Irregular verbs on Youtube

There are many videos about irregular verbs on Youtube. This is just one of them. Obviously, it doesn't have the same verbs as your list, but it does contain the most common ones:

Irregular verbs

Over the holidays, I would also like to have a look at the irregular verbs that you learnt last year. You have three recordings:
1- Pronunciación. You can imagine what that is about.
2- Significados básicos. Most words have more than one meaning. I mention the primary meaning.
3- Algunas aclaraciones... It doesn't help much to know that become means "hacerse", so I give you a bit of context for some of them ore difficult ones.

Food

I have recorded the vocabulary of food that you will find on pages 48, 50 and 157 of your student's book. It's the first recording. Could you please learn the meaning and pronunciation of these words before the 9th of January?

Translation 7

These were ten  sentences I gave you some time ago:

1-Enfrente del museo hay una oficina de correos donde se pueden comprar sellos.

2-Después de echar la carta fui al polideportivo a jugar al baloncesto con ellos.

3-En los países de habla inglesa la gente no suele hablar despacio.

4-¿Vamos a ver The artist? –Vale. ¿Dónde la ponen? ¿A qué hora empieza?

5-Averigua la dirección del carnicero y escríbela aquí.

6-¿Te gustaría conocer al alcalde? Creo que no.

7-Hacer los deberes es un rollo. ¿Ah sí? A mí me encanta.

8-Hay una frutería cerca del ayuntamiento, pero no trabaja allí.

9-Hay dos  mujeres detrás del quiosco, pero no las conozco. (¿Dónde incluirías la palabra STANDING?)

10- Delante de mí había una furgoneta (van) blanca, así que detuve el coche.

Here's  the key, together with some comments.

Translation no. 6

These were the sentences:

1-¿Cuántos niños hay? No estoy seguro.

2-Hay wifi por toda la casa, pero no tengo portátil.

3-Mi piso está en la planta de arriba [del edificio].

4-Háblame de tus vecinos. (verbo distinto de TALK).

5-Me gustaría quedarme en tu piso unos días. (FEW).

6-Puedes dejar los libros en las estanterías en el piso de arriba. (LEAVE).

7-A medianoche solemos beber algo antes de acostarnos.

8-Casi nunca me hace regalos. (Ni DO ni MAKE)

9-No hay muchos muebles. ¿Cuánto cuesta un armario ropero?

10-¿Podrías ayudarlos en vez de reírte de ellos?

Here's the key, together with some comments.

KNOW and MEET

Read this and listen to the explanation.

KNOW = Be familiar with

I don't know my neighbours.
Do you know them?
Do you two know each other?

Compare:
She knew a lot of people in Scotland (=conocía a mucha gente)
She met a lot of people in Scotland (=conoció a mucha gente)

MEET
-First time:           Pleased to meet you.      I'd like to meet your wife.

-By chance:         Did you meet anyone in town?      Guess who I met yesterday.

-By arrangement:      Let's meet at ten.      Shall we meet at the cinema?
                                         We're meeting them outside the theatre at seven.
                                         The Prime Minister met other European leaders for talks.

SAY and TELL

Read this and listen to the explanation. (It's the second recording).


DECIR:

A) “Open the door”, I said.

“Open the door”, I told him.

He told me (that) he lived in Scotland.

He said (that) he lived in Scotland.

Common mistakes: She said me (that) she was ill. >>>>She said (that)… OR she told me (that)…
                               She told she was coming >>>> She said (that) she was... OR she told me/him, etc. (that)...

B) He didn’t tell us. Don’t tell him! Did you tell your parents?

CONTAR:

She told (me) a lie    Did you tell (them) the truth?    He told (me) a joke/story                           To tell the time (la hora)

Follow by E-mail

En la parte de la derecha de vuestra pantalla podéis ver la colección de labels (etiquetas), que os pueden servir para buscar alguna entrada antigua de manera rápida, de acuerdo con las categorías que yo les haya asignado.

