Learn about using prepositions
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| INTRODUCTION |
| ¡Bienvenidos a Spanishpod101.com! |
| Natalia: Hola, soy Natalia. |
| Carlos: What’s going on? My name is Carlos. |
| Natalia: “My money on my mind…” |
| Carlos: What’s going on pod101 world? Welcome to beginner series season two at spanishpod101.com where we study Spanish in a modern, fun and educational format. |
| Natalia: So brush up the Spanish that you started learning long ago or start learning today. |
| Carlos: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson. Naty, what are we doing in today’s lesson? |
| Natalia: Today, we have prepositions. |
| Carlos: I like those, basics are important. So what happened to Mariana? |
| Natalia: She won’t remember. |
| Carlos: So her situation has changed. |
| Natalia: And apparently so have the people around her. |
| Carlos: So she’s talking to her friends? |
| Natalia: Yes, she now has some doubts about who her friends really are, money will do that you know? |
| Carlos: Okay, you heard Natalia! |
| Natalia: Listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| MARIANA: No sé que hacer con tanto dinero. |
| CLAUDIA: Pues, ¡para eso están los amigos! |
| MARIANA: Por lo mismo todos quieren una parte, ya no sé si me quieren por lo que soy o por lo que tengo. |
| CLAUDIA: Eso pasa, la gente es muy materialista, pero no deberías estar triste, lo tienes todo. |
| MARIANA: No todo, estoy muy sola, ¡qué ironía! Rica y sola… |
| MARIANA: I do not know what to do with so much money. |
| CLAUDIA: Well, that is what friends are for! |
| MARIANA: For that very reason, everyone wants a part, I do not know if they like me for what I am or for what I have. |
| CLAUDIA: That happens, people are really materialistic, but you should not be sad, you have everything. |
| MARIANA: Not everything, I am really lonely, what irony! Rich and lonely... |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Natalia: What would you rather be, rich or lonely? I don’t care, I’ll get friends, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: What do you think? |
| Carlos: I think money does change people that’s why I don’t talk about it. |
| Natalia: No, I know, that’s a very smart thing. Carlos first come down to Costa Rica, like my best friend and I were talking about bills and usual talking and Carlos never said a thing. |
| Carlos: I find that the less you talk about money the better. |
| Natalia: I found that too. |
| Carlos: But anyway, listen time to turn to the vocab in today’s pdf lesson guide. Here we are going to break these words down, give you the word class in English translation. We’ll start out with the word that can be either an adjective or a masculine or feminine noun. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Natalia: “Materialista”. |
| Carlos: “Materialistic”, “materialist.” |
| Natalia: “Ma-te-ria-lis-ta”, “materialista”. |
| Carlos: Como por ejemplo... |
| Nataia: “La gente de hoy es materialista, no sabe apreciar las cosas sencillas de la vida”. |
| Carlos: “People today are very materialistic. They don’t know how to value the simple things in life.” The next word is a feminine noun. |
| Natalia: “Gente”. |
| Carlos: “People.” |
| Natalia: “Gen-te”, “gente”. |
| Carlos: Y un ejemplo sería... |
| Natalia: “La gente es muy amable aquí”. |
| Carlos: “The people are very friendly here.” A continuación tenemos el sustantivo femenino... |
| Natalia: “Ironía”. |
| Carlos: “Irony.” |
| Natalia: “I-ro-nía”, “ironía”. |
| Carlos: Y un ejemplo sería... |
| Natalia: “Ese escritor siempre usa la ironía para transmitir su crítica social”. |
| Carlos: “That writer always uses irony to get his social critique across.” La próxima palabra es un adjetivo. |
| Natalia: “Solo, sola”. |
| Carlos: “Lonely.” |
| Natalia: “So-lo, so-la”, “solo, sola”. |
| Carlos: Y un ejemplo sería... |
| Natalia: “Ella está muy sola úlltimamente porque la dejó su novio”. |
| Carlos: “She’s been really lonely lately because her boyfriend left her.” Y ahora estudiaremos otro adjetivo que puede usarse como sustantivo masculino o femenino. |
| Natalia: “Rico, rica”. |
| Carlos: “Tasty”, “delicious”, “rich.” |
| Natalia: “Ri-co, ri-ca”, “rico, rica”. |
| Carlos: Y el ejemplo sería... |
| Natalia: “Si yo fuera rico, viajaría todo el año”. |
| Carlos: “If I were rich, I would travel all year long.” Y la última palabra de hoy es otro adjetivo. |
| Natalia: “Triste”. |
| Carlos: “Sad”, “gloomy.” |
| Natalia: “Tris-te”, “triste”. |
| Carlos: A ver otro ejemplillo... |
