Handout 2 HOMEWORK 2/TAREA 2

Homework 2/Tarea 2
1. Bring 10 new words (only nouns)
2. Memorize the colors
3. Review Verb SER and ESTAR
4. Practice the greetings

Second class (June 9th, 2009)
New Schedule
Tuesday / Thursday 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

2. Saludos Greetings
3. Verbo SER y ESTAR
4. Colores
5. Acting out a simple conversation in Spanish.

GREETINGS in SPANISH
· Hola — Hello, hi — This greeting is suitable in both formal and informal contexts.
· Hola, aló, bueno, diga — Hello (on the telephone) — The choice of telephone greeting varies from location to location. Hola would be understood anywhere but is not customary in many places.
· Adiós — Goodbye — An informal alternative in many areas is chao (sometimes spelled ciao, from Italian).
· ¿Cómo estás? ¿Cómo está? — How are you? — The first form (which is informal) normally would be used with someone you know on a first-name basis or when speaking with a child. The second form generally would be used in other situations. Usage can depend quite a bit on where you are; in some areas, the informal form (estás) would be expected where under the same circumstances the formal form would be used in other areas. If you're a foreigner, chances are no one will criticize you for using the wrong form, although you may be politely corrected.
· Muy bien, gracias — Very well, thank you.
· Buenos días — Good day, good morning — In some areas, a shortened form, buen día, is used.
· Buenas tardes — Good afternoon, good evening — In most areas, buenas tardes should be used in the early evening in preference to buenas noches.
· Buenas noches — Good night — Unlike the English translation, buenas noches can be used as a greeting as well as a farewell.
· ¿Cómo te va? ¿Cómo le va?1 ¿Qué tal? ¿Qué hay? — How's it going? What's happening? — There is also a variety of colloquial alternatives uses, although many of them depend on the area.
· ¿Qué pasa? — What's happening?
· ¿Qué hubo? ¿Qué onda? — How is it going? What's happening? — These phrases are most common in Mexico.
· ¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Cómo se llama usted? — What's your name? — A literal translation would be "What do you call yourself?" or, somewhat less literally, "What are you called?" The first form normally would be used with a child, or possibly with someone of equal social status at an informal occasion. If you're uncertain which form to use, the second one is safer.
· Me llamo (nombre).— My name is (name). — A literal translation would be "I call myself (name)" or, somewhat less literally, "I am called (name)." You can also literally translate the English: Mi nombre es (nombre).
· Mucho gusto. Encantado. — It's a pleasure to meet you. — Either of these could be said upon meeting someone. If you're female, you should say encantada instead of encantado. These literally mean "much pleasure" and "delighted," respectively, so they would have different meanings in other contexts.
· Bienvenido, bienvenida, bienvenidos, bienvenidas — Welcome — Note the difference in number and gender. Bienvenido would be used with a man, bienvenida with a woman, bienvenidas with a group of all females, and bienvenidos with males or a mixed group.

SER y ESTAR (To be)

There are few things more confusing for beginning Spanish students, at least those who have English as their first language, than learning the differences between ser and estar. After all, they both mean "to be" in English.

And since both verbs are frequently used, they are as irregular as can be. Who would think that fue would be the third-person preterite of ser? (On the other hand, you've got to have sympathy with those learning English. Who would think "am," "is," "was," and "are" are all forms of "to be"?)
In this lesson, we'll concern ourselves only with the present tense. After all, by the time you're learning other tenses you'll have the two verbs mastered. They really aren't that difficult. What you need to do is remember when learning a foreign language is that we don't translate words from one language to another, we translate meanings. And many of our English verbs, "to be" among them, have a multitude of meanings.
When I think of the differences between ser and estar, I like to think of ser as the passive verb and estar as the active one. (I'm not using the terms in a grammatical sense here.) Ser tells you what something is, the nature of its being, while estar refers more to what something does. I might use soy (the first-person present of ser) to tell you what I am, but I'd use estoy (the first-person present of estar) to tell you what I am being.
Now that's probably as clear as a politician's equivocation, but let me give you a few examples. I might say, "Estoy enfermo." That would tell you that I am being sick, that I am sick at the moment. But it doesn't tell you what I am. Now if I were to say, "Soy enfermo," that would have a different meaning entirely. That would refer to who I am, to the nature of my being. We might translate that as "I am a sick person" or "I am sickly."
Note similar differences in these examples:
· Estoy cansado, I am tired. Soy cansado, I am a tired person.
· Estoy feliz, I'm happy now. Soy feliz, I am happy by nature.
· Está callada, she's being quiet. Es callada, she's introverted.
· No soy listo, I'm not a quick thinker. Estoy listo, I'm ready.
One way of thinking about it is to think of ser as being roughly equivalent to "equals." Another way of thinking about it is that estar often refers to a temporary condition, while ser frequently refers to a permanent condition. But there are some exceptions.
Among the major exceptions to the above way of thinking is that ser is used in expressions of time, such as "Son las dos de la tarde" for "It's 2 p.m." Also, we use estar to indicate someone has died — quite a permanent condition: Está muerto, he is dead.
Along that line, estar is used to indicate location. Estoy en casa, I am at home. But, soy de México, I am from Mexico.
There are also a few idiomatic expressions that simply need to be learned, although that comes naturally with time: La manzana es verde, the apple is green. La manzana está verde, the apple is unripe. Está muy buena la comida, the meal tastes very good.
As I mentioned earlier, both ser and estar are irregularly conjugated. Here's a chart of the present tense:
Pronombre Ser Estar
Yo soy estoy
Tú eres estás
Él, ella, usted es está
Nosotros/as somos estamos
Vosotros/as sois estáis
Ellos, ellas, ustedes son están

Colores
Blanco
Negro
Rojo
Azúl
Naranja
Amarillo
Verde
Morado
Café

Ejemplos

Mi casa es roja
Mi coche es blanco
Mi pantalón es azúl
Mi camiseta es negra