Un poco más abajo de las etiquetas veréis también un cuadro llamado "Follow by E-mail". Si anotáis vuestro correo ahí ya dais a submit, os avisará cada vez que yo publique una entrada, y no tendr´´esi que estar tan pendientes de mirarlo de vez en cuando a ver si hay novedades. ¡A mí por lo menos me funciona, y me avisa de que he colgado cosas por sin o me he dado cuenta!

Christmas videos

Here are some links to Christmas videos on Youtube:

-A short animation on Christmas traditions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbIiz49TE7g&feature=related

-Mansión del inglés: a lesson about Christmas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_10Jqg6Siw&feature=related

-The song Pedro sent us in his e-mail is by John Lennon (the pictures are rather sad):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S84RLgnz7Rs

-Mother and her kids explaining what Christmas crackers are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4hd1nkTc_w

-A shorter film about crackers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3lfmkpbySY&feature=related

-What's it like in Edinburgh on Hogmanay. These people are really having fun!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMk-j0vkmGo

-Auld Lang Syne:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3w0Jun94wU&feature=related

-Finally, if you like Mr Bean:

Mr Bean Christmas 1     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWtbJ1Uf-90

Mr Bean Christmas 2     http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=DSLDr-5CAiw

Mr Bean Christmas 3 (incompleto, a partir del minuto 1' 40'' pasar al siguiente)                                                                                                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7Jde0ZRRh8&feature=related

and Mr Bean Christmas finale (with subtitles in Dutch!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upGhjNXcBk8&feature=related

ALSO, TOO

Both ALSO and TOO mean "también".

TOO appears at the end of the sentence:
I'm tired. My children are tired, too. (My children too are tired)
She works from Monday to Wednesday. She sometimes works on Thursday, too. (Too, she works...)

ALSO is occasionally found at the beginning of the sentence, but it usually goes with the verb, in mid-position.
Do you remember the position of adverbs like always, hardly ever, etc.? Before the main verb, after the verb TO BE. Well, that's what we call mid-position, and it's the same rule for ALSO:

My sister sings in a choir; she also plays the violin. (Before the main verb)
He can play rugby and football. He can also take very good photographs. (Before the main verb)
She's young and beautiful --she's also very vain. (After TO BE)

Moving, moving all the people...

When we speak about transport in general, we use BY + vehicle:
We went by car.
They travelled by train.
My cousins came by plane.
The same with by bus, by taxi, by boat, by ship, by bicycle, etc.
This in the equivalent of Spanish EN + tren, coche, taxi, autobús, etc.
Just like in Spanish, things change when you walk (al igual que en español, si caminas cambian las cosas): in English we don't use BY, in Spanish we don't use EN:
We are going on foot. (=a pie). By foot

Now two things where English and Spanish are not similar:

1-It is very common in English to use DRIVE and WALK instead of verb + by car/on foot:

At seven o'clock I drove to work. (Instead of I went to work by car)
He drove from London to Bristol. (Instead of he went by car from...)
How do you come to school? I walk. (=I go to school on foot)
By the way, DRIVE can also be transitive, i.e., have an object:
They drive their children to school every morning. (Instead of they take their children to school by car every morning).
This usage of WALK and DRIVE is very natural in English, but in Spanish we don't usually say conduje al trabajo, condujo de Londres a Bristol. ¿Cómo vas al cole? Camino. Conducen a sus niños al cole.

2-Use BY when you are speaking in general, when you are not talking about a particular car, train, bicycle, etc. If you use an adjective or phrase to refer to a particular vehicle, then you normally use IN for cars and ON for other forms of transport:
I went in my brother's car. (...by my brother's car)
I rode to school on my old bicycle. (...by my old bicycle)
She went on the last train. (...by the last train)
We came on the nine o'clock bus. (by the nine o'clock bus)

OTHER, ANOTHER, OTHERS

OTHER / ANOTHER

This is the basic information about these two words:

ANOTHER is singular, and it is used when there isn’t a determiner (article, demonstrative, possessive, etc.) before the noun:

She lives with another man now.

She lives with the other man now (there is a determiner, so we don’t use ANOTHER)

This is my other brother (there is a determiner, so we don’t use ANOTHER)

He took another suitcase (maleta)

He took that other suitcase (there is a determiner, so we don’t use ANOTHER)

Can I have another biscuit?

