Chapter 1 Brushing Up on the Basics In This Chapter Counting with cardinal and ordinal numbers: Expressing dates Telling time Reviewing parts of speech nowing numbers, expressing dates, relating the time of day, and recognizing parts of speech are essential Spanish skills you need in everyday life. Surely, the ability to. communicate numbers, times, and dates is completely indispensable to you on a daily basis. Determining the correct part of speech to use helps you perfect your oral and written Spanish. Counting Down We start off this chapter with numbers because you need them in order to express dates and tell time. You use cardinal numbers (the more popular of the two) to count, to bargain with a merchant about a price, to express the temperature, or to write a check. You use ordinal numbers to express the number of a floor, the act of a play, or the order of a person in a race or competition. Using cardinal numbers You use cardinal numbers many times every day. As a matter of fact, you probably use them at least once an hour in the course of normal conversation or in writing. The Spanish car- dinal numbers are as follows:17 18 19 21 24 diecisicte (diez y siete) dieciocho (diez y echo) diecinueve (diez y nueve) veinte Number 25 26 27 28 29 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 101 200 500 700 900 1.000 2.000 100.000 veintiuno (veinte 1.000.000 y uno) veintidés (veinte 2.000.000 y dos) veintitrés (veinte 1.000.000.000 y tres) eae (veinte y cuatro) 2.000.000.000 veinticinco (veinte y cinco) dos mil un millén dos millones mil millones dos milBER & You need to keep the following rules in mind when using car- dinal numbers in Spanish: 1 Uno (one), used only when counting, becomes un before a masculine noun and una before a feminine noun, whether the noun is singular or plural: * uno, dos, tres (one, two, three) * un nifio y una nifia (a boy and a girl) + sesenta y un délares (6/ dollars) + veintiuna (veinte y una) personas (21 people) You use the conjunction y (and) only for numbers between 16 and 99. You don't use it directly after hundreds: + ochenta y ocho (88) * doscientos treinta y siete (237) i You generally write the numbers 16 through 19 and 21 through 29 as one word. The numbers 16, 22, 23, and 26 have accents on the last syllable: + 16: dieciséis + 22: veintidés + 23: veintitrés + 26: veintiséis 1 When used before a masculine noun, veintitin (21) has an accent on the last syllable: + veintitin dias (27 days) 1 Ciento (00) becomes cien before nouns of either gender and before the numbers mil and millones. Before all other numbers, you use ciento. Un (one), which you don’t use before cien(to) or mil, comes before millén. When a noun follows millén, you put the preposition de between millén and the noun. Millén drops its accent in the plural (millones): + cien sombreros (100 hats) + cien blusas (700 blouses) + cien mil millas (100,000 miles) + cien millones de délares (100 million dollars)© cis + mil posibilidades (1,000 possibi un millén de razones (! million reasons) Compounds of ciento (doscientos, trescientos) must change to agree with a feminine noun: * cuatrocientos muchachos (400 muchachos) * seiscientas muchachas (600 muchachas) lo noventa acres (/.90 acres) ies) With numerals and decimals, Spanish uses commas where English uses periods, and vice versa: English Spanish 6,000 6.000 0.75 0,75 $14.99 314,99 Using ordinal numbers You use ordinal numbers — those used to express numbers in a series — far less frequently than cardinal numbers, but they still have some very important applications in everyday life. The following chart presents the Spanish ordinal numbers: Ordinal Spanish ist primero 2nd segundo 3rd tercero 4th cuarto Sth quinto Sth: sexto 7th séptimo Sth octavo Sth noveno 10th décimo The following list outlines everything you must remember when using ordinal numbers in Spanish:Spanish speakers rarely use ordinal numbers after 10th. Alter that, they usually use cardinal numbers in both the spoken and written language: El siglo quince (the 15th century) + Ordinal numbers must agree in gender (masculine or feminine) with the nouns they modify. You can make ordinal numbers feminine by changing the final -0 of the masculine form to-a: la cuarta vez (the fourth time) Primero and tercero drop the final -o before a masculine singular no el primer muchacho (the first boy) el tercer hombre (ihe third man) In dates, primero is the only ordinal number you use. All other dates call for the cardinal numbers: el primero de mayo (May Ist) el doce de enero (January 12th) Dealing with Dates Dates are important parts of everyday life (in more ways than one!). To write out dates in Spanish, you have to practice the days of the week, the months of the year, and numbers (see the preceding section). Expressing the days of the week Ifyou hear zQué dia es hoy? (What day is it?), you should respond with Hoy es . . . (Today is...) and then provide the name of one of the days listed here: English Spanish Monday lunes Tuesday martes Wednesday miércoles Thursday jueves Friday viernes Saturday sabado Sunday domingoUnlike the English calendar, the Spanish calendar starts with Monday. Here are two more guidelines for talking about days of the week in Spanish: + Unless you use them at the beginning of a sentence, you don’t capitalize the days of the week in Spanish: Lunes y martes son