Assimil using spanish

Day by day method Using Spanish original text by Francisco Javier Antón Martínez adapted for the use of English speakers by Ágnes Martínez Madrigal CHICAGO PUBIJC LIBRARY LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE DfVSSfON FOREiGN LAfJGUAGE JNFORMATiON CEMTER IllustrMé&ty& LAQaussévf 400 SOÜTH STATE STREET CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60605 B.P 25 94431 Chenneviéres-sur-Marne Cedex FRANCE © Assimil 1996 1SBN: 2-7005-0188-8 for over sixty years, the preferred publisher of self-teaching foreign-language methods! Illustrated books , recorded on cassettes and compact-discs Arabic with ease Dutch with ease French with ease Germán with ease Hungarian with ease Italian with ease Spanish with ease Advanced level Using French Using Germán Using Spanish V INTRODUCTION A household ñame in Europe, ASSIMIL has been successfiilly used by thousands of international business people, students and world travelers wanting or needing greater language abilities Using Spanish is designed for anyone who has studied basic Spanish or completed Spanish with ease In only one half-hour a day, you will succeed in perfecting your Spanish easily and effectively Using Spanish was conceived with the idea of helping you move from simple conversational skills to greater ease and mastery of the subtleties of Spanish This highlyeffective method is guaranteed to help you put Spanish into daily use Using Spanish guides you on an exciting journey through the principal regions of Spain, while incorporating the views of the Spanish people With Using Spanish, you learn about current events and meet ordinary - and extraordinary - folks from everyday Spanish life VI The author offers keen insights into his homeland, with a special knack for irony and temperament that the Spanish are known for Count on adding considerably to your vocabulary and exploring the fíner points of the Spanish language Many famous Spaniards - from the classical writer Cervantes to the filmmaker Buñuel, not to mention the painter Goya and the composer de Falla - will become known to you As an added bonus, the original language and cultures of Latin América are amply introduced All the dialogues in the 432-page coursebook are conducted in both Spanish and English The four 60-minute cassettes, which contain all the Spanish lessons and exercises in the book, have been recorded in Spain by native speakers to provide listeners with authentic Spanish intonation As is true for ASSIMIL's other advanced methods, Using French and Using Germán, Using Spanish helps users communicate with efficiency and confídence, leading them in a short period of time to total proficiency and comfort in the Spanish language! LECCIÓN PRIMERA Andar (1) En el momento en que comienza su andadura a través de estas páginas -camino de la mejora del conocimiento de la lengua castellana- (2) y para que no pierda tiempo andándose por las ramas, le invitamos a (3) andar ojo -pero ¡sin andar miedo! (4) Es verdad que andar no es fácil -¿cómo explicar si no que haya tanta gente que anda siempre rodeos? (5) En efecto, la dificultad se enraiza ya en los orígenes cuando, queriendo echar a andar -para andar por el mundo-, (6) & LESSON ONE To march When (at the moment) you begin your march through these pages - on the way to a better knowledge of the Castilian language and ¡n order not to waste time on waffling we to pay attention - but without any fear! invite you It is true that "marching" ¡s not easy - how to explain ¡t ¡n other ways (than saying that) there are so many people who always waffles? In fact, (the) difficulty has its roots already in the origins (is already rooted in the origins) when wanting to begin walking - in order to move around the world -, NOTES (1) Andar, to go, to march, to walk, to tramp, to haul, to move This lesson shows you how many different meanings a verb can take depending on both the context and the nouns with which it forms idiomatic expressions This may tead you towards the wrong direction as for the meaning Pay attention to the different meanings of andarshown duríng this lesson Note that andar is irregular in the past simple and - as a consequence - in the ¡mperfect of the subjunctive Refer to the grammatical appendix on page 385 (2) La andadura: the action of marching El camino: road, way Camino de: on the way to, towards Iba camino del colegio cuando vio a su amigo: He was on the way to the school when he saw his friend (3) Andarse por las ramas: to beat about the bush, to waffle (4) Andar ojo: to pay attention Andar miedo: to be afrakJ (5) Andar(se) rodeos: (lit "to go in a roundabout way") to waffle (6) Echar(se) a andar to begin walking, to get started Mi hijo echó a andar a los 15 meses: My son began walking when he was 15 months oíd Andar por el mundo: to move around the world Lesson uno decide lanzarse a la aventura y, a la búsqueda de los primeros pasos, comienza por ponerse a andar a gatas (7) En ese momento se percibe ya todo lo abrupto del andar derecho, lo complejo del equilibrio entre andar por los suelos y andar por las nubes (8) No hace mucho, un niđo que ya se tenía en pie decía que andaba de cabeza para andar cien ojos para no volver a las andadas (9) porque -adía- «ya se sabe , ¡quien mal anda mal acaba!» (10) 10 El problema es pues tan viejo como andar a P¡e (11) 11 ¿Cómo resolverlo? 