Authors: Julie Gutin
The Everything Spanish Grammar Book: All The Rules You Need To Master Espanol (Everything®) (32 page)
Es la una.
It’s one o’clock.
Son las dos.
It’s two o’clock.
Son las once.
It’s eleven o’clock.
QUESTION?
What about a.m. and p.m.?
In Spanish, the twenty-four hours are divided into morning, afternoon, and night. From 1 a.m. until 11 a.m., use
de la
mañana;
from 1 p.m. until around 7 or 8 p.m. you can say
de
la tarde;
the rest of the time, the right phrase is
de la noche.
To Be More Specific
Let’s review the phrases for giving more exact times. If it’s a few minutes past the hour, simply use
y
(and) to add the minutes:
Son las cuatro y diez de la tarde.
It’s ten minutes past four in the afternoon (4:10 P.M.).
If it’s just a few minutes before the hour, you can either add the minutes or you may round up with the help of the word
menos
(minus):
Son las cuatro y cincuenta.
It’s four fifty (4:50).
Son las cinco menos diez.
It’s ten minutes to five.
And here are additional options for saying 4:15, 4:30, and 4:45:
Son las cuatro y cuarto.
It’s four and a quarter (4:15).
Son las cuatro y media.
It’s four and a half (4:30).
Son las cinco menos cuarto.
It’s a quarter to five (4:45).
The following examples contain phrases associated with noon and midnight:
Son las doce de la noche. Es medianoche.
It’s twelve at night. It’s midnight.
Son las doce del día. Es mediodía.
It’s twelve noon. It’s noontime.
Other Frequently Asked Questions
Now that we’ve reviewed the basic question formats and the question words, let’s end the chapter with a review of frequently asked questions.
¿Cómo te llamas? ¿Cómo se llama?
What’s your name? (informal and formal)
¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy?
What day is it today?
¿Cuánto cuesta el pan? ¿Cuánto cuestan las piñas?
How much is the bread? How much are the pineapples?
¿Cúantos años tienes? ¿Cuántos años tiene usted?
How old are you? (informal and formal)
¿Qué significa esto?
What does this mean?
¿Me entiendes? ¿Me entiende?
Do you understand me? (informal and formal)
If you didn’t understand the answer, you can say
¿Cómo?
(What?) to clarify.
Practice Makes Perfect
Answer the following questions:
1.
¿Es Bogotá la capital de Colombia?
_________________________________________
2.
¿Qué vas a hacer hoy?
_________________________________________
3.
¿De qué color es tu cabello?
_________________________________________
4.
¿Por qué estudias este idioma?
_________________________________________
5.
¿Quién era el presidente de los Estados Unidos durante la
Guerra Civil?
_________________________________________
6.
¿De quién es este libro?
_________________________________________
7.
¿Con quiénes te gustaría viajar a España?
_________________________________________
8.
¿Dónde vives?
_________________________________________
9.
¿Adónde vas de vacaciones?
_________________________________________
10.
¿Cuánto cuesta este libro?
_________________________________________
11.
¿Cuántos hermanos tienes?
_________________________________________
12.
¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy?
_________________________________________
13.
¿Cuál es la capital de Francia?
_________________________________________
14.
¿Cómo se dice “generous” en español?
_________________________________________
15.
¿Cuándo empezaste a estudiar español?
_________________________________________
To check your answers, refer to the answer key in Appendix D.
C
HAPTER
17
Building
Vocabulary
THE MOST OBVIOUS WAY TO IMPROVE your Spanish vocabulary is through memorization and practice. You cannot avoid memorizing words—it’s the only sure way of increasing your vocabulary, and you won’t be able to assimilate these words if you don’t practice using them. However, additional strategies are available to you as well. For instance, by learning the meanings of common prefixes and suffixes, you’ll be able to understand many more words than you have committed to memory. If you know that cantar means “to sing,” and you know that –ción is a suffix equivalent to the English “–tion” and may be used to turn verbs into nouns, you might be able to guess that canción means “song.”
The Structure of a Spanish Word
A Spanish word may be made up of one or two parts—a lexeme (
lexema)
and/or a morpheme (
morfema).
The lexeme is the word’s basic meaning, so it is generally the word’s root. For example, take the following words:
| cocina | kitchen |
| cocinar | to cook |
| cocinero | cook, chef |
| cocineta | kitchenette |
| precocinado | precooked |
These five words share the root
–cocin–,
a lexeme that conveys the meaning of “cooking.” The particles –a, –ar, –ero, –eta, pre–, and –ado (a prefix and five suffixes) may be called morphemes— they don’t have a meaning on their own but do add meaning when presented together with the root.
ESSENTIAL
Endings that are used to show agreement and tense—like
–án
in
cantarán
(they will sing) or
–s
in
pedazos
(pieces)—are not morfemes. For example, in the word
cocineros, cocin-
is a lexeme of meaning,
–ero
is a suffix, and
–s
is an ending.
You can use lexemes and morphemes to your advantage. For example, once you understand that
cocin
is a root that has to do with cooking, you’ll be able to guess the meaning of other words with the same lexeme, such as
cocido
(cooked) and
recocido
(overcooked)—as long as you are familiar with the prefix
re–
(over–) and suffix
–ido
(–ed)
.
Presenting the Prefix
A prefix
(prefijo)
is a morpheme that is attached to the front end of a word. In the word “prefix,” for example, the prefix is “pre–.” In Spanish
prefijo,
the prefix is the same:
pre–.
The following list of Spanish prefixes is by no means complete, but it does include the more commonly used prefixes.
•
a–
deprivation or negation; may have other meanings
| ateísmo | atheism, rejection of theism |
| acabar | to end, to finish |
| atraer | to attract |
•
ante–
previously, beforehand, pre-, fore-
| anteayer | day before yesterday |
| antemano | beforehand |
| antebrazo | forearm |
•
anti–
a prefix of opposition, anti-
| antinatural | unnatural |
| antipatía | antipathy |
| antisudoral | antiperspirant |
•
auto–
self-, auto-, by oneself
| autobiografía | autobiography, a biography of one’s own life |
| autodefensa | self-defense |
| autorización | authorization |
•
contra–
a prefix of opposition
| contracubierta | back cover |
| contragolpe | counter-blow |
| contrapelo | against the grain, the wrong way; literally “against the hair” |
•
con–
(also
con–
or
co–
) a prefix of addition or association
| conmover | to move, to touch |
| consagrar | to consecrate |
| consorte | consort, accomplice |
| compadecer | to sympathize with |
| coautor | coauthor |
•
de–
(also
des–
) downward motion, separation, origin, opposite of the root meaning, emphasis
| descender | to descend |
| denuncio | denunciation |
| derivar | to derive from |
| decolorado | discolored |
| demandar | to demand |
| desabrochar | to undo |
ALERT
You may have noticed that some prefixes have the same or a similar meaning in English and in Spanish. That’s because these prefixes have the same origin—they’ve come to us from Latin or Greek. However, be aware that some prefixes may look the same but don’t necessarily have the same meanings.
•
en–
(
em–
before “b” or “p”) inside, on the interior; the prefix of connecting, enclosing
| enlazar | to link |
| enmicar | to cover in plastic |
| embarazo | pregnancy |
•
ex–
outside of, further (over space or time); may not have a specific meaning
| extraer | extract, draw |
| expansivo | expansive |
| explicar | to explain |
