Dialogue - Mexican Spanish

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Vocabulary

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primero (a) first
tercero third
traer to bring
divorciarse to get a divorce, to divorce oneself
segundo second

Lesson Notes

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Lesson Focus

The Focus of This Lesson Is Ordering Your Thoughts in a Series.
Fueron una serie de hechos. Primero que nada, la ciudad es bonita y tranquila. Segundo, tengo amistades que me ayudaron a adaptarme. Y tercero, el talento aquí es abundante.
"It was a series of reasons. First of all, the city is pretty and quiet. Second, I have friends that helped me adapt. And third, the talent here is abundant."

When writing or speaking in paragraphs, it is often useful to use adverbs to organize your thoughts into a series. In this lesson, Alfredo uses ordinal numbers to list three reasons why he moved to the city. Below are some additional options used to organize thoughts into a series.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spanish

"English"

Primero,...

"First,..."

Para empezar,...

"To begin with,..."

Segundo,...

"Second,..."

Tercero,...

"Third,..."

Pues,...

"Then,..."

Luego,...

"Then,..."

Entonces,...

"Then,..."

Por último,...

"Finally,..."

Finalmente,...

"Finally,..."

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

traer ("to bring") Note that in the preterit tense the irregular stem traj- takes the alternate endings -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, and -eron.

primero ("first") This word is primarily adjectival, but it can also be a pronoun, and we can use it adverbially to list a series. Before masculine nouns, use the form primer.

segundo ("second") This word is primarily adjectival, but it can also be a pronoun, or we can use it adverbially when listing off a series.

tercero ("third") This word is primarily adjectival, but it can also be a pronoun, or we can use it adverbially to list a series. Before masculine nouns, use the form tercer.

divorciarse ("to get divorced") Literally, this means "to divorce oneself" and takes the preposition de, meaning "from."

Cultural Insights

After Dinner Spanish Conversation

La sobremesa is the custom of staying at the table after the midday meal or after dinner to chat. This is common in many Spanish-speaking countries. It is often observed by families, and is an expectation when guests are invited to a meal. Often, hosts will offer coffee, tea, or dessert during this conversation; however, they often continue the conversation even if no beverage or dessert is involved.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For students of Spanish, la sobremesa is a prime opportunity to practice conversational Spanish (or at the very least, to hear it) in a relaxed, family setting.

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Grammar

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Below is a list of the grammar points introduced or used in this lesson. Click for a full explanation.

Formación verbal - Pretérito (regulares)
Verb Formation: Preterit (regulars)
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Lesson Transcript

