Hola! Hello, and welcome to Mexican Spanish Survival Phrases, brought to you by SpanishPod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Mexico. You'll be surprised at how far a little Spanish will go. Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by SpanishPod101.com and there you'll find the accompanying PDF lesson note and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment! |
Mexican Spanish Survival Phrases Lesson 18: Counting 0-10 in Mexican Spanish |
In this lesson, we’re going to cover counting zero through ten. When it comes to numbers, the Spanish language has some unique characteristics, but there is nothing difficult about them. Let’s see what is all about. |
0 Cero. |
(slow) Ce-ro. |
Cero. |
1 Un. |
(slow) Un. |
Un. |
If the thing you’re counting is feminine, you say: |
1 Una. |
(slow) Una. |
Una. |
2 Dos. |
(slow) Dos. |
Dos. |
3 Tres. |
(slow) Tres. |
Tres. |
4 Cuatro. |
(slow) Cu-a-tro |
Cuatro. |
5 Cinco. |
(slow) Cin-co. |
Cinco. |
6 Seis. |
(slow) Se-is. |
Seis. |
7 Siete. |
(slow)Si-e-te. |
Siete. |
8 Ocho. |
(slow) O-cho. |
Ocho. |
9 Nueve. |
(slow) Nu-e-ve |
Nueve. |
10 Diez. |
(slow) Diez. |
Diez. |
As I already said, only the number 1 changes depending on the gender of what you’re counting. |
The words for number one are Un for counting masculine objects and Una for feminine objects. Let’s hear them again: |
Un |
Una |
For example, “one woman” in Spanish will be - una mujer |
Let’s break it down: |
(slow) U-na mu-jer |
Once more: |
Una mujer |
And “one man” will be: un hombre. |
Let’s break it down- |
(slow) Un hom-bre |
Once more - |
Un hombre |
The translation for “two women” is: Dos mujeres. |
(slow) Dos mu-je-res. |
Two men would be Dos hombres. |
(slow) Dos hom-bres. |
Let’s hear the counting for feminine words again. |
Una mujer. |
Dos mujeres. |
Now for masculine: |
Un hombre. |
Dos hombres. |
Numbers are extremely useful, especially when you’re shopping. |
Now let’s imagine you buy one bottle of tequila. You would say: |
“One bottle of tequila, please.” |
Una botella de tequila, por favor. |
Let’s break it down: |
(slow) Una bo-te-lla de te-qui-la, por fa-vor. |
Once more: |
Una botella de tequila, por favor. |
Una, as you already know, is the feminine form of the number “one”. |
Botella means “bottle.” |
(slow) Bo-te-lla. |
Botella. |
De means “of.” |
And tequila is a Mexican alcoholic beverage. |
(slow) te-qui-la. |
tequila. |
At the end, we have por favor, which is translated as "please”. |
The whole request, then, is |
Una botella de tequila, por favor. |
Now let’s imagine you want to buy some delicious dulces de leche, a traditional Mexican sweet, which is a caramelized milk candy. The phrase will sound like this: |
Un paquete de dulces de leche, por favor. The English translation will be: “One packet of milk candies, please”. |
Let’s break that down: |
(slow) Un pa-que-te de dul-ces de le-che, por fa-vor. |
Once again: |
Un paquete de dulces de leche, por favor. |
Un means “one”. |
Paquete means “package”. |
(slow) Paquete |
Paquete |
De means “of” |
Dulces de leche literally means "milk sweets” or “milk candies”. |
(slow) dul-ces de le-che |
dulces de leche |
At the end there is Por favor, which means “please”. |
All together, it’s- |
Un paquete de dulces de leche, por favor. |
To close out today's lessons, we’d like you to practice what you have just learned. I’ll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so !buena suerte! which means “Good luck!” in Spanish. |
“One woman.” |
(3 sec) Una mujer. |
(slow) U-na mu-jer. |
Una mujer. |
“One man.” |
(3 sec) Un hombre. |
(slow) Un hom-bre. |
Un hombre. |
“Two women.” |
(3 sec) Dos mujeres. |
(slow) Dos mu-je-res |
Dos mujeres. |
“Two men.” |
(3 sec) Dos hombres. |
(slow) Dos hom-bres. |
Dos hombres. |
“One bottle of tequila, please.” |
(3 sec) Una botella de tequila, por favor. |
(slow) Una bo-te-lla de te-qui-la, por fa-vor. |
Una botella de tequila, por favor. |
“One packet of milk candies, please” |
(3 sec) Un paquete de dulces de leche, por favor. |
(slow) Un pa-que-te de dul-ces de le-che, por fa-vor. |
Un paquete de dulces de leche, por favor. |
Alright! That's going to do it for this lesson. Remember to stop by SpanishPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF lesson note. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment! Hasta luego. |
5 Comments
HideHello Listeners! Have you ever tried the "dulce de leche"?
Hola Esteban,
Thank you for your comment and sharing your experience.
I have heard the audio and it says "de" but your right is can be confusing.
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
I agree that it can be very hard to distinguish some sounds on the audio track. I usually listen to the audio tracks before I look at the text. Many times I hear a sound that seems wrong. After looking at the actual text, I replay the audio several times and usually I can hear things that exactly match the text I am amazed how my ears can play tricks on me an hear what I want to hear rather than what was actually said.
But I am sorry but even when I play just the "de" audio track from the vocab section in slow mode, it still sounds like "ve" to me. Have you listened to it? I think the "de" audio icon is connected to the wrong audio track. But if you hear "de" than it just must be a problem with my ears.
Hola Esteban,
It can be difficult to understand the audios. Please try to use the playback speed tools.
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
From the expanded vocab section:
de (Mexican) of, from
De nada, Alex!
"You're welcome, Alex!"
Play the audio for the first line :"de". I sure sounds to that the speaker s saying "ve" not "de"? If you hear "de" then it must be either my ears or the spears from the laptop