Hi,
I would like some tips on what to say when you're talking to a friend about what you're packing & need to buy to go on a trip. This is a conversational piece where it is required that we speak out of context as well (talking about the weekend, activities planned in the country you're going etc.).
You have some very good ideas about your assignment. Now all you have to do is right them up in dialogue form.
If you post your dialogue in Spanish, I'll send it to our Spanish expert to check it.
This is my piece that I've been working on with my classmate. It's not finished though, but this will not be the exact conversation we'll be having. The actual assessment is an impromptu style conversation.
Hola! Que pasa?
Bien. Y tu? Como estas?
Bien, bien, muy bien! Estuve empacando mi maleta!
Ah si, vas a Argentina, no?
Si, en tres dias.
Estas preparada a ir?
Pues...mas o menos. Aun necesito comprar las chaquetas. Hasta hora he empacado mis ropas*. Yo tambien voy a tomar algunos medicinas encaso de que se enferme durante el viaje. Oige que vas a viajar a Argentina. Que metiste en tu maleta?
He empacado en mi maleta con todo mis ropas y mi camara para los fotos de Iguazu Falls. Tambien llevando muchos dineros para las compras.
*: It's actually a whole list of items of clothing but it's too long for me to type it out.
Sorry I just realized it's a bit hard to see who's talking.
I sent this to SraJMcGin.
Yes, initials would be good to know who is speaking to whom. Don't forget the accent marks, for if you are turning this on, all the words requiring accent marks will be incorrect.
A ¡Hola! (2 exclamation marks) ¿Qué pasa? (2 question marks plus accent)
B Bien. ¿Y tú? ¿Cóm o estás? (punctuation, including accent marks)
A ¡Bien, bien, muy bien! ¡Estuve (more common to use Estaba) empacando mi maleta!
B Ah sí, vas a la Argentina, ¿no?
A Sí, en tres días.
B (you signify that this is a female) ¿Estás preparada a ir?
A Pues, más o menos. Aún necesito comprar las chaqueteas. Hasta ahora he empacado mi ropa (singular). Yo también voy a tomar algunas (feminine) medicinas en case de que (who gets ill? you, he, or I) se/me enferme durante el viaje. Oigo (I hear?) que vas a viajar a la Argentina. ¿Qué metiste en tu maleta?
B He empacado toda mi ropa en mi maleta (word order better) y mi cámara para las fotos (las fotografías is the entie word) de Iguazú Falla. ( la catarata de Iguazú) También llevo (OR estoy llevando) mucho dinero (singular) para las compras.
This is guessing as who says what. Hopefully you will catch all the accents, punctuation, singular vs plural, spelling, gender, etc.
I'll flag this so I can come back later to see if you have any questions.
Sra
Hi, yes I knew about the accent marks and punctuation, I just didn't have the time to put them in. Sorry, I should have pointed that out earlier. Also, we are supposed to include some small talk, so I was thinking we could talk about the weekend by asking something like 'Como estuve tu fin de semana?'. What would be some appropriate responses to that?
First of all, you need to correct the question. The Preterit is used when the event has a beginning and an end. But "estuve" is the "yo" form and not the "it = el fin de la semana" which is "estuvo" in this case. However, the Imperfect is more likely, concentrating on the "middle" of the event. The next thing is "Do you want ser or estar?" Estar translates like "seemed" rather than ser. In any event, ser in the Imperfect would be best.
¿Cómo era tu fin de semana?
Then you could make up anything that might happen in a weekend. Always try to use the vocabulary and structure that you have studied. Not knowing your Textbook, etc. that would be hard for me to guess. Here are some possibilties:
Tuvimos una fiesta. Fuimos al cine a ver la película (name one). Mis primos me visitaron.
comimos en un restaurante italiano.
Have the idea? Of course, if you can use compound sentences (rather than simple ones), your essay will seem more sophisticated.
Sra
First of all, thanks so much for all your tips :).
Secondly, it's not an essay, it's an oral exam whereby we speak to our partners without any cues or notes. Our teacher told us to revise the preterite, though I don't quite understand the differences between this and the imperfect. Could you please elaborate? And also, are those the only 2 forms of past tenses?
They are not the only 2 tenses used in the Past. There is the Conditional (would) = the past of the future! There are also 2 forms of the Past Subjunctive (-ra/-se) and the Perfect Tenses (have/has + past participle, would have + past participle, + the Past Perfect Subjunctive.....
However, when telling a story in the Past Tense, usually it is either the Preterit or the Imperfect. It's like "painting a picture." The Preterit tells the action, something within time limits = having a beginning, middle and ending, while the Imperfect describes what WAS happening = the middle of sometehin g.
Examples: Salió del cuarto = he DID leave the room / he left the room versus Salía del cuarto = he WAS leaving the room/he used to leave the room (repetitive action, over & over again. Rather like / / / / vs ~ ~ ~ ~
Preterit: 1. Narrates a completed action or event, similar to a moving picturw 2. Indicates a limit of the action or event, EITHER the beginning or the end.
Imperfect: 1. Describes a situation (similar to a still picture). 2. Indicates the contin ance of an action or event, NEITHER the beginning NOR the end, but the middle.
Thee are verbs that totally change the meaning used in the Preterit or the Imperfect. tuvo el libro - he got/grabbed the book vs tenía el libro = he had/was holding the book / pudo ir = he could/managed to go vs podía ir = he was able to go (but you don't know if he actually DID / supo del accidente = he learned/found out about the accident vs sabía del accidente = he knew about the accident / estuvo allí a las tres = he got there/arrived at 3 vs estaba allí a las tres = he was there, etc. (there are others I can't think of right now.)
Sra