Spanish by Choice/SpanishPod newbie lesson A0013/Print version

A0013: Doing the Laundry

Introduction

Searching for something can be quite frustrating; thus, it's usually better to ask. Liliana and JP teach us how. Moreover, we learn about an easy way to express the future, how to say “there is” in Spanish, and more. The keywords are: no sé – I don't know; and ¿dónde? – where?

• related SpanishPod lessons: A0001: Are you ready yet?, A0035: Is anyone in there?, A0037: The baby is sleeping
• 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.

Dialogue

hombre:	Voy a lavar la ropa. ¿Hay detergente?
mujer:	Sí hay, abajo en la cocina.
hombre:	¿Dónde? ¿En qué parte?
mujer:	No sé. ¡Búscalo!

Dialogue with Translation

hombre:	Voy	a	lavar	la	ropa.	¿Hay	detergente?
	(I) go	to	wash	the	clothes	there is	detergent
man:	I'm going to wash clothes. Is there detergent?

mujer:	Sí	hay,	abajo	en	la	cocina.
	yes	there is	down	in	the	kitchen
woman:	Yes, there is, downstairs in the kitchen.

hombre:	¿Dónde?	¿En	qué	parte?
	where	in	what	part
man:	Where? In what part?

mujer:	No	sé.	¡Búscalo!
	no	(I) know	(you) search it
woman:	I don't know. Look for it.

la ropa – the clothes

la cocina – the kitchen

Vocabulary for Dialogue

el hombre	noun (masculine)	the man
la mujer	noun (feminine)	the woman
ir	verb (infinitive)	to go
(yo) voy	verb (present tense)	I go
a	preposition	to
lavar	verb (infinitive)	to wash
voy a lavar	phrase	I'm going to wash
la ropa	noun (feminine)	the clothes
hay	verb (present tense)	there is, there are
el detergente	noun (masculine)	the detergent
sí	adverb	yes
abajo	adverb	down, below, downstairs
en	preposition	in
la cocina	noun (feminine)	the kitchen
¿dónde?	adverb	where?
¿qué?	interrogative pronoun	what?
la parte	noun (feminine)	the part
no	adverb	no
saber	verb (infinitive)	to know
(yo) sé	verb (present tense)	I know
buscar	verb (infinitive)	to search
¡(tú) busca!	verb (imperative)	(you) search! (informal, singular)
lo	direct object pronoun	him, it
¡(tú) búscalo!	phrase	(you) look for it! (informal, singular)

Vocabulary for Audio Lesson

la comida	noun (feminine)	the food
la gasolina	noun (feminine)	the gasoline
las mujeres	noun (plural, feminine)	the women
guapo/guapa	adjective (m./f.)	beautiful
guapos/guapas	adjective (plural, m./f.)	beautiful
la mujer guapa	phrase	the beautiful woman
las mujeres guapas	phrase	the beautiful women
comer	verb (infinitive)	to eat
voy a comer	phrase	I'm going to eat
bailar	verb (infinitive)	to dance
el cine	noun (masculine)	the cinema
al (= a el)	phrase	to the
voy al cine	phrase	I'm going to the movies
el teatro	noun (masculine)	the theater
voy al teatro	phrase	I'm going to the theater
hasta luego	phrase	see you later

 

More Vocabulary

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

ir	infinitive	to go
(yo) voy	present tense	I go
(tú) vas		you go (informal, singular)
(él/ella) va		he/she(/it) goes
(usted) va		you go (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) vamos		we go (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) vais		you go (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) van		they go (m./f.)
(ustedes) van		you go (formal, plural)
saber	infinitive	to know
(yo) sé	present tense	I know
(tú) sabes		you know (informal, singular)
(él/ella) sabe		he/she(/it) knows
(usted) sabe		you know (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) sabemos		we know (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) sabéis		you know (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) saben		they know (m./f.)
(ustedes) saben		you know (formal, plural)
buscar	infinitive	to search
¡(tú) busca!	imperative	(you) search! (informal, singular)
¡(usted) busque!		(you) search! (formal, singular)
¡(nosotros/-as) busquemos!		(let's) search! (m./f.)
¡(vosotros/-as) buscad!		(you) search! (informal, plural, m./f.)
¡(ustedes) busquen!		(you) search! (formal, plural)
me	direct object pronoun	me
te		you (informal, singular)
lo/la		him/her(/it)
lo/la		you (formal, singular, m./f.)
nos		us
os		you (informal, plural)
los/las		them (m./f.)
los/las		you (formal, plural, m./f.)

Exercises

Dialogue Translation

Cover the right column, translate from Spanish to English and uncover the right column line by line to check your answers. If possible, read the Spanish sentences aloud.

Voy a lavar la ropa. ¿Hay detergente?	I'm going to wash clothes. Is there detergent?
Sí hay, abajo en la cocina.	Yes, there is, downstairs in the kitchen.
¿Dónde? ¿En qué parte?	Where? In what part?
No sé. ¡Búscalo!	I don't know. Look for it.

Dialogue Recall

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

I'm going to wash clothes. Is there detergent?	Voy a lavar la ropa. ¿Hay detergente?
Yes, there is, downstairs in the kitchen.	Sí hay, abajo en la cocina.
Where? In what part?	¿Dónde? ¿En qué parte?
I don't know. Look for it.	No sé. ¡Búscalo!

Dialogue Remix

Translate this variant of the dialogue from English to Spanish.

I'm going to wash the clothes in the kitchen.	Voy a lavar la ropa en la cocina.
There is no detergent.	No hay detergente.
I'm going to look for it.	Voy a buscarlo.
What?	¿Qué?
The detergent.	El detergente.
There is no detergent!	¡No hay detergente!
Yes, I'm going to look for it.	Sí, voy a buscarlo.
Where?	¿Dónde?
Downstairs in the kitchen.	Abajo en la cocina.
In what part?	¿En qué parte?
I don't know.	No sé.
Look for it.	¡Búscalo!

Dialogue Recast

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

We're going to wash clothes. Is there detergent?	Vamos a lavar la ropa. ¿Hay detergente?
Yes, there is, downstairs in the kitchen.	Sí hay, abajo en la cocina.
Where? In what part?	¿Dónde? ¿En qué parte?
You don't know (informal). Let us look for it!	No sabes. ¡Busquémoslo!

Image Credits

• “Image:Santa Claus clothes.jpg” by Paul L (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License)
• “Image:2005-11 Bocholt Textilmuseum 04.JPG” by Ziko-C (GNU Free Documentation License)