February 17th, 2007 In this edition: visiting the restaurant and ordering food Lesson 17 Notes CoffeeBreakSpanish.com Tiene una mesa para cuatro? Lesson 17 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. We re now moving from the cafe to the restaurant and it s time to ask for tables and order food. These notes should help you get the most from this week s programme. You therefore use the verb tener in any of its forms to talk about other people: tienes hambre? are you hungry? (informal) tiene usted calor? are you hot? (formal) Tengo hambre In Spanish to say I am hungry you have to change the construction and say I have hunger : tengo hambre I am hungry The same construction is used for I am thirsty, literally translating as I have thirst tengo sed I am thirsty Indeed, in Spanish this type of construction is quite common. To say I am hot or I am cold you would use the following phrases: tengo calor I am hot (lit. I have heat) tengo frío I am cold (lit. I have cold) Equally, you can add the word demasiado, which means too : tiene usted demasiado calor? are you too hot? (formal) You can use the language that you already know to ask if there is a restaurant nearby: hay un restaurante por aquí? is there a restaurant near here? When you arrive at the restaurant you may need to ask if they have tables: tiene una mesa? do you have a table? Note that tiene is the formal version of the question. You may be asked: para cuántas personas? for how many people? Note that the word for how many ends in -as, which means that it looks the same as the ending 1
of personas. This is because it has to agree with personas. The word is feminine plural, and therefore you have to choose the feminine plural form of cuánto / cuánta / cuántos / cuántas to go with it. You can answer by repacing the word cuántas with a number: para cinco personas for five people In this conversation the phrase hemos cerrado means we are closed. In fact, it literally means we have closed, but it would be more normal in Spanish to use this construction. hemos cerrado we are (have) closed A further conversation includes another situation: You could equally say para cinco. You may then be asked if you d like a table in the smoking or non-smoking section of the restaurant: fumadores o no fumadores? smoking or non-smoking? Conversations Here is conversation 1 included in the lesson: A ver... Lo siento. Estamos llenos. Hay que esperar. Do you have a Let s see... I m sorry. We re full. You ll have to wait. Sí, un momento. Fumadores o no fumadores? No fumadores, por favor. Sí, por aquí. The phrase a ver... is extremely common in Spanish. It means something like let s see... and is used as a filler, just as in this conversation. You may be told: estamos llenos we are full Do you have a Yes, just a moment. Smoking or non-smoking? Non-smoking, please. Yes, come this way... Conversation 2 includes a different situation: Lo siento. Hemos cerrado. Do you have a I m sorry. We re closed. Note that the -mos ending is linked to the we part of the verb: estamos means we are, and is part of the verb estar. We ve already come across some other parts of this verb which is one of two meaning to be : estás está estar: to be estamos We ve listed the verb above in a grid which we ll be seeing more of in the coming episodes. Each verb in Spanish has six standard forms in each tense, each form used by a different person. The forms are split into singular and plural, with singular on the left and plural on the right in this grid. The grid below helps to explain which box refers to which person: Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 17 page 2
singular 1 4 I 2 5 you (informal) 3 6 he / she / it you (formal) plural we you (informal) they you (formal) cuánto hay que esperar? how long do I have to wait? Can you bring us...? In episode 16 we learned the phrase: nos trae...? can / will you bring us...? There are a few things to note about conjugating verbs. The first is that different forms are sometimes used in different countries. For example, the you plural informal form (in box 5 above) is not used commonly in many countries in Latin America, being replaced by the form in box 6. In Coffee Break Spanish, however, when we refer to verbs we will always include the six forms of the verb to ensure that listeners visiting Spain will know what they need to know. As an alternative to estamos llenos you may hear: no tenemos mesas we don t have (any) tables You ll immediately note that the word tenemos also ends in -mos, just like estamos. Again, this is a we part of the verb. Let s put tenemos into a grid with the other forms we ve already come across: tengo tienes tiene tener: to have tenemos From the table you can see that tengo means I have ; tienes means you (informal) have, tiene means you (formal) have, or indeed he has or she has. We ll add the remaining forms to these grids in future programmes. You also heard the phrase: hay que esperar you have to wait It doesn t literally mean you have to..., rather it is necessary to.... You may remember this phrase from the line hay que festejar in our Christmas song: you have to celebrate. You could ask: We can therefore ask for the menu: nos trae la carta, por favor? can you bring us the menu, please? There are other items you may require, for example: nos trae una sillita para el bebé? can you bring us a baby chair? You may need to ask for a menu in English: tiene una carta en inglés? do you have a menu in English? nos trae una carta en inglés? can you bring us an English menu? Ordering your food In previous episodes we ve come across two ways of asking for food or drinks: quiero... I want para mí... for me... We can add a third example today: quisiera... I would like... You could point to something on the menu and say: Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 17 page 3
quiero esto I want this estoy comiendo carne I am eating meat quisiera esto I would like this You may also want to find out what a particular dish contains: qué lleva? what does it contain? qué lleva este plato? what does this dish contain? You will then be told that the dish contains tomate (tomato), ajo (garlic), etc. You may also see someone else eating something which you d like for yourself. You could ask the waiter or waitress: qué están comiendo ellos? what are they eating? Note that están comes from the verb estar and means they are. The verb estar can be combined with the word comiendo or indeed many other words ending in - iendo or -ando and this gives the meaning to be doing something, in this case to be eating : estás comiendo? are you eating? estamos cantando we are singing We also heard the I am... form on the recording: Imagine the situation where you went into a restaurant and met a group of your friends who were all eating something which looked very appetising. You could ask them: qué estáis comiendo? what are you eating? This is a new form of the verb estar and it s linked to the you plural informal part which was mentioned earlier. Note that in Latin America, even with friends, you re more likely to use: qué están comiendo? what are you eating? This is the same as the they part, but it would be clear from the context who you were talking to. We ve now come across all the parts of the verb estar. Let s put these into our verb grid: estoy estás está estar: to be estamos estáis están Finally, one other phrase may come in useful for the restaurant situation: qué me recomienda? what do you recommend? Note that in Spanish you have to include the me here: it means literally what do you recommend to me? CoffeeBreakSpanish: Lesson 17 - Basic Vocabulary tengo hambre I am hungy tengo sed I am thirsty tengo calor I am hot tengo frío I am cold Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 17 page 4
tiene una mesa? para cuántas personas? para cuatro personas tiene una mesa para cuatro personas? fumadores o no fumadores? hemos cerrado cerrar estamos llenos lleno no tenemos mesas hay que... esperar una sillita para el bebé una carta en inglés un menú en inglés quisiera... qué lleva? qué lleva este plato? qué están comiendo? qué me recomienda? do you have a table? for how many people? for four people do you have a table for four people? smoking or non-smoking? we are closed to close we are full full we don t have any tables you have to... / it is necessary to... to wait a baby chair an English menu an English menu (LAm) I would like what does it contain? what does this dish contain? what are they eating? what do you recommend? CoffeeBreakSpanish: Lesson 17 - Bonus Vocabulary a ver... let s see... quisiera una mesa... I d like a table...... en la terraza... on the terrace... fuera... outside hay... is there...? un menú para los niños a children s menu un menú del día a set menu cuál es la especialidad local? what is the local speciality? para mí lo mismo que él I ll have the same as him para mí lo mismo que ella I ll have the same as her para mí lo mismo I ll have the same estamos listos para pedir we re ready to order Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 17 page 5