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Directions in Spanish

Spanish warm up!

Before we beginn with the lesson, I want to prove to you that you already can understand a lot in Spanish just by relating what you see and hear to your knowledge of English, your mother language and other languages that you might know.

I have written a simple text in Spanish for you to learn some expressions, dont worry, you will find a translation of the words you need right next to it.

Focus on understanding the meaning, not translating word by word!

A: ¡Disculpa! Estoy perdido. ¿cómo llego a la estación de trenes?

B: ¡Hola! La estación de trenes queda cerca de aquí. Sigue derecho por esta calle, luego, en la esquina gira a la derecha y camina 50 metros. En el semáforo gira a la izquierda y está allí, entre la oficina de correos y el parque.

A: ¡Gracias! Ah, no tengo dinero… ¿dónde puedo
encontrar un banco cerca?

B: En la estación hay un banco, pero no es conveniente. Si en el semáforo cruzas la calle y caminas 5 minutos, en la esquina hay un banco internacional.

A: ¡Vale! ¡Muchísimas gracias!

B: No hay problema. ¡Buen viaje!

Useful words:

disculpa–  excuse me

quedar– to be located

derecho- Straight ahead

esquina-  the corner

caminar– to walk

semáforo–  the traffic light

encontrar–  to find

cerca–  close

cruzar–  to go across

hay–  there is

Buen viaje –  have a nice trip

Today’s lesson!

We need to be able to give and ask for directions whenever we are traveling in an hispanic country.

So, I have prepared for you some of the most common words and prhases for you to usein this context.

¡Vamos! 

 

Calling someone’s attention

The first thing you need to do is to make people notice you need their help. For that we can say:

Disculpa

Let’s break that down:

Disculpa significa “excuse me” in a casual way. (the conjugation ending in “a” signals the use of the 2nd person singular in an informal context)

It can be used both, to call for someones attention or to excuse yourself for making a mistake. 

To be even more polite you can use the “Usted” form, which would be “disculpe“

Pronunciation notes:

In this case the stress is in the middle syllable. So we say /dis.’kul.pa/

Note: everything written in “<…>” is an orthographic transcription, meaning it is exactly the way we spell and write that word or phrase. Everything written in “/…/” is a phonetic transcription, which means it is the way we pronounce it. In the phonetic transcription we separate the syllables with a dot “.” and we mark the strongest syllable with an apostrophe ” … ‘ … “.  So <hablar> is pronounced /a.‘blar/

Perdona

Let’s break that down:

Perdona also means “excuse me” but, at least in my opinion, it sounds a bit old fashioned. 

“Perdonar” means to “forgive someone”, and when you want to apologize you say “perdón“, don’t confuse those 2.

As before, “perdona” is casual. If you want to be polite you have to say “perdone (Usted)“

Pronunciation notes:

In this case the stress also falls in the middle syllable, so we say /per.’do.na/

Asking for directions

1. ¿Dónde queda/está + definite
article + place?

Let’s break that down:

¿Dónde queda el baño?
¿Dónde está la oficina de correos?
¿Dónde queda la estación?

Grammar notes:

“quedar” (to be located) and “estar”
(to be) mean the same in this context.
The first one is only used to talk about
the location of places, the second one
can be used to ask about the location
of any object or person.

2. ¿Cómo llego a + definite article
(el/la) + place?

Let’s break that down:

¿Cómo llego a la catedral?
¿Cómo llego a la calle Libertad?
¿Cómo llego al teatro? (a + el = al)

Explanation:

This means “how do I get to…?” and
instead of getting an address or a point
of reference as an answer, people will
indicate you exaclty which way to go to
reach your destination.

3.¿Dónde queda + indefinite article
(un/una) + place + cerca?

¿Dónde queda una farmacia cerca?
¿Dónde queda un banco cerca?

Notes:

You can use this phrase to ask if there is a store, bank, park.. or any kind of place close to your standing point. The indefinite article means that you are open to possibilities and not looking for a especific place. “where can I find a … close here?”

4. ¿Cuál es la dirección de + place?

¿Cuál es la dirección del hotel Continental?

                (de + el = del)

¿Cuál es la dirección de la oficina?

Notes:

If you ask this question, rather than indications, you will get a proper address with a street’s name, a ouse number and so on. It won’t be useful if you are lost.

5. ¿Dónde puedo encontrar +
place/object?

¿Dónde puedo encontrar un baño?

¿Dónde puedo encontrar una tienda de ropa tradicional?

¿Dónde puedo encontrar una camiseta de “I love Spanish”?

Notes:

This literally means “where can I find
a…?” and it can be use for both, places
and objects. The use of the definite or
indefinite article depends on the
context.

Directions

Directions in Spanish

“Go straight”. Careful with the O in the end, if you change it for an A you change the meaning! 

