La Palabra

[Dr. Shane]

First a quick English lesson:

There are only three articles in English: a, an and the.

There are two types of articles indefinite a and an or definite the.

Now Spanish:

In Spanish, like many languages, words have gender so the article changes depending on the gender of the word. Each word here will be given with the definite article in front of it.

Definite articles in Spanish are "el" and "la", male and female respectfully. The plural form is "los" and "las" In English all four of these words are translated "the."

Indefinite articles in Spanish are "un" "una" "unos" and "unas." Those words are all translated "a" or "an."

Word: el país

Pronunciation: pah-EES

Meaning: country

Example: Mi país tiene de todo: playa, montañas, desiertos y mucho petróleo.

Translation: My country has everything: beach, mountains, deserts and much oil.

[Dr. Shane]

Word: de

Pronunciation: deh

Meaning: De is a very common preposition that usually is translated as "of" or "from," although it can be translated with other meanings as well, especially when used after certain verbs.

Example: Telefónica es un operador de telecomunicaciones en el mundo de habla hispana y portuguesa.

Translation: Telefónica is an operator of telecommunications in the Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking world.

Comment: Often, when translating from Spanish to English, the word de doesn't have to be translated directly. For example, in the sample sentence, you could just as easily say "telecommunications operator" as you could "operator of telecommunications." Also, a phrase such as "el coche de Monique" could be translated not only as "the car of Monique" but also as "Monique's car."

[D. Allan]

This is wonderful, Shane! I think I'll get me a notebook and 'take notes' on these lessons.

La Palabra esta fantastico!

[Dr. Shane]

Here is one for those health-conscious environmentalists.

Word: la bicicleta

Pronunciation: bee-see-CLEH-tah in Latin America, bee-thee-CLEH-tah in Spain (with the "th" pronounced as in "thin")

Meaning: bicycle

Example: La bicicleta es un medio de transporte sano, ecológico, sostenible y muy económico.

Translation: The bicycle is a healthy, ecological, sustainable and very economical means of transportation.

[Dr. Shane]

How about a verb today? Conjugating verbs is always tricky.

Word: ver

Pronunciation: behr (Note that the Spanish r here is pronounced with a tap of the tongue against the front of the palate.)

Meaning: to see, to watch, to look at

Example: La persona ciega no puede ver, pero "siente" el mundo a través de los otros sentidos (tacto, oído, olfato).

Translation: The blind person cannot see, but he "feels" the world by means of the other senses (touch, hearing, smell).

Warning: The verb ver has an irregular conjugation: veo (I see), ves (you see), ve (he/she sees), vemos (we see), veis (you see), ven (they see).

[Dr. Shane]

Word: la leche

Pronunciation: LEH-cheh

Meaning: milk

Example: La leche es la base de numerosos productos lácteos, como la mantequilla, el queso o el yogur.

Translation: Milk is the basic ingredient of numerous dairy products such as butter, cheese or yogurt.

Warning: Leche can also refer to the sap in a tree.

[Dr. Shane]

Almost forgot about today's word

Word: la vaca

Pronunciation: BAH-cah

Meaning: cow

Example: El sistema digestivo de la vaca ha evolucionado formando tres cavidades que se encuentran antes el estómago verdadero.

Translation: The digestive system of the cow has evolved to form three cavities that are found before the true stomach.

Warning: In some contexts, vaca can also be used to refer to beef.

[Dr. Shane]

Word: el padre

Pronunciation: PAH-dreh

Meaning: father

Example: Mi padre era un hombre muy formal, muy ceremonioso.

Translation: My father was a very formal man, very ceremonious.

[Dr. Shane]

Word: la ventana

Pronunciation: ben-TAH-nah

Meaning: window

Example: Si el viento de un huracán abre una puerta o ventana, no avance hacia ella.

Translation: If the wind from a hurricane opens a door or window, don't go toward it.

Warning: This word can be applied both to the window in a building and a window on a computer screen.

[Dr. Shane]

Word: el jugo

Pronunciation: HOO-go (Note that in most areas, the Spanish j is pronounced with a gutteral sound.)

Meaning: juice

Example: Las ventas de jugos tropicales en los E.E.U.U. ha sido modesta, debido en parte, a que el costo es significativamente mayor que el jugo de manzana.

Translation: The sales of tropical juices in the U.S. has been modest, owing in part to that the cost is significantly more than for apple juice.

[Dr. Shane]

Word: estudiar

Pronunciation: ess-too-DYAR

Meaning: to study, to observe

Example: Los médicos estudian la relación entre el mercurio y la infertilidad femenina.

