Lesson 1 | Introduction & Greetings

Hi/Hello! Hola!

Hola! Lesson 1 on Basic Spanish!

Lesson objectives

Introduction & Greetings

Spanish the language

espaol
500 Million : Second most natively spoken Official language : 21 countries and EU

Pronunciation guide

Some words are pronounced differently in Spanish as compared to that in English... Let's look at some pronunciation tips to help you get the perfect Spanish accent...

Pronunciation tip

Let's look at 'espaol' The letter 'a' is pronounced as 'aa' as in 'father'

Did you notice the letter '' in espaol? This letter is peculiar to Spanish It is pronounced as 'ny' like in 'canyon'

Spanish speaking countries

Countries and Nationalities

Country Spain / Espaa Mxico Guatemala Cuba Nicaragua Costa Rica

Nationality espaol, espaola mexicano, mexicana guatemalteco, guatemalteca cubano, cubana nicaragense costarricense

Pronunciation tip
Did you notice that the 'x' in 'mexicano' is pronounced as 'h' While 'x' is usually pronounced as 'x' in 'flexible'; it is pronounced as a throaty 'h' in the words Mxico, mexicano and Oaxaca (a state in Mexico)

Pronunciation tip
Did you notice the symbol on 'u' in nicaragense 'g' when followed by another vowel like in 'ge', is pronounced like 'Gw' in Gwen (eg: nicaragense -> nicaragwense)

Grammar tip
Have you noticed that some nationalities have two different endings?
We use different endings for masculine (usually end with o) and feminine objects (usually ends with a) argentino = masculine | argentina = feminine argentinos = masculine, pl. | argentinas = feminine, pl. For plural form, we just add an 's'

Pronunciation tip
Did you notice that 'argentino' is pronounced as 'arhentino' In Spanish, 'g' when followed by 'e' or 'i', is pronounced like a throaty 'h'

Grammar tip
You may have noticed that nationalities are not capitalized in Spanish (eg: argentino)?
Thats because in Spanish, although names of countries and cities are capitalized, words derived from them (languages, nationalities) are not

So while the 'e' in Espaa will be capitalized, the 'e' in espaol will not be

Moving on...
Great! so now you know some key pronunciation and grammar peculiarities! Remember these as they will help you understand the Spanish accent and the language Let's now move on to some delightful greetings in Spanish...

Greetings

Hi!

Hola!

H is always silent in Spanish (Oh-lah)

Grammar Tip : double exclamations!

Did you notice the invested exclamation points with Hola! ? The upside-down or inverted exclamation ! points are unique to Spanish This is to ensure that when you're reading, you can tell long before the end of a sentence whether you're dealing with an exclamation!

Moving on...

Now, let's look at Good morning! Good = Buen day = da Although 'da' literally translates to 'day', it is used as 'morning' in the greeting 'good morning'

Grammar tip
In Spanish, nouns take up either masculine or feminine gender, for example 'Da' is masculine The adjectives describing these nouns therefore also need to reflect the same gender Since 'Da' is masculine we will use the masculine form of 'good' Hence we will add an '-o' at the end and make it 'Bueno'

Did you notice? Da has an 'i' maked with an accent ('')

If a word is marked with an accent, then that syllable receives the stress

Greetings

Good morning!

Buenos das!

Good = Bueno (singular, masculine form)

Grammar tip

Greetings such as Good morning and Good afternoon etc. always take up plural forms in Spanish. Hence we add an 's' after both 'Bueno' and 'Da' :
Good morning! = Buenos das!

Greetings

Good afternoon! Good evening!

Buenas tardes!

Good = Buena (singular, feminine) Afternoon = Tarde (singular form)

Grammar Tip
Good morning! = Buenos das! (masculine) But Good afternoon! = Buenas tardes! (feminine) We learnt that adjectives take male and female forms depending on the gender of the subject Since das is masculine we used Buenos and tardes is feminine hence we use Buenas

So remember! Good morning! = Buenos das! Good afternoon! = Buenas tardes! Both das and tardes are plural hence an 's' is added

Culturally Speaking

All through your lessons, we will give some key tips to ensure you never make a cultural faux pas!

Culturally Speaking
Good afternoon! = Buenas tardes! Is usually used from 3 PM 7 PM

However, it is not really time bound, good afternoon is usually used from lunch time till it gets dark
Expect lunch hour to be around 2 or 3 PM!

Greetings

Good night!

Buenas noches!

Good = Buena (with singular, feminine subjects) noches is feminine and plural, hence we use Buenas

Culturally Speaking Good night! = Buenas noches! Just like in English where we often use 'good night' to bid farewell, 'Buenas noches' can also be used to bid farewell

Remember! Noches is feminine and plural

Culturally Speaking : Greeting norms Informally : just a smile and 'Hola!', sometimes a handshake if its a bit more formal

A light hug and a kiss or two are common for friends and family, especially among women

Culturally Speaking : Greeting norms

Generally, shaking hands is considered formal and is better suited for business meetings

Do you remember?

English Hello/ Hi! Good morning! Good afternoon/evening!

Spanish Hola! Buenos das! Buenas tardes!

Good night!

Buenas noches!

Culture leaf
A culture leaf each lesson to give you a taste of the peculiarities, eccentricities and traditions that are the bearers of that culture

We hope that you blend in their environment and soak in all their goodness! Happy learning!

Culture leaf : Soccer!

Soccer is the most important sport - pretty much like a religion in Spain The two successful football teams from Spain : FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are also fierce competitors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Barcelona http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Madrid_C.F.

The logos are copyright of Real Madrid (http://www.realmadrid.es) and FC Barcelona

Whats next? In the next lesson we continue to learn more greetings and build our vocabulary!

Credits
Content
Team CultureAlley, Okairy Zuiga, Tomasa Merino Martin Voice over Jorge Garcia Ray About Spanish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language Images http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tot-futbol

See you at the Alley!

Lesson 2 | Greetings & Pleasantries