Lesson 08. Notes. Me gusta la música. Lesson 08. December 09, I like... te gusta tu trabajo? do you like your job? (inf)

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1 December 09, 2006 Lesson 08 Notes In this edition: talking about your likes and dislikes. Me gusta la música. Lesson 08 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. In the last lesson you learned to say whether or not you liked your job. In lesson 08 you ll be developing these phrases further to talk in general about your likes and dislikes. I like... To begin with, let s recap on the phrase for I like.... We ve already learned to say I like my job: me gusta mi trabajo I like my job The phrase for I like is: me gusta I like Although this is how you say I like in Spanish, if does not literally mean I like, with me meaning I and gusta meaning like. In fact the phrase me gusta literally means to me pleases..., and the phrase me gusta mi trabajo means my job pleases me. You don t need to worry too much about this, but it will help you understand things when we come to learn about other aspects of this construction. We should also remember the phrase for do you like... : te gusta tu trabajo? do you like your job? (inf) This is the informal form of the question. You should also be familiar with the formal form: le gusta su trabajo? do you like your job? (for) Just as me gusta... means (something) pleases me, te gusta... and le gusta... means does (something) please you? You ll now learn to say that you like certain things. Look carefully at these phrases: 1

2 me gusta la música I like music me gusta la literatura I like literature me gusta la fotografía I like photography In all of the example above, the phrase me gusta is followed by a noun: la música (music), la literatura (literature), fotografía (photography). Here are some further examples: me gusta el chocolate I like chocolate me gusta el cine I like cinema / films me gusta el deporte I like sport Pronunciation tip: the word cine is pronounced differently depending on which part of the Spanish-speaking world you re familiar with. In Spain the ci- sound is pronounced thee... as in the English word theory. In Latin American Spanish the ci- sound is pronouced see as in see-saw. Definite articles You ll have noticed in all of the above phrases that the word for music, sport, etc. are preceded by one word, either la or el. We ve already learned that all nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine. When we covered family members we learned that a brother is un hermano and a sister is una hermana. The words un and una are both described as indefinite articles : they translate the word for a. The definite article (the word for the ) in Spanish is el for masculine singular words and la for feminine singular words. You should also note that although we say I like music, you must say I like THE music in Spanish: me gusta LA múscia. There s no real reason for this - it s just one of those peculiarities of language that you have to accept! Taking it further To extend your range of vocabulary you could say: me gusta mucho (la música) I really like (music) or I like (music) lots If you don t really like something you could say: no me gusta mucho (el chocolate) I don t really like (chocolate) Note that this means I don t really like it, as opposed to I really don t like it, ie. you re not particularly keen on chocolate, but you don t hate it! You can also say that you love something: me encanta (la literatura) I love (literature) This phrase works in exactly the same way as me gusta: the example above literally means literature enchants me. I like to sing So far we ve looked at examples involving nouns, eg. me gusta la música, me gusta el chocolate, etc. It s equally important to be able to say that you like doing something. In Spanish, the phrase me gusta can also be followed by a verb: me gusta cantar I like to sing me gusta bailar I like to dance me gusta comer I like to eat me gusta salir I like to go out me gusta leer I like to read 2

3 me gusta aprender español I like to learn Spanish Note that in all the above examples we ve translated them as I like to (do something). We translated me gusta bailar as I like to dance, but it also can be translated as I like dancing. All the verbs given are in the infinitive form, which literally translates as to..., eg. cantar, to sing ; bailar, to dance, etc. In Spanish, infinitives end in -ar, -er and -ir. We ll be talking more about infinitives and verbs in general in future lessons. When you look up a verb in an English-Spanish dictionary you ll be given the infinitive form. For example, if you look up chat then you ll find something which looks like this: chat [ˈtʃæt] 1 n charla f, plática f (LAm) 2 vi charlar, platicar (LAm) (to, with con) You need to find the verbal form. In the case of to chat, the second meaning listed is the verb (preceded by vi, standing for intransitive verb ) and the verb is listed in the infinitive form, ending in -ar. This is a good example because we can see from this verb that to chat is translated differently in Spain and in Latin American countries: in Spain you would say: me gusta charlar I like to chat / I like chatting Whereas in Latin America you re more likely to say: me gusta platicar I like to chat / I like chatting You should try to come up with some examples of what you like doing by using a dictionary to find verbs. Sample conversation This week s conversation brings together the new language covered in this week s lesson and some of the phrases we ve covered in previous lessons. En este momento, no. No trabajo. Soy estudiante. Soy estudiante de español. Mark: Muy bien. Te gusta tu trabajo, Mark? Mark: Sí, me gusta mucho. Te gusta aprender español, Kara? Sí, me encanta. Mark: Qué te gusta hacer en tu tiempo libre? Me gusta bailar, me gusta comer y me gusta mucho leer. Me encanta la literatura. Y tú? Mark: Me gusta mucho la música: me gusta cantar y tocar piano. Below is a translation of the above dialogue to help you. Mark: Hi, Kara. How are you? Hi, Mark. I m very well. What about you? How are you? Mark: Fine, thanks. Tell me, Mark. What do you work as? Mark: I m a Spanish teacher. What about you, Kara? Do you work? At the moment, no. I don t work. I m a student. I m a student of Spanish. Mark: Very good. Do you like your job, Mark? Mark: Yes, I like it a lot. Do you like learning Spanish, Kara? Yes, I love it. Mark: What do you like to do in your free time? I like dancing, I like eating and I really like reading. I love literature. What about you? Mark: I really like music: I like singing and playing the piano. Mark: Hola, Kara. Qué tal? Hola, Mark. Muy bien. Y tú, qué tal? Mark: Bien, gracias. Dime, Mark, en qué trabajas? Mark: Soy profesor de español. Y tú, Kara, trabajas? Vocabulary lists Listed below are all the words and phrases contained in this lesson. New words and phrases included in the conversation are given in the Bonus Vocabulary section below. 3

4 CoffeeBreakSpanish: Lesson 08 - Key Vocabulary me gusta... I like... (literally... pleases me ) la música music la literatura literature la fotografía photography el chocolate chocolate el cine cinema el deporte sport me gusta mucho... I really like... no me gusta mucho... I don t really like... me encanta... I love... (literally... enchants me ) cantar to sing bailar to dance comer to eat salir to go out leer to read aprender español to learn spanish CoffeeBreakSpanish: Lesson 08 - Bonus Vocabulary en este momento at the moment, at this time qué te gusta hacer...? what do you like to do? hacer to do en tu tiempo libre in your free time el tiempo time libre free viajar to travel cocinar to cook jugar al golf to play golf jugar al fútbol to play football (soccer) jugar al tenis to play tennis tocar el piano to play the piano tocar la batería to play the drums tocar la guitarra to play the guitar ir al cine to go to the cinema 4

5 escuchar música ver la televisión estar con mi familia me gusta la comida......española...mejicana / mexicana*...italiana...china to listen to music to watch tv to be with my family I like... food Spanish (food) Mexican (food) Italian (food) Chinese (food) *In Mexico, the word Mexican is translated as mexicano/a, whereas outside of Mexico, it is translated as mejicano/a. This collection of words and phrases is intended to provide a basic list of vocabulary. If you d like some help talking about what you like, visit the Forum at and post a question. We ll answer your question there and the other users of CBS will benefit from the answer too! CoffeeBreakSpanish.com All materials Copyright Radio Lingua International