Spanish in a Minute!

What happens when we combine DE + EL and DE + A. Do you remember the prepositions DE and A? Sí, lejos DE la ciudad. Listen to what happens if CIUDAD is replaced by a masculine word: Lejos DEL centro, lejos DEL museo. What would have been DE EL has become DEL! Al lado DEL parque, enfrente DEL cine. Now, the same happens with A and EL. AL. Voy AL hospital. Está AL lado DEL río. There were two in that one: AL and DEL. More please! Al lado del bar, al lado del supermercado.

Learn about three important prepositions - EN, DE and A. Let's have a look at some of those little words that sit in between. Some are called prepositions. Here are three: EN - IN (en la ciudad, en el campo, en mi bolsillo). DE - OF or FROM, (lejos DE la Universidad (Far from the University), soy de Argentina (I'm from Argentina)). A - TO or AT (a la derecha, (at right / to the right), a la izquierda, (at left / to the left))

Today we're going to look at ways of saying where something is located. We learnt in Episode 27 to ask or say IF there was something, using the word HAY. To say WHERE it is, we use the verb ESTAR. ¿Por favor, dónde está la estación? If it was very close-by, the answer would be: ¡Está muy cerca! That's for one place or object. For more than one thing: ¿Dónde están los pasaportes? - Están en el hotel. ¿Dónde estás tú? - estoy en Melbourne, Australia

Ways of saying there is and there are. In Spanish we have a neat little word that means THERE IS, or THERE ARE, are you ready? HAY. It's that simple. There is a restaurant next door: Hay un restaurante al lado. Or, there are many taxis around here: hay muchos taxis por aquí. Great, isn't it! You see it's good for singular and plural. And questions too! ¿Hay un teléfono? - sí, ¡hay! … Don't forget plural questions: ¿Hay unos restaurantes? - Sí, ¡hay muchos!

Ways of saying 'you': You may have noticed that there are several ways to say YOU in Spanish. Let's go over them to make sure. To talk about a SINGLE YOU in a FAMILIAR way, we use: Tú, o VOS en Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and parts of Central America. RESPECTFUL YOU: usted. In Spain two forms for PLURAL YOU are used in a FAMILIAR way: Vosotros (boys and mixed), and vosotras (girls). The second form is used in Spain in RESPECTFUL situations: Ustedes. In Hispanic America PLURAL YOU, both FAMILIAR and RESPECTFUL: Ustedes

Words used in the city: City - la ciudad, Street - la calle, Shops - las tiendas, Metro or underground, - el metro, el subterraneo, o el subte en Argentina, Car - el coche, el carro, el auto, Bank - el banco, Supermarket - el supermercado, Park - el parque, Hotel - el hotel, Station - la estación, So many people!, ¡Hay tanta gente!

Today we're going to look at IR verbs: I live - yo vivo, You live - tú vives, Respectful you/he/she lives - usted/él/ella vive, We live - nosotros/nosotras vivimos, You (all) live - vosotros/vosotras vivís, Respectful you all/they live: ustedes/ellos/ellas viven

PLURALS. To form a plural in Spanish, we add an S. One street is: una calle, Two streets are: dos calles. Here are some more: bicycle/bicycles - bicicleta/bicicletas, car/cars - carro/carros. If a word ends in a consonant, we add ES, for example: tren/trenes, bar/bares. Some words are always plural: trousers, scissors - pantalones, tijeras

THE, A, AN, SOME. To say THE (for singular or plural nouns), we can choose from: el, la, los, las. All of these mean THE: EL banco, LA farmacia, LOS bancos, LAS farmacias. So what about the word A or AN? - UN o UNA. UN banco, UNA farmacia. What about the word SOME? As SOME is the plural of A, we would use UNOS or UNAS. Unos cafés, unas tiendas

Let's look at personal pronouns: I - yo, You (one person) - tú, He - él, She - ella, You (formal) - usted, We, for boys or mixed company - nosotros, We, for girls - nosotras, You (all), for boys and mixed company - vosotros, You (all), for girls - vosotras (vosotros and vosotras are used only in Spain), They, for boys and mixed company - ellos, They, for girls - ellas, You (all), in Hispanic America - ustedes (in Spain, ustedes is used for formal situations)