Spanish I - Unit 17 continued…

1. Your friends – sus amigos
2. My friends – mis amigos
3. No with our friends - No con nuestros amigos
4. We eat – Comemos
5. We speak – Hablamos
6. We are North American – Somos norteamericanos
7. We are from here – Somos de aquí
8. We speak with our friends - Hablamos con nuestros amigos
9. Are you from here? - ¿Usted es de aquí?
10. If there are good restaurants - Si hay restaurantes buenos
11. We can eat - Podemos comer
12. Well, maybe - Bien, quizá
13. Eighty – Ochenta
14. Ninety – Noventa
15. We have money for eating - Tenemos dinero para comer
16. For your friends – Para sus amigos
17. We don not know - No sabemos
18. What do I know? - ¿Qué sé yo?

No. 12: Question for the advanced speakers - When do use "quiza" as opposed to "quizas" (which I hear much more often)? How do you determine if the expression "maybe" is singular or plural?

No. 6: I would think that in a technical geographical sense that Mexicans think of themselves as "northamericans", but the term "norteamericanos" is used...at least in the Mexico border cities and probably throughout Mexico and Central America...to specifically identify people from the U.S. rather than the entire continent. I believe this is the way Pimsleur uses the term as well.

So..."Soy de Estados Unidos" - I am from the United States; and
"Soy norteamericano" - I am "American" (as U.S. citizens refer to themselves); "Somos norteamericanos" - We are "Americans".

As far as I have been able to determine "quizá" and "quizás" are interchangeable. The second is not a plural form of the first. The dictionaries seem to indicate the first is preferred, but I hear the second mostly in Tijuana. Perhaps it's a regional variation. The only real reference I've found is from "A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish" by Butt and Benjamin. A footnote says: 'Quizá' is more frequent than 'quizás' and is preferred in written Spanish in memory of the original spoken Latin form 'quis sapit', which did not end in an s.

>So..."Soy de Estados Unidos" - I am from the >United States;

It would be "Soy de los Estados Unidos". But the official name of Mexico is "Los Estados Unidos de Mexico".

In Mexico common usage would be "Somos gringos", slightly a negative context, but not really that much.

Abuelo, for reasons I don't understand Pismsleur teaches the phrase "Soy de Estados Unidos" without the "los". And it isn't like they would think it is too formal since they are teaching dialogs between diplomats and international business travelers...rather than zona roja buyers and sellers.

My newer Spanish books indicate that "los" is optional with Estados Unidos and the modern preference is to drop it except in very formal written documents.

I bow to the more modern usage... since my knowledge and experience dates back to the 1950's.
But informally I would still opt for "Gringo"...