Semana 7 – En el restaurante

Back to GUSTAR and some other verbs that work like GUSTAR:

Remember the verb GUSTAR?… that funky verb that we don’t really have to conjugate, and we only need to remember 3 things:

• The verb gustar agrees with the number of the thing that is liked
• Use the pronouns according to the persona that likes the thing(s), actions or people
• Use personal “a” to specify who likes the action, things(s) or people.

Refresh your memory by looking at the examples below.

 

Above, we can see the 6 different subjects (first person, second person, third person, and their plurals), the pronoun we use with gustar that matches (me, te, le, nos, os, les), and an example of an activity (using a verb in the infinitive.), things, a city and a person that we like,

Let’s look at some examples of the verb gustar with things or nouns.

For example, let’s use the noun perro (dog):

 

 

The singulars work like this (using gusta):

The plurals work like this (using gustan):

 

Finally, lots of students always want to know: how do I tell someone I like them? We use gustar for this too:

 

The first example expresses the idea:

I like you

The second example expresses the idea:

You like me

 

Finally, there are tons of other verbs that we can use in the same way as gustar!

Check them out:

Aburrir	To bore​
Encantar	To really like, to love​
Interesar	To interest​
Importar	To matter/to care about​
Molestar	To annoy​
Preocupar	To worry​

 

Vocabulario: en la cocina, en el restaurante

Cubiertos: cutlery​

El cuchillo	Knife
La cuchara	Spoon
La cucharilla	Teaspoon
El tenedor	Fork
El cucharón	Ladle
El vaso	Glass
La copa	Wine-glass
La taza	Cup
El cuenco	Bowl
El plato	Dish / plate
La sopera	Tureen
La jarra	Jug
La sartén	​Frying pan
La olla	Saucepan

En el restuarante:

El mesero/la mesera (el camarero/la camarera):	Waiter/waitress
El cocinero/la cocinera	The cook
La ensalada	Salad
La sopa	Soup
El pollo asado	Roast chicken
El puré de papas/patatas	Mashed potatoes
El huevo frito	Fried egg
Las papas/patatas fritas	Potato chips
La botella de vino (blanco o tinto)	The bottle of wine
El jugo/zumo de naranja	Orange juice
La cerveza	Beer
El champán	Champagne
El mantel	The tablecloth
Las servilletas	Servilletes/napkins

Verbos:

Cubrir	To cover ​
Hervir (ie)	To boil​
Freír (í)	To fry​
Merendar (ie)	To snack​
Almorzar (ue):	To have lunch​
Cenar	To have dinner ​
Probar (ue):	To taste, try​
Pedir	To order​
Pagar:	To pay​
Quejarse	To complain

Nouns/sustantivos:

La cuenta	The bill​
La propina:	The tip​
Tarjeta de crédito	Card​
Efectivo	Cash​
El dinero:	Money

Adjetivos:

Acogedor	Cosy​
Romántico:	Romantic​
Ruidoso	Noisy​
Popular	Popular

El pretérito indefinido (los verbos irregulares): the simple past tense (irregular verbs)

Though the regular verbs in the simple past tense are fairly straightforward, there are a lot of irregular verbs! But do not panic; if you nailed the present tense irregular verbs keep doing what you are doing; if you are struggling with memorising your verbs and endings or anything related, please share it with your tutors and peers; they might have some strategies you can look into it.

Let’s start with ir and ser, hacer, dar, ver, estar and tener.

These are conjugated as per the chart below. Note that ir and ser share a set of conjugations!

	Ir y Ser	Hacer	Dar	Ver	Estar	Tener
Yo	Fui	Hice	Di	Vi	Estuve	Tuve
Tú	Fuiste	Hiciste	Diste	Viste	Estuviste	Tuviste
Él, ella /usted	Fue	Hizo	Dio	Vio	Estuvo	Tuvo
Nosotros/as	Fuimos	Hicimos	Dimos	Vimos	Estuvimos	Tuvimos
Vosotros/as	Fuisteis	Hicisteis	Disteis	Visteis	Estuvisteis	Tuvisteis
Ellos, ellas/ustedes	Fueron	Hicieron	Dieron	Vieron	Estuvieron	Tuvieron

The above chart shows some of the most common irregular verbs. Here are a couple more traer and decir:

	Traer	Decir
Yo	Traje	Dije
Tú	Trajiste	Dijiste
Él, ella /usted	Trajo	Dijo
Nosotros/as	Trajimos	Dijimos
Vosotros/as	Trajisteis	Dijisteis
Ellos, ellas/ustedes	Trajeron	Dijeron

Finally, there are other irregular verbs like pedir and servir. These have a spelling change in the stem of the verb, as well as a change to the preterit verb ending. We will cover many more stem-changing verbs next week. Note that these have an accent in the third person singular, and the stem change is exclusively shown in the third person conjugations (e to i):

	Pedir	Servir
Yo	Pedí	Serví
Tú	Pediste	Serviste
Él, ella /usted	Pidió	Sirvió
Nosotros/as	Pedimos	Servimos
Vosotros/as	Pedisteis	Servisteis
Ellos, ellas/ustedes	Pidieron	Sirvieron

El pretérito indefinido (the simple past tense): usos y expresiones comunes (uses and common expressions)

Last week we mentioned several ways to talk about the past in Spanish, and the preterit is really specific.

We normally use it with expressions that involve the following three ideas:

• A specific (finished) action at a specific time in the past.
• A specific number of actions in the past
• A specific period of time in the past

The table below adds some examples and expressions that will help us use the preterit correctly.

Situación: ​	Expresiones temporales: ​
A specific (finished) action at a specific time in the past. ​	Ayer/anoche/anteayer llamé a mi madre​ Yesterday/last night/the day before yesterday, I called my mother El mes/año/verano pasado/la semana pasada fui a España​ Last month/last year/last week, I went to Spain El lunes/martes/fin de semana comimos en un restaurante​ en el centro de Brisbane On Monday/Tuesday/the weekend, we ate at a restaurant in Brisbane CBD A las 4:00 terminaron la clase​  ​They finished class at 4:00
A specific number of actions in the past ​ ​	Fuimos a tu casa dos/tres/cuatro veces (una vez)​ We went to your house two/three/four times (once) Comieron seis hamburguesas ​ They ate six hamburgers
A specific period of time in the past	Trabajaron por / durante ocho horas​ They worked for/during eight hours Estuvimos de fiesta dos semanas​ We partied for two weeks

As you can see, temporal markers like specific times and dates in the past, and help us to introduce the preterit.

Lastly, let’s add some conversational questions using present and past with this week’s vocabulary.

¡Hasta luego!