Archive:Spanish/Basics

Chapter 1 (The Basics)

Greetings

• Buenos días. - Good morning.
• Buenas noches. - Good evening.
• Buenas tardes. - Good afternoon.
• Hola. - Hello.
• ¿Como se llama? - What is your name?
• Me llamo... - My name is...
• Encantado(a). - Delighted.
• Igualmente. - Likewise.
• Mucho gusto. - Pleased to meet you.
• Señor (Sr.) - sir, Mr.
• Señora (Sra.) - madam, Mrs.
• Señorita (Srta.) - miss, Ms.
• ¿Como estás? - How are you? (familiar)
• ¿Como está usted? - How are you? (formal)
• ¿Qué pasa? - What's happening?
• ¿Qué tal? - How are you?
• ¿Y tú? - And you? (familiar)
• ¿Y usted? - And you? (formal)
• bien - well
• nada - nothing
• regular - regular, okay
• gracias - thank you
• Adiós. - Good-bye.
• Hasta luego. - See you later.
• Hasta mañana. - See you tomorrow.

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Note

-Remember that in Latin American Spanish, "ll" is pronounced as "y" (e.g. tortilla).

-Remember that letters in parentheses are used by females while those without are masculine.

Grammar (Tú/ Usted [Ud.])

In Spanish, there are two ways to say "you." Tú is used when talking to someone you know, such as family, friends, or pets. Usted (abbrieviated Ud.) is used in formal events, such as talking to a teacher, someone who you don't know well, or a person who has a high title, such as a police officer, etc.

Time Phrases

• ¿Qué hora es? - What time is it?
• Es la una. - It's one o' clock.
• Son las dos. - It's two o' clock.
• Son las tres y cuarto. - It's 3:15.
• Son las cuatro y media. - It's 4:30.
• Son las seis menos cuarto. - It's 5:45.

Numbers

• cero - zero (0)
• uno - one (1)
• dos - two (2)
• tres - three (3)
• cuatro - four (4)
• cinco - five (5)
• seis - six (6)
• siete - seven (7)
• ocho - eight (8)
• nueve - nine (9)
• diez - ten (10)
• once - eleven (11)
• doce - twelve (12)
• trece - thirteen (13)
• catorce - fourteen (14)
• quince - fifteen (15)
• dieciséis - sixteen (16)
• diecisiete - seventeen (17)
• dieciocho - eighteen (18)
• diecinueve - nineteen (19)
• veinte - twenty (20)
• veintiuno - twenty-one (21)
• treinta - thirty (30)
• treinta y uno - thirty-one (31)
• cuarenta - forty (40)
• cincuenta - fifty (50)
• sesenta - sixty (60)
• setenta - seventy (70)
• ochenta - eighty (80)
• noventa - ninety (90)
• cien - one hundred (100)

El cuerpo (The body)

• cabeza - head
• ojo - eye
• nariz - nose
• boca - mouth
• brazo - arm
• mano - hand
• dedo - finger
• estómago - stomach
• pierna - leg
• pie - foot
• Me duele... - My...hurts.

School objects

• bolígrafo - pen
• carpeta - folder
• cuaderno - notebook
• estudiante - student
• hoja de papel - sheet of paper
• lápiz - pencil
• libro - book
• profesor, profesora - teacher (male, female)
• sala de clases - classroom

Dialect note

-El and La both mean the in Spanish. El is the masculine form and words that use el usually end in -o. La is the feminine form and word that use la usually end in -a and always in -ción. Some nouns have no gender and can be use as alternatively, such as estudiante, which can be used to determine as the student as el estudiante or la estudiante. Examples of nouns opposite in gender are la mano and el agua.

-Some Spanish speakers use local dialects, for example, in central Mexico salón de clases is used alternatively as sala de clases and mastro(a) as profesor(a).

Calendar

• año - year
• día - day
• mes - month
• semana - week
• ¿Qué día es hoy? - What day is today?
• ¿Cúal es la fecha? - What is the date?
• Es el...de... - It's the...of.
• Es el primero de... - It's the first of...
• hoy - today
• mañana - tomorrow

Days

• lunes - Monday
• martes - Tuesday
• miércoles - Wednesday
• jueves - Thursday
• viernes - Friday
• sábado - Saturday
• domingo - Sunday

Months

• enero - January
• febrero - February
• marzo - March
• abril - April
• mayo - May
• junio - June
• julio - July
• agosto - August
• septiembre - September
• octubre - October
• noviembre - November
• deciembre - December

Cultural note

• The first letters of months and days in Spanish and many other European languages is always lowercase except at the beginning of a sentence.