dias de vacaciones. (Monday and Tuesday are vacation days.) » You use el to express on when referring to a particular day of the week and los to express on when the action occurs repeatedly: No trabajo el sabado. (I'm not working on Saturday.) No trabajo los sdébados. (I don’t work on Saturdays.) Naming the months of the year Ifyou hear gEn qué mes . . .? (In what month . . .), someone is asking you in what month a certain event takes place. We pro- vide the names of the months in Spanish in the following list: English Spanish January enero February febrero March marzo Aprit abril May mayo June junio July julio August agosto September septiembre (or setiembre) October octubre November noviembreLike days of the week, the months aren't capitalized in Spanish: Junio y julio son meses agradables. (June and July are nice months.) Along with the months, you may also want to talk about the seasons of the year. In Spanish, the seasons are masculine except for la primavera (the spring): el invierno (the winter) la primavera (the spring) el verano (the summer) el otofie (the autumn [fall]) Making a date If you want to ask a passerby or an acquaintance about the date, politely inquire :Cual es la fecha de hoy? (What is today’s date?) The person should respond with Hoy es. . . (Today is. . _) and then use the following formula to express the correct date: day + (eD) + cardinal number (except for primero) + de + month +de + year The following is an example translation, using this formula: Sunday, April 18, 2010: Hoy es domingo, el dieciocho de abril de dos mil diez. Now that you have a handy formula, you need to know a few more details about writing dates in Spanish: v You express the first day of each month with primero. You use cardinal numbers for all other days: el primero de enero (January Ist) el siete de enero (January 7th) 1 Use el to express on with Spanish dates: Partimos el once de octubre. (We are leaving on October Ith)we In Spanish, you express years in thousands and hundreds, not only in hundreds: 1492: mil cuatrocientos noventa y dos (fourteen hundred ninety-two) In Spanish, when dates are written as numbers, they follow the sequence day/month/year, which may prove confusing to English speakers — especially for dates below the 12th of the month. You write February 9th as 2/9 in English, but in Spanish it's 9/2. When speaking of dates in everyday language, the words and expressions that follow may come in handy: English Spanish English Spanish aday un dia day before anteayer yesterday aquweek wunasemana yesterday ayer amonth unmes today hoy ayear unaiio tomorrow mafiana in tomorrow moming matana por la manana ago hace tomorrow mafana por la aftermoon tarde per por fomorrow night maiana por la noche during durante day after tomorrow pasado maiiana next préximof@) from desde last pasado(a) a week from today de hoy en ocho fast (ina ltimo(a) fwo weeks from de mafiana en series) tomorrow dos semanas eve la vispera within one (two) dentro de una week(s) (dos) semana(s) Telling Time Knowing how to understand, speak, and write time-related words and phrases is a must for anyone who's studying a for- eign language and planning to put these studies to use (to do some traveling one day, for instance).liyou hear ;Qué hora es? (What time is it?), someone wants to know the time. You should start by responding with the following: Es la una + | o'clock hour or Som las + any time after 1. To express the time after the hour (up to and including half past the hour), use y (and) and the number of minutes. Use menos (less) + the number of the following hour to express the time before the next hour (after half past the hour). You can also express time numerically (as shown in the third example here): Es la una y media. (It's 1:30.) Son las cinco menos veinte. (It's 4:40.) Son las cuatro y cuarenta. (It's 4:40.) If you want to discuss at what time a particular event will occur, you can use a question — A qué hora . . . ? —or answer with A la una or A las + any time after 1: gA qué hora vienen? (At what time are they coming?) Ala una. (At 1:00.) Alas tres y cuarto. (At 3:15.) The following chart shows how to express time after and before the hour: Time Spanish 1:00 la una 205 las dos y cinco 3:10 las tres y diez 4:15 las cuatro y cuarte or las cuatro y quince 5:20 las cinco y veinte 625 las seis y veinticinco 7:30 las siete y media or las siete y treinta 735 las ocho menos veinticinco or las siete y treinta y cinco 8:40 las nueve menos veinte or las ocho y cuarenta 9:45 las diez menos cuarto or las nueve y cuarenta y cinco10:50, ALSS noon midnight Spanish las once menos diez or las diez y cincuenta las doce menos cinco or las once y cincuenta y cinco el mediodia la medianoche When expressing time, the words and expressions we present in the following table may come in handy: English second a minute Spanish English un segundo —in.an hour un minuto ina while a quarter ofan un cuarto de until en hour hora an hour @half hour o'clock una hora before nine o'clock mediahora after seven o'clock in the morning porla maiiana_ since what (am) time? in the afternoon por latarde since eight (pm) o'clock inthe evening porlanoche — one hour ago (p.m) at what tim 1? yaquéhora? — early atexactly nine alasnueveen fate o'clock punto atabout two aesodelas late (in ovclock dos arriving) Spanish en una hora dentro.de un hasta