“Turn right”. A similar word ending with an A means “the right side”

“Turn left”. “girar” means to turn, you can also say “gira 90° (grados)”

“Cross the street”. You can chance “la calle” for “el puente, la avenida, el parque…etc”

“It is there”You want to finish by giving people a reference point to make sure they arrived to the right place.!

Points of reference

Directions in Spanish

Examples:

La estación queda frente al banco.

Estoy en la catedral de Munich.

Mi oficina queda en el centro de la ciudad.

Quiero ir al cine, ¿queda cerca?

Vamos a la estación de trenes.

La oficina de correos queda detrás de la farmacia.

La catedral está al lado de la oficina de la información turística.

El banco está entre la farmacia y la panadería.

Directions in Spanish
Directions in Spanish

 

Ahora, vamos a practicar pronunciación.

(now, let’s practice the pronunciation)

 

¡Disculpe!

Normal

Lento (slow)

¡Perdona!

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Dónde queda el baño?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Dónde está la oficina de correos?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Dónde queda la estación?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Cómo llego a la catedral?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Cómo llego a la calle Libertad?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Cómo llego al teatro?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Dónde queda una farmacia cerca?

 

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Dónde queda un banco cerca?

 

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿dónde queda la estación de la policía?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Cuál es la dirección del hotel Continental? 

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Cuál es la dirección de la oficina?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Dónde puedo encontrar un baño?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Dónde puedo encontrar una tienda de ropa tradicional?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Dónde puedo encontrar una camiseta de “I love Spanish”?

Normal

Lento (slow)

La estación queda frente al banco.

Normal

Lento (slow)

La oficina de correos queda detrás de la farmacia.

Normal

Lento (slow)

La catedral está al lado de la oficina de información turística.

Normal

Lento (slow)

El banco está entre la farmacia y la panadería.

Normal

Lento (slow)

Quiero ir al cine, ¿queda cerca?

Normal

Lento (slow)

Now…

¡Quiero saber de tí!

(I wanna know about you)

Have you ever had to use a phrase like these ones?

Tell me in the comments 😀

Get this lesson on PDF here:

Get PDF direcciones en español

Wanna practice on your phone?

Download the Anki Deck for this lesson here!

Wait… You don’t know what Anki is?!

It’s my favorite app for memoriting absolutely everything and it’s for FREE (for android… sorry IOS people ;( )

Check it out here

Do you have any questions?

Leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them promptly.

See you on the next lesson!

spanish emergency

Spanish for emergencies

,

Spanish warm up!

Before we beginn with the lesson, I want to prove to you that you already can understand a lot in Spanish just by relating what you see and hear to your knowledge of English, your mother language and other languages that you might know.

I have written a simple text in Spanish for you to learn some expressions, dont worry, you will find a translation of the words you need right next to it.

Focus on understanding the meaning, not translating word by word!

¡Es una emergencia!

A veces, cuando viajamos suceden cosas que no esperamos y necesitamos pedir ayuda.

En español hay muchas maneras de hacerlo, por eso en esta lección te voy a enseñar algunas de las formas más comunes de pedir ayuda.

¡Vamos a ello!

 

Useful words:

emergencia–  emergency

necesitar– to need

pedir ayuda –to ask for help

por eso –  for that reason

te voy a– here: I am going to…

enseñar–  to teach

comunes–  common

Today’s lesson!

Sometimes things don’t go the way we want to and we are forced to ask for help or react properly in the face of an emergency.

I have prepared for you some of the most useful phrases to deal with emergencies in the hispanic world, all of them divided in 3 stages:

1- Call people’s attention

2- Explain your situation

3- Make a request

¿Are you ready?

¡Vamos! 

 

Etapa 1

Llamar la atención de alguien – call someones attention

1. Disculpe

Let’s break that down:

Disculpe significa “excuse me” and it’s the most neutral and common way to call for someones attention.

It is conjugated according to the polite 2nd person singular “usted” wich is commonly used in South America, and rarely used in Spain (for being too polite in there).

If you don’t need to be polite or want to call a friends attention in a neutral way cou can say disculpa.

Pronunciation notes:

Make sure to intonate this word stressing the middle sylable. /dis.’CUL.pe/

Note: everything written in “<…>” is an orthographic transcription, meaning it is exactly the way we spell and write that word or phrase. Everything written in “/…/” is a phonetic transcription, which means it is the way we pronounce it. In the phonetic transcription we separate the syllables with a dot “.” and we mark the strongest syllable with an apostrophe ” … ‘ … “.  So <hablar> is pronounced /a.‘blar/

2. Ayuda

Let’s break that down:

Ayuda litteraly means “Help” and it is the right thing to shout if you find yourself in a life threatening or painful situation.

