la vida que merecemos. Lo hemos hecho. Vaya subidón de adrenalina. Ya falta poco para llegar a la bodega, pero no conduzcas tan rápido, no podemos arriesgarnos a que nos pare la policía.
xstephaniex
hay no preguntas estupidas :-)
curses, stevestrv beat me to the draw.
Building on Xstephaniex’s question, I would like to ask what single word, meaning car, is most accepted through out the Spanish speaking world. I believe it is auto but I am not sure.
ciao amici!
I don't know almost anything of Spanish, and I'd like very much I'd be able at least to write some words, perhaps some day..
in Italian, that usually is so near to Spanish, "Date prisa que es tarde." I can easily guess should be something like "Sbrìgati ché è tardi".
Well in the spoken Italian "ché" is used very often in this sense, and even here, probably, in the common perception has lost part of its original meaning of perché.
But I'm quite sure that it does have the meaning of perché, and I remember pretty well from the time of school that, if you want to write it correctly, you have to write "ché" that is, with the same accent of "perché", even to distinguish from "che" as a pronoun or a conjuction which have no accent at all.
So I'm wondering if in Spanish could be the same? I think it should be reasonable, isn't it?
Michele.
¿Por qué ellos tienen prisa? No sé, pero mi adivinanza es que Antonieta* ha llegado al aeropuerto y está esperando a sus amigos.
¿Por qué las sirenas? Es Chicago, ¿no?
*Podcast entitled: A Tour of Chicago
michele
Qu in Spanish has the same sound as the Italian ch. In Spanish Qué has an accent when it means “what” and is used in a question. “Qué hora es” - what time is it. Que does not have an accent when it means “that” or “as” or even when it means “what” if it is not used in a question. “Yo sé que necesito hacer” - I know what I have to do.
Perché in Italian (when it is a question “why”) is translated in to a two word Spanish phrase, - “por qué” (note that since it is a question the qué has an accent mark)
When Perché is the answer (meaning “because” in English) it is translated into one Spanish word “porque”. Since it is not a question, there is no accent on the e in que. Following the rules of Spanish pronunciation, the stress is on the “o” in porque and it sounds slightly different then the question “por qué” with the stress on the e.
Does this answer your question?
hola stevestrv@,
thanks for your post, actually, in my personal opinion, it seem it does not solve the problem about the meaning (and the sense) of que in "Date prisa que es tarde."
As I confessed above, I know no Spanish at all, so I was not attempting any impossible demonstration of anything. I was only noticing that in Italian there's a plenty of possible sentences in which you can use ché (instead of perché/because), especially in the spoken language. And "Date prisa que es tarde." seems to me, roughly translated in Italian, exactly being the same kind of.
In Italian sbrigati chè è tardi means exactly "hurry up, 'cause it's late!" as in jbeaudin1@’s comment. The same in andiamo a dormire ché ho sonno let’s go and sleep ‘cause I’m sleepy, mangiamo ché ho fame, let us eat ‘cause I’m hungy …. and tens or hundreds of possible other ones…. and in all these sentences ché is used to introduce the-reason-why you have to do something that you’ve just stated in the first part.
so my question could be this:
que in "Date prisa que es tarde." what else does it mean, if not porque/because? May anyone give me a reasonable alternative meaning to because?
BTW, I would note that, the fact that because is translated into porque (without accent), should give some more strenght to my hypothesis, don't you think so?
or one more additional question could be:
does in Spanish may exist any usage of que, as a contracted form of porque, similar to Italian ché in the usage I’ve just tried to describe above?
thanks a lot for your attention, Michele.
P.S.: for some odd reason I'm not able to change the formatting from "jbeaudin" up to "first part"... I'm sorry I did not mean to stress this part in that way...
hmmn, its all misbehaving again. i noticed that stevestrv managed to post before me despite actually posting an hour after. i suspect they are "tweaking" the code again.
relax i'm sure it will all turn out fine
michele, it sounds fair to me. even if it isnt officially "because" it maps across nicely and so will do until the real thing comes along
En el diccionario de la Real Academia, por la definición de "que", hay:
«Usado igualmente como conjunción causal y equivale a porque o pues.»
JP, ¿puede ser "lacrimogene" (tear-producing)?
