Learn how to ask someone's age and how to reply to this question with your age
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Javier: Hola soy Javier. Hi I’m Javier. |
| Jessie: And I’m Jessie - Being in Spain on your birthday. In this lesson, you learn how to ask and how to say how old you are such as I am 25 years old. |
| Javier: Tengo veinticinco años. |
| Jessie: We will also learn about the verb that means to have. |
| Javier: Where does this conversation take place? |
| Jessie: This conversation takes place at a language school. |
| Javier: Who is the conversation between? |
| Jessie: The conversation is between Aya and Christina. They are two language students studying Spanish in Barcelona, Spain. This is the first time they meet at school and they are trying to learn a little bit more about each other. |
| Javier: Escuchemos la conversación. |
| Jessie: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| CHRISTINA: ¿Cuántos años tienes? |
| AYA: Tengo 25 años, ¿y tú? |
| CHRISTINA: Yo tengo 26, hoy es mi cumpleaños. |
| AYA: ¿Ah si? ¡Feliz cumpleaños! |
| Jessie: Now let’s hear it one time slowly. |
| CHRISTINA: ¿Cuántos años tienes? |
| AYA: Tengo 25 años, ¿y tú? |
| CHRISTINA: Yo tengo 26, hoy es mi cumpleaños. |
| AYA: ¿Ah si? ¡Feliz cumpleaños! |
| Jessie: Now with the English translation. |
| CHRISTINA: ¿Cuántos años tienes? |
| CHRISTINA: How old are you? |
| AYA: Tengo 25 años, ¿y tú? |
| AYA: I'm twenty-five years old, and you? |
| CHRISTINA: Yo tengo 26, hoy es mi cumpleaños. |
| CHRISTINA: I'm twenty-six. Today is my birthday. |
| AYA: ¿Ah si? ¡Feliz cumpleaños! |
| AYA: Really? Happy birthday! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jessie: So Javier, in this dialogue, they were talking about age and speaking of age, what do you say when it’s someone’s birthday in Spanish? |
| Javier: Feliz Cumpleaños. |
| Jessie: Happy Birthday. So this is what is normally said in Spain when it’s someone’s birthday right? |
| Javier: Sí, also - Felicidades - something like congratulations. |
| Jessie: Are there any special birthday traditions in Spain? |
| Javier: We eat - un pastel - A cake |
| Jessie: Ah! so you eat cake. |
| Javier: And we make a wish - un deseo - before blowing out the candles. |
| Jessie: Umm that sounds about the same as everywhere I guess. I think that’s pretty common all around the world. |
| Javier: Sí, es verdad. Yes it’s true and also we have a song. |
| Jessie: Will you sing it? |
| Javier: Ah... I better not. |
| Jessie: Okay well any way you can find more about that song in the lesson notes for this lesson. Okay, onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jessie: The first word is |
| Javier: edad |
| Jessie: Age. |
| Javier: e-dad, edad |
| Jessie: Next is |
| Javier: tener |
| Jessie: To have. |
| Javier: te-ner, tener |
| Jessie: Next is |
| Javier: cuánto, cuánta |
| Jessie: How much, how many? |
| Javier: cu-án-to, cu-án-ta, cuánto, cuánta |
| Jessie: Next is |
| Javier: año |
| Jessie: Year. |
| Javier: a-ño, año |
| Jessie: Next is |
| Javier: mi |
| Jessie: My |
| Javier: mi, mi |
| Jessie: Next we have |
| Javier: ¿a si? |
| Jessie: Really |
| Javier: ¿a si?, ¿a si? |
| Jessie: Next is |
| Javier: feliz |
| Jessie: Happy |
| Javier: fe-liz, feliz |
| Jessie: Next is |
| Javier: cumpleaños |
| Jessie: Birthday |
| Javier: cum-ple-a-ños, cumpleaños |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Javier: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first one we will look at is |
| Javier: cuántos |
| Jessie: How many. |
| Javier: Here is a sample sentence. ¿Cuántos lápices tienes? |
| Jessie: How many pencils do you have? So this is used to ask about a countable quantity and always comes followed by a noun. |
| Javier: Así es, Right. For example, ¿Cuántos libros tiene Aya? |
| Jessie: How many books does Aya have? |
| Javier: Or ¿Cuántos años tienes? |
| Jessie: The direct translation is, how many years do you have and this means, how old are you? We will go into this in more detail later on in this lesson. All right, what’s the next one we will look at? |
| Javier: Feliz |
| Jessie: Happy. For example |
| Javier: Feliz Navidad. |
| Jessie: Merry Christmas or literally Happy Christmas. |
| Javier: Feliz Año Nuevo |
| Jessie: Happy New Year. |
| Javier: That’s right. |
| Jessie: Can you introduce one more word? |
| Javier: cumpleaños |
| Jessie: Birthday. |
| Javier: Yes and on someone’s birthday, we say Feliz Cumpleaños or Felicidades |
| Jessie: Happy Birthday or congratulations. Okay, let’s move on to the grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jessie: The focus of this lesson is using the verb - tener, to talk about age. |
| Javier: tener, means to have |
| Jessie: Yes, and you may be wondering what that has to do with age. Well that’s because in Spanish, to say that someone has a certain age, we say that they have that number of years. |
| Javier: Such as - Tengo veinticinco años. |
| Jessie: I am 25 years old or literally I have 25 years. |
| Javier: Or - Ella tiene dieciocho años. |
| Jessie: She is 18 years old, or literally she has 18 years. So here let’s go through the different conjugated forms of the verb - tener |
| Javier: Sounds good. Here we go! Yo tengo |
| Jessie: I have |
| Javier: Tú tienes |
| Jessie: You have |
| Javier: Ella tiene |
| Jessie: She has |
| Javier: Él tiene |
| Jessie: He has |
| Javier: Nosotros tenemos |
| Jessie: We have |
| Javier: Vosotros teneís |
| Jessie: You all have. |
| Javier: Ellos tienen |
| Jessie: They have |
| Javier: So again, we can say - Tengo veinticinco años. |
| Jessie: I am 25 years old |
| Javier: or - Ella tiene dieciocho años. |
| Jessie: She is 18 years old. And of course, tener, is used not only for talking about age but also talking about possession like - I have a camera or I have a car. |
| Javier: Yes we use the same - tener |
| Jessie: Let’s see some examples of that usage. |
| Javier: Sure. Tengo una camara. |
| Jessie: I have a camera. |
| Javier: Ella tiene un coche. |
| Jessie: She has a car. So the sentence structure, it’s the same as an English. Subject plus the verb have plus the object. All right Xavier. Now how about asking about age. How do we ask someone their age? |
| Javier: ¿Cuántos años tienes? |
| Jessie: How old are you? Let’s break it down. |
| Javier: cuántos |
| Jessie: How many? |
| Javier: años |
| Jessie: Years. |
| Javier: tienes |
| Jessie: You have |
| Javier: ¿Cuántos años tienes? |
| Jessie: Literally how many years do you have or how old are you? |
| Javier: ¿practicamos? |
| Jessie: Yes let’s do some practice. Listeners, listen and repeat. How old are you? |
| Javier: ¿Cuántos años tienes? |
| Jessie: I am 32 years old. Repeat |
| Javier: Tengo treinta y dos años. |
| Jessie: I am 40 years old repeat. |
| Javier: Tengo cuarenta años. Muy bien. |
| Jessie: Alright. Let’s recap this lesson. When you want to say how old you are, you say |
| Javier: Tengo - and my age. For example, Tengo veinte años. |
| Jessie: I am 20 years old, and if you want to ask how old someone is |
| Javier: ¿Cuántos años tienes? |
| Jessie: How old are you? |
| Javier: Perfecto. |
Outro |
| Jessie: Well that is all for this lesson. |
| Javier: Muchas gracias, thank you, hasta pronto. see you soon. |
| Jessi: Bye everyone. |
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