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INTRODUCTION
Fernando: Welcome, everyone. This is Lower Intermediate Series, Season 3, Lesson 1 – “After dinner”. My name is Fernando and I’m joined by J.P. Hola J.P. ¿Cómo estás?
JP: Hola Fernando. Muy bien, gracias. ¿Tú?
Fernando: Bien bien.
JP: So, Fernando, you’re going to be speaking Spanish today, but tell us in English real quick what we are going to hear in this lesson.
Fernando: Por supuesto. In this lesson you will learn about organizing ideas. The conversation takes place at a dinner party and the conversation is between Jorge, Alfredo, Andrea and Jimena. They are friends and they will be using the informal register.
JP: All right, let’s listen to the conversatio.
DIALOGUE
Jorge: ¿Qué te trajo a esta ciudad, Alfredo?
Alfredo: Fueron una serie de hechos. Primero que nada, la ciudad es bonita y tranquila. Segundo, tengo amistades que me ayudaron a adaptarme. Y tercero, el talento aquí es abundante.
Andrea: ¿Te viniste a rodear de talento o viniste a contribuír más al talento?
Alfredo: Depende con qué ojos me ves. En realidad pueden ser las dos cosas, ¿no crees?
Jimena: Alfredo, conociéndote, viniste a rodearte de talento. Pero Andrea, es buena tu pregunta. Yo agregaría el hecho de que Alfredo recién se divorció.
Jorge: What brought you to this city, Alfredo?
Alfredo: It was a series of reasons. First of all, the city is pretty and quiet. Second, I have friends that helped me adapt. And third, the talent here is abundant.
Andrea: Did you come here to surround yourself with talent or did you come to contribute to the talent?
Alfredo: It depends on how you see me. In reality, it could be both, don't you think?
Jimena: Alfredo, knowing you, you came to surround yourself with talent. But Andrea, it's a good question. I would add the fact that Alfredo just got divorced recently.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Fernando: Sí. Estamos en la sobremesa. Lo que pasa es que después de cenar la gente se queda en la mesa para platicar.
JP: All right. You just stay at the table and talk. I’m pretty sure we don’t have that in my culture, I mean some people do it, but we certainly don’t have a word for it, right? La sobremesa. In English, this would be the after dinner conversation.
Fernando: Asi es. Bueno, es Jorge quien empieza la conversación. Le pregunta a Alfredo que le trajo a esta ciudad.
JP: Right. Qué te trajo. That verb trajo is the verb traer in the Preterit Tense. traer is “to bring”, so que le trajo –“What brought him to this town”.
Fernando: Sí, y dice Alfredo: Primero, la ciudad es bonita. Segundo, los amigos y tercero el talento.
JP: Ok, now those are all very compelling reasons, but as a teacher, I want to point out the way he organized his ideas.
Fernando: Ok.
JP: So, he uses the ordinal numbers: first, second, third. Primero, segundo, tercero. You can imagine him counting on his fingers as he lists them off.
Fernando: Y pues acerca del talento, Andrea le pregunta a Alfredo si vino a rodearse de talento como acaba de decir o si vino a contribuir.
JP: “Did you come to surround yourself the talent or contribute to it?” Of course, Alfredo answers “depende”, right? “It depends.”
Fernando: Sí y pues die Jimena que como lo conoce bien, ella sabe que Alfredo vino para rodearse de talento. Es decir que ella sabe que Alfredo no vino para contribuir al talento.
JP: Ok, so, is she saying that he’s not talented?
Fernando: Se me hace que sí. Y finalmente dice que Alfredo recién se divorció.
JP: Recién se divorció – “just got a divorce”. So, what is that imply? So, he gets a divorce and moves to this town to be surrounded by talent?
Fernando: Bueno... asi es lo que dice Jimena.
JP: Ok. All right. Now, let’s take a look at some of the vocabulary and phrases for this lesson. First, we’re going to hear them in isolation.
VOCAB LIST
Fernando: traer
JP: “To bring”
Fernando: tra-er, traer
JP: All right. What’s next?
Fernando: primero
JP: “First”
Fernando: pri-me-ro, primero
JP: All right. Next?
Fernando: segundo
JP: “Second”
Fernando: se-gun-do, segundo
JP: Ok. The next one?
Fernando: tercero
JP: “Third”
Fernando: ter-ce-ro, tercero
JP: All right. And the last one?
Fernando: divorciarse
JP: “To get a divorce” or “to divorce oneself”.
Fernando: di-vor-ciar-se, divorciarse
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
JP: All right. Now, that we’ve heard those words in isolation, let’s talk about them. So, what are we going to talk about first?
Fernando: Bueno veamos, primero, segundo, tercero.
JP: Ok. And these are the ordinal numbers: first, second and third. Primero, segundo, tercero.
Fernando: Asi es. Se pueden emplear estas palabras para organizar las ideas. Primero, la ciudad es bonita. Segundo, tengo muchos amigos aquí. Tercero, etc etc etc.
JP: Exactly. Primero, segundo, tercero.
Fernando: Bien, a continuación el verbo ‘traer’.
JP: ‘Traer’ – “to bring”. Now, what’s interesting about ‘traer’?
Fernando: bueno, nada más que en el pretérito el verbo traer es irregular.
JP: That’s right. And the Preterit Tense it’s ‘traje’, ‘trajiste’, ‘trajo’. So, that irregular Preterit stem is ‘traj’.
Fernando: Asi es. El verbo ‘traer’. Y la última palabra de hoy es el verbo ‘divorciarse’. Vamos a decir ‘divorciarse de’

Lesson focus
JP: Yes, ‘divorciarse de’. That’s how we should think of it, right? Divorciarse de. Now, we think of it in English as “to get a divorce”, right? But if you break it down into its parts, you literally get ‘divorciar’ – “to divorce”, and ‘se’ – “oneself”. ‘Divorciarse’– “to divorce oneself”. And the other say ‘de’. So, ‘divorciarse de’ – “to divorce oneself from”. So, if I divorce myself from my wife, I say:
Fernando: Me divorcio de mi esposa.
JP: Right. “I divorce myself from my wife.” In regular English, you might say “I’m divorcing my wife.” or “I’m getting a divorce with my wife.” But in Spanish the grammar is very specific, ‘me divorcio de’ – “I’m divorcing myself from”. That’s the verb ‘divorciarse’. All right. Let’s move on to the grammar. Now, I want to go over again how Alfredo organizes his ideas, he listed off his ideas.
Fernando: Bien.
JP: Ok. So, he used the ordinal numbers first, second and third, primero, segundo, tercero, you can imagine him counting on his fingers as he list the off.
Fernando: Podía haber continuado con cuarto, quinto, sexto...
JP: Right. He could’ve gone on with fourth, fifth and sixth, if he had those reasons, right? Now, what I want to say is you can use these ordinal numbers to list your thoughts. But, there are other formulas you can use, as well. And we’ll put some of these other adverbs and phrases of organization in the lesson notes.
Fernando: Para ser todo para hoy.

Outro
JP: I think that’s it for today. So, Fernando, ¡Hasta luego!
Fernando: ¡Adiós!
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