Download Lesson 20 Notes

March 10th, 2007
CoffeeBreakSpanish.com
In this edition: a
full transcript of
the dialogue
used in lesson
20 plus
language notes.
Lesson 20
Notes
Vamos al restaurante
Lesson 20
Programme Notes
Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish, the podcast
aimed at independent learners of Spanish. In
Coffee Break Spanish we’ll be guiding you
through the basics of the Spanish language and
helping you to learn to communicate in Spain
and Spanish-speaking countries.
out of here and go somewhere else”. It suggests
more that you want to leave somewhere and go
somewhere else. It’s important to distinguish
between the two phrases.
This lesson is the final lesson in unit 2 of Coffee
Break Spanish. The pdf guide is a full transcript
of the conversation including notes on the
grammar points and vocabulary covered in the
conversation between Kara and the waiter in the
restaurant.
Conversation continued:
Dialogue
You should try to follow this dialogue while
listening to the episode. All points in bold text
are explained after each section.
Waiter: Hola, buenas tardes.
Kara: Buenas tardes. ¿Tienen una mesa
para dos, por favor?
Waiter: Sí, claro. ¿Quieren seguirme?
Note that Kara asks ¿tienen una mesa...? and that
the waiter says ¿Quieren seguirme? Both these
verbs (shown in bold) are in the ustedes form: the
polite “you” plural form of the verb.
Kara: Yo tengo hambre
Waiter: ¿Quieren tomar algo?
Mark: Yo también. ¿Hay un restaurante
por aquí?
Kara: (to Mark) ¿Qué quieres tomar tú?
Mark: Sí, hay uno cerca de aquí
Kara: Bueno, vámonos.
The phrase tengo hambre means “I am hungry”.
However it literally means “I have hunger”:
“hunger” is translated as la hambre in Spanish.
This construction is very common in Spanish.
For more information see the notes from lesson
17.
Some explanation is also required about the
word vámonos. You may have come across this
word before, and likewise you may recognise the
word vamos. There are some subtle differences
between these two words.
In addition to its most basic meaning (“we go”)
vamos is often used to mean “come on”, “let’s
begin”. However, vámonos means more “let’s get
1
Mark: Me apetece tomar un vaso de
tinto.
Kara: Un agua mineral sin gas, por favor,
y para mi amigo, un vaso de vino
tinto.
Waiter: Muy bien. Un vaso de tinto y un
agua mineral sin gas.
Kara: ¿Nos trae la carta, por favor?
Waiter: Sí, en seguida.
The phrase me apetece ... is a very useful phrase in
Spanish. You could obviously say quiero un vino
tinto or quisiera un vino tinto, but me apetece adds
more range to your vocabulary. It would be
translated in UK English as “I fancy...” or “I’m
in the mood for...”. Note that it can be followed
by a noun or a verb:
me apetece un vino tinto
I fancy a red wine
Conversation continued:
Waiter: Bueno, las patatas a lo pobre, las
albóndigas, la tortilla, y las
croquetas de champiñones, y pan.
Kara: Muy bien, gracias.
me apetece tomar un vino tinto
I fancy having a red wine
Waiter: ¿Necesitan algo más?
Kara: No, no. Ya está.
Waiter: ¡Que aproveche!
Kara: No, gracias.
Equally, you could use me apetece with any
infinitive to say that you “fancy” doing
something, or that you’re in the mood to do
something:
me apetece ir de compras
I fancy going shopping
me apetece cenar fuera
I fancy eating out
Conversation continued:
Waiter: El vino tinto para usted, señor, y el
agua mineral para usted.
Kara: Gracias.
The verb necesitar means “to need” and is very
useful. It can be used both with a noun or a verb
following:
necesito un vaso de agua
I need a glass of water
necesito comer
I need to eat
The waiter also uses the phrase que aproveche. As
we’ve seen before, this is the equivalent of “enjoy
your meal”, or “bon appétit”. There are other
versions of this phrase: you may hear bueno
provecho which is commonly used in Spain.
Waiter: ¿Están listos para pedir?
Kara: Pues, yo tengo algunas preguntas.
Soy vegetariana. [Pointing to
menu] ¿Lleva carne este plato?
Waiter: No, no lleva carne. Le aconsejo
también las croquetas de
champiñones.
Kara: Muy bien, gracias. Bueno, ¿nos
trae una ración de patatas a lo
pobre, una ración de albóndigas,
la tortilla española, y las croquetas
de champiñones?
Waiter: ¿Quieren también un poco de
pan?
Kara: Sí, gracias.
There are two filler words in this part of the
dialogue. Both pues and bueno are used and would
be translated in English as “well...”. It’s useful to
use words like this because they give you some
thinking time.
The waiter recommends the croquetas de
champiñones to Kara as they’re also a vegetarian
dish. He uses the phrase le aconsejo. Here the word
le means “to you”. It can also mean “to him” or
“to her”.
Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 20
Conversation continued:
Waiter: ¿Está todo bien?
Kara: Sí. Está riquísimo.
Waiter: Bueno, ¿quieren algo de postre?
Kara: A ver... (to Mark) ¿quieres algo tú?
Mark: No lo sé. ¿Qué hay?
Kara: Hay de todo. Hay crema catalana,
hay helado.
Mark: Pues, para mí, la crema catalana.
Kara: Yo voy a tomar el helado con
turrón de chocolate.
Waiter: Muy bien. Un helado con turrón de
chocolate y una crema catalana.
¿Quieren café?
Kara: Yo, sí. Quisiera un café cortado.
Mark: Y yo quiero un café con leche, por
favor.
Waiter: Muy bien, en seguida.
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To say “I know” in Spanish you use the word sé.
“I don’t know” is therefore naturally no sé.
However, it’s very common to hear no lo sé, which
literally means “I don’t know it”.
To say “I am going to do something” you use the
phrase voy a... Look at these examples:
voy a beber una cerveza
I am going to drink a beer
¿(usted) va a cantar?
are you going to sing (polite)?
Conversation continued:
Kara: ¿Por favor?
Waiter: Diga.
Kara: ¿Nos trae la cuenta, por favor?
Waiter: En seguida.
voy a bailar con ella
I am going to dance with her
Kara: ¿Puedo pagar con tarjeta de
crédito?
Waiter: Claro que sí.
Kara: Muchas gracias.
voy a cantar
I am going to sing
Note that in each of these examples voy a... is
followed by an infinitive. To say “you are going
to...” or “are you going to ...?” you would use vas
a...:
vas a cantar
you are going to sing
¿vas a cantar?
are you going to sing?
The polite version is va a...:
Waiter: A ustedes. Que tengan buen día.
To say “can I ...” or “I can...” you use the word
puedo. Note carefully the pronunciation of this
word: “pwaydo”. It is always followed by an
infinitive. In fact, like necesito, puedo is an example
of a “modal verb”. This basically means that it
goes along with an infinitive. We’ve seen many
examples of modal verbs in recent lessons of
Coffee Break Spanish and many more will come
up in the future.
Note that while buenos días means “good day”, or
“good morning”, you can’t use it as an
equivalent of “have a nice day”. To say this you
need to use the phrase que tenga buen día (talking to
one person) or que tengan buen día (talking to more
than one person).
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Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 20
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