12 Cada uno a su manera y a su ritmo, 13 Así que 14 ¡Andando! confianza, porque ¡todo se andará! NOTES (7) Ponerse a: followed by an ¡nfinith/e means to start, to begin Se puso a trabajar a las ocho.: He started to work at A gatas: on all fours, on hands and knees (8) Todo lo abrupto (que es): lo que with an adjective between them ¡s a form of expressing "quantity" It ¡s used to express the same as: qué or cuan No puedes imaginar lo hermosa que es ella, or No puedes imaginar qué hermosa es ella: You can't imagine how beautiful she ¡s Abrupto: abrupt, steep, craggy Andar por los suelos: to walk on the ground, to walk on the floor Andar derecho: to go straight, to behave in accordance with the moral standards Andar por las nubes: to absentminded, daydreaming have one's head in the clouds, one decides to dart out at adventure, and looking for the first steps, he begins moving on all fours At this moment one already perceives how difficult ¡t ¡s to go straight, the complexity of the balance between hauling on the ground and having your head in the clouds It was not long ago that a child that could already stand said that had a lot to in order to be careful not to resume his oíd vices because - he added - uit ¡s well known , that he that lives wickedly can hardly die hohestly!" 10 So the problem ¡s as oíd as the hills 11 How to solve ¡t? 12 Everyone ¡n ¡ts own way and in his own rhythm, with confidence because everything will work well 13 Sothen 14 Go ahead! NOTES (9) Tenerse en pie: to stand Andar de cabeza: to be busy, to nave a lot to Andar cien ojos: (lit "to walk with a hundred eyes") to be careful, to take care Volver a las andadas: (lit "to go back to the traces") to resume one's oíd vices or bad habits, to go back to one's d tricks (10) «Quien mal anda, mal acaba»: He that lives wickedly can hardly die honestly This is a Spanish proverb that could be literally translated by "He that walks badly, finishes badly" (11) Andar a pie: to walk, to go on foot Más viejo que andará pie: (lit "olderthan walking") as oíd as the hills Lesson EJERCICIO (repase las expresiones; el primer número remite a la frase, el segundo a la nota): Andarse por las ramas Andar ojo Andar miedo 2,3 3,4 3,4 Andar(se) rodeos Echar(se) a andar 4,5 5,6 Andar a gatas 6,7 ************************************************* LECCIÓN SEGUNDA ¿De qué se trata? Para que su estudio sea algo más que un memorizar palabras y aprender reglas de gramática, le propondremos, también, hacer un poco de turismo (1) Así pues, ciertas lecciones le invitarán a «viajar» a diferentes puntos de la geografía espola y le presentarán someramente una región determinada, le hablarán de sus habitantes, de su cocina, de sus riquezas, de sus fiestas o de sus costumbres, etcétera Su aprendizaje será más ameno y más consistente Al final, usted habrá hecho un poco realidad el dicho: «Hablar Espa» es, también, conocer y comprender (2) NOTES (1) The infinitive may become an abstract noun ¡f it ¡s preceded by an adíele (definite or indefinite) or any other determinen Necesito un buen dormir I need a good sleep B vestirse a ta moda cuesta mucho: Dressing according to the fashbn coste a lot Andar derecho Andar por los suelos Andar por las nubes Andar de cabeza Andar cien ojos Volver a las andadas «Quien mal anda mal acaba» Más viejo que andar a pie Todo se andará ¡ Andando! 7,7,8 7,8 8,9 8,9 8,9 9,10 10,11 12,14,- ************************************************* LESSON TWO What is it about? In order not to let your studies be limited to memorizing words and learning grammar rules, we also propose you to make a bit of tourism This way, certain lessons will invite you uto travel" to different points of Spanish geography and will show you superficially one particular región; they will speak to you about its inhabitants, its cuisine, its wealth, its feasts and its customs, etc Your learning will be more delightful and more consistent In the end you will have made the following saying a bit of reality: "Speaking Spain" is also knowing and understanding NOTES Todo lo difícil está en el comenzar Difficulty lies in the beginning El mentir pide memoria: Lying needs good memory (2) Al final (de): in the end, at the end of Lesson SPELLING CHANGES Spelling changes required by certain verbs for certain persons not in reality represent ¡rregularities In all these verbs they merely exist to retain the same sound It is therefore not a question of ¡rregularity since, to the ear, nothing changes Thus for example in Vence/*: to conquer, if we want to keep the same sound in the present we not write venco, but venzo: I conquer Listed below are the equivalents: Letter groups ce, a become za, zo que, qui