Intermediate - Wrong Phone Number

¡Hola todos! When I give out my number in English, I do it number by number: two-oh-six, two-two-eight, four-five-seven-eight. 2-0-6, 2-2-8, 4-5-7-8 Pero en español se suele decir así: dos-zero-seis, dos veintiocho, cuarenta y cinco, setenta y ocho. 2-0-6, 2-28, 45-78. That's an old number; it's not mine anymore, so don't call it! Or, call it all you want, I won't be there : ) Pregunta del día: ¿Has dado alguna vez a propósito el número de teléfono falso? Y, ¿por qué?

Great lesson!! You guys are so good, mil gracias!

Tengo una preguntita sobre la traducción en el pdf. El interlocutor B dice "tiene novio," y la traducción es "does she have a kid?" Creía que "novio" quiere decir "boyfriend" o "fiance," no "kid." ???

cyberdiva You are right "novio" means "boyfriend." We are changing the pdf.

Hola- Muchas gracias-Excelente lecion de gramar hoy! Don't feel too bad JP, it takes me about a year to memorize my own phone # :) Tengo preguntar sobre aprendiendo Espanol- I'll be in Spain this summer in an intensive language program for 9 weeks-while living with a family. Bastante tiempo-nueve semanas-to have a 5th grade conversational level of Spanish? Espero que si! :() Thanks so much for your thoughts... Un abrazo-

kshipley, What a great opportunity! I would love to go to Spain for 9 months. Your Spanish conversation is going to improve so much. 5th Graders are pretty sophisticated, I don't know if you're going to be telling dirty jokes on the playground, but you're going to improve by leaps and bounds. As a veteran of study abroad, the number one recommendation is to lock your native language in a box and refuse to bring it out. As an American abroad, the first thing I wanted to do was to seek out and hang with other English speakers, but the more you resist, the better. There are plenty of people whose language study trips turn into extended vacations, where no language is learned, all because they feel like they have to run with their English-speaking pack. So my advice is to ditch the pack as much as possible! I hope you will keep checking in with us!

Hola, En la frase ¿Te crees galán? (You think you're a stud?), ¿por qué no es 'un galán' como la frase encima (Mauricio se cree un galán...Mauricio thinks he's a stud)? También, ¿hay una palabra como galán que se usa por una mujer? saludos

mharbus You can say both ways "te crees galán" (adjective) or "te crees un galán" (noun). The second question is such a good one, I can't believe it but it was so difficult to come up with a good word, because you know in our culture it is very well seen for a man to have luck with the ladies, but a lady if she is "a lady" then she can not go to bars and pick up men! I know, its kind of old fashioned. In fact the best word or phrase I can think about is to call a woman "rompe corazones" meaning she is a heartbreaking. So you can say "esa mujer es una rompe corazones".

Todavia no lo he hecho pero la idea de hacerlo para liberarse de alguien insistante me parece excelente. Gracias Liliana!

I'm curious, how much backround is needed before contemplating a study abroad. One year of college spanish? Two or more?

keno, You don't need any background before contemplating a study abroad. There are study abroad programs for language learners of all levels. If you study abroad, you will make huge strides in your language acquisition, regardless of whether you've studied for six years, or are an absolute beginner, provided that you make a commitment to leave your native language behind during the period of your study. I've gone on several programs, usually with other American students, and I'll tell you that among Americans there's a strong tendency to cling to each other and debrief every situation, speak English the whole day... some people even avoid speaking the target language. Some people still find this situation rewarding, but I feel like it's a waste of a huge opportunity. Remember, that you learned your first language by instinct, rather than by study. Look at study abroad programs as an opportunity to have learn by study plus instinct! That's something you can do at any level!

Hola todos, The PDF has been updated to fix some typo mistakes. Please download a new copy to see the corrections! :)

Hola. Disfruté mucho esta lección! Y tengo una pregunta sobre lo que dijo Liliana durante su charla: "Lo más que me gustara, no podía levantarme..." Siempre quiero decir algo así pero no sé exactamente como hacerlo. Es como decir en inglés: "No matter how much I like someone....?" Entonces, se puede decir? "Lo más que me invite a cenar, no voy. Le diré un número de teléfono falso!" Y no, nunca le he dado a nadie un numero de teléfono falso. Pero no me acuerdo de tener una oportunidad de hacerlo, como Liliana.

me gustaría saber mas sobre ese "te" que se usan en "el verdadero" español que no es reflexivo. (te la vuelvas a encontrar) Tiene un otro ejemplo?

Docmolly I said "por mas que me gustara alguien no podía levantarme...l". This pattern you can use it with other things "por mas que me gustara comer picante no podía porque me duele el estomago". "por mas que me gustan esas botas no puedo comprarlas son muy caras". Kikuyu "te lo digo" I am telling you, "te hizo llorar" he made you cry. This are some examples.

Gracias Liliana por esa respuesta tan rapida!

kikuyu, Ah, the non-reflexive uses of the reflexive marker... First of all, I should tell you that this is not usually talked about academically until 400 level university grammar classes. In fact, if a teacher doesn't have a background in linguistics, s/he may be hesitant to teach this structure (most university level Spanish instructors are literature majors, rather than linguists). But I digress. Compare:

• Comí toda una pizza. I ate a whole pizza. No surprise indicated, maybe it was an individual sized pizza, whatever.
• Me comí toda una pizza. I ate me a whole pizza! The sense is that I did it unexpectedly fast; I gobbled up a whole pizza.

This may or may not be the same thing that's happening with ir and irse ("to go" vs. "to take off") or creer and creerse ("to believe" vs. "to kid one's self"). In each case, the reflexive version has a slightly modified meaning, a meaning that doesn't have anything to do with being reflexive. This is not something that is easily systematized, so my advice is to think of the reflexive versions as whole different verbs. So volver a encontrar means "to see someone again", think of volverse a encontrar as "to bump into someone again."

J.P.Estoy muy contenta de tener estos ejemplos adicionales. Muchos Muchos Gracias!

¡para servirte!

Hola todos. Me gusta mucho este lección. Yo creo que yo nunca dío un numero falso a alguién, pero es posible. Usualmente dijo que no quiera dar mi numero de teléfono. JP cuando recibi un numéro nuevo necisite escribir el numero al dentro de mi teléfono si no me olvide.

No me recuerdo de que he dado un número de telefono falso. Generalmente yo pedia el número de teléfono.

paulohenriques Y a ti te han dado un teléfono falso?

esta aquí es una buenissima sistema para aprender! muchas gracias Liliana y JP!

I don't know what I have done but I seem to have lost my on-line spanish - english dictionary! When I click on the link in my favorites I get the following "Welcome to Microsoft (R), Windows NT (R) Option Pack." I wonder if someone could tell me the original link so that I can put it in again. I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem or is it just me?

pussycat, I use WordReference, and I was seeing that Microsoft page as well! Then I would look over at Esti's screen and she was using WordReference just fine! So I'm not sure what's going on.... I'll try to find out...

Hello JP, I used the WordReference link you gave me and then saved it again. I had to over-ride the link that was already in my favorites. Anyway it seems to be working fine now. Many thanks.