SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You are
recalling what you each did yesterday. The other person wants you to
tell him/ her what you saw on TV and says to
you something like: "tell me, what did you see on TV?".
In
Spanish, he/ she could choose to be less formal and say to you:
Dime,
¿qué viste en la tele?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say to you:
Dígame,
¿qué vió (usted) en la tele?
OUR
TIP
The question is an
invitation for you to say what or who you saw on TV. When you say
what or who you saw on TV, you DO NOT need to be
concerned about the level of formality in the other person's
question. Your main concern should be about communicating what you saw. Perhaps you want to say that you saw:
- Some TV programme;
- Some type of show;
- Some object or other item;
- People;
- Animals;
Here are some
examples of what you could say in each case:
- Vi un episodio de la serie Mujeres Desesperadas (I saw an episode of Desperate Housewives);
- Vi las noticias (I saw the news);
- Vi una vivienda muy moderna (I saw a very modern dwelling/ house);
- Vi a Antonio Banderas y a Melanie Griffiths* (I saw Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffiths);
- Vi a Pluto en una serie de dibujos animados* (I saw Pluto in a cartoon series);
Now you should
practice replying to someone who says to you:
Dime,
¿qué viste en la tele?
*Please
see grammar below
Grammar-Personal
“a”
Please
note that the last two answers above are not quite in the same form
as the first three. The reason for the differences is that in Spanish, when a person or animal proper name are 'direct objects', a
preposition “a” is normally placed in front of such direct objects. The preposition used in such situations is often
referred to as the personal “a”.
Some
examples of the use of the personal “a” are:
- Llamé a mi hermano por teléfono (I called my brother on the phone);
- ¿Dónde dejaste a Pluto, tu perro? (where did you leave Pluto, your dog);
- Pedro admira a su amigo Juan (Pedro admires his friend Juan);
- Visitamos a nuestros padres (we visited our parents);
- ¿Visteis a Pedro? (did you see Pedro?);
- Escucharon a Gonzalo toda la noche (they listened to Gonzalo all night);
Now
you should practice using the personal "a" with some examples of your
own.
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1 comment:
Vi una serie de Lost.
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