Your Account | About Us | Contact Us US Toll Free 1-800-798-8318 Outside the US 1-310-862-1460

Learn Spanish Order Rocket Spanish Free Spanish Course Rocket Spanish Reviews

Rocket Spanish 6 Day Course! Introductions Explained (text lesson)

Bienvenidos, welcome to Day 4 of the Rocket Spanish 6 Day course! This lesson will show you how the questions and responses that you learned in the previous lesson are written down. Ultimately, being reliant on written Spanish (as opposed to the spoken sounds) can slow you down when it comes to conversing naturally. Thats why I designed my course to teach you spoken language first, with the written language as a backup. Questions for Clarification Many people need to visualize a word in their heads before they can accurately repeat and remember it. Thats why they often want to know:

Cmo se escribe?

Hows it written?

If youre going to understand the answer, though, youll need to be familiar with the Spanish alphabet which could be tricky at this stage in your learning! So it might just be easier for now to ask, Repite, por favor. Repeat, please.

Or, you may need to ask, Ms despacio, por favor. More slowly, please.

Most people will be happy to clarify what they said for you, so never feel embarrassed about asking! Introductions Heres the conversation that you learned last lesson. A friend has just introduced me and Amy, telling her, Te presento a mi amigo, Mauricio. I like to introduce you to my friend, Mauricio. I respond, Mauricio: Amy: Mauricio: Amy: Mauricio: Amy: Mauricio: Amy: Encantado. El gusto es mo. Cmo te llamas? Me llamo Amy. De dnde eres? Soy de los Estados Unidos. Hablas espaol muy bien. Solo un poco. Estoy aprendiendo.

This conversation is full of great questions that youre sure to encounter if you do any traveling to a Spanish-speaking country. Here is the conversation a second time, except in English. Mauricio: Amy: Mauricio: Amy: Mauricio: Amy: Mauricio: Amy: Delighted. The pleasure is mine. Whats your name? My name is Amy. Where are you from? I am from the United States. You speak Spanish very well. Only a little. I am learning.

What Do You Say after Hello? If youre going to memorize one word to use during introductions, encantado is a good one to pick. Its fast, easy, and sounds a lot like its English equivalent, enchanted, to boot! If youre going to use encantado properly, you need to learn one rather awkward aspect of Spanish grammar. In Spanish, everythingfrom a man to a woman from a pen to a cup of coffee from light to lightninghas a gender! In other words, the words for these things are either masculine or feminine. Take a look at these examples. nio nia perro vaca libro mesa boy masculine girl feminine dog masculine cow feminine book masculine table feminine

Note that in these examples, the words that end in o are masculine, while the words that end in a are feminine. This is a good general rule to remember at this stage in your learning. But words for things arent the only words with a gender. Describing words (or adjectives) have to reflect the gender of the thing they describe. That means that if you want to say, Im delighted to meet you, the word delighted in Spanish will be different according to whether youre a man or a woman. If youre a man, say If youre a woman, say Encantado. Encantada.

If youre feeling a bit more confident, try the following: El gusto es mo. Whats Your Name? There are several ways to ask someones name is Spanish. The simplest is Cmo te llamas? Whats your name? The pleasure is mine.

Many beginning students make the mistake of thinking that this is a direct translation of the question in English. Its not! This question actually means: Cmo te llamas? How do you call yourself?

This sort of thing happens in Spanish a lot. To convey the English meaning of a question, youll have to express it in a way that will seem unnatural at first. (Some people think of it as the difference between modern English and Shakespearean English!) But dont worry with practice, the Spanish way of saying something will soon become so natural that you wont be able to remember a time when it seemed strange. Do you remember the explanation in the second part of this course about formal and informal modes of address, such as Cmo ests? versus Cmo est usted? Well, the same difference applies to the question for asking someones name. Cmo te llamas? Cmo se llama? Informal, used with peers, very casual and friendly Formal, used with people to whom you want to show respect and politeness

To answer this question, you will say, Me llamo (or, more literally, I call myself) Looking back at the conversation you learned earlier, heres what it will look like. Mauricio: Cmo te llamas? Amy: Me llamo Amy. Where are You From? Now, things are starting to get even more difficult. Remember how I said that in Spanish, words have to be juggled around a bit? The question, Where are you from? is one of those cases. In Spanish, youll actually ask: From where are you? De dnde eres? My name is

The word de means from, while dnde means where. If you can memorize this question, youll also be able to ask two other enormously useful questions.

Dnde? De dnde?

Where? From where?

For example, someone may tell you, Look at that bird! You can respond, Dnde? Where? Eres is a rather strange word. It comes from one of the two to be verbs in Spanish, ser. The other to be verb is estar. Youve seen estar already: remember the question, Cmo ests? How are you? You will learn more about the differences between ser and estar as you study Spanish further. For now, just note that there is more than one way to say you are. The question, Where are you from? can be asked in two different ways: one formal, one informal. De dnde eres? De dnde es usted? Your answer will start Soy de Im from Informal, friendly, casual Formal, respectful, polite

If youre traveling abroad, your answer will probably look something like this: Soy de los Estados Unidos. Soy de Inglaterra. Soy de Australia. Im from the United States Im from England. Im from Australia.

If someone closer to home is asking you the question, they probably want to know what city or state youre from. You can say something like Soy de Nueva York. Soy de Chicago. Soy de California. Im from New York. Im from Chicago. Im from California.

How Much Spanish do You Know? In this ideal situation, youll be speaking Spanish so well by this point that your Spanishspeaking conversation partner will think youre fluent. Hopefully, youll hear this comment: Informal: Formal: Hablas espaol muy bien. Usted habla espaol muy bien.

You speak Spanish very well. Of course you do! Dont you? If you dont think you speak Spanish very well, or if you want to make sure that the person doesnt assume that you know more than you do, you can use one of these useful phrases: Estoy aprendiendo. Solo hablo un poco. No s mucho. Hablo mejor ingles. Im learning. I only speak a little. I dont know much. I speak English better.

If, on the other hand, your conversation partner doesnt tell you that you speak Spanish very wellin fact, you may find that you simply cant understand what your conversation partner is sayinghere are a few useful phrases to have on hand. No entiendo. Lo siento. No hablo espaol. No hablo espaol muy bien. Hablas ingles? I dont understand. (*see note below*) Im sorry. I dont speak Spanish. I dont speak Spanish very well. Do you speak English? (casual)

You may have already learned or heard one way to say that you dont understand in Spanish. Many people think that it is correct to say, No comprendo. This sentence is grammatically correct, but it is not commonly used for this context. Would you say in English, I dont comprehend? If so, by all means go ahead and use no comprendo. If not, stick to, No entiendo. By the way, did you notice that the word for Spanish is espaol? It is very similar to the word for the country of Spain, which is Espaa. The word for English is ingles. Espaol Ingles Spanish (Espaa, Spain) English ( Inglaterra, England)

Well, thats it for todays lesson. In your next email, youll receive the final audio lesson for this course. Youll learn how to introduce yourself to someone in Spanish, how to say where youre from, and how to explain just how much Spanish you know.

Hasta luego

Mauricio Evlampieff Rocket Spanish

P.S. Don't forget to check out my special bonus offer only available for 6 Day Course subscribers: http://www.rocketlanguages.com/spanish/6day_special.php

Previous Newsletters 01 | 02 | 03 Learn a New Language Today!

Learn Spanish Learn Sign Language Learn Korean Learn Japanese Learn Italian Learn Hindi Learn German Learn French Learn Chinese Learn Arabic Aprende Ingls

Rocket Spanish

Free Spanish Course Beginners Spanish Course Intermediate Spanish Course Advanced Spanish Course Rocket Spanish Reviews Learn Spanish Resources Rocket Spanish Community

About Rocket Languages

About us Affiliates

Awards Careers Link to us Press Privacy Policy Terms of Use

Need Help?

Phone us Email us FAQ Search Site Map Gift Vouchers Your Account 01-20-11

Libros Media Ltd. - Copyright 2004-2011 USA: 8721 Santa Monica Blvd #1229, Los Angeles, CA 90069-4057, USA | Phone: +1-310862-1460 Asia/Pacific: P.O. Box 2873, Level 2 - 126 Cashel Street, Christchurch 8011, New Zealand | Phone: +64-3-377-8305