Spanish/Lessons/¿Qué te gusta hacer?

Lesson 5 &mdash; ¿Qué te gusta hacer?



Dialogue

 * Raúl: ¡Hola, Sofía! ¿Te gustan los deportes?
 * Sofía: Buenos días. Me encanta jugar al fútbol. ¿Y tú?
 * Raúl: No, no me gusta. Sin embargo, practico natación todo el tiempo/siempre.
 * Sofía: Ah, no sé nadar. ¿Juegas al ajedrez?
 * Raúl: Sí, me encanta; es un juego muy divertido.
 * Sofía: ¡Adiós, Raúl!
 * Raúl: ¡Hasta mañana!

Translation (wait until the end of the lesson).

Sports and Activities

 * Notes
 * In Spanish, if an activity is a game, then you "play" it (jugar), otherwise you "practice" it (practicar). For example, it's jugar al tenis ("to play tennis") but practicar la natación ("to go swimming").
 * If someone plays an instrument you use the verb tocar. For example, tocar la guitarra ("to play the guitar")
 * The verbs are all regular, except:
 * Jugar (this is discussed in detail below)
 * Ver (veo, ves, ve, vemos, veis, ven)


 * Examples
 * Veo mucho la tele.
 * I watch TV a lot
 * Practico natación.
 * I go swimming.
 * ¿Practicas judo?
 * Do you do judo?
 * Practicamos muchas actividades.
 * We do many activites
 * ¿Por qué cantáis?
 * Why do you sing?
 * ¿Cuándo lee?
 * When does he or she read?

Go to the exercises.

Stem-changing Verbs
Jugar the first type of irregular verb; known as a stem-changing verb. Basically, in the "I", "you", "he/she/it" and "they" forms, the u or o changes to a ue. The jugar example is written out below.


 * Other verbs that follow this pattern
 * poder ("to be able to"): puedo, puedes, puede, podemos, podéis, pueden
 * dormir ("to sleep"): duermo, duermes, duerme, dormimos, dormís, duermen
 * encontrar ("to find"): encuentro, encuentras, encuentra, encontramos, encontráis, encuentran


 * Notes
 * The verb jugar always has a after it: jugar a. In Spanish, a el gets contracted to al and de el gets contracted to del. So, it would be juego al rugby.
 * Poder (meaning "to be able to") is usually followed by another verb, making "I can do something". The following verb must be in the infinitive. For example, puede leer ("he can read").


 * Examples
 * Juego al tenis.
 * I play tennis.
 * ¿Jugáis al ajedrez?
 * Do you play chess?
 * ¿Qué deportes juegas?
 * What sports do you play?
 * ¿Cuándo juegan al fútbol?
 * When do they play football?
 * ¿Puedes cantar?
 * Can you sing?
 * ¿Dónde duermes?
 * Where do you sleep?

Go to the exercises.

Compound Sentences
So far, everything we've written has been simple sentences &mdash; "My name is Santiago" (Me llamo Santiago); "The city is noisy" (La ciudad es ruidosa); "I play American football" (Juego al fútbol americano). Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could join them up? Below are some little words that will make our sentences longer, and more meaningful. You use them just like you do in English.

Also, everything we've written has been positive ("I do this, I do that"). To make it negative, we just add a word in front of the verb: no (meaning "not") or nunca (meaning "never"). For example, No juego al rugby (I don't play rugby"); Nunca como manzanas ("I never eat apples"). It's as simple as that.


 * Note
 * Porque ("because") and Por qué ("why") are similar and easy to mix up; make sure you don't!


 * Examples
 * Me llamo Chris y mi cumpleaños es el veinte de agosto.
 * My name is Chris and my birthday is on the 20th of August.
 * Hay dos direcciones: derecha e izquierda.
 * There are two directions: right and left one.
 * Me llamo Raúl, pero él se llama Roberto.
 * My name is Raúl, but his name is Robert.
 * No practica judo.
 * He doesn't do judo.
 * Juego al fútbol americano y practico natación también.
 * I play American football and I go swimming too.
 * No vivo en una ciudad porque las ciudades son ruidosas.
 * I don't live in the city because cities are noisy.

Go to the exercises.

¿Qué opinas sobre los deportes?
To ask someone about their opinions in Spanish, use Qué opinas sobre ("What is your opinion about") then the thing you want their opinion on (¿Que opinas sobre los deportes? means "What do you think about sports?").

Gustar
There is no verb for "to like" in Spanish. Instead, you use gusta (meaning "it pleases") and a personal pronoun; you say that "it pleases me" or "I am pleased by it". The personal pronouns are shown below.
 * Notes
 * Like any other verb, you can put no in front of it, to say "I don't like" (No me gusta).
 * If you like an activity rather than a thing, just use the infinitive afterwards: "I like swimming" (Me gusta nadar).
 * Gusta means "it pleases", so only works for singular things. If the thing that you like is plural (the women for example), you add "n"; because, in Spanish, the thing that you like (women, in this case) is the subject of the sentence: me gustan las mujeres ("I like women").

Love and Hate
Just saying you like or dislike something is a bit dull. Saying you love something is really easy. Instead of gusta, use encanta (Me encanta leer means "I love reading"). To say you hate something, use the regular verb Odiar (odio, odias, odia, odiamos, odiáis, odian). You can also use nada or mucho to add emphasis to gusta. For example, No me gusta nada ver la tele ("I don't like watching TV at all"); Me gusta mucho el ajedrez ("I like chess a lot"). Go to the exercises.
 * Examples
 * ¿Qué opinas sobre el ajedrez?
 * What do you think of chess?
 * Me gusta el críquet.
 * I like cricket.
 * No le gustan los deportes.
 * He doesn't like sports.
 * Nos gusta jugar al rugby y fútbol.
 * We like playing rugby and football.
 * Les gusta mucho nadar, pero no pueden cantar.
 * They like swimming a lot, but they can't sing.
 * ¿Te gusta practicar la natación?
 * Do you like going swimming?
 * ¿Por qué os gusta el tenis?
 * Why do (all of) you like tennis?
 * Odian el ajedrez.
 * They hate chess.
 * Me encantan los deportes, así vivo en la ciudad.
 * I love sports, so I live in the city.

Summary
In this lesson, you have learned: You should now do the exercise related to each section (found here), and translate the dialogue at the top before moving on to lesson 6...
 * How to say some sports and activities (el rugby; la natación; cantar).
 * How to say you play and do these things (juego al rugby; practicamos natación).
 * About a few stem-changing verbs (encuentro, encuentras, encuentra, encontramos, encontráis, encuentran)
 * How to make longer and negative sentences (no; nunca; así; pero).
 * How to ask for opinions (¿Qué opinas sobre el fútbol?; ¿Te encanta leer?)
 * How to express opinions (Me gusta; Le gustan; Me encanta; Odiamos)