gue, gui ca, co ga.go ge g¡ ja, jo gua, guo güe, güi gue, gui que, qui ga,go za, zo ce ca, co A Changes in he first conjugation Verbs ending ¡n car, gar, guar, zar Endings | Change car c becomes qu gar g becomes gu gu becomes gü z becomes c guar zar infinitive indicar: to indícate pagar: to pay averiguar: to check izar: to hoist preterite indiqué pagué averigüé icé present subjunctive indique, indiques, etc pague, pagues, etc averigüe, averigües, etc ice, ices, etc Looking at this tabfe, we can establish that the change takes place when the ending begins with an "e" Therefore these changes only appfy to the first person of the preterite and to the whole of the present of subjunctive B Changes in the second and third conjugation Verbs ending in cer, cir, ger, gir, guir, quir Endings cer cir ger 9¡r Change c becomes z g Decomes j infinitive present indicative present subjunctive ejercer: to exercise ejerzo ejerza, ejerzas, etc esparcir: to scatter esparzo esparza, esparzas, etc coger: to take cojo coja, cojas, etc dirigir to direct dirijo dirija, dirijas, etc guir gu becomes g distinguir: to distinguish distingo distinga, distingas, etc quir qu becomes c delinquir: to commít a crime delinco delinca, delincas, etc In these verbs change takes place when the ending contains an o or a sound, i e in the first person of the present indicative and all the forms of present subjunctive s CLASSIFICATION OF IRREGULAR VERBS Group one ene These verbs have the diphthong te when the e preceding the verb ending canies a tonic accent This change thus only applies to the three persons singular and the third person plural of the present tenses (both indicative and subjunctive) and the singular of imperative PENSAR: "to think" indicative piens o subjunctive piens piens as piens es piens a piens e pens amos pens emos pens ais pens éis piens an imperative e piens a pens ad piens en AJÍ the other forms of this verb - and of those belonging to the irregular verbs of group one - are regular and are conjugated like cantar PERDER: "to lose" indicativo pierd o subjunctive pierd es pierd as pierd e pierd a perd emos perd amos perd éis perd ais pierd en imperative pierd a pierd e perd ed pierd an All the other forms of this verb - and of those belonging to the irregular verbs of group one - are regular and are conjugated like comer Discernir "to discern" and concernir: "to concern", are the only verbs ending in -ir belonging to group one and consequently follow the same irregularity Discierno: I discem, disciernes: you discern, etc Concierno: I concern, conciernes: you concern, etc Group two s o-ue These verbs have the diphthong ue when the o preceding the verb ending carries a tonic accent This change therefore only applies to the three persons singular and the third person plural of the present tenses (both indicative and subjunctive) and the singular of imperative CONTAR: "to count, tell" indicativo cuent o subjunctive cuent cuent as cuent es cuent a cuent e cont amos cont emos cont ais cont éis cuent en cuent an imperative e cuent a cont ad All other forms of this verb - and of those belonging to the irregular verbs of group two - are regular and conjúgate like cantar MORDER: "to bite" indicative muerd o subjunctive imperative muerd a muerd es muerd as muerd e muerd a mord emos mord amos mord éis mord ais muerd en muerd an muerd e mord ed All other forms of this verb - and of those belonging to the irregular verbs of group two - are regular and conjúgate like comer In this group there are only verbs of the first conjugation - ending in ar- and of the second conjugation - ending in en Group three c-zc The verbs in this group take a z in the first person singular of present indicative and in all the forms of pre sent subjunctive: when the c must be followed by a strong vowel (a and o)f i.e when, phonetically, the ending takes the sound k (ca, co) Verbs ending in acer, ecer, ocer, ucir belong to this group CRECER: "to grow" indicative subjunctive crezc o crezc a cree es crezc as cree e crezc a cree emos crezc amos cree éis crezc ais cree en crezc an LUCIR: "to shine" indicative subjunctive luzc o luzc a luc es luzc as luc e luzc a luc irnos luzc amos luc ís luzc ais luc en luzc an The other forms of these verbs - and oí those belonging to this group - are regular and are conjugated like comer and vivir Ónly verbs of the second and third conjugation are found in this group Exceptions: Hacer: "to do"; placer: uto please"; yacer: "to lie" - these three verbs have other irregularities and belong to a list of verbs which cannot be classified here -; mecer: "to rock"; cocer "to cook" and escocer: "to itch" In addition to these six verbs, the Real Academia Española includes in the exceptions of this group verbs ending in ducir, since these verbs, in addition to the irregularities of group three, are also irregular in the preterite These verbs form group four Group four c-zc (present) c-j (preterite) Verbs belongíng to group four are those ending in ducir In the present they have the same