Spanish/Lesson 2

Díalogo 1: El salón de clase
La profesora entra en el salón.

Profesora: Buenos días alumnos. Hoy estudiamos los objetos en el salón de clase. ¿Cuántos libros hay?

Carlos: Hay catorce estudiantes. Hay catorce libros.

Profesora: Bien Carlos. Marianela, ¿Hay un mapa en el salón?

Marianela: Sí, señora. Hay un mapa a la izquierda de la pizarra. Está en la pared.

Profesora: Bien, Marianela. ¿De qué color es el mapa?

Carlos: El mapa es verde y azul. Es el mapa de México.

Marianela: ¿Profesora, porqué está el mapa en la pared y no está en la pizarra?

Profesora: La pizarra es para escribir con la tiza. Tengo un borrador aquí. ¿Quieres escribir la capital de México en la pizarra?

Marianela: No sé la capital de México.

Carlos: Marianela, mira el mapa.

Marianela: Ay, gracias Carlos. La capital es Ciudad de México.

Profesora: Bien.

Vocabulario: El salón de clase
All vocabulary will be given with the appropriate definite article; however, the article will not be translated. In addition, note that all nouns have a gender: they are either masculine or feminine. This will be important in later lessons when you begin to learn adjectives.

Grammar: The Definite Article
Like in English, Spanish has definite articles that serve to identify the location of the noun in the sentence. These are commonly called "noun markers". These articles have a gender that is equivalent to the gender of the noun they modify. However, sometimes pronunciation requires the article to be different than the gender of the word. In these situations, the gender of the noun will always be indicated. Otherwise, you can use the article to determine the gender of the noun.

Examples: The following examples come from the vocabulary of the first dialogue. Note that no matter whether the word is singular or plural, the meaning of the definite article does not change.

The Indefinite Article
In English the indefinite articles are a and an (singular) or some (plural). In Spanish there are different forms for masculine-gender, feminine-gender, singular or plural.

Examples: For phonetic reasons some words beginning with accented a may have the article un: un ave blanca (a white bird), las aves blancas (the white birds). This is basically the same idea as el ave blanca (the white bird).

Remember, do not confuse uno (one) with un (a or an). Also, do not confuse una (a or an) with uña (fingernail).

Exercise: Spanish/Exercises/Articles

The colors
As in English, colors in Spanish are adjectives. As adjectives, their endings will vary according to the nouns they modify. The following adjectives are in the masculine singular form. Most adjectives will be presented to you in this form.

Examples:

Los números (Numbers)
The numbers 16 through 29 can be formed in two ways: (1) using the conjunction "y" like veinte y uno - 21, or (2) as one complete word, changing the spelling of the word like dieciocho (18) or veintiséis (26).