Can I have the other biscuit?

Another day we went to the countryside. (There is no determiner, so we can’t use OTHER)= Otro día…

The other day we went to the countryside. =El otro día…

OTHER can be singular or plural. In the singular it MUST (obligatory) be used with a determiner (article possessive, demonstrative, etc.). If there is no determiner, then of course we use ANOTHER.

I want other piece of cake is incorrect because there is no determiner. You have to say, depending on the circumstances:

I want the other piece of cake (quiero el otro trozo)

I want another piece o cake (quiero otro trozo)

In the plural, OTHER can be used on its own (solo, sin determinante que le acompañe) or with a determiner, depending on the meaning:

There were other museums.           

Were there any other museums?

Take those other umbrellas.

Other people don’t agree.

My other cousins are single.

They come from other provinces.

There is also OTHERS, with an –S. This is a plural pronoun, not an adjective:

The other doctors arrived later. (Adjective: no plural form)

The others doctors arrived later (Incorrect: adjectives don’t take –S in the plural)

The others arrived later (Pronoun)

Typical mistakes:

Other day we visited the Louvre  >>> ANOTHER day we…

He played with the others toys  >>> …with the other toys (adjective)

REGLA CASERA: si está sin determinante y en singular, necesito ANOTHER. En los demás casos, OTHER.

Translation no. 5

Here are answers and some comments about these sentences:

 1. Nunca llega tarde porque siempre tiene prisa. (Además de arrive, ¿qué verbo se puede usar? Pista: el que empleáis al disculparos por llegar tarde a clase).
2. No hace los deberes nunca.
3. Aquí no nieva casi nunca.
4. No solemos ir andando al cole. (We d… u… w… t… s…)
5. ¿Los llevo? [=¿Quieres que los lleve en el coche?] (S… I d… t…?)
 6. Está cansada y aburrida porque la película es aburrida.
7. Tiene unos críos muy habladores.
8. No le gusta ni fregar ni planchar. (Acordaos de no tiene hermanos ni hermanas).
9. ¿Qué tal si vemos la nueva peli de Harry Potter? Mmm, parece un rollo (la idea).
10. Son muebles muy bonitos, pero quiero tener los míos propios (=mis propios).

Spelling: British/American and Y > i

1. Notice that some words have a different spelling in American English:

 British spelling:                                                                 American spelling:
centre, metre, litre, theatre (-RE)                  center, meter, liter, theater (-ER)
neighbour, colour, honour (-OUR)               neighbor, color, honor (-OR)
travelling, traveller                                      traveling, traveler
programme                                                    program

Both spellings are correct, but you have to be consistent: if you write CENTER (American), you should also write COLOR, TRAVELING, THEATRE, etc. For obvious reasons, in your book you will find the British spelling. It would also be strange if your accent was not American but your spelling was!

2. When you add and ending (añades una terminación) to a word that ends in -Y, we usually chage -Y to -i-:
story > stories      spy>spies     hurry>hurries     easy>easier     hurry>hurried     happy>happily
However (=¡ahora bien!), we do not change -Y to -i- after a vowel letter:
boy>boys     play>plays, played    key>keys     stay>stays, stayed     buy>buys
Conclusión: recordad que se cambia o no depediendo des si antes de la -Y hay vocal o consonante. BOYS es fácil de recordar, así que de esta palabra podemos deducir la regla. Vocal delante de la -Y >>> no hay cambio.

Listening: an English village?

This is a recording of the text you will find on page 40 of your student's book. See if you can understand it. Then listen again and try to repeat using the same rhythm, pauses, etc.

Prepositions p. 39

This is how you read the prepositions on page 39 of your student's book. In the example sentences, remember the sentence stress /el acento de frase, el ritmo de la oración) of there is... and there are...

There is / are: pronunciation

Listen to these sentences. Notice the weak pronunciation of there's and there are when the sentence is positive. This happens because these words have no stress. The stress is usually on the noun or adjective that follows. In the negative, the sentence stress is different because isn't and aren't are always stressed.