irregularities as verbs ¡n group three in addition to this - and this is why they form a group apart - the preterite ends in duje and consequently the imperfect subjunctive in dujera or dujese and the future subjunctive in dujere TRADUCIR: "to transíate" present subjunctive present indicative preterite indicative traduj traduj traduj traduj traduj traduj e iste o irnos isteis eron traduzc o traduzc a traduc traduc traduc traduc es e irnos ís as traduc en traduzc traduzc traduzc traduzc traduzc imperfect subjunctive traduj era traduj eras traduj era traduj éramos traduj erais traduj eran or ese eses ese ésemos eseis esen a amos ais an futura subjunctive traduj traduj traduj traduj traduj traduj ere eres ere eremos eréis eren The other forms of this verb - and of those ending ¡n ducir- are regular and are conjugated like vivir Group five Loss of ending i Verbs ¡n this group lose the "i" in the 3rd persons of the preterite and, therefore, in all the forms of the ¡mperfect as well as ¡n the future subjunctive and the gerund Verbs belonging to this group are those ending ¡n -er, -ir, -iđir, -ir, -eller and -ullir GRIR: "to grunt" imperfect subjunctive preterite indicative future subjunctive ese gruñ ere eras eses grun eres era ese grun ere gruñ eramos esemos grun eremos gruñ isteis gruñ erais eseis grun eréis gr eron gr eran esen gr eren gr í grun era gr iste gr gr ó gr gr irnos or gerund gruñ endo With the exception of the third person singular and plural of preterite, the imperfect, the future subjunctive and the gerund, the other forms of this verb - and those sharing the same irregularity - are regular and are conjugated like vivir and comer Group six e-¡ The "e" of the stem of the verbs in this group changes to V when ¡t is stressed or if the ending begins with a diphthong or with an "a" This change applies ¡n the present, the preterite, the imperfect and the future of subjunctive and the gerund In addition to servir: Mto serve", verbs belonging to this group are those ending ¡n ebir, edir, egir, eguir, emir, endir, estir and etir PEDIR: "to ask" present indicative present subjunctive pid o pid a pid es pid as pid e pid a ped irnos pid amos ped ís pid ais pid en pid an imperative pid e ped id pretente indicative imperfect subjunctive ped í pid lera ped iste pid pid ió Mure subjunctive íese pid iere ieras ieses pid ieres pid iere or pid ¡era iese ped irnos pid iéramos iésemos pid ¡eremos ped ¡steis pid ierais ieseis pid iereis pid pid ¡eran iesen pid ieren ieron gerund pid iendo The other tenses of these verbs are regular and are conjugated like vivir Group seven Loss of ending "i" e-i The verbs in this group assemble all the ¡rregularities of groups five and six Verbs belonging to this group are those ending ¡n r, enchir and ir RR: "to laugh" present indicative n o present subjunctive n imperative a ri es rí as rí e rí a re irnos rí amos reís rí ais rí en rí an rí e re id preterite indicative imperfect subjunctive re í n era re íste ri eras ri era ri ó or future subjunctive ese n eses ri eres ere ese ri ere re irnos rí éramos ésemos ri eremos re ri erais eseis ri eréis ri esen ri eren ísteis ri eron eran gerund ri endo The other forms of the verbs belonging to group seven are regular and conjúgate like vivir A further difference between verbs ending in -eír and ~enchir/-eñir consists in their way of writing The latter verbs (e g henchir and reñir) have no accent mark in the present tenses (¡ncluding the imperative): hincho, henchimos, hinche; riño, reñimos, riñe, etc These verbs have an accent mark in the 1st and 3rd person singular of indicatíve preterite only: henchí/rí, hinchó/riđó Rr, frr, etc have an accent mark in their past participle too: reído, freído Group eight & e-ie e-i The verbs of this group have firstly: in the present group - present ¡ndicative, present subjunctive and the imperative — the same irregularity as the verbs of group one, i.e they have the diphthong ie when the e of the stem is stressed Secondly in the present, preterite and the gerund, these verbs have the same irregularity as the verbs of group six, i.e unstressed "e" becomes "i" when the ending begins with a diphthong or an "a" Verbs belonging to this group are those ending in entir, like sentir "to feel", erir like proferir: "to utter", and ertir like divertir "to entertain": ¡n short, all verbs having V or "nt" after the "e" of the stem belong to this group The only exception is servir ... Hungarian with ease Italian with ease Spanish with ease Advanced level Using French Using Germán Using Spanish V INTRODUCTION A household ñame in Europe, ASSIMIL has been successfiilly used by... you put Spanish into daily use Using Spanish guides you on an exciting journey through the principal regions of Spain, while incorporating the views of the Spanish people With Using Spanish, ... speakers to provide listeners with authentic Spanish intonation As is true for ASSIMIL' s other advanced methods, Using French and Using Germán, Using Spanish helps users communicate with efficiency