People will react to this immediately because they will understand that there is a very serious issue going on, so don’t use it lightly…. or you might upset someone.

 

Pronunciation notes:

Remember the sound of the Spanish <y>? 

It is very similar to the English sound on the word “you”!

3. Cuidado

Let’s break that down:

Cuidado means “careful” and it is what you say to someone to warn him or her of danger.

If you say this, remember to be loud and show some agitation, other way people might not take it seriously.

 

Grammar notes:

Nothing fancy on this one ^^

Etapa 2

Explica tu situación – explain your situation

4. Estoy perdido / estoy perdida

Let’s break that down:

“Estoy perdido” means “I am lost” and once you say it, peoples reaction would be either explaining a direction or taking you to the place you need to go.

Remember that perdido is an adjective, and in Spanish adjectives variate depending on the gender of the speaker… so, if it is a man talking he will say “perdidO”… and if it is a woman talking she will say “perdidA”

Examples:

¡Disculpe!… estoy perdido… ¿dónde está la estación?

5. No me siento bien

No me siento bien means “I am not feeling well” and it is what you say to express that you are experiencing some physical discomfort.

You probably thought about “estoy enfermo/a” but in this case, estoy enfermo would mean you have a condition that is somehow permanent, not that you need immediate help.

 

Grammar notes:

Sentirse bien / sentirse mal… are reflexive verbs and they are conjugated the same way we conjugate “llamarse”

(yo) me siento

(tú) te sientes

(él/ella) se siente

(nosotros) nos sentimos

(ustedes) se sienten

(vosotros) os sentís

(ellos) se sienten 

6. Es una emergencia

Es una emergenciameans “It is an emergency” and unless you give more information about the kind of emergency that you are… it might not be enough to make people help you.

So, if you use it try to combinate it with some of the other phrases from this lesson.  

 

Pronunciation notes:

Remember that in Spanish the combination <ge> sounds like <he> in English (like in the expression “hey”)

7. Necesito ayuda

Necesito ayuda means “I need help”. 

Just like before, you probably want to be more specific if you really want people to trust you enough to aid you. 

 

Pronunciation notes:

The combination <ce> in Spanish (south american Spanish) sounds like <se> so we would say    /ne.se.´si.to/

In Spain they would pronounce <ce> like the English <th> so it would be /ne.θe.si.to/

8. Me han robado (something)

Me han robado mi… means ” My …. has been stolen“. 

“robar” is the verb “to steal something” and in this situation we have it conjugated in past perfect. 

Me han robado mi teléfono (phone).

Me han robado la cartera (wallet).

Me han robado el bolso (purse/bag)

 

Pronunciation notes:

The “h” in <han> is completely mute, so we say /an/. }

The consonant R in the begining of a word is always strong in Spanish! so roll it babe!

9. He perdido mi (something)

He perdido mi… means ” I have lost my…“. 

“perder” is the verb “to lose something” and in this situation we also have it conjugated in past perfect. 

He perdido mi teléfono (phone).

He perdido mi cartera (wallet)

He perdido mi bolso (purse/bag)

 

Pronunciation notes:

 

In this case the consonant R is in the middle of a word so instead of rolling it, we just pronounce it with a tap and flap!

10. ¿Puedo usar su teléfono?

¿Puedo usar su teléfono? means ” May I use your phone“. 

The adjective “su” shows us that this is a formal way of speaking, keeping politeness to the highest.

If  you want to be unpolite you can say “¿puedo usar tu teléfono?”

Pronunciation notes:

 

Nothing fancy about this one ;D

11. ¿Dónde queda …(a place)?

¿Dónde queda la estación? means ” where is… the station“. 

“Quedar” is a verb that we use to talk about the location of unmovable things like buildings, offices, monuments and so on.

If  you want to ask about the location of something generic (including the things mentioned before), people, animals or small stuff… you can use the verb “estar”:

¿Dónde está la estación?

¿Dónde está el baño?

¿Dónde está Saru?

Pronunciation notes:

 

The combination <que> is pronounced /ke/, so we say /´don.de.´ke.da.la.es.ta.´sion/

12. ¡Llame a la policía!

Llame a la policíais an imperative sentence and means “call the police!“. 

Again, this is a polite way of asking (you should also say “por favor” in the end 😀 ).

If you want to be unpolite you can say “llama a la policía”

Pronunciation notes:

 

The combination <ll> is pronounced like <y> in the English word <you>

 

Ahora, vamos a practicar pronunciación.

(now, let’s practice the pronunciation)

 

¡Disculpe!

Normal

Lento (slow)

¡Ayuda!

Normal

Lento (slow)

¡Cuidado!