las diez antes de las después de las siete gdesde qué hora?Focusing on Parts of Speech Too many people try to translate word for word from English to Spanish. And that just doesn’t work. Why? Because a Spanish word may have many applications depending on its usage (for example, as a noun or as an adjective) in the sentence. In addition, many idiomatic phrases, when used properly, distinguish a native speaker from someone who's unfamiliar with the language. (An idiomatic phrase is a phrase used in a particular language whose meaning can’t easily be understood by a literal translation of its component words. An English example is “It's raining cats and dogs.”) Using nouns Anoun is the part of speech that refers to 4 person, place, thing. quality, idea, or action. Here are some examples of nouns in action a Person: The boy is friendly. (El muchacho es amable.) a Place: J want to go home (Quiero ir a casa.) 2 Thing: J would like to see that book. (Quisiera ver ese libro.) + Quality: fadmire her courage. (Admiro su coraje.) w= Idea: Communism is a political theory. (El comunismo es una teoria politica) J Action: The plane’s departure is imminent. (La partida del avin es Inminente.) In everyday speaking/writing, you use nouns most often in the following forms: 2 As the subject of a verb: Maria speaks Spanish. (Maxia habla espaol.) J As the direct object of a verb: fsee Maria (Yo veo a Maria.) w= As the indirect object of a verb: I speak to Maria. (¥o le hablo a Maria.) 2 As the object of a preposition: [went out mith Maria. (We sali con Maxis) =, Unlike English nouns, all Spanish nouns have a gender: mas- So Sully ot feminine All worries yee tee te Hroumty or aoseriba anoun must agree with the noun with respect to gender. We discuss this in more detail in Chapter 2.Substituting pronouns A pronoun is a part of speech used in place of a noun. The fok lowing list outlines the pronouns we discuss in this book: 4 Subject pronouns (see Chapter 3) are followed by the verb expressing the main action in the sentence (J, you, he, she, it, we, they): You are nice. (Ud. es simpatico.) 4 Interrogative pronouns (see Chapter 5) ask a question (who, which, what, and so on): Who is that? (;Quién es?) * Direct object pronouns (see Chapter 2) replace direct object nouns; they answer whom or what the subject is acting upon. The direct object pronouns are me, te, lo, la (le in Spain), nos, (os in Spain), los, and las (les in Spain): I'll be seeing you. (Te veo.) 4 Indirect object pronouns (see Chapter 2) replace indirect object nouns; they explain to or for whom something is done. They include me, te, le, nos, (os in Spain), and les: He wrote fo me. (Me escribié.) i Reflexive pronouns (see Chapter 3) show that the subject is acting upon itself (me, te, se, nos, [os in Spain]): He sees himself in the mirror. (El se ve en el espejo.) = Prepositional pronouns (see Chapter 4) are used after prepositions (mi, ti, él, ella, Ud., nosotros, vosotros (in Spain), ellos, ellas, Uds.): They're going to the movies without me. (Van al cine sin mi.) Acting with verbs Avverb is a part of speech that shows an action or a state of being. In Spanish, as in English, verbs change from their infini- tive form (they're conjugated, in other words) as follows: To agree with the person performing the action (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)To indicate the time when the action was performed (past, present, future) To indicate the mood (indicative, subjunctive, impera- tive, conditional) of the action fh, The infinitive of the verb is its “rave” form — its “to” form — before it’s conjugated. Infinitives in Spanish have three differ- ent endings, and you conjugate them according to these end- ings Car, -er, and -ir) when a subject is present or is implied. We give you lots more information about verbs in Chapters 3, 6, 7, and 8. Describing with adjectives An adjective is a part of speech that describes a noun: The house is white. (La casa es blanca.) A Spanish adjective can have other applications, too, which we outline in the following list: A possessive adjective tells to whom the noun belongs: It’s any book. (Es mi libro.) A demonstrative adjective shows this, that, these, or those: That film is good. (Esa pelicula es buena.) An interrogative adjective asks the question whose, which, or what Whose car is that? (jDe quién es ese coche?) Anumber (cardinal or ordinal; see the “Counting Down” section earlier in this chapter) is an adjective that gives a specific amount: Ineed q pen. (Necesite un boligrafo.) It's his tenth birthday. (Es su décimo cumpleafios.) Clarifying with adverbs An adverb is a part of speech that modifies a verb, an adjec- tive, or another adverb:Modifying a verb: You speak quickly. (Ud. habla rapidamente.) Modifying an adjective: Her grandmother is very old. (Su abuela es muy vieja.) Modifying an adverb: They eat foo slowly. (Ellos comen. demasiado despacio.) Joining with prepositions Prepositions are words used before nouns or pronouns to relate them to other words in the sentence. Prepositions connect the following: Noun to noun: / need that piece of paper. (Necesito esa hoja de papel.) Verb to verb: The child begins to laugh. (El nifio empieza areir.) i Verb to noun: She studies with her friends. (Ella estudia con sus amigas.) Verb to pronoun: What do you think qbout them? (,Qué piensas de ellos?)