This lesson was recorded on location in Lima, Peru.

¿Pues, quiénes son ustedes? (Who are you all?)

Soy Joseph. Trabajo en lo que la traducción. ¿Qué hacen ustedes?

JZ,

Thanks for the congrats! Hope you can kind time in your schedule to learn some Spanish! It doesn’t take long to learn just a little… and once you learn a little, you’d be surprised how much time you’ll have to learn more! Good to hear from you.

Saludos,
Joseph

Hmm… in the first post Joseph says “¿Qué hacen ustedes?” Needless to say, I don’t understand it. But when I see the word “usted” it suggests to me that you’re using “usted” form, which I haven’t really understood much about (my entire Spanish vocabulary consists of “soy”, “estoy”, “eres”, “estas” and “tortillas”). What would that sentence be in casual form? And what exactly is the first post en Inglese anway?

Max,

Glad you hear that you are learning with our lessons! The personal pronoun “usted” is a form of address. We use it for the third person singular: “¿cómo está usted? (how are you?); “¿qué hace usted?” (what do you do). This is the case if you’re talking to one person formally; however, when you are addressing more than one person formally, “ustedes” (in the plural) is used. “¿cómo están ustedes?” (how are you all?); “¿qué hacen ustedes?” (what do you all do?).

Also, remember that the plural form “ustedes” is used in Latin America for both formal and informal contexts. Latin Americans don’t use “vosotros”. So, while it may seem a little strange to you, it’s important to remember that it’s used all the time in the Americas. And also, it’s not too hard to memorize its conjugations: “usted” is always third person singular (along with “él” and “ella”) and “ustedes” is always third person plural (along with “ellos” and “ellas”).

You asked what the casual form of this would be… well, like I said, in Latin America, this would be the casual form. In Spain, however, the second person plural form, with the personal pronoun “vosotros” would be used thus: “¿qué hacéis vosotros? (what do you all do?); “¿cómo estáis vosotros?” (how are you all?).

Let me know if this makes it any clearer. But, I should mention, this is a very important distinction to make, and it’s better that you learn it earlier rather than later. So, way to go in pointing it out!

Saludos,
Joseph

Max,

Check this out:

estar (to be)

Singular:

yo estoy: (I am)
tú estás (you are) [informal]
él está (he is)
ella está (she is)
usted está (you are) [formal]

Plural:

nosotros estamos (we are)
vosotros estáis (you all are) [informal, only used in Spain]
ellos están (they are) [masculine]
ellas están (they are) [feminine]
ustedes están (you all are) [formal in Spain, formal and informal in Latin America]

Does this help?

Saludos,
Joseph

Hey everyone, I’ve started a thread called “All about Portuguese (and Spanish)” for all our information about Portuguese and how it relates to Spanish. Bienvindue y Bienvenidas! (spelling?)

http://www.spanishpod101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22

João, Max,

Hey guys! I think it can be insightful to draw comparisons between Portuguese and Spanish, especially as you have here, João. I find it interesting that the American versions of Portuguese and Spanish shy away from the second person plural and that Portuguese even does so with the second person singular. I wonder why this is…?

Much obliged!

Joseph

Good point Xavi,

In Spanish “obligado” means “obligated”, while in Portuguese “obrigado” means “obliged”. This is a good example of how the apparent similarity of these two languages can be deceiving.

¡Saludos! Gracias por el comentario.

Joseph

I think that Edward and Lizzy go at a good pace…I’m able to listen and learn with them.

Jeremy G,

Thanks for your comment. It’s important for us to hear these kinds of things, so that we can take them into account as we continue to produce lessons. We’ll be sure to weigh this in as we continue to restructure and design the course according to our students needs.

Thanks again for collaborating.

Joseph

Hahaha, Qué bueno! Un repaso es muy importante. ¿Hablas Coreano, Ingles, y Español tambíen ahora?

Hola a todos. Soy Karenn, soy maestra de inglés para hispanohablantes. Por eso aprendo español.

I have just signed up, and am enjoying the lessons. Although I am not a newbie to the language, I´m still finding some new things in each newbie lesson, so am starting right at the beginning!

With Spod101, I particularly like (1) the really excellent, concise (but not too much so!) lesson-specific grammatical notes, (2) the verb conjugation lists, (3) the flash cards, (4) the chatty, normal-speed conversations in beginner-intermediate lessons. I know this is going to help my listening comprehension! All in all, I think this is a good value, so made it a Christmas present (early) to myself.

Gradica a todos,
Karenn

Hola Karenn,

¡Bienvenida! ¡Qué bueno que nos hayas acompañado! I think it’s a great idea that you’re starting from the beginning. Just so you know, Newbie, Beginner, Lower and Upper Intermediate Series 1 are all sequential. So, if you have the time, it’s really worth it to move from one to the next. For all season 2 lessons, we are trying to fill in the gaps, and so we jump around, often using student requests for grammar and conversation topics. Feel free to offer your suggestions in the Forum.

As for your question, a female musician would be “música”, where the definite article would be “la” and the indefinite “una”. This formation is similar to that of “profesor”, but it’s not identical, since the masculine plural of “profesor” is “profesores” (-es); whereas the masculine plural of “músico” is “músicos” (-os).

It’s great to have you with us and I hope to see more comments from you!

Saludos cordiales,
Joseph