Here are the answers to the pre-quiz and the steps that the items relate to:
Step 1: Single-Vowel Syllables
2 Similar Vowels
Know the Spanish pronunciation of the two most similar vowels between Spanish and English, in order to correctly pronounce syllables containing those vowels, using perfect cognates (words that are spelled the same and mean the same in both languages).
There are only FIVE vowels and they always say only ONE sound (not long, short and other versions of each vowel like we have in English)!
| O | A |
| …the first vowel that transfers the easiest from English to Spanish, as you can see by the following words: no, solo, torso | …the next vowel that transfers the easiest from English to Spanish, as you can see by the following words: plaza, drama, pasta |
| Now, practice words with both of these vowels:coma, soda, sofá, taco, bravo, macho, koala | |
| Here, O is the same as English, but be careful to pronounce A correctly in: global, total, local | |
Syllables: Use the English words (in parentheses) as guides in order to correctly pronounce each bold syllable containing O and A…
| A (awe) | O (owe) | AL (all) | NO (know) | DRA (draw) | POR (pour) |
| RA | GO | TAL | TO | TA | TOR |
| CA | LO | MAL | SO | GA | VOR |
| ZA | RO | NAL | CO | PA | LOR |
| MA | MO | RAL | NON | VA | FOR |
| BA | BO | CAL | CON | LA | BOT |
| FA | PRO | TAR | GON | DA | DOC |
| NA | CHO | LAR | TON | PLA | PAS |
| AT | GLO | CAR | FRON | CLA | MAN |
Progress Check
Check your answers from Lesson 1 (listening pre-quiz & progress check 1A) using the following file:
Listen to the popular children’s song, “Bate, Bate, Chocolate“, to hear 4 out of 5 vowels pronounced, and how longer words are broken up in order to pronounce each syllable clearly.
Mapas
Practice geography in Spanish with Mapas Interactivos.
Grammar part 1
Names
Categorize nouns and adjectives you know in Spanish, in order to recall them for future communication, using proper nouns and similarities to English (see the charts of perfect cognates in lesson one).
Words of Spanish origin, including names of people and places, can give us hints as to the correct Spanish pronunciation. What other Spanish words and names do you know, or can you recognize in a text, that we use in English? How are they pronounced in Spanish?
| NAMES | THINGS | ||
| PEOPLE | PLACES | FOOD | BRANDS |
| Aguilar | Venezuela | jalapeño | |
If you don’t know the word for a noun, use a proper noun. What other specific names or brands can you think of, or can you recognize in a text, for the following categories?
| PERSON | PLACE | THING |
| Bob | Alaska |
In order to be understood when speaking, they should be pronounced following the correct Spanish pronunciation of each vowel. Practice pronouncing each name and identify which names are pronounced differently in English and Spanish?
| Ana, Alan, Amanda, Sara, Clara | PÉREZ, Eva, César, Andrés, Elena, Selena | MARTÍNEZ, Ricardo, Francisco, Carolina, Camila, Iris, David, Isabel | BRAVO, Carlos, Nora, Omar, Lola | CRUZ, Lucas |
Descriptions
Choose from various adjectives to accompany both masculine and feminine nouns in order to build noun phrases, using noun and adjective cognates from lesson one.
Usually in Spanish, the adjective is added after the noun to describe it.
| part of speech: | NOUN | ADJECTIVE |
| examples: | plaza | local |
| name: | Zócalo | |
Basic Questions
Use nouns and adjectives you know in order to request a specific something, someone or some place, adding the Spanish phrase “por favor”.
A very helpful phrase for requesting something is: “por favor”. Very similar to the English words “for” and “favor”, it means “please”.
“Soda, por favor.”
“Soda normal, por favor.”
“Coca Cola, por favor.”
You can use a single word to ask something when the context is supported by non-verbal cues. For instance you can offer someone a soda by asking “¿Soda?” (In Spanish questions use 2 question marks, the first is upside-down indicating the beginning of the question and the second is the same as in English).
YOUR TURN: Now use words you know in Spanish to ask a question and make a request related to a topic of your choice:
OFFER
“¿_________?”
REQUEST with a noun
“_______, por favor.”
SPECIFY your request using an adjective after the noun:
“________ _______, por favor.”
Vocabulary 1
Similar
In Spanish you will see a lot of adjectives that are written using pieces of words, such as suffixes or prefixes, which like in English can be combined to build words. Below is a sample of words that are written the same in English and Spanish. You might notice that many adjectives that are the same in English and Spanish end with the suffixes “-ble” and “-al”. Pronounce and identify each. Each word below contains a ROOT + PREFIX/ SUFFIX (or both)…
| PREFIX | ROOT | SUFFIX |
| IN-meaning “not” | -VISI-meaning “see” | -BLEmeaning “able” |
| IL-meaning “not” | LEG-meaning “gather”/“read”/“law” | -IBLEmeaning “able” |
-ALmeaning “of or relating to” | ||
| MANU-meaning “hand” | ||
| BI-meaning “two” | LATER-meaning “side” | |
| VIT-meaning “life” | ||
| DU-meaning “two” | ||
| TOT-meaning “all” | ||
| CAUS-meaning “cause” | ||
| SUPER-meaning “above” | -FICI-meaning “make” | |
| FACTU-meaning “make” | ||
| LOC-meaning “place” | ||
| FIN-meaning “end” | ||
| TEMPOR-meaning “time” |
Cognates
The term “cognate” refers to a word that looks or sounds similar to, and means the same as, an English word. Many very common words in Spanish are almost equal to the English words. There are so many cognates that, although not exactly the same between English and Spanish, are incredibly similar. See how many you can find in a bilingual text. Here are some patterns to look for…
| exactly the same:-al Total | exactly the same:-ble Visible | exactly the same:-ar Popular | exactly the same:-or Doctor |
| almost exactly the same:-sion → -sión Televisión | ENG tion →SPA ción pronunciation → pronunciación | ENG ary →SPA ario vocabulary → vocabulario | ENG ious →SPA ioso / iosa (s) curious → curioso |
| ENG 2x consonant → SPA 1x consonant professional → profesional | action → acción direction → dirección | commentary → comentario anniversary → aniversario |
As we saw with words that are almost equal, we will continue to build connections to many more words that way through charts of word families. For example, necessity (noun) and necessary (adjective) are both very similar to their Spanish versions. With our knowledge of that noun and adjective, we can easily add the Spanish verb “necesitar” to our vocabulary. As with the majority of the words that English and Spanish have in common, the words often change their function just by changing the endings.
| Form | root/stem | +word ending | root/stem | +word ending |
| Noun (thing) | NECES need | -IDAD thing (-ity) | VI live | -DA thing (life) |
| Adjective (person) | NECES need | -ITAD@ adj. person (in need) | VI live | -TAL description (of life) |
| Adjective (detail) | NECES need | -ARI@ Adjective (-ary) | VIV lively, alive | -AZ Adjective (-acious) -O(S) / -A(S) Adjective (a-) |
| Verb (action) | NECES need | -ITAR verb (to need) | VIV live | -IR verb (to live) |
Many Spanish words are related to English words. It is easier to recognize the words in authentic contexts as well as to remember words when you need to communicate if you can make deep connections to them. Word Families presented in charts like the following have been designed to help you make the connections.
| VERB PHRASE | NOUN PHRASE | CONNECTOR |
| vivir (Verb, “to live”) | VITAL (perfect cognate, adjective) | vívidamente (Adverb, “vividly”) |
| una vida (Noun, “a life”) | ||
| vivaz (adjective, “vivacious”) | ||
| vivo(s), viva(s) (adjective, “alive”) |
World Literate Now! 