Learn the key pattern to talk about your nationality
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| Let’s take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Ms. Varela asks, |
| "Are you Mexican?" |
| ¿Eres mexicana? |
| First is eres, “[you] are”. Eres (enunciated). Eres. |
| Note: eres is a shortened form of tú eres, "you are." In Spanish, tú, "you," can be omitted when it is understood from context. |
| Eres is from the verb ser, meaning "to be." Ser. |
| After this is mexicana, "Mexican." Mexicana (enunciated). Mexicana. |
| Note: mexicana is feminine. |
| Ms. Varela uses the feminine adjective, mexicana, to refer to Ms. Reyes. |
| If Ms. Varela were talking to a male, she would use the masculine adjective, mexicano, to refer to him. As in ¿Eres mexicano? "Are you Mexican?" ¿Eres mexicano? |
| Back to the question. |
| All together, ¿Eres mexicana?, "Are you Mexican?" |
| ¿Eres mexicana? |
| Let’s take a closer look at the response. |
| Do you remember how Ms. Reyes says, |
| "Yes, I'm Mexican." |
| Sí, soy mexicana. |
| This starts with the expression Sí, meaning “yes”. Sí. (enunciated). Sí. |
| Note, that this word includes an accent mark. |
| It answers Ms.Varelas yes-or-no question, "Are you Mexican?" |
| ¿Eres mexicana? |
| Next is soy. "[I] am." Soy (enunciated). Soy. |
| Note: in this sentence, soy is a shortened form of yo soy, "I am." In Spanish, yo, "I," is usually omitted, as it's understood from context. |
| Soy is from the verb ser, meaning "to be." Ser. |
| After this is mexicana, "Mexican." Mexicana. |
| All together, Sí, soy mexicana. "Yes, I'm Mexican." |
| Sí, soy mexicana. |
| The pattern is |
| Soy NATIONALITY. |
| “I’m NATIONALITY.” |
| Soy NATIONALITY. |
| Simply replace the {NATIONALITY} placeholder with your nationality. |
| Note: the pattern requires an adjective, and its gender will depend on the speaker -- in this case you. |
| Imagine you’re Ms. Varela, and you're American. The word for "American" when referring to a female or a male is estadounidense. Estadounidense (enunciated). Estadounidense. |
| Say |
| "I'm American." |
| Ready? |
| Soy estadounidense. |
| "I'm American." |
| Soy estadounidense. |
| In the conversation, the response to the yes-no question was "yes." |
| ¿Eres mexicana? |
| Sí, soy mexicana. |
| In case the answer were "no," the corresponding Spanish response would be No, "no." No (enunciated). No. |
| For example, if Ms. Reyes were asked |
| ¿Eres estadounidense? |
| "Are you American?" |
| She could have answered |
| No, soy mexicana. |
| "No, I'm Mexican." |
| Remember this pattern. You’ll need it for the practice section. |
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