| Natalia: “Me gustan las canciones tristes pero más me gustan las alegres”. |
| Carlos: “I like sad songs but I like joyful ones more.” |
| Natalia: Carlos, Carlos, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Naty, Naty, Naty. |
| Natalia: Why didn’t you say “ese escritor siempre usa la ironía para transmitir su crítica social”? in Spanish please. Hurry up. |
| Carlos: Alright, “ese escritor siempre usa la ironía para transmitir su crítica social”. |
| Natalia: Carlos, let’s see another one. |
| Carlos: “Me gustan las canciones tristes pero más me gustan las alegres”. |
| Natalia: “Me gustan”. |
| Carlos: “Me gustan”. |
| Natalia: “Gustan”. |
| Carlos: “Gustan”. |
| Natalia: Yes. |
| Carlos: You know what? Let’s have a closer look at the uses for some of the words and phrases for this lesson. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Natalia: The first one we’ll look at is “materialista”. |
| Carlos: “Materialista”. |
| Natalia: “Materialista”, se dice de la persona excesivamente preocupada por las cosas materiales. It means either “materialist” or “materialistic.” |
| Carlos: You mean like a material girl? I think I know one of those. |
| Natalia: Carlos! I have no idea what you are talking about. Hello, what are these people going to think! I’m a material person because I like certain items that I have. |
| Carlos: What’s with the defensiveness? I was talking about Madonna. |
| Natalia: Oh! |
| Carlos: Anyway, Naty how do we see this in today’s conversation? |
| Natalia: En la conversación de hoy escuchamos el siguiente ejemplo, “Eso pasa, la gente es muy materialista”. |
| Carlos: “That happens, people are very materialistic.” |
| Natalia: There are related words too. |
| Carlos: As always Naty, but for argument’s sake what are they? |
| Natalia: “Material”, “matter” and “materialismo”, “materialism.” |
| Carlos: Got it. Next we have? |
| Natalia: “Ironía”. |
| Carlos: “Ironía”. |
| Natalia: I use this word so much. This feminine noun is “una burla fina y disimulada”, traditionally it is “una figura retórica que consiste en dar a entender lo contrario de lo que se dice”. |
| Carlos: And in the conversation? |
| Natalia: En la conversación de hoy escuchamos el siguiente ejemplo, “¡Qué ironía! Rica y sola…” |
| Carlos: “What irony! Rich and alone.” |
| Natalia: This word has related words too. |
| Carlos: Which are? |
| Natalia: How about the adjective “irónico” or “irónica”? |
| Carlos: I think those will work. |
| Natalia: Next up is a word that seems really simple but really isn’t. |
| Carlos: Which is it? |
| Natalia: “Rico”. |
| Carlos: I know that one. |
| Natalia: So then what does it mean? |
| Carlos: “Rich”? |
| Natalia: Yes but it’s more “rico” and “rica”. This is either an adjective or a masculine or feminine noun. Significa “adinerado”, someone with money. |
| Carlos: Right, but I’ve also heard it used in a different way. |
| Natalia: Right, this word is often used to talk about food and even other pleasures but here it just refers to wealth. |
| Carlos: Okay, so here is the conversation. |
| Natalia: “¡Qué ironía! Rica y sola…” |
| Carlos: “What irony! Rich and alone...” |
| Natalia: We also have some good related words. We have the feminine noun “riqueza” and the superlative adjective “riquísimo”. |
| Carlos: Next up, “triste”. |
| Natalia: Right this is an adjective “que describe el carácter melancólico”. In English we usually say “sad” or “gloomy.” |
| Carlos: And in today’s conversation... |
| Natalia: En la conversación de hoy escuchamos el siguiente ejemplo, “No deberías estar triste, lo tienes todo”. |
| Carlos: “You shouldn’t be sad, you have everything.” And the related words? |
| Natalia: How about the feminine noun “tristeza”, “sadness” or the adjective “tristón” or “tristona” which refers to someone who is always sad. |
| Carlos: I know a couple of those. |
| Natalia: I know. Next, “solo, sola”. |
| Carlos: Another adjective, no? |
| Natalia: Yes. Se refiere a la persona que no tiene quien le consuele en sus necesidades o aflicciones, it means either “lonely” or “alone.” |
| Carlos: And how was it used in today’s conversation? |
| Natalia: En la conversación de hoy escuchamos el siguiente ejemplo, “¡Qué ironía! Rica y sola…” |
| Carlos: “What irony! Rich and alone…” |
| Natalia: And of course we have some related words. |
| Carlos: Of course which are... |
| Natalia: Feminine noun “soledad”, “solitude” or “solidaridad”, “solidarity.” |
| Carlos: Sounds good to me but you know what sounds better, Naty? |
| Natalia: What? |
