Spanish I - Unit 08 continued…

1. Let’s go to the hotel - vamos al hotel
2. To the restaurant - al restaurante
3. I want to drink – quiero beber
4. To drink – beber
5. A beer - Una cerveza
6. I want a beer - Quiero una cerveza
7. I want to drink a beer - Quiero beber una cerveza
8. How much does it cost? - ¿Cuánto cuesta?
9. The beer – la cerveza
10. How much does the beer cost? - ¿Cuánto cuesta la cerveza?
11. Seven – siete
12. It costs seven pesos - Cuesta siete pesos
13. That is not much - no es mucho
14. Six – seis
15. Or – o
16. Where is the bathroom? - ¿Dónde está el baño?
17. The bathroom - el baño

>4. To drink – beber

Correct, but perhaps more commonly this would be "tomar"

"Quiero tomar una cerveza"

Thanks Abeulo. While I have you here I was hoping you could clear up something for me.

The three sayings:

¿Cómo estas?
¿Qué tal?
¿Qué paso?

I thought they all basically meant the same thing, which was "How are you? My Spanish book from college even translates ¿Qué tal? as "How are you?"

But more recently I have heard that ¿Qué tal? and ¿Qué paso? aren't really "How are you?", but more of a "What's up?" type question.

If I asked someone in English "What's up" and then responded with fine, or very well thanks, I would think they were a little crazy.

So is this true?

What is the literal translation for each and what is an appropiate response for each question? Thanks!

WRT beber vs tomar, Pimsleur does (in a later course) introduce tomar in relation to coffee (i.e. "Quiero tomar un cafe.")

If Abuelo is a native Spanish speaker, I'll certainly defer to his wisdom, but regarding the other three phrases, hanging out with my novia and other Mexicans, I've noted the following common usages:

¿Cómo estas? - Definitely the Mexican equivalent of a cordial greeting where you really don't expect an informative answer (i.e. "How ya doing?"). This is used *all* the time in everything from the most informal greetings between friends to business greetings.

¿Qué paso? - The Mexican equivalent of "what's up" or "what's happening". Although I'd love to know how "paso" came to be a present tense verb in Mexico - though most Spanish books show it as past tense. The book "Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish" does not the different usage of "pasa"/"paso" in Mexico.

¿Qué tal? - Not sure I've ever heard Mexicans using this one. I'll be interested to hear more on this one as well. Is it used much in Mexico?

And of course, you would only answer "Bien, gracias" ("Fine, thanks") to the "¿Cómo estas?" greeting.

You should also get acquinted with "Mucho gusto", a common and polite way to respond when introduced to someone (i.e. "mucho gusto" = "nice to meet you").

how about this one, 'como vez', i hear that alot more than 'como estas, que paso o que tal'.

I'm not a native Spanish speaker, just studied in Mexico and lived there a while, am pretty fluent.

Yes, "Que paso" is literally "What happened?", frequently one would say "Que pasa?", "what's happening".

"Que tal?" is used like the others... literally it's "how such?" but is more idiomatic than that in Spanish, like "How goes it". Also, "tal vez" is used as "perhaps" (quizas).

Bullit

It's ves from the verb ver. Como ves?

Reytj

Another greeting, a little more "modern" is: "Que onda?", literally "What wave?", but used as "What's up?"

My favorite is 'como esta la vaina?', it confuses the hell out of everyone.

"it confuses the hell out of everyone."

That wouldn't be the case if they were from Panama or I believe Colombia. I've never heard the expression in Mexico however.

Reytj