Spanish Essentials For Dummies
- January 10, 2017
- Posted by: Florencia Bozzano
- Category: Spanish in Buenos Aires
Spanish Essentials For Dummies
Spanish Essentials For Dummies : Spanish-speaking countries like Argentina are very polite societies and you must always be courteous and say “hello” and “how are you?”. And try not to worry about making mistakes. You just try your best and they will be so happy with your effort.
- Good morning – Buenos días (bway nos dee ahs)
- Good afternoon – Buenas tardes (bway nahs tar days)
- Good evening – Buenas noches (bway nahs noh chayss)
- Hola (oh lah) is “hi” and you can say that with people you know.
- ¿Cómo está? (coh moh es tah) is “how are you?” if you don’t know someone and ¿Cómo estás? (coh moh es tahs) if you do know them.
- If people ask you how you are, you can say “good, thank you” – “bien, gracias” (bee ayn, grah cee ahs) because you, too, are a polite person.
- Do not ever forget: Please – Por favor (por fah vohr) – and Thank you – Gracias (grah cee ahs). These are VERY IMPORTANT and useful words in Spanish.
- Whenever you are introduced to someone, you say “Mucho gusto” (moo choh goos toh) and they will say the same thing back to you. It means, “nice to meet you.”
- ¿Habla inglés? (ahblah een glays)? – Do you speak English? While it is never correct to assume that somebody speaks English, you can ask if they do and they will like you so much better for asking in Spanish.
Spanish Essentials For Dummies – Some basic vocabulary for many uses
You can go far with some very easy-to-remember words and phrases. You can always use “I want,” “I like,” “Do you have…?” and if you don’t know the noun, you can simply point at the object.
- I want, I don’t want – Yo quiero, yo no quiero (yoh kee ayr oh, yoh noh kee ayr oh)
- I would like (more polite) – Me gustaría (may goo stah ree ah)
- Where is – ¿Dónde está? (dohn des tah)
- How much does it cost – ¿Cuánto cuesta? (cwahn toh cways tah)?
- What time is it? – ¿Qué hora es? (kay orah ess)?
- Do you have? – ¿Tiene? (tee ayn ay)?
I had a great time at Íbero Spanish. I took 3 weeks of Spanish classes before starting my TEFL program, which lasted for 4 weeks and it was intensive. Everything went as planned as the language school is nice and reliable and very professional. I liked it a lot. It is worth the money. Lucy k, England.
“When I came to Argentina, I was lost in translation until I decided to learn Spanish at Íbero. I remember how little I understood and thought that it would be impossible for me to learn a new language at the age of 37. The first week was tough, but by the end of the program even I was surprised at how much I understood. I must say I have never in my life been so motivated by excellent teachers and I increasingly started to love the Argentinian culture because of the teachers at this program. I only wish that I had more time because the longer I stayed the more interested I became in seeing some things outside of the city… For those of you planning to come to Argentina, try to set aside at least 3 months so you can not only pace yourself in class, but you can take some weeks off to travel around the country. I definitely plan on returning the next chance I get. I would certainly recommend taking a Spanish Language course at Íbero.You will never regret it”. Marie Berthrand, France