Spanish by Choice/SpanishPod newbie lesson A0003

At the Bar

Introduction

Ordering beer, one of the essential surviving techniques in the civilized world. At least for some people. Probably the keyword una cerveza – a beer is sufficient to order beer, but in the civilized world we might want to use a few more words. JP and Liliana tell us all about it.

• related SpanishPod lessons: A0041: Cheers!, A0066: Bottle of water, A0106: Room service
• discussion: visit the readers' forum for this lesson to discuss it or to ask questions about it
• source: SpanishPod, the original MP3 lesson content of this lesson is licensed by PraxisLanguage Ltd. under a Creative Commons 3.0 Unported license.

Audio Lesson

Dialogue

hombre:	Buenas tardes. ¿Qué le sirvo?
mujer:	Quiero una cerveza.
hombre:	¿Clara u obscura?
mujer:	Obscura por favor.

Dialogue with Translation

hombre:	Buenas	tardes.	¿Qué	le	sirvo?
	good	afternoons	what	(to) you	(I) serve
man:	Good afternoon. What can I serve you?

mujer:	Quiero	una	cerveza.
	(I) want	a	beer
woman:	I'd like a beer.

hombre:	¿Clara	u	obscura?'
	clear	or	dark
man:	Regular or dark?

mujer:	Obscura	por favor.
	dark	please
woman:	Dark, please.

la cerveza – the beer

Vocabulary for Dialogue

el hombre	noun (masculine)	the man
la mujer	noun (feminine)	the woman
bueno/buena	adjective (m./f.)	good
buenos/buenas	adjective (plural, m./f.)	good
la tarde	noun (feminine)	the afternoon
las tardes	noun (plural, feminine)	the afternoons
buenas tardes	phrase	good afternoon
¿qué?	interrogative pronoun	what?
le	indirect object pronoun	(to) you (formal, singular)
servir	verb (infinitive)	to serve
(yo) sirvo	verb (present tense)	I serve
querer	verb (infinitive)	to want, to like
(yo) quiero	verb (present tense)	I want, I like
uno	number	one
un/una	article (m./f.)	a
la cerveza	noun (feminine)	the beer
claro/clara	adjective (m./f.)	clear, bright
o	conjunction	or
u	conjunction (before “o”)	or
obscuro/obscura	adjective (m./f.)	dark
por favor	phrase	please

el vino tinto – the red wine

Vocabulary for Audio Lesson

¿Me da una cerveza por favor?	phrase	Do you give me a beer, please?
cerveza light	phrase	light beer
la cerveza clara	phrase	the regular beer
claros/claras	adjective (plural, m./f.)	clear, bright
la cerveza obscura	phrase	the dark beer
obscuros/obscuras	adjective (plural, m./f.)	dark
el vino	noun (masculine)	the wine
blanco/blanca	adjective (m./f.)	white
el vino blanco	phrase	the white wine
el vino tinto	phrase	the red wine
la michelada	noun (feminine)	the beer with lime, salt, and sauces
Méjico/México lindo	phrase	beautiful Mexico
hasta luego	phrase	see you later

 

More Vocabulary

This section includes grammatically related words. Some of them are required by the exercise Dialogue Recast.

me	indirect object pronoun	(to) me
te		(to) you (informal, singular)
le		(to) him/her(/it)
le		(to) you (formal, singular)
nos		(to) us
os		(to) you (informal, plural)
les		(to) them
les		(to) you (formal, plural)
servir	infinitive	I serve
(yo) sirvo	present tense	I serve
(tú) sirves		you serve (informal, singular)
(él/ella) sirve		he/she(/it) serves
(usted) sirve		you serve (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) servimos		we serve (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) servís		you serve (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) sirven		they serve (m./f.)
(ustedes) sirven		you serve (formal, plural)
querer	infinitive	to want
(yo) quiero	present tense	I want
(tú) quieres		you want (informal, singular)
(él/ella) quiere		he/she(/it) wants
(usted) quiere		you want (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) queremos		we want (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) queréis		you want (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) quieren		they want (m./f.)
(ustedes) quieren		you want (formal, plural)

Exercises

Dialogue Translation

Translate from Spanish to English. Click each bar to check your answer. If possible, read the Spanish sentences aloud.

Buenas tardes. ¿Qué le sirvo?

Good afternoon. What can I serve you?

Quiero una cerveza.

I'd like a beer.

¿Clara u obscura?

Regular or dark?

Obscura por favor.

Dark, please.

Dialogue Recall

Now translate from English to Spanish. Remember to say the Spanish sentences aloud.

Good afternoon. What do I serve you? (formal)

Buenas tardes. ¿Qué le sirvo?

I'd like a beer.

Quiero una cerveza.

Regular or dark?

¿Clara u obscura?

Dark, please.

Obscura por favor.

Dialogue Remix

Translate this variant of the dialogue from English to Spanish.

Good afternoon.

Buenas tardes.

Good. (plural, feminine)

Buenas. (short for buenas tardes)

I want one, please.

Quiero una por favor.

What?

¿Qué?

One afternoon, please.

Una tarde por favor.

Good. What can I serve you? (formal)

Bueno. ¿Qué le sirvo?

I want a ...

Quiero un/una ...

A beer or a red wine or a white wine?

¿Una cerveza o un vino tinto o un vino blanco?

I'd like a good beer.

Quiero una cerveza buena.

A good beer? A dark beer?

¿Una cerveza buena? ¿Una cerveza obscura?

I want a michelada, please.

Quiero una michelada por favor.

Good. I serve you a good michelada. (formal)

Bueno. Le sirvo una michelada buena.

Good.

Bueno.

Good.

Bueno.

Dialogue Recast

This translation exercise requires some of the words from the More Vocabulary section.

Good afternoon. What do I serve you? (formal, plural)

Buenas tardes. ¿Qué les sirvo?

We like a beer.

Queremos una cerveza.

Regular or dark?

¿Clara u obscura?

Dark, please.

Obscura por favor.

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