Spanish by Choice/SpanishPod newbie lesson A0015/Print version

A0015: Table for Two

Introduction

Let's be polite!—Does it matter? Well, yes. At least you should know the difference. JP and Liliana talk us through it by discussing how to be seated in a restaurant. The keyword is: reservación – reservation.

• related SpanishPod lessons: A0010: I'm hungry, A0041: Cheers!, A0062: At the bank
• 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:	Mesa para dos, si es tan amable.
mujer:	¿Tiene reservación?
hombre:	No, no tengo.
mujer:	No importa. Síganme por favor.

Dialogue with Translation

hombre:	Mesa	para	dos,	si	es	tan	amable.
	table	for	two	if	(you) are	so	kind
man:	Table for two, if you'd be so kind.

mujer:	¿Tiene	reservación?
	(you) have	reservation
woman:	Do you have a reservation?

hombre:	No,	no	tengo.
	no	not	(I) have
man:	No, I don't.

mujer:	No	importa.	Síganme	por favor.
	not	(it) matters	(you) follow me	please
woman:	It doesn't matter. Follow me please.

seguir – to follow

Vocabulary for Dialogue

el hombre	noun (masculine)	the man
la mujer	noun (feminine)	the woman
la mesa	noun (feminine)	the table
para	preposition	for
dos	number	two
si	conjunction	if
ser	verb (infinitive)	to be
(usted) es	verb (present tense)	you are (formal, singular)
tan	adverb	so
amable	adjective (m./f.)	kind
tener	verb (infinitive)	to have
(usted) tiene	verb (present tense)	you have (formal, singular)
la reservación	noun (feminine)	the reservation
no	adverb	not, no
(yo) tengo	verb (present tense)	I have
importar	verb (infinitive)	to matter
(él/ella) importa	verb (present tense)	he/she(/it) matters
seguir	verb (infinitive)	to follow
¡(ustedes) sigan!	verb (imperative)	(you) follow! (formal, plural)
¡(ustedes) síganme!	phrase	(you) follow me! (formal, plural)
por favor	phrase	please

Vocabulary for Audio Lesson

(tú) tienes	verb (present tense)	you have (informal, singular)
hasta luego	phrase	see you later

 

More Vocabulary

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

ser	infinitive	to be
(yo) soy	present tense	I am
(tú) eres		you are (informal, singular)
(él/ella) es		he/she(/it) is
(usted) es		you are (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) somos		we are (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) sois		you are (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) son		they are (m./f.)
(ustedes) son		you are (formal, plural)
tener	infinitive	to have
(yo) tengo	present tense	I have
(tú) tienes		you have (informal, singular)
(él/ella) tiene		he/she(/it) has
(usted) tiene		you have (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) tenemos		we have (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) tenéis		you have (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) tienen		they have (m./f.)
(ustedes) tienen		you have (formal, plural)
importar	infinitive	to matter
(yo) importo	present tense	I matter
(tú) importas		you matter (informal, singular)
(él/ella) importa		he/she(/it) matters
(usted) importa		you matter (formal, singular)
(nosotros/-as) importamos		we matter (m./f.)
(vosotros/-as) importáis		you matter (informal, plural, m./f.)
(ellos/ellas) importan		they matter (m./f.)
(ustedes) importan		you matter (formal, plural)
seguir	infinitive	to follow
¡(tú) sigue!	imperative	(you) follow! (informal, singular)
¡(usted) siga!		(you) follow! (formal, singular)
¡(nosotros/-as) sigamos!		(let's) follow! (m./f.)
¡(vosotros/-as) seguid!		(you) follow! (informal, plural)
¡(ustedes) sigan!		(you) follow! (formal, plural)
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)

uno 1 dos 2 tres 3 cuatro 4 cinco 5

seis 6 siete 7 ocho 8 nueve 9 diez 10

once 11 doce 12 trece 13 catorce 14 quince 15

dieciséis 16 diecisiete 17 dieciocho 18 diecinueve 19 veinte 20

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.

Mesa para dos, si es tan amable.	Table for two, if you'd be so kind.
¿Tiene reservación?	Do you have a reservation?
No, no tengo.	No, I don't.
No importa. Síganme por favor.	It doesn't matter. Follow me please.

Dialogue Recall

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

Table for two, if you are so kind.	Mesa para dos, si es tan amable.
Do you have a reservation?	¿Tiene reservación?
No, I don't.	No, no tengo.
It doesn't matter. Follow me please.	No importa. Síganme por favor.

Dialogue Remix

Translate this variant of the dialogue from English to Spanish.

A table for two, please. I don't have a reservation.	Mesa para dos, por favor. No tengo reservación.
You don't have a reservation?	¿No tiene reservación?
No, I don't have. Does it matter?	No, no tengo. ¿Importa?
No, it doesn't matter.	No, no importa.
You are kind.	Es amable.
For two? Follow me, please.	¿Para dos? Síganme, por favor.

Dialogue Recast

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

Table for two, if you are so kind. (informal)	Mesa para dos, si eres tan amable.
Do you have a reservation? (informal)	¿Tienes reservación?
No, we don't.	No, no tenemos.
It doesn't matter. Follow me please. (informal, plural)	No importa. Seguidme por favor.

Image Credits

• “Image:Pied Piper with Children.jpg” by Kate Greenaway (Public Domain)