 There’s one. There isn’t one.
 There’s a balcony. There isn’t a balcony.
 There’s a washbasin. There isn’t a washbasin.
 There’s a wardrobe. There isn’t a wardrobe.
 There’s a rug. There isn’t a rug.
 There are three armchairs. There aren’t three armchairs.
 There are two cupboards. There aren’t two cupboards.
 There are some plants. There aren’t any plants.

Language bank p. 133

You can now hear the answers to the revision exercises on page 133 of your student's book, but make sure you write your own answers first!

Translation no. 4

Here are the answers and some comments about these sentences:

1. Cenan juntos dos veces al mes.

2. Mis tíos viajan a todas partes en taxi. (Se refiere a los tíos Armando y Elvira)

3. Los otros niños nunca se aburren (use an adjective). Siempre tienen algo que hacer.

4. Los lleva a todos en coche al cole. (Initials: S…d…t…a…t…s…)

5. No tiene trabajo (job), pero madruga todos los días.

6. ¿Cada cuánto se ven?

7. No me gustó la peli nada de nada. Era muy aburrida. (Don’t use the Word “nothing”)

8. Los buenos amigos se ayudan el uno al otro.

9. Comparte su dormitorio con nosotros, pero le gustaría tener el suyo propio.

10. No se ríe casi nunca de mis chistes.

Do you enjoy learning English?

Read the following sentences and notice the different patterns:

1-I enjoy playing basketball. I enjoy to play basketball.
2-I enjoy reading very much.. I enjoy very much reading.
3-I really enjoy his company. I really enjoy with his company.
4-Thanks for a great evening. I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed.
5-I enjoyed myself at the party. I enjoyed at the party.
6-Enjoy yourself! Did you enjoy yourselves at the concert?

The basic rule is that ENJOY is a transitive verb, so it requires an object. This object can be a noun/pronoun or a reflexive pronoun (myself, yourself, himself, etc.). Listen to this for more details.

[The only time when you can use ENJOY without an object, is in the informal expression, always in the  imperative, Enjoy!, which means "Que aproveche"  o "Que lo disfrutes".]

Translation number three again

Some of you had trouble (=problems) listening to the recording of the post I wrote on Tuesday 15th of November. Here is a new link.

Have and have got

I have a car = I’ve got a car

You have a car = You’ve got a car

He has a car = He’s got a car

She has a car = She’s got a car

It has a button = It’s got a button

We have a car = We’ve got a car

They have a car = They’ve got a car

My parents have a car = My parents have got a car

I don’t have a car = I haven’t got a car

You don’t have a car = You haven’t got a car

He/She doesn’t have a car = He/she hasn’t got a car

It doesn’t have a button = It hasn’t got a button

We don’t have a car = We haven’t got a car

They don’t have a car = They haven’t got a car

Do I have a car? = Have I got a car?

Do you have a car? = Have you got a car?

Does he/she have a car? = Has he/she got a car?

Does it have a button? = Has it got a button?

Do we have a car? = Have we got a car?

Do they have a car? = Have we got a car?

   Tenemos dos formas verbales diferentes para indicar posesión en inglés.

En una de ellas (la de la izquierda), HAVE funciona como un verbo normal. En la afirmación tenemos sujeto + verbo + complemento directo. En la negación y en la interrogación, al igual que haríamos con un verbo normal, utilizamos el auxiliar DO en sus distintas formas: DO, DOES, DON’T, DOESN’T.

  

En la otra variante (la de la derecha de la ecuación), se emplea HAVE (o HAS en tercera persona de singular) seguido de GOT. En la afirmación HAVE y HAS se suelen contraer si hay un pronombre personal como sujeto. En la negación lo habitual es contraer el verbo + NOT:

HAVE NOT  >>> HAVEN’T

HAS NOT >>> HASN’T

En la segunda forma, ni en la negación ni en la pregunta se usa DO. HAVE funciona como auxiliar. 

No debemos mezclar las dos y construir frases como  Do you have got a bicycle? O bien do you have a bicycle?, o bien have you got a bicycle?

