We are going to start with one conversation about a meeting.

Text in Spanish.-

Un encuentro

1.Buenos días Pablo

2.¡Ana! ¿Qué tal estás?

3.Bien. Tú, en cambio, tienes mala cara

4.Sí. Estoy un poco preocupado.

5.¿Sabes? Tenía ganas de verte

6.Yo también

7.¿Quieres comer conmigo?

8.De acuerdo. Es una buena idea.

Text in English.-

A meeting (masculine)

1.Hello Pablo!

2.Ana! How are you?

3.Fine. You, on the other hand (in exchange) don't look very well (have a bad face).

4.Yes. I'm a little worried.

5.Do you know? I wanted to see you.

6.Me too.

7.Do you want to eat with me?

8.Ok. It's a good idea.

Notes.-

1.In Spanish, everything is pronunced. Buenos has three syllables, and the final ¿s¿ is always pronounced. The Spanish tend to run all the words in a sentence together.

2.Verbs don't necessarily need to be accompanied by their subjects. Thus estás means ¿you are¿ (or ¿are you¿?), and es can mean ¿he is¿, ¿it is¿, or simply ¿is¿.

3.In Spanish r is rolled. To roll an r, place the tip of your tongue on de ridge of the hard palate and then make it vibrate against the top front teeth. The r is rolled more at the beginning of words than in the middle, and the double rr is rolled even more than that. It's quite a difficult sound if you're not used to it: try saying Henrique (¿Henry¿). To start rolling the r, imagine there's a d between the Hen-and the -rique.

4.V and b are pronounced identically in Spanish. They both sound like a slightly softer version of the English ¿b¿.