Learn to Write in Mexican Spanish Without Lifting a Pen

Learn how to ask someone, "Write it down, please"

Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

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 35: Learn to Write in Mexican Spanish Without Lifting a Pen

In the previous lesson, we covered how to ask, “How do you say this in Spanish?” ¿Cómo se dice esto en español? Do you remember? In this lesson, because we don’t want you to be caught off guard in any kind of situation in Mexico, we are going to introduce a new phrase that is very important to help you focus your skills, not on the sounds, but on the writing. So let’s start this new lesson.

In Spanish, “Can you write it down, please?” is

¿Podría escribirlo, por favor?

Let’s break it down:

(slow) ¿Po-drí-a es-cri-bir-lo, por fa-vor?

Once more:

¿Podría escribirlo, por favor?

The first word Podría is translated in this case as “could you”. Podría also makes the phrase formal.

(slow) Po-drí-a

Podría

Next we have escribirlo, which is translated as “write it”

(slow) es-cri-bir-lo

escribirlo

Por favor is “please”, as you can remember from previous lessons.

All together:

¿Podría escribirlo, por favor?

This means, "Can you write it down, please?”

But this phrase is not very specific. To make yourself more clear, you can say: “Can you write down this phrase?”

¿Podría escribir esta frase?

Let’s break it down:

(slow) ¿Po-drí-a es-cri-bir es-ta fra-se?

Once more:

¿Podría escribir esta frase?

There are three new words in this question. They are escribir, esta, and frase.

Escribir is the dictionary form of the verb "to write."

(slow) es-cri-bir

escribir

Next we have esta, which is the feminine form for "this."

(slow) es-ta

esta

Last is frase, which means “phrase”

(slow) Fra-se.

Frase.

Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time:

¿Podría escribir esta frase?

It might happen that you are not carrying a piece of paper or a pen. So before asking ¿Podría escribirlo?, try asking ¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted? That means “Do you have a pencil and paper with you?”

Let’s break it down:

(slow) ¿Ti-e-ne lá-piz y pa-pel, con us-ted?

Once more:

¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted?

The first word, tiene, means literally "have". In this sentence, it implies the question “do you have?”

(slow) tiene

tiene

Then we have lápiz, which means literally “pencil”.

(slow) lá-piz.

lápiz.

Then you have y which means “and”.

Next you have papel, which means "paper."

(slow) Pa-pel.

Papel.

Con means "with".

(slow) con

con

Finally you have usted, which is the formal way to say "you".

(slow) us-ted.

usted.

Here’s the whole sentence:

¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted?

As usual, before asking about someone else’s stationery supplies, it’s a good idea to say “excuse me”, disculpe, at the beginning of the sentence.

Disculpe, ¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted?

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.

“Can you write it down, please?” - ¿Podría escribirlo, por favor?

“Can you write this phrase?” - ¿Podría escribir esta frase?

“Do you have a pencil and paper with you?” - ¿Tiene lápiz y papel, con usted?

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.

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