Como regla casera, si aparece GOT no aparece DO.

Para la respuesta corta tenemos que fijarnos en cómo se ha formulado la pregunta: si empezaba con el auxiliar DO, éste aparecerá en la respuesta, pero si se ha empezado con HAVE, será HAVE con lo que se responda.

 Do you have…? >>> Yes, I do / No, I don’t

 Does she have…? >>> Yes, she does, / No, she doesn’t

 Have you got…? >>> Yes, I have / No, I haven’t

 Has she got…? >>> Yes, she has / No, she hasn’t

Estas dos variantes se emplean cuando HAVE tenga significado de posesión en sentido amplio (have (got)a bike, friends, money, a hobby, etc), pero si indica acción (have dinner, have a bath, have a good time) no son posibles las formas con GOT.

Donde ambas formas son correctas, conviene familiarizarse con las dos. Es complejo explicar cuándo una es preferible (hay casos en que es así), pero de manera general podemos decir que las formas con GOT son coloquiales y más corrientes en inglés británico.

Translation number three

A few days ago I gave you these sentences for translation:

1. ¿Me da dos billetes para mañana por la mañana?
2. ¿Cómo va al trabajo? Andando. (Respuesta en dos palabras: S… w…)
3. Los sábados cenamos hamburguesas.
4. Dejad de cocinar. ¡Vayamos a un restaurante!
5. Me encanta fregar. Es muy relajante.
6. ¿Nos gastamos todo el dinero? ¡Buena idea!
7. Es la hija del taxista. Toca muy bien el piano. (verb + object together)
8. Tengo prisa. No quiero perder el autobús.
9. No aguanto la música clásica. (use words that you know)
10. Abre la puerta y entra. (Talking about a car)
You can now listen to the answers and some comments.

Exercises on page 26 (Lookback)

Here is the key to (some of) the exercises on page 26 of your Student's book (Language bank).

Translation number 2

Last week I gave you these sentences for translation.

1. Es buena estudiante. Quiere ser policía.

2. Son buenas estudiantes. Les encanta hacer fotos.

3. Lavan ventanas todos los días. Odian su trabajo.

4. ¿Hace los deberes en la oficina o en casa?

5. Los martes por la mañana, antes de salir de casa, llama a sus padres por teléfono.

6. Llegan a casa hacia las cuatro y media (usar about).

7. No va al trabajo en coche. = H… d… d… t… w… . (iniciales de las palabras que hay que usar)

8. Deja de trabajar. No tienes prisa.

9. La mayoría de la gente cena tarde.

10. ¿Viajáis por todo el país?

Listen to the answers and some explanations.

If you don't do your homework, I'll call the police!

The word POLICE is plural. It takes a plural verb: ARE, HAVE and not IS or HAS. It is usually used with THE, and it refers to an organisation, not to one person:
The police are coming! The police have a different opinion.
If you speak about individual people, you use policeman/-men, policewoman/-women or police officer(s).

How do you translate "la policía"? It depends: if you mean el cuerpo de policía, it's the police, but if you mean la mujer policía, then it's the policewoman.

HOMEWORK (and also HOUSEWORK and WORK= trabajo) are singular and uncountable. The Spanish deberes is plural, but the English word is not. It is usually used with a possessive adjective:
She does her homework in the evening.
Tiene dos trabajos = She has two jobs.

By the way, notice the title of this post: you don't call TO someone,and you don't phone TO someone. You call them or phone them: no preposition, they're transitive verbs.

Key to exercises

Here is the key to (some of) the exercises on pages 129 and 131 of your Student's book (Language bank).

More on pronunciation

Here are some videos about the pronunciation of English sounds.

This is a link to the excellent BBC Learning English website. You can practise lots of things at different levels. This is the link to the section on pronunciation.

This is a simple video about the pronunciation of final -ES (plural, third person:







This is a similar one, but a bit more difficult:





This one is about voiced and unvoiced consonants. You will not understand everything, but you can try. By the way "unvoiced" is the same as "voiceless" (sonidos sordos, sin vibración de las cuerdas vocales).

