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Spanish (Spain)

### The languages of Spain

**El castellano** is official in all of Spain. Other languages are co-official in their own communities, above all **el catalán** in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, **el gallego** in Galicia and **el vasco** (*euskera*) in the Basque Country and part of Navarre. In the Valencian Community, Catalan is known as **valenciano**. Galician is close to Portuguese; Basque is not even a Romance language.

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### One word, two jobs

**Catalán**, **gallego**, **vasco** and **italiano** are adjectives, and the masculine form is also the language: **el catalán**, **hablo italiano**. Both are written in lowercase.

| | masculine | feminine | plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalan | catalán | **catalana** | **catalanes** |
| Galician | gallego | gallega | gallegos |
| international | internacional | internacional | internacionales |

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In Spain, **americano** often means from the United States.

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### **Tutear**: using tú

**Tutear** is to address someone as **tú** rather than **usted**. Spain moves to tú more readily than many Spanish-speaking countries: colleagues and young people normally use it from the start. **Usted** is still common with older strangers and in formal settings.

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### Generalizing with **uno**

**Uno** + a third-person verb talks about people in general, the speaker included.

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### **El flamenco**

Flamenco (song, guitar and dance) has its roots above all in Andalusia.

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Languages of Spain (el catalán, tutear)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Singular subjects and 'ser' (yo soy, esto es)

Plural nouns and definite articles (los, las)

Plural pronouns and 'ser' (somos, sois, son)

Adjective agreement (-o, -a, -os, -as)

Indefinite articles (un, una, unos, unas)

Simple negation (no)

Yes/no questions

Regular '-ar' verbs (-o, -as, -a...)

Regular '-er' verbs (-o, -es, -e...)

Regular '-ir' verbs (-o, -es, -e...)

Locative adverbs (aquí, allí)

Question words (quién, cómo)

The verb estar (estoy, estás)

The preposition en (en)

Ser vs. estar

The verb tener (tengo, tienes)

Possessive determiners (mi, tu, su)

Origin and possession (de, del)

The verb ir (voy, vas)

Destination (a, al)

The personal 'a' (a)

Stem-changing verbs: e to ie

Stem-changing verbs: o to ue

Irregular first-person verbs

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, dos, tres)

Numbers 11 to 20 (once, doce, trece)

Counting by tens to 100 (treinta, cuarenta, cien)

Compound numbers up to 99 (veintiuno, treinta y uno)

Days of the week (el lunes, el martes)

The family and the personal 'a' (a mi tío, a mi prima)

Months of the year

Telling time (es la, son las)

Verbs of liking (me gusta)

Plural agreement with verbs of liking (gustan)

Degree modifiers (muy, mucho)

Formal address (usted, ustedes)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

Obligation (tener que)

Present continuous (-ando, -iendo)

Affirmative commands (tú, vosotros)

Basic Food and Drink

The Human Body: Head and Arms

The Human Body: Legs and Health

Wardrobe Essentials

Fresh Produce

Meals and Proteins

Public Transport

Hello and goodbye (hola, ¿qué tal?)

Thank you, sorry, OK (gracias, vale)

There is, there are (hay)

My building (la escalera, el ascensor)

Describing people (moreno, rubio, tímido)

Land and sea (el mar, el río, el norte)

Sightseeing (la plaza, la catedral)

Asking the way (cerca, a la derecha, todo recto)

In class (¿puedes repetir?)

Verb + infinitive (quiero comer, sé leer)

What's your name? (me llamo, encantado)

Phone, computer and email

Hundreds and thousands (doscientos, mil)

What do you do? (¿a qué te dedicas?)

Personal details (la edad, la fecha de nacimiento)

Me neither (también, tampoco, ni)

How much is it? (el precio, la vuelta)

What's the weather like? (hace sol, nieva)

Free time (el concierto, el tenis)

At the bar (¿qué vas a tomar?)

The Natural World

Demonstratives (este, ese, aquel)

Prepositions of place (encima de, debajo de)

Prepositional pronouns (para mí, contigo)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero to décimo)

Adverbs of frequency (a veces, nunca)

Exclamations (¡qué...!)

Indefinite pronouns (algo, alguien)

Indefinite determiners (algún, ningún)

Indirect object pronouns (le, les)

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

Double object pronouns (se lo, se la)

Verbs of preference (encantar, interesar)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Starting and finishing actions (empezar a, terminar de)

Adjective comparatives (más que, menos que)

Comparatives of equality (tan como)

Noun comparatives (tanto como)

Question	Answer
Catalan	catalán
My flatmate is Catalan.	Mi compañera de piso es catalana.
I understand Catalan, but I don't speak it.	Entiendo el catalán, pero no lo hablo.
At home we speak Castilian and Catalan.	En casa hablamos castellano y catalán.
Galician	gallego
My grandparents are Galician and speak Galician at home.	Mis abuelos son gallegos y hablan gallego en casa.
Galician is very similar to Portuguese.	El gallego es muy parecido al portugués.
Is your girlfriend Galician?	¿Tu novia es gallega?
Basque	vasco
Basque is very different from Castilian.	El vasco es muy distinto del castellano.
Basque food is very famous.	La comida vasca es muy famosa.
My boss is Basque and speaks Basque with his children.	Mi jefe es vasco y habla vasco con sus hijos.
the region	la región
Each region has its dishes and its festivals.	Cada región tiene sus platos y sus fiestas.
In some regions you hear two languages in the street.	En algunas regiones uno oye dos idiomas en la calle.
It's a very green region because it rains a lot.	Es una región muy verde porque llueve mucho.
My English teacher is American.	Mi profesor de inglés es americano.
Many American tourists visit Madrid.	Muchos turistas americanos visitan Madrid.
Tonight we're watching an American movie.	Esta noche vemos una película americana.
I love Italian food.	Me encanta la comida italiana.
My boyfriend speaks Italian very well.	Mi novio habla italiano muy bien.
If you speak Castilian, you understand quite a lot of Italian.	Si uno habla castellano, entiende bastante italiano.
international	internacional
I work at an international company.	Trabajo en una empresa internacional.
The international airport is far from the center.	El aeropuerto internacional está lejos del centro.
Madrid is a very international city: you meet people from many countries.	Madrid es una ciudad muy internacional: uno conoce a gente de muchos países.
to address someone informally	tutear
In my office you address everyone informally, the boss too.	En mi oficina uno tutea a todo el mundo, también al jefe.
Shall we address each other informally?	¿Nos tuteamos?
I'd prefer you to address me informally.	Prefiero que me tutees.
It's normal for young people to address each other informally.	Es normal que los jóvenes se tuteen.
flamenco (music and dance)	el flamenco
I love flamenco.	Me encanta el flamenco.
Tonight we're going to see flamenco.	Esta noche vamos a ver flamenco.
Flamenco comes from the south of Spain.	El flamenco viene del sur de España.

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