Normal

Lento (slow)

Estoy perdido

Normal

Lento (slow)

No me siento bien

Normal

Lento (slow)

Es una emergencia

Normal

Lento (slow)

Necesito ayuda

 

Normal

Lento (slow)

Me han robado el teléfono

Normal

Lento (slow)

He perdido mis llaves

 

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿Puedo usar su teléfono?

 

Normal

Lento (slow)

¿dónde queda la estación de la policía?

Normal

Lento (slow)

¡Llame a la policía!

Normal

Lento (slow)

Now…

¡Quiero saber de tí!

(I wanna know about you)

Have you ever had to use a phrase like these ones?

Tell me in the comments 😀

Wanna practice on your phone?

Download the Anki Deck for this lesson here!

Wait… You don’t know what Anki is?!

It’s my favorite app for memoriting absolutely everything and it’s for FREE (for android… sorry IOS people ;( )

Check it out here

Do you have any questions?

Leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them promptly.

See you on the next lesson!

poetry Spanish pronunciation

How to use poetry and music to practice your Spanish pronunciation

, ,

Poetry Spanish pronunciation

This time I will tell you how and why you should practice pronunciation and entonation with music and poetry. To go to the full pronunciation practice prepared with the poem on the video, click here (Te miro – by Karmelo Iribarren) 😀

Spanish reading practice!

Today I will talk to you about and adaptation I use of the “Shadowing method” to improve our pronunciation in Spanish and slowly reduce our foreign accent.

But first, a little reading comprehension

Focus on understanding the general meaning and the feeling of the poem:

El método Shadowing

Hay muchas técnicas y métodos para aprender y practicar idiomas. Sin embargo, en los métodos modernos, no se da mucha importancia a la pronunciación.

Por eso, casi siempre, terminamos el nivel básico, el intermedio y, a veces, hasta hablamos fluidamente pero seguimos teniendo un acento fuerte.

La técnica del Shadowing es una práctica que te ayudará a imitar la melodía, el ritmo, la entonación y los sonidos del español para hablar como un nativo.

¡Vamos a ello!

 

Useful words:

hay muchas – there are many

Sin embargo –  nevertheless

dar importancia – to give importance to something

casi siempre –  almost always

a veces – some times

hasta – even

fluidamente – fluently

seguir teniendo – to keep having

acento fuerte – a strong accent

te ayudará– it will help you

imitar– to imitate

el sonido – the sound

hablar como un nativo– to speak like a native

¡Vamos a ello! – let’s go!

How to do Shadowing to really improve your pronunciation

Step 1: Read and record yourself

So, once you have picked a poem or a song that you like (you can pick it based on its translation or ask a friend to recommend you one), the first thing you need to do is …

1. Print the text, pick up your phone and start recording yourself as you read it out loud.

Don’t try to do it perfectly at this point, simply read it naturally, the way you would do it if you were talking Spanish to someone without paying much attention to the pronunciation.

Why?

Well, ojos que no ven… corazón que no siente. (Eyes that can not see… heart that can not feel – Spanish saying)

Most of the time we don’t really hear ourselves while we talk, and especially in a foreign language, our brain tends to ignore our mistakes. So, this recording will help us move from a simple “karaoke” sessions to powerful pronunciation practices.

We need to recognize our mistakes to be able to improve them 😉

Step 2: listen and draw YOUR intonation

Now that we have our recording let’s get the text we printed and draw all over it…

2. Draw lines over the sentences following your intonation, if it goes up, down or stays flat. Also, mark the places where you pause or tend to go fast

Again, this step is just to recognize what makes us sound foreign, so don’t worry about the right way to do it.

How to use poetry and music to practice your Spanish pronunciation

Step 3: Find a native to read it for you

After that, It is time to ask our Latino friends, teachers, or any Hispanic to  send us a recording of the same text… It is important that you ask a person that you want to sound like!!

3. Ask a native to record the same text for you and compare your pronunciation lines with his or hers.

If you don’t know any Hispanic people, don’t worry, you can find readings of almost every poem in Youtube, you can ask natives in Apps like Hellotalk, Verbling, Italki or… ASK ME! 

😀 I will be happy to prepare a full pronunciation practice for you with any poem or text that you like, as long as you agree to share it with all the students on this website (Tell me in the comments)

Step 4: Shadow it regularly for a week

Finally, let’s do the shadowing!!

4. Listen to the native and repeat sentence by sentence. Record yourself every time and listen to adjust your pronunciation (focus intonation and rhythm)  

You can practice with the same poem or song every day for a week, just 5 to 10  minutes will do 😀 

Remember you don’t need to do the whole song or the whole poem each time, it is ok if you focus on some of your favorite lines or the ones that seem most difficult for you, but most importantly, be constant.

FULL pronunciation practice of "Te miro"

Do you want me to read your favorite story or poem?

Share them in the comments and I will do my best to prepare them promptly.

See you at the next practice!