Consonants, semivowels, vowels

Here is a summary of the English sounds. There are three parts: consonants, semivowels and vowels. Listen to recordings 1, 5 and 6, which you will find here.

Voiced and voiceless sounds

Los sonidos son o bien sonoros (voiced=con voz) o bien sordos (voiceless=sin voz, también llamados unvoiced). En los primeros vibran las cuerdas vocales; en los segundos no. Es importante entender esta distinción, que explico en la tercera grabación de este enlace. En la segunda os digo cuáles de los sonidos del inglés son sonoros y cuáles sordos.

Which accent of English is the best?

There is no answer to this question. A British accent is not better than an American accent, and it isn't worse. There are no "bad" accents, but we have to decide which one to study. El acento llamado R.P. (Received pronunciation) es el que se oye en la mayoría de las grabaciones, y el que se toma como modelo en los libros de texto, por lo menos los que usamos en Europa. Aquí os hablo un poco del tema. Es la cuarta grabación.

Visit someone or visit TO someone? Phone a friend or phone TO a friend?

Spanish students often use TO after a verb and before the direct object because they are translating the Spanish preposition "a". But it's usually wrong. Find out why.

Translation: key and comments

These are the answers to the translation exercise.

A lot of friends came home

Listen to this and remember:
Home is a tricky word!
You cannot finish a sentence saying A LOT OF.
DON'T has the same vowel sound as NO.

Would you like to...? It depends

When do you say do you like and when would you like?
Be careful with DEPEND.
OR doesn't always mean "o"!
Listen.

Student's book p. 18

If you want, you can listen to me reading the texts on p. 18.

Student's book p.16

Here are the answers to some exercises on page 16 of your student's book.

Shall I tell your sister? (October 14th)

SHALL I...? Y SHALL WE...? para proponer, sugerir, ofrecerse a hacer algo.
Be careful with the pronunciation of YOUR!
Some phrases heard in a sandwich bar.
Listen.

I was born on the 2nd of May

Algunos os liáis con la expresión "nacer" y con la manera de decir la fecha correctamente. He aquí un recordatorio.

Lío de países

What is the difference between the United Kingdom and Britain? Are Scottish people British? Are they English?
No se ocurra decirle a un galés o a un escocés que vaya vergüenza para su país tener los forofos de fútbol que tienen, los famosos hooligans. Habréis metido la pata y además se sentirán ofendidos. A ver si esto os aclara por qué. En el cuadro de la izquierda, donde dice "view the book", tenéis que pinchar en DOC.

There was one who was married to a famous manager (October 11th)

There are two recordings:
1- This is about MARRIED TO and possessive pronouns.
2- This is about how to pronounce the ending -OUS. The word MANAGER. There is /was / are / were: no hay que acentuar el verbo.
Listen.

They aren't from Spain. I'm here to see Mr Half (October 6th)

Infinitivo de finalidad: para hacer algo = to do something (no usamos FOR).
Palabras que empiezan por S + consonante: no pronunciemos una E delante.
Silent L in some words.
Pronunciation of AREN'T.
THE has two different pronunciations
AFTERNOON.
Listen. There are two recordings. It's the second one.

What's it like? What does it mean? (October 4th)

¿Cómo pedimos a alguien que nos describa su habitación o a su hermano? Usando la misma fórmula que para preguntar qué tal tiempo hace: What + BE + like?
Be careful (=ten cuidado) with the word order in questions with ordinary verbs: auxiliary + subject + verb.
Difficult pronunciation: the sound /v/, favourite, parents, initial TH of they and other words. The sound of Thursday, work, purse, first, etc.
Listen.

Test (September 29th)

Which is correct: I have cereal for breakfast, I have for breakfast cereal or I have cereal breakfast?
How do you say deja de hacer tal cosa?
When do you use what about...?
I'd like is different from I like.
What's armario in English?
Listen and find out [escucha y averígua(lo)]

Respuestas al test

In September we did a little test. You can hear the answers here . Se debería abrir otra ventana.



The sound quallity is not very good (it was my first time). I'm sorry.