Translation: The doctors are studying the relationship between mercury and infertility in women.

[Gail]

Hay una relacion entre el murcurio y la infertilidad?

Sorry, but no tengo one of those front question marks!

[Dr. Shane]

Today is your lucky day. The front question mark is achieved by holding down the alt button while typing 173 on the ten-key. ¡ ¡ ¡

[Gail]

¡Bueno! ¡Gracias!

But it looks like the front exclamation point, not like "¿"

Quel es el numero por el "¿"

[Dr. Shane]

alt 130 = é

alt 160 = á

alt 161 = í

alt 162 = ó

alt 163 = ú

alt 164 = ñ

alt 165 = Ñ

alt 168 = ¿

alt 173 = ¡

[Gail]

Time to install a Spanish keyboard, I guess...

You don't insert all those characters when you need them, do you Shane?

[Dr. Shane]

I don't normally put the accents on my letters. I use the punctuation marks and the enye (ñ)

[Kountzer]

I took a spanish I class a few years ago, and made a B in it. I have gone to used book stores and bought books on spanish. I don't study them as well as I should. It helps a lot to know the basics and to know some verbs, and how they are used and their conjugations and so forth. But man, there is such a big difference between the spanish you learn in a class or in a book, and the spanish that is spoken on the street. Sometimes at work I'll hear someone hispanic say something, and even before they say it, I will already know the phrase and what it means, and they will say it and I still don't pick up on quite how they said it.

knowing the basics helps, but the only real way to learn it is to live in a totally spanish speaking environment, or to be married to someone that speaks spanish.

[Dr. Shane]

Spanish is spoken differently by different groups of people. Even within Mexico those in the north speak differently than those in the capital. It is similar to differences in English. In the United States the word bloke is not used. In England a man that is pi--ed is drunk and in the US he is angry. In Spanish such examples are even more plentiful.

Vulgar language especially varies in Spanish and makes it difficult for some preachers. Some words are are completely nonoffensive in some areas and are completely vulgar in other areas.

In the United States the Spanish that is spoken is sometimes called "spanglish" or in Texas "Tex-Mex" This involves the mixing of the two languages. A truck in Spanish is "camion" but in spanglish is "truca". And there are several other examples. Many Spanish speakers raised in the United States actually learn the spanglish as their first language and can neither speak English or Spanish correctly. I work with many in that category on a daily basis.

[Dr. Shane]

Speaking of spanglish, here is a correct Spanish word that one is likely to never hear in the Western hemisphere.

Word: el ordenador

Pronunciation: ohr-den-ah-DOHR (Note that the Spanish r here, in both instances, is pronounced with a tap of the tongue against the front of the palate - like the "d" in ladder is pronounced)

Meaning: computer

Example: Este documento muestra cómo conectar su ordenador Linux a un servidor.

Translation: This document shows how to connect your Linux computer to a server.

Warning: In much of Latin America, it is very common to use la computadora instead of el ordenador.

[Gail]

Es la palabra misma en frances- ordinateur

[Gail]

Shane you are probably happy that you don't have to deal with the "ais" tenses, as they do in Spain. That is for familiar plural

[Dr. Shane]

Actually, since the Bible is written with the "ais" tenses, those of us that read the Bible do use that tense when in group Bible study and quoting the Bible.

I find it quite comforting that Jesus used that form when He spoke to groups of people He used the second-person, plural, familiar tense, like a person does with friends rather than the third-person, plural, familiar tense like a teacher does with her students or a boss with his employees. However I don't know how that translates from the original Greek.

[Dr. Shane]

Word: el kilogramo

Pronunciation: kee-loh-GRAH-mo

Meaning: kilogram (a unit of weight equal to 2.2 pounds)

Example: El cerebro de una ballena pesa en promedio 7.8 kilogramos.

Translation: The brain of a whale weighs, on the average, 7.8 kilograms (17 pounds).

[Dr. Shane]

:grouphug4:

Word: nosotros, nosotras

Pronunciation: noh-SOH-trohss, noh-SOH-trahss

Meaning: we, us

Example: La protección de tu privacidad es muy importante para nosotros.

Translation: The protection of your privacy is very important to us.

Warning: Nosotros is the masculine form and is used when referring to males. Nosotras is the feminine form and is used when referring to females. For mixed groups or groups of unknown sex, nosotros is used.

Nosotros isn't the only word that can be used for "us." Depending on the sentence structure, nos is sometimes used.