Es muy usado para la policía en los estadios. ¿Estabas haciendo el hooligan?
michele
Sorry, I total miss read your question. By the way and just to add my 2 cents I like to think of que as "as"
hi stevestrv@, no problem at all, BTW, I feel a little bit responsible too, my post tend to be always somewhat too much long!
ciao Fabrizio, that's exactly what I was looking for: a simple definition on a good Spanish dictionary (I don't have any of them here with me)... I need nothing more! grazie
mi piace molto SpanishPod
hola a todos!
¡Hola Michele!
Aquí tienes el DRAE.
Why they are running? Ah that is so obvious; it must do with sofia you know she is always into trouble. This must be part of the next part of the mystery.
Ellos estan de prisa ,porque quieren comer tantos albóndigas en su restaurante favorita..tal vez quieren comer las empanadas de pollo con arroz...no sé...o posible una comida casera en casa del hombre ,( realmente el hombre es Leonardo de Mejico de spanishpod),dondé va a mezclar él ,dos micheladas por los dos.Entonces van a animarse y pasan bien la noche,en el piso de arriba ..☺☺☺♪♪♪
Roberto, esta cuenta, que lo ha dicho, sonida de una qué tener una semilla de verdad, pero no es.
A veces, los dos han venido al cena a la tia de Leonardo. Ella dio ese albóndigas por ellos, pero no los comieron. Ellos no pueden cortar, no pueden romper.
Han dado los a perro pero el perro no come nunca.
y para esta vez,
Leo tiró una por la ventana y golpeó a un policía.
. . . accidentalmente, por supuesto
Que lastima. . .
Lo siento mucho, Leo, pero debe ser contada.
Ja!-ja!-ja! el señor Cobre.....muy bien! Me sonreía mucho cuándo leí tu cuento...!vale!
Gracias, Roberto.
Pero, al otro lado, escribimos al lección elemental y por los amigos que leen esta mira estas son mis palabras en Inglés.
-----
Thank you Robert,
But on the other hand, we write in an elementary lesson (forum) and for our friends that read this, look, these are my words in English.
-----
Roberto, esta cuenta, que lo ha dicho, sonida de
Robert, this story that you have told, it sounds like
una qué tener una semilla de verdad, pero no es.
it has a seed of truth, but not quite.
A veces, los dos han venido al cena a la tia de
Sometines the two of them went to dinner at the Aunt of
Leonardo. Ella dio ese albóndigas por ellos, pero no
Leonardo. She gave them these meatballs, but they
los comieron. Ellos no pueden cortar, no pueden romper.
didn´t eat them. They could not cut them, they couldn´t break them.
Han dado los a perro pero el perro no come nunca.
They gave them to the dog, but the dog would not eat them, ever.
y para esta vez,
and on this occasion
Leo tiró una por la ventana y golpeó a un policía.
Leo threw one out the window and hit a policeman.
. . . accidentalmente, por supuesto
. . . accidentally, of course
Que lastima. . .
It´s really a shame . . .
Lo siento mucho, Leo, pero debe ser contada.
I´m really sorry, Leo, but it had to be told.
To xstephaniex,
First.. "carro" is an old vehicle ridden by animals.
To refer car: "carro" is a word used by spanish slang in Spain, and the typical term to refer a car in the most places of South America.. In Spain, "coche" is the correct form.
Please excuse-me my poor english.
Great courses!
Well, I think I know what's happening there...they are being chased by the police que robado el banco.Ha,ha
Estoy asombrada cada vez que estudio una lección para los principiantes. Siempre aprendo al menos una cosa más; probablemene sea más.
This dialouge talks about being able to change an adjective to a noun in Spanish by adding el or la before before the word (el azul - the blue one). Can you also change an adjective into a noun by adding the indefinite article. For example, if you drop your fork on the floor in a restaurant and you need a "new one" can you say "Por favor, dame un neuvo" if you have the fork in your hand and it is obvious what you are referring to?
Si lo tenia en manó el tenedor , todavia que esté un adjectivo. Su gesto es el sustantivo en la frase.
If you are holding the fork in your hand, it is still an adjective. Your gesture is the noun in the sentence.
o al menos es que lo creo.
correcciones, como siempre.
swaffie, I think if you picked up a fork off the floor and asked for "un nuevo" you'd definitely be given a new fork!
Just give an adjective an article, and it will play the part of a noun!