Colloquial Spanish
eBook - ePub

Colloquial Spanish

The Complete Course for Beginners

  1. 318 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Colloquial Spanish

The Complete Course for Beginners

About this book

Colloquial Spanish: The Complete Course for Beginners has been carefully developed by an experienced teacher to provide a step-by-step course to Spanish as it is written and spoken today.

Combining a clear, practical and accessible style with a methodical and thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Spanish in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required.

Colloquial Spanish is exceptional; each unit presents a wealth of grammatical points that are reinforced with a wide range of exercises for regular practice. A full answer key, a grammar summary, bilingual glossaries and English translations of dialogues can be found at the back as well as useful vocabulary lists throughout.

Key features include:

  • A clear, user-friendly format designed to help learners progressively build up their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills
  • Jargon-free, succinct and clearly structured explanations of grammar
  • An extensive range of focused and dynamic supportive exercises
  • Realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of narrative situations
  • Helpful cultural points explaining the customs and features of life in Spain
  • An overview of the sounds of Spanish

Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Spanish is an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Spanish.

Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

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Yes, you can access Colloquial Spanish by Untza Otaola Alday in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Languages & Linguistics & Spanish Language. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Lesson One

Encuentros

Meeting people

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In this lesson we will look at:
‱ simple introductions, enquiries and greetings/replies
‱ gender (masculine and feminine)
‱ personal pronouns
‱ basic adjective forms and use
‱ the verbs ser and estar
Throughout this course you will see that many words in Spanish are similar to English words. There are others where you will be able to guess the meaning from the root. To begin with, see if you can match the following countries to their nationalities:
CountriesNationalities
Américaargentino/a
Franciainglés/a
Brasilespañol/a
Méjicofrancés/a
Inglaterrabrasileño/a
Argentinamejicano/a
Españaamericano/a
Australiacanadiense
Canadaaustraliano/a

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Dialogue 1

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Meeting the family (Audio 1:4)

Laura, a Spanish student, decides to spend some time with a Spanish family who were recommended by a friend. She goes to meet the family.
LauraÂĄHola! Buenos dĂ­as. Soy Laura.
Teresa¥Claro! Hola Laura, yo soy Teresa, la hermana de Carmen. Pero pasa, por favor. ¿Cómo estås? ¿Qué tal el viaje?
LauraMuy bien, gracias.
TeresaÂżEstĂĄs cansada?
LauraUn poco.
LauraHello! Good morning. I’m Laura.
TeresaOf course! Hello Laura, I’m Teresa, Carmen’s sister.
Come in. How are you? How was the journey?
LauraVery good, thank you.
TeresaAre you tired?
LauraA little bit.

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Vocabulary

holahello
buenos dĂ­asgood morning
soy(I) am
¡claro! laof course! (literally ‘clear’)
lathe (feminine)
la hermanasister
deof
perobut
pasacome in
por favorplease
cĂłmohow
estĂĄs(you) are
qué talwhat about
elthe (masculine)
el viajejourney
muyvery
bienwell
graciasthanks
cansada/otired
un pocoa little

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Language points

Introductions using ser ‘to be’

You may have noticed from the first dialogue that there is no need to use the subject pronoun (e.g. I, you, etc.) in Spanish. The ending of the verb tells the listener who you are referring to.
Soy LauraI am Laura
ÂżEres Carmen?Are you Carmen?
Es JuanHe is John
ÂżCĂłmo estĂĄs?How are you?
However, if you want to emphasize about whom, or to whom you are talking, you should use the full form. That is, use the subject pronoun (i.e. yo, tĂș, Ă©l, ella, nosotros/as, vosotros/as, ellos/as).
Yo soy la hermana de CarmenI am Carmen’s sister
TĂș eres Carmen, Âżno?You are Carmen, aren’t you?
Él es el hermano de MaríaHe is María’s brother
Ella es la madre de CarmenShe is Carmen’s mother
Nosotros somos los padres de LolaWe are Lola’s...

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Halftitle
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. About this book
  7. 1. Encuentros | Meeting people
  8. 2. ÂżDe dĂłnde eres? | Where are you from?
  9. 3. ÂĄTaxi! | Taking a cab
  10. 4. Direcciones | Directions
  11. 5. Viajando | Travelling around
  12. 6. Comiendo en un restaurante | Eating out
  13. 7. Una visita al médico | A visit to the doctor
  14. 8. Buscando piso | Flat-hunting
  15. 9. Al teléfono | On the phone
  16. 10. En la oficina | At the office
  17. 11. Problemas familiares | Family problems
  18. 12. Escribiendo a casa | Writing home
  19. 13. Un robo | A robbery
  20. 14. Esperanzas para el futuro | Hopes for the future
  21. 15. Una invitaciĂłn | An invitation
  22. Ready-reference grammar
  23. Key to exercises
  24. Spanish-English glossary
  25. English-Spanish glossary
  26. Index