• The Aztecs of Ancient Mexico developed a calendar that was discovered near Mexico City, along with numerous of other historic sites, including pyramids and tombs.

Aztec calendar

Other words

• ¿Cúantos(as)? - How many?
• en - in
• hay - there is, there are
• por favor - please
• ¿Cómo se dice...? - How do you say...?
• Se dice... - You say...

Alphabet

• A - a
• B - be
• C - ce
• D - de
• E - e
• F - efe
• G - ge
• H - hache
• I - i
• J - jota
• K - ka
• L - ele
• M - eme
• N - ene
• Ñ - eñe
• O - o
• P - pe
• Q - cu
• R - ere
• S - ese
• T - te
• U - u
• V - ve
• W - doble ve
• X - equis
• Y - i griega
• Z - zeta
• RR - erre (not part of the alphabet)
• ¿Cómo se escribe? - How is...spelled?
• Se escribe... - It's spelled...
• ¿Qué quiere decir...? - What does this mean?
• Quiere decir... - It means...

Weather

• ¿Qué tiempo hace? - What's the weather like?
• Hace calor. - It's hot.
• Hace frío. - It's cold.
• Hace sol. - It's sunny.
• Hace viento. - It's windy.
• Llueve. - It's rainy.
• Nieva. - It's snowy.
• estación - season
• invierno - winter
• primavera - spring
• verano - summer
• otoño - autumn (Fall)
• temperatura - temperature
• grados - degrees

Country focus (México)

Mexico (Spanish: México) is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the North Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico is a federation comprising thirty-one states and a federal district, the capital Mexico City, whose metropolitan area is one of the world's most populous.

Map of Mexico

Covering almost 2 million square kilometers, Mexico is the fifth-largest country in the Americas by total area and the 14th largest independent nation in the world. With an estimated population of 109 million, it is the 11th most populous country and the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.

As a regional power and the only Latin American member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) since 1994, Mexico is firmly established as an upper middle-income country.

File:Mexico DF City.jpg

Mexico City is home to 8,609,347 people, it is the 9th largest city in the world, but is one of the most crowded, with 5,626 people per sq km.

Mexico is the 12th largest economy in the world by GDP by purchasing power parity. The economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners. Despite being considered an emerging world power, the uneven distribution of income and the increase in insecurity are issues of concern.

Mexican culture reflects the complexity of the country's history through the blending of pre-Hispanic civilizations and the culture of Spain, imparted during Spain's 300-year colonization of Mexico. Exogenous cultural elements mainly from the United States have been incorporated into Mexican culture. As was the case in most Latin American countries, when Mexico became an independent nation, it had to slowly create a national identity, being an ethnically diverse country in which, for the most part, the only connecting element amongst the newly independent inhabitants was Catholicism.

Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City at night, with the Angel of Independence.

The Porfirian era (el Porfiriato), in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, was marked by economic progress and peace. After four decades of civil unrest and war, Mexico saw the development of philosophy and the arts, promoted by President Díaz himself. Since that time, though accentuated during the Mexican Revolution, cultural identity had its foundation in the mestizaje, of which the indigenous (i.e. Amerindian) element was the core. In light of the various ethnicities that formed the Mexican people, José Vasconcelos in his publication La Raza Cósmica (The Cosmic Race) (1925) defined Mexico to be the melting pot of all races (thus extending the definition of the mestizo) not only biologically but culturally as well. This exalting of mestizaje was a revolutionary idea that sharply contrasted with the idea of a superior pure race prevalent in Europe at the time.

The famous Guadalajara Cathedral, a symbol of Mexico

Factbox:

• Official Language: Spanish
• Other Languages: 62 other Native languages
• Capital: Mexico City (Ciudad de México, México D.F.)
• Government: Democracy
• Area: 1,972,550 sq km (761,606 sq mi) (15th)
• Population: 106,682,500 (2008) (11th)
• Religion: Christianity 95% (mainly Catholic), Non-religious 2.5%, Buddhism 0.1%, other 2.4% (mainly traditional Mayan or Aztec beliefs)
• Human Development: 0.829 (HIGH, 52nd)
• Independence: September 27, 1821
• Currency: Mexican peso

The ruins of Palenque, an Ancient Mayan city that was abandoned by the time Spanish explorers landed in Mexico.