| Carlos: Grammar. Stick around it’s coming up next. Okay Nat, let’s see what grammar gem you have for us today. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Natalia: Prepositions, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Ah, I know what those are. |
| Natalia: Then what are they? |
| Carlos: Well, if you ask, prepositions are variable words and introduce nouns, noun phrases or subordinate clauses. |
| Natalia: So what do they depend on? |
| Carlos: Well, that makes them depend on a verb that is previously given. I know this is in English but is it the same in Spanish? |
| Natalia: Yes, in Spanish there are many prepositions and even more prepositional phrases. |
| Carlos: Okay, and which would you say is the most common? |
| Natalia: Well, the most common prepositions are “por”, “para”, “de”, “a”, “con”, but let’s focus on the preposition “por” and take a look at seven principle ways that the preposition “por” can be used. |
| Carlos: Ah, lucky number seven. |
| Natalia: Some of the prepositions are invariable. |
| Carlos: Right, which means they never change form. |
| Natalia: We are focusing here on the usage instead of the formation. |
| Carlos: Okay then, so what are the seven usages? |
| Natalia: The seven usages of the preposition “por”. The first one, cause. Expresses the cause of an action for example, “Por lo mismo todos quieren una parte, ya no sé si me quieren por lo que soy o por lo que tengo”. |
| Carlos: “For that reason, everyone wants a part I don’t know if they like me for what I am or what I have.” |
| Natalia: Two. Time and place it vaguely expresses local and temporal relationships. “Entrar por la puerta”. |
| Carlos: “To enter through the door.” |
| Natalia: Three, agent of the passive. Introduces the agent of a passive action. For example, “Él ha sido arrestado por la policía”. |
| Carlos: “He has been arrested by the police.” |
| Natalia: Number four, medium. It expresses the medium through which an action is carried out, “Hablar por teléfono”. |
| Carlos: “To talk by phone.” |
| Natalia: Five, mode. Forms adverbial and conjunctive phrases, “Por fin”. |
| Carlos: “At last.” |
| Natalia: Six. Substitution and equivalence. Expresses that an action is carried out by the subject on behalf of someone else. For example, “Trabaja por tu padre hoy día”. |
| Carlos: “Work in place of your father today.” |
| Natalia: And last but not least, seven, using formulas of judgement or exclamations. For example, “¡Por el amor de Dios!” |
| Carlos: “For the love of God!” Naty, do you have any similar examples? |
| Natalia: Well, here is a similar example in which “por” is used to express a cause of action. “Trabajo por mi familia”. |
| Carlos: “I work on behalf of my family.” |
| Natalia: Keep in mind that this literally means, “I’m working to support my family.” |
| Carlos: One thing that always confuses me is real time conversation is “por” and “para”. |
| Natalia: Contrast the preposition “por” with part of the preposition “para” in this context, “Trabajo para mi familia”.”I work for, I’m employed by my family.” “Para” has the different meaning. It’s as is if I were employed by my family rather than working to support them. |
| Carlos: Okay, I see the difference. You know what, that definitely clears things up. |
| Natalia: Good and I know our audience feels the same way. So in today’s grammar point we studied the preposition “por” and looked at seven main ways that it gets used. One, cause. Two, time and place. Three, agent of the passive. Four, medium. Five, mode. Six, substitution, equivalence. Seven, judgement and exclamation. |
| Carlos: Now we are going to give you five sentences in Spanish. |
| Natalia: Each will contain the preposition por. |
| Carlos: What you have to do is figure out the usage. |
| Natalia: So the sentence is “entró por la puerta delantera”, “he came in through the front door”, we would say that the usage is place. Are you ready? |
| Carlos: Here we go. |
| Natalia: Número uno, “por no haber dormido bien, el niño se comportó mal”. Número dos, “hablamos por Skype”. Número tres, “hablamos por la nochecita”. Número cuatro, “escribiré el informe por Susana, ya que ella está enferma”. Número cinco, “el libro fue publicado por una editorial costarricense”. |
Outro |
| Carlos: And remember, you can always pick up the answers and the comments to today’s assignment by downloading the premium audio track called “tarea”, “homework.” Well, you know what? That just about does it for today. Gracias por escucharnos. Suerte